Chapter 279: Stay or Go
In Daxing Village, Sang Luo and Shen Lie returned home. Except for those working in workshops and shops and those who rushed back to the provincial school to study after seeing the excitement, almost all the families in the village were there. Even Shopkeeper Xu came back after hearing the news. Several families gathered in the Shen family courtyard waiting for the couple.
More than an hour had passed since the imperial edict was read out, and most people had been able to accept the reality, but they were still a little hesitant. Even though they all felt that this was a happy occasion and tried their best not to show it, Sang Luo could see it at a glance.
Especially Mrs. Chen.
Sang Luo treated her the closest. Over the years, the family never forgot her when there was something good, no matter if it was the silk rewarded by the emperor or the delicious food cooked at home, so there was no need to mention how reluctant she was to let go.
Sang Luo smiled and squeezed the old lady's hand, trying to comfort her, but Chen Po said first: "It's okay, it's such a good thing, it's good to be in the capital. Look at you, you have been so far away, and you are a county lady, and now you are a county lady. I asked Jiu Niang, and a county lady is the best, just one level lower than a county lady. Only relatives of the emperor can be county ladies. Dashan and Ershan from my family can go to the capital to do business in the future, so we can see them."
That being said, it would have been fine if she hadn't looked at Sang Luo. But when she looked at Sang Luo, her nose felt sore again and her eyes turned red.
Although her grandson said that everyone could travel to the capital as a businessman, the old lady knew that she was getting older and older. How could she possibly follow her grandson? And how many times could she really travel? In the future, she was afraid that they would see each other less and less. Thinking of this, she couldn't help but shed tears. She couldn't wipe them away.
Old man Chen was embarrassed. He grunted twice and whispered, "Why are you crying? It's a happy event and you're crying."
The old lady's behavior made Sang Luo cry. So many years had passed in the blink of an eye, but Sang Luo still remembered the moonlit night when she had just traveled through time. In the middle of the night, Old Man Chen and Old Lady Chen followed Chen An up the mountain with bamboo sticks for beating snakes, and brought her some maltose and rice to prolong her life.
The old lady was very rude with her words, but she was also very soft-hearted.
Sang Luo's eyes also turned red, and she hugged Old Lady Chen: "Grandma, you and Grandpa can come to Beijing with me, and I will take care of you and Grandpa in your old age."
This sentence made Mrs. Chen laugh: "You are so sweet-mouthed. You have been like this since I met you."
Sang Luo smiled and said, "I'm serious. My life was saved by my grandpa and grandma. Why can't I take care of them in their old age? I'm afraid that they don't care about their grandchildren anymore, and only care about Rui."
Chen Dashan and Zhou Ge's son is named Chen Rui. Chen Dashan specifically asked Chen Lie for help and chose the word Rui from among seven or eight names.
Mrs. Chen smiled and said, "You're right. I'm really missing my great-grandson now."
After a few jokes, her tears were washed away. Sang Luo became serious and said, "I'm serious. Where my home is, grandpa and grandma's home is also there. You can live in the County Princess's Mansion. If you want to raise chickens and ducks and grow some vegetables, you can listen to it. The emperor has awarded me a 500-acre farm. We have a few houses here, so I will build a few more small courtyards over there. There is also Daxing Farm over there. If you want grandchildren and great-grandchildren, then you can all live there together. It's just right. When A Rui grows up, he can study in Beijing."
He then said to Zhou Cunzheng and Shopkeeper Xu on the side, "Uncle Zhou, Uncle Xu, Uncle Shi, and Uncle Lu, the same goes for you."
Everyone laughed, and Chen Dashan said, "My A-Rui is here early, so I will definitely go before him."
This was not a surprise and caused everyone to laugh again, and the atmosphere became much more lively.
Shopkeeper Xu said, "Let's see if our Wenhong and Wenbo can do well. If they can pass the state exam and go to Beijing to take the exam, we will definitely trouble you."
Lu Erlang said: "My family depends on A Xu."
Shi Dalang looked at his son and nephew and thought, they might be good at business, but they didn't seem cut out for imperial examinations.
It was just a joke, and no one took it seriously, but it was true that if they came to Beijing for business in the future, they wouldn't have to worry about having a place to stay.
With such a happy event happening to the Shen family, Sang Luo simply invited everyone to come over for dinner in the evening and set up a few tables to make it lively.
Of course, the women also worked together to cook the meals. There was nothing missing in the farm, so there was no need to worry about not being able to prepare a few tables of food.
After all the matters at home were settled, Shen Lie and Shen An hurried back to the provincial school.
