Chapter 264 Both Sides Are Happy
Anyway, I don't mind asking questions like, when is spring planting, when is autumn harvest, when is irrigation, when is drying the fields, when is rice flowering...
The growth period of fruit trees, their cycles, what to do about insects, lack of fertilizer, rainy seasons, drought seasons, flowering, fruiting...
An agent who can’t farm is not a good doctor!
The two tenants had a very sumptuous meal at the Jiang family's. They felt bad for sending such a small amount of rent grain. The owner not only did not blame them, but also treated them to such a sumptuous meal. Naturally, they told him everything they knew.
After sending the two tenants away, the Jiang family had several hundred kilograms of grain, about a hundred kilograms of soybeans, and one or two hundred kilograms of cotton.
It’s just before the Chinese New Year, so it will come in handy.
Jiang Cheng planned to use the beans at home to make tofu. She had learned the skill of making tofu from someone before, but later became obsessed with it and hadn't made it for a long time. Now that she had beans at home, she was eager to try it. Anyway, whether the beans were delicious or not, her family would eat them and she wouldn't sell them. She just did it as a practice out of boredom.
As for the cotton, Jiang Lianzhu planned to take it to the cotton-flossing place and make it into cotton wool and quilts.
There are many people and kangs in the family, so even the golden eagle is padded with a cotton quilt, and there are many places where it can be used.
Ten or eight beds are not too many.
A quilt weighs eight kilograms. Of these two or three hundred kilograms of cotton, only a little over one hundred kilograms remains after removing the seeds. Even if all of it is used to make quilts, there will only be enough for eleven or twelve quilts at most.
The end of the year is getting closer.
Every household is starting to prepare for the New Year.
The imperial court allocated grain mainly to Shamen County and Shili Town, so there is no shortage of various grains and oils.
Everyone can afford it, high quality and low price.
Jiang Lianzhu went to ask Grandma Lu about the customs of buying New Year's goods in Wangjia Village. This was her first New Year's Day since she traveled through time.
Every Chinese New Year, Wangjia Village would prepare some food that is labor-intensive and time-consuming.
Fried various meatballs, tofu meatballs, glutinous rice meatballs, lotus root meatballs, fish meatballs, etc.
This is a dish, and it can also be made into a snack for the family that both adults and children will love.
For example, to make rice candy, fry the rice until crispy, boil malt sugar, put the crispy rice and malt sugar together, and pound them tightly. After they are solidified, you can cut them into pieces and give them to children as snacks.
If conditions at home allow, you can make fried sazi, fried jiaozi, a kind of fried food, fried until golden and crispy. The sazi are thin and long, in circles, which requires a lot of skill. The jiaozi are twisted into a braid shape, which is also very delicious. They are all made of white flour.
These snacks are complicated to make and are made from fine rice and flour. Most people would not make them unless it is Chinese New Year.
During the Chinese New Year, only wealthy families would have such a display. For ordinary families, it was considered quite good to have one or two things.
Jiang Lianzhu couldn't do it herself, but fortunately Jiang Cheng was there and could help her out.
Only with these foods and drinks can we feel the festive atmosphere of the New Year.
Jiang Lianzhu also made new clothes for each of the children. Nanbao's cotton-padded jacket was made of bright red satin, and the cotton filling in the jacket was made from new cotton from her own family. The best cotton was picked out to make cotton-padded jackets and trousers for the family, and the remaining inferior cotton was made into cotton-padded quilts.
More than 100 kilograms of cotton were used up cleanly, but it was still not enough, so Jiang Lianzhu bought some more from the cotton-fluffing master.
The other boys wore jackets made of fine cotton cloth with a plain blue and white pattern. They were also soft and had plenty of cotton. They had a tailor come to their house to take their measurements.
Jiang Chengshi and Jiang Lianzhu also each made a new cotton jacket and new cotton trousers.
Even the little fat boy was envious and asked Jiang Lianzhu to make him a cotton-padded jacket like the ones for Dabao and Erbao. He looked so happy that he couldn't contain himself.
He refuses to wear his own nice silk and satin clothes, but insists on wearing the same ones as Dabao and Erbao. This hobby is unique.
There are many people in Grandma Lu's family, and several of her daughters-in-law are good at sewing. Jiang Lianzhu asked them to help her family and made a new pair of cotton shoes with thousand-layer soles for each of them.
The Lu family didn't want any wages, so Jiang Lianzhu had to pay double for the materials, including the shoe uppers, soles, new cotton, etc. She had to pay double for everything. She couldn't take advantage of other people's craftsmanship and labor for free, so she had to compensate them if she could, and not let others suffer.
After preparing the new clothes, I bought some food and other things, made a list of supplies, and went to the town in a horse-drawn carriage to bring them back.
I bought a pig, several sheep, and dozens of chickens and ducks.
The pig has been killed, cleaned, and the meat and other ingredients have been completely processed.
Sheep, chickens and other animals are all bought back alive.
The ones in their family who actually eat meat are not humans, but three snow wolves and a golden eagle.
The weather was getting cold, and Ji Feng became lazy and didn't want to go out to find food. There were fewer animals coming out of the mountains in winter. Most importantly, when it saw that the three snow wolves were fed by their owner, it just followed and waited to be fed.
If Jiang Lianzhu didn't have money, she really couldn't afford to feed these carnivores.
Rice, flour, grain, oil, and other things, the family had plenty of supplies, everything. The fat boy had paid her a cartload of grain as a meal fee last time, and the tenant had also paid rent this time. The family still had some stored up before, so they didn't need to buy any of that. The main thing was to buy meat!
I also bought melon seeds, peanuts, cakes, fruits, as well as wine, sweet soup, etc.
I also bought some local specialties, such as dried wild mushrooms, wild pine nuts, wild walnuts, wild chestnuts, and some dried and cured goods.
As the New Year draws to a close, the morning market is bustling with people buying and selling things.
When Jiang Lianzhu had almost finished preparing the New Year's goods, someone else came to send her some.
They were sent by the families of the two abducted children from the neighboring town whom Jiang Lianzhu rescued last time.
The Qu family and the Yuan family.
The two families had agreed to come together.
A lot of New Year's goods were given to Jiang Lianzhu, but she didn't accept them and asked them to take them back. In the end, only some snacks such as pecans and wild hazelnuts were left for the children to have some delicious snacks for the New Year.
Eating more nuts is good for you.
The baby is smart.
After leaving these things, Jiang Lianzhu gave them gifts in return, including a lot of rice, flour, grain and oil. They were not wealthy families, and although what they gave was rich, it was just a thank you for saving their lives. They might not have left anything at home all year round. Jiang Lianzhu's family didn't have much, but she had a lot of grain, so she gave them a lot in return. They didn't want it, so Jiang Lianzhu didn't accept their things.
Don't accept their kindness.
In the end, they had no choice but to accept it happily, and both sides were happy.
Seeing that the New Year was approaching and the little fat man still had not returned home, the servant and the housekeeper who were abandoned by him could not stay in Shili Town any longer.
He came to the gate of the Jiang family in Wangjia Village every day, staring eagerly, signaling that it was time for his young master to set off.
I didn't dare to urge them, because if I did, the fat guy would just tell them to go back if they wanted it back...
Jiang Lianzhu couldn't bear to see this, so on the 25th day of the lunar year, Jiang Lianzhu persuaded the little fat boy to go home.
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