"Brother, I’ve thought about it, since we’re going to do this, let’s do it big. Anyway, the grape wine won’t go bad after being brewed, and the longer it sits, the more mellow it becomes. Why not brew more? The wild grapes on the back mountain haven’t been picked yet, and they will probably be rotten soon. We’d better pick them all at once!"
Ji Xinhe only harvested a small basket of grapes today. The wild grapes on the back mountain are vast. If they were to be harvested, it would take at least one large cart!
How much grape wine would so many grapes brew!
Ji Xinhe’s eyes were gleaming.
Ji Dong now fully trusts his sister. Hearing her say this, he agreed at once, "Alright, I’ll go ask Jin Bao to borrow a cart tomorrow, and I’ll bring it all back in one go!"
"Deal!"
Since they are going to start brewing grape wine, they naturally have a lot to prepare. Picking wild grapes is one aspect, and they also need jars to brew the wine, at least ten half-human-height jars, and also white sugar.
From the twelve silver taels they received earlier, they only spent one tael so far. So, they have some capital now. The main expenses are the jars and sugar.
Once they made up their minds, the next morning, they decided to split up. Xiao Bei led Ji Dong to the mountain to pick wild grapes, and Ji Xinhe went to the town to buy sugar and jars.
But first, they needed to borrow a cart. The Ji family actually had a cart; most families in the village did, but only wealthy families would have a bullock cart.
It was impossible to borrow from the Ji family, so the siblings went to Jin Bao early in the morning.
Jin Bao is about the same age as Ji Dong. They are quite familiar, and Jin Bao’s house is relatively close.
"Hey, Dongzi, Xin He, what brings you here?" Jin Bao happened to be coming out of the house, and he saw Ji Dong and his siblings as soon as he looked up.
Ji Dong smiled, "I came to ask if I could borrow your cart."
"Of course, it’s the slack season now, so I don’t need it. Don’t you need an ox? It’s hard work to pull the cart yourself." Li Zheng’s family is wealthy, so they naturally have an ox.
Ji Dong quickly waved his hand, "No need for that, I’m planning to use it on the mountain, so pushing it myself is more reliable."
He didn’t want to trouble others too much. An ox is precious, so it’s better not to borrow one.
"Let me tell my dad first." Jin Bao agreed and went inside the house. Ji Dong and Ji Xinhe, Xiao Bei naturally followed.
Unexpectedly, they saw Ji Dashan walk out of Li Zheng’s house just as they approached the door.
Ji Xinhe was stunned. What was he doing here?
Ji Dashan seemed a bit absent-minded, and he didn’t notice Ji Dong and his siblings until he was close. When he looked up, his face blushed with embarrassment.
It was unimaginable for a father to look so embarrassed in front of his children.
Ji Xinhe knew something was wrong without even thinking about it.
"You’re here," Ji Dashan chuckled awkwardly, avoiding them, and left with his head down, swaying like a ghost.
Watching Ji Dashan walk away, Ji Dong asked Ji Xinhe, "What’s wrong with Dad?"
"Let’s go in and ask Li Zheng."
Upon entering the house, Jin Bao was telling Li Zheng about borrowing the cart.
Li Zheng wasn’t a stingy person, so he agreed, "Just borrow it, it’s not a rare item anyway."
"Thank you, Li Zheng," Ji Xinhe smiled sweetly.
"It’s okay," Li Zheng smiled back. For some reason, he found this girl more pleasing every time he saw her.
Only then did Ji Xinhe continue, "But, what did my dad come here for just now?"
Li Zheng’s face darkened slightly, "He came to sell some land."
Ji Xinhe opened her eyes wide, "What?!"
"He said there are seven acres of land in the family, and he can’t manage them alone. So, he wanted to sell two acres, and with the cash, he could get by. So, he asked me to help arrange to see who wants to buy land, and sell it directly. Two acres of arable land, seven taels of silver per acre."
Can’t manage? Did he completely ignore Lady Ding and Xiulan’s labor? Every woman in the countryside works in the fields! If Ji Dashan alone can’t manage, of course not, but selling the land just for the fourteen silver taels? Selling the ancestral land that fed the family for generations, didn’t he think about how to live in the future?
Ji Dong’s face turned ugly. However, in front of outsiders, he couldn’t say anything and just agreed.
After dragging the cart out of Li Zheng’s house, Ji Xinhe couldn’t help but say, "Brother, don’t worry too much. They sell their land, and it doesn’t concern us."
Ji Dong couldn’t suppress his anger, "Those lands were carefully tended by our mother before her death, making them fertile arable lands! He decides to sell them just like that. Even if our family is poor, we can get through this winter. But why does he have to sell the land? Aren’t our ancestral possessions important to him?"
Ji Dong, being older, naturally had a deeper connection with their mother. The fields she had cared for throughout her life were being sold off so casually.
Ji Xinhe said, "Don’t be angry, once we make money, we can buy the land back. If we get angry at that family, we’ll be angry for the rest of our lives."
Xiao Bei clenched his small fist with hope, "Yes! We will buy land in the future and retrieve all the land our mother cultivated!"
Ji Dong felt warmth in his heart, seeing his brothers and sisters so sensible. He thought that everything was worth it.
They then split up and went about their tasks.
Ji Xinhe went to the town, walking along the muddy path in the village. She could easily see a quiet mansion at the eastern end of the village, a place that looked completely different from the rest of the village. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
After the wealthy family moved in, they had people renovate the mansion, and now it looked very grand indeed.
Especially the burly guards at the door, motionless, but with the intimidating appearance of death gods. No wonder people in the village said they would take a detour when they saw the place.
Ji Xinhe shrugged, thinking it was none of her business, and walked quickly towards the town.
When she reached the town, she bought sugar first. Sugar is a treasure in this era, very expensive, twenty cents per pound. She bought ten pounds, thinking if it wasn’t enough, she would come back to buy more.
Then, she found a shop that sells all kinds of pickling jars.
"Lady, you want to buy jars?" The clerk greeted her warmly.
Ji Xinhe glanced at the various jars in the shop, feeling a bit dizzy, "Which is the biggest jar in your shop?"
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