…
In the Shezhou Posthouse, Cen Xi opened the door and called the eunuch who followed him to fetch some hot water to wash the dust off his face. He turned back and just as he closed the door, he turned around and found that there was another person in the room.
He was so frightened that he screamed, but he quickly calmed down when he thought of the secret signal he left outside Daxing Manor.
Sure enough, the young man who appeared in his room without a sound or a trace presented a token in his hand. On the golden plate was the word "Seven".
It was An Qi.
"Why did Eunuch Cen summon me?"
This was the first time that Cen Xi saw An Qi’s true face. Of course, he was not sure whether the face was real or not... As secret guards, they always had some special methods.
He did not hesitate, as he only recognized the identity token. After verifying the token, Cen Xi took out a letter from his sleeve and said, "The emperor has a mission for you."
After An Qi received the letter and opened it, he understood what was going on. He clasped his fists and was about to leave. Then he seemed to have thought of something, took out a purse from his bosom and handed it to Cen Xi, saying, "Eunuch Cen went to Daxing Manor today. You may as well go there again at twilight hour."
The person left quickly. Cen Xi pinched the purse, but couldn't figure out what was inside for a moment. When he opened it, he saw five small white things not much bigger than a fingernail.
I took out a piece and looked at it, but couldn't see anything. But when I put it back into my purse, I found that my fingertips were stained with some white powder.
He rubbed his fingertips and put the thing back into his pocket.
"Youzheng?"
…
Youzheng.
In Daxing Village, everyone in the Shen family's courtyard had eaten their fill and were chatting over a cup of hot tea. Of course, at this moment, Chen Youtian and Zhou Cun were mainly telling the other families in the village about what they had seen and heard in the capital.
The palace, the emperor, the court, the officials, the imperial farm, everyone was stunned when they heard it.
An honest man like Chen Youtian could chat with Zhou Cunzheng with a smile on his face, talking about the emperor's kindness and the emperor's reward, although they actually didn't dare to look at what the emperor looked like the whole time.
While people were talking about the imperial palace in the Shen family courtyard, on the other side, the chief eunuch Cen Xi, dressed in casual clothes, followed An Qi's instructions and brought a few followers to Daxing Manor in a low-key manner.
An Qi didn't say what he was looking at, but once he entered Daxing Village, the answer was easily found.
There is a private school in the small village. The person who runs the school, Cen Xide, was praised for his foresight, but it seems unnecessary to invite him to come and see it?
When he got behind a group of people near the window and saw the scene in the classroom, Cen Xi raised his eyebrows and squeezed the purse given to him by An Qi, which he kept close in his sleeve pocket.
He looked around for nearly a quarter of an hour, changed several seats, and looked around the classroom clearly. Only then did he understand why An Qi asked him to take this trip.
He led a few followers and went straight to the Shen family.
The gate of the Shen family's courtyard was not closed. Before entering, the accompanying eunuch knocked at the second door to signal the people inside.
"Eunuch Cen?"
Chen Lie and Sang Luo hurried out to greet them.
…
Cen Xi and the officials from the Ministry of Agriculture stayed for another two days. During this trip to Shezhou, Cen Xi not only visited the villagers in the area near Shezhou City, and learned about the composting and crop rotation methods, but also brought back something called chalk and a mold for making chalk to Beijing.
Of course, before leaving, I also visited the rural schools that had just been established in several villages in Shezhou.
Sang Luo and Shen Lie went to see them off in person along with Zeng Ziqian and his wife. On the one hand, they inquired about the current situation of their own farm in the suburbs of Beijing, and on the other hand, they also prepared a lot of Daxingzhuang specialties for them to take back.
Cen Xi, who was eating bread, cake, and egg tarts for the first time, said: "..."
He felt that the Shen family should have come to Beijing earlier. Even if he wanted to bring this thing to the emperor, he couldn't.
I can only eat more myself.
Several officials from the Ministry of Agriculture also returned with a full load.
…
After seeing off the people from Beijing, Sang Luo was finally able to settle down and arrange the fields and industries in Shezhou.
The Chen family was taught how to make vermicelli and tofu workshops. They had always wanted to make yam noodles, but had not been able to because the government bought yam and promoted it as seed blocks in various counties and cities and they lacked raw materials. Sang Luo also began to teach the Chen family how to make them. Later, they could add a production room to the vermicelli workshop and hire male workers to process it.
Of course, there is no yam at that time, but I can directly teach you how to make noodles. To make yam noodles again, you just need to make slight changes to the recipe.
