Sun glared at her with some displeasure: "Second daughter-in-law, if you don't speak, no one will think you're mute!"
Saying such unlucky things before anything has even started is something the elderly dislike the most.
Qin Shi knew she had said the wrong thing, so she lowered her head and didn't dare to say a word. Lu Lao Er hurriedly spoke up for his wife, "Mother, Tao'er was just worried about me."
Sun was naturally aware of this. She glared at the couple and said nothing more. Yu said, "Mother, what my third sister-in-law said is true, even if it's ugly. We have no experience, so we should be careful."
Sun looked at He Jiuniang subconsciously. Before she could ask, He Jiuniang took the initiative to say, "The stone is too expensive for us to buy. It is also very dangerous to send everyone to the mountain to quarry. The main problem is that we lack an experienced quarrying master. We will find what we need. It will be safer to spend money to hire a quarrying master to lead everyone to quarry."
While she was still silent, He Jiuniang had already done some mental calculations. They needed quite a lot of stones, and even if she paid for someone to quarry the stones herself, it would still be more cost-effective than buying them directly. It's a fool not to save money when you have it.
Before anyone else could speak, Madam Sun made the final decision: "Do as the third son's wife says. Second son, go to the city and find a quarry master. Tell him that we're paying him ten more coins than the quarry."
In the past, spending money like this would have made Sun Shi heartbroken and cause her to lose her hair, but recently, having become accustomed to the behavior of He Jiu Niang, that big grudge, she felt that it wasn't too much to ask for an extra ten coins to hire a master.
Lu Lao Er agreed and went to the place where the horses were tied to fetch them, only to find that neither horse was there.
He Jiu Niang then remembered and said, "Father and a group of children took her out and let her go. I'll go look for her."
"No need, I'll go!"
Lu Lao Er was about to leave, but remembering that he was still "injured," he deliberately slowed down.
Seeing his reckless manner, Mrs. Sun stopped him impatiently: "Wait here, I'll go get some money for you."
The people from the first and second wives' families weren't as clever or good at making money as He Jiuniang. They didn't have much money on them. The only thing they had was the twenty taels of silver that He Jiuniang had given them before, which they kept carefully and wouldn't easily carry around. Besides, this money should indeed come from the public funds, so Sun Shi wouldn't be stingy at this time.
Lu Lao Er responded and stood outside the thatched shed waiting for Sun Shi.
Lu Lao Er went to the county town, and the other men had nothing to do. Just as they were thinking that they probably wouldn't be able to work today and would have to go home, He Jiu Niang told them to go up the mountain to cut wood with another group of people. Everyone was immediately happy and went up the mountain.
Just then, He Jiuniang and the others also needed to go up the mountain. It would be safer to go with a group of men, so they led Qin Shi and the others to follow a short distance behind the men up the mountain.
Sun and Lu took care of the children at home, while Yu started preparing lunch.
There was no drought here, the mountains were lush and green, and there were many streams. Qin and the others were delighted to see such a scene and began to dig for wild vegetables around the streams.
He Jiuniang wasn't there to dig for wild vegetables. After telling Qin Shi, she prepared to continue on her way.
"Third sister-in-law, don't go too deep into the mountains. There are wild beasts in the deep mountains."
Qin didn't care what she was going to do. She just thought her third sister-in-law was amazing now, and almost all the money in the family was earned by her. They wouldn't have any objections even if she stayed in bed all day and didn't go out. They were just worried that it would be dangerous for her to go to the deep mountains alone.
"I understand, Second Sister-in-law. I'll go take a look. You don't need to worry about me."
He Jiuniang waved her hand, picked up her small basket, and left.
As Shen watched her retreating figure, she couldn't help but sigh with heartfelt emotion: "Third sister-in-law is truly amazing. We've really benefited from her along the way! Otherwise, we wouldn't be where we are today."
"Yes, I originally thought my family would become beggars in Ganzhou City, but I never expected to come to Jingzhou to live such a life!"
Lu Guilan couldn't help but smile. They were all honest people who would remember kindness. Just because He Jiuniang found their family, saved their lives, and sent their children to study in Jingzhou, they would repay He Jiuniang for the rest of their lives without any complaints.
They chatted as they dug for wild vegetables, while He Jiuniang quickly went into the mountains. This was not a place where the men cut down trees. The towering trees were thick and strong, blocking out the sky. Occasionally, a few rays of sunlight would seep down, and the quiet forest would occasionally echo with birdsong. Everything was peaceful and beautiful, as if they had stepped into a fairy tale.
He Jiuniang took a deep breath. She had to admit, the air in this forest was really fresh.
In such forests, apart from hunters who make a living by hunting year-round, ordinary people generally dare not come, for fear of encountering wild beasts.
Hunters' goal is prey, so they naturally have no interest in other valuable things, such as medicinal herbs.
I've been to a pharmacy before and know that medicinal herbs are very expensive in this era. This is mainly because medicinal herbs in this era are all collected by people from the mountains. There is no such thing as artificial breeding. The cost is high and the quantity is scarce, so the price is naturally expensive.
He Jiuniang had considered leading everyone to make money by starting with medicinal herbs, but she couldn't reveal her medical knowledge for the time being, and it would be difficult to explain if she brought back too many herbs. So she could only find one or two simple herbs to take to the county town to test the waters.
Haste makes waste, and He Jiuniang knew this principle well.
There are quite a few good things here. I found some licorice and astragalus, both of which are relatively common and good things. I took out a small hoe from my storage space and dug around, filling a small half basket.
She stopped digging and instead decided to look around and find some good stuff.
Suddenly seeing a large, green thing, He Jiu Niang's eyes widened instantly, as if she was afraid she was seeing things wrong.
Excitedly, she went over to take a look, carefully examined the leaves for a while, and then took out a small hoe to dig and dig. When she saw the few yellow little round balls that were exposed, He Jiuniang almost wanted to scream.
It's a potato!
Potatoes are an introduced variety, and they used to be called "malingshu" because they were brought over by foreign merchants.
Based on her observations and the original owner of the body, He Jiuniang knew that potatoes didn't exist in this era. So even though she could take out a lot of them from her spatial storage at any time, she didn't dare to do so rashly, for fear of arousing suspicion.
I never expected to find it here. Could it be that merchants or some other outsiders came here before?
These are not things He Jiuniang wants to concern herself with. The important thing is that she only needs to know that now that potatoes have a source, she can do a lot of things.
It was this incident that inspired her to have this deep mountain. From now on, she could use the mountain as an excuse to take whatever she wanted, since no one would care what was originally in the mountain.
Without saying a word, she dug up another pile, filling her basket to the brim, before finally going to find Qin and the others, completely satisfied.
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