"Your mother hopes you will make something of yourself!" Jiang Ling replied with a smile.
Jiang Ling's answer was somewhat incomprehensible to a child who had never received an education. Jiang Yaojie seemed to want to ask something, but in the end, he opened his mouth but no sound came out.
In his mind, whatever his mother said to prepare was correct!
After returning home, Jiang Ling asked Jiang Yaojie to reserve four oxcart seats at Uncle Lu's house. Then she said to Suihe, Wenxi, and Nianci, "Tomorrow, your eldest brother and the village chief will be going to Dahua Village for a few days. The three of you will go to Changning Town with your mother tomorrow."
"Mother, what are we going to Changning Town for?" Jiang Suihe asked tentatively, her eyes filled with surprise and joy.
“Mother wants to try starting a business.” Jiang Ling said, pointing to the mint water on the table that had been completely drunk, and continued, “Mother is thinking of making some ‘spicy’ water and selling it to see if we can make a little money.”
After hearing this, Jiang Suihe's eyes darkened slightly. Jiang Ling knew what Jiang Suihe was thinking, and then said, "Mother still wants to go to Changning Town to ask about your schooling."
"go to school?"
"real?"
"What?"
The three children had different expressions after hearing this. Jiang Suihe's eyes brightened a bit, while Jiang Wenxi pouted reluctantly, and the youngest, Nianci, looked completely bewildered.
“Yes, go to school! I don’t want you to live your lives like me, mediocre and ordinary.” The more Jiang Ling lived in Lujia Village, the more she felt the poverty of education here. Almost everyone here toiled in the fields, and girls married and had children at a young age, and the same thing happened again and again, generation after generation.
Jiang Lingke didn't want her children to be like this at all. She hoped that all her children would go out and see the flowers in the capital and hear the wind in Bianliang. Even if they didn't become outstanding, at least they could experience life.
“But Mother, studying…studying requires a lot of money…” Jiang Suihe said softly, clutching the hem of her clothes.
"Don't worry about the money. As long as you want to study, your mother will definitely find a way!" Jiang Ling patted Jiang Suihe's shoulder and said.
Before Jiang Suihe could say anything more, Jiang Ling went into the kitchen alone and made mint water with the remaining mint following the previous steps. She placed it in a shady spot in her house to cool, preparing to try it out in Changning Town the next morning.
The day passed quickly amidst the busyness.
The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Jiang Ling took Jiang Yaojie to the village chief's house. After giving him a few brief instructions, Jiang Ling returned to her old family home.
The three children were woken up one by one. Jiang Ling poured all the mint water that had cooled down yesterday into a wooden bucket, put the lid on it, placed it on the cart, and led the three children toward Uncle Lu's oxcart.
"Oh my, Jiang, what did you bring?" Lu, Lu Datou's wife, asked with a curious look.
“I have four children to raise, and I don’t have any land here, so I’m planning to make something and try to earn a few copper coins in the next town.” Jiang Ling knew that she couldn’t hide this from the eyes of the women in the village, and it was better to tell them herself than to be gossiped about behind her back.
"Oh my, what is this?" Jiang Ling's words made Lu Shi even more curious, and she even wanted to lift the lid on the wood.
Jiang Ling quickly pressed the lid down with her hand and said, "Sister-in-law, the worst thing about food and drink is that it's not clean. There's a lot of dust around here right now, and you don't want to eat anything unclean, do you?"
When Jiang Ling said that, Lu's outstretched hand froze in mid-air, and her expression became a little embarrassed.
"Mom! There are! There are bugs!" Jiang Suihe suddenly screamed, pointing at Jiang Ling's feet.
"Insects?" Jiang Ling looked in the direction Jiang Suihe was pointing.
"Yes! It's locusts!" When Madam Lu saw the insects at Jiang Ling's feet, her face turned pale, and her voice trembled.
"I'll slap you to death! You dead bug!" Jiang Wenxi took off her straw sandals and slapped them towards Jiang Ling's feet.
With a "poof," the insect was smashed to pieces by Jiang Wenxi.
Jiang Wenxi proudly held up one of her shoes and said, "Big sister! Little brother, look how awesome I am!"
Seeing that Jiang Wenxi had a headache, Jiang Ling quickly whispered, "Wenxi, put your shoes on!" Then, Jiang Ling took out a piece of coarse linen from her bosom and carefully wiped Jiang Wenxi's hands, saying, "Wenxi, we're in the food and beverage business. Have you forgotten what your mother told you at home? We need to maintain hygiene!"
Jiang Wenxi stuck out her tongue and didn't say anything more. The atmosphere in the car was immediately disrupted again by the locusts. Lu Datou's wife frowned and murmured with tears in her eyes, "God! We can't have locusts! The harvest is just a month away!"
Uncle Lu, who was driving the carriage, sighed repeatedly, "Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any locusts in this hot weather. Alas... this is truly heaven punishing us!"
Jiang Ling felt that something was wrong with what Uncle Lu said, but she had never farmed or done farm work, so she couldn't figure out what the problem was for the time being.
Amidst the sighs of the crowd, Uncle Lu's oxcart slowly arrived at Changning Town.
Jiang Ling got out of the car with her three children, studied the place for a while, and finally chose an open space not far from Li Shan's house.
After setting down a table and two chairs, Jiang Ling placed a wooden bucket filled with mint juice in a shady spot, along with a teapot and four teacups. She cleared her throat and prepared to start hawking her wares.
"Mint water! Cool and refreshing mint water, sweet and thirst-quenching, tastes amazing~" Jiang Ling's shouts are very distinctive, her clear and powerful voice is very pleasant to listen to.
The shouts quickly attracted the attention of some people, especially the men who were repairing the granary at Li Shan's house. The weather was already hot, and they were sweating profusely as they worked.
Although Li Shanren's family provided water, drinking it still felt like a fire was burning inside my body.
Finally, some of the men working there couldn't hold back any longer. One of them walked up to Jiang Ling's stall, looked her up and down, and asked, "What do you sell? What's this mint water?"
"A refreshing and thirst-quenching drink, free to try! You can have one first!" Jiang Ling said, deftly pouring a cup of mint water from the teapot and placing it in front of the man.
The man was dark-skinned, burly, and had very defined muscles all over his body. At that moment, sweat was streaming down his forehead.
He wiped his face with his clothes and began to hesitate as he looked at the pale green liquid in the teacup.
"Young man, are you worried about poison? We're complete strangers, and it's broad daylight. Why would I poison you?" Jiang Ling said calmly, noticing the man's doubt.
Hearing Jiang Ling's words, the man felt a little embarrassed. He picked up his teacup and gulped down the mint water inside.
The man's tense expression gradually changed; his brows relaxed, and his previously violently heaving chest eased considerably.
"How does it taste?" Jiang Ling asked tentatively.
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