Da Qi did not have noodles in strips, let alone noodles that could be dried and stored for a long time for easy transportation and sale. Even the northerners, whose staple food was wheat, mostly ate noodles in the form of flat noodles or lumps, which were called soup cakes.
Noodles and yam noodles can definitely become two new products of Daxingzhuang's specialties after the harvest of wheat and yam this year.
Of course, there is actually another kind that is particularly delicious, which should be yam vermicelli.
However, there are neither sweet potatoes nor cassava, which can be used as a substitute and is not very good. I don’t know whether it is possible to make yam vermicelli by combining it with other things. After all, the method is similar to that of making mung bean vermicelli. It will be left to the Chen family to explore and try later.
Vermicelli and noodles were taught out, and then there was fermented bean curd, cold rabbit, jerky, meat floss, bread, cakes and egg tarts.
Shen Ning was a little conflicted, these things really made money, and he was reluctant to just teach the recipe out.
Sang Luo was more open-minded than her and said, "We have to hire someone to do it in Beijing. Otherwise, do you really plan to do these things ourselves for the rest of our lives? How much can we do ourselves? Besides, wouldn't we be tied to money and pushed around for the rest of our lives? There's no point. Money is just a number. It's good enough if it's enough."
She even told the Chen family to gradually run the business in a factory-like manner. She couldn't tie herself or others up for a lifetime just for the so-called recipe. There were no secret recipes left in modern times. Anyone could learn anything they wanted to. Couldn't the business still be run as usual?
As for the huge profits, most of the prices of many of Sangluo’s products are now priced at a premium on raw materials, followed by craftsmanship and secret recipes.
Raw materials are expensive, so things are sold at a high price. Given the court's emphasis on agriculture, if the methods she proposed regarding pig slaughtering and planting are fully promoted, it won't be a long time before grain and meat prices stabilize. Many products will begin to adjust their prices downward within a year or two as the overall environment improves.
…
When Chen Dashan and his men returned from delivering goods to the counties and cities, Sang Luo prepared to invite the Chen family to discuss things.
After hearing this, Shen Jin thought for a moment and stopped Shen Tie before he went out to invite him.
"Sister-in-law, if you trust me, please teach me. What Aning can do, Xiaoyin, Xiaotie and I can do too. This recipe will never be leaked to anyone."
Sang Luo was stunned: "You won't go to Beijing with us?"
When she asked this, the three brothers Shen Jin were also stunned. Shen Tie was the youngest. He would not think too much about the grievances between the two families in the past. He was also the one who dared to get close to Sang Luo and Shen Ning on weekdays. When he heard this, his eyes lit up: "Are you still taking ours?"
He was clear that the eldest and third branches were separated into two households.
However, it seems that they often live and eat at the eldest brother and his wife's house now, especially the brick and tile house of the eldest brother and his wife. After they rented out their house to set up a private school, they lived here directly.
"Yes, you are so young, why do you want to stay here by yourselves?"
When Chen Tie heard this, his eyes curved and he started to smile, showing his joy.
Shen Yin's fingertips also moved, and he subconsciously asked: "What about the land?"
Obviously, he was also moved.
Chen Ning said, "Let's hire someone to grow the crops. Two people should be able to do it. Ask Uncle Zhao and Uncle Zhou to help look after them. The annual harvest can be shipped or sold to the workshops or shops here."
The Zhao family is good, and Zhao Si is also smart. In the future, he should be the manager of the long-term workers hired by the Shen family here. As for Uncle Zhou, he refers to Zhou Cunzheng.
Shen Jin was conflicted, especially after seeing the reactions of his two younger brothers, but he still shook his head: "Sister-in-law, you have so many properties and fields here, how can you leave no one at home? I'm learning how to run a business, so I'll stay here."
This sentence stunned Shen Tie, who was happy at first, and Shen Yin, who was somewhat tempted. The two brothers turned to look at their brother.
Shen Yin: "Well, I'll stay here too."
Chen Tie looked at his brother on the left, and at his elder sister-in-law and elder sister on the right, feeling extremely conflicted. If this had happened when he was a child, his mouth would have been flat.
After all, I have grown up and am different from when I was little. After hesitating for a while, I said, "I will stay here too."
Sang Luo: “…”
Shen Ning: “…”
One is thirteen, one is eleven, and one is ten years old.
Sang Luo pointed at Shen Yin and Shen Tie, then looked at Shen Jin: "Are you sure? You were out doing business, and they are eleven and ten years old."
"Just for the sake of the family's fields and property, there is no need. The families in the village are all close friends, and the farmhands are all honest and dedicated. There is no need to keep them for this. Think about it carefully."
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