124 – Making Money in Winter

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When Lei Daqiang finished, Li Zheng wrote down what he said on the document and read it again. No one objected. Li Zheng, Lei Daqiang, Lei Xiangren, Lei Xiangyi, Lei Xiangli, and Lei Xiangzhi all pressed their thumbprints, and each kept a copy.

Lei Xiangzhi did what he said; he gave a 100-tael banknote to Lei Xiangren.

Both Lei Daqiang and Du Shi cast covetous eyes at the banknote.

Lei Xiangren could read a few big [Chinese] characters, but he still gave it to Li Zheng for confirmation before he was relieved and put it into his clothes. He and Zhao Shi looked at each other with a grin and held their heads high while looking at people with their noses turned skyward, showing a totally changed attitude.

When Li Zheng got up to leave, Qin Mian and Lei Tie took the opportunity to leave with Li Zheng.

Lei Xiangren spoke without delay, “Father, Mother. Little Mother will give birth in a few months and Third Brother’s wife is also pregnant; it’s too crowded to live together. I’m going to buy a homesite right now. I’ll strive to complete the house before the New Year and move out.”

Lei Daqiang looked at him for a long time before he nodded.

Lei Xiangyi said in a low voice, “Father, Mother. I’ll also move out as soon as possible.”

Lei Daqiang frowned, “Moving out to where?”

Lei Xiangyi smiled, “Many thanks for Father’s concern. I’m going to build two mud-brick rooms first, and the rest will have to wait until I save more money.”

All in all, Lei Xiangyi was his son, so Lei Daqiang still had some concerns. “How can two rooms be enough? Well then, Old Two, lend some money to your third brother so he can build two more rooms.”

“Father, don’t think that 100 silver taels are a lot. I want to build a house, buy furniture, and send Dabao and Erbao to study. Which one doesn’t cost money?” Lei Xiangren gave Lei Xiangyi an idea, “Third Brother, you’d better go to Eldest Brother’s house to borrow money. Eldest Brother and Eldest Sister-in-law don’t lack money.”

“Yeah,” Zhao Shi chimed in.

Lei Xiangyi shook his head and said, “No need. I’ve decided to build two mud-brick rooms first.”

Qian Shi didn’t interrupt. Qin Mian and Lei Tie had lent 10 silver taels to them, and she would not disclose it.

After Qin Mian and Lei Tie went home, they continued to make dumplings. The dumpling filling was made of groundweed, lean meat, and deep-fried dough sticks – flavorful and delicious. After eating, they came into the space.

The brown bear was still recuperating in the space. Its injury was almost good. It had fun playing with White Spot in the space.

Lei Tie thought that Qin Mian wanted to go and see the brown bear first, but contrarily, he went straight to the flower bed and reached out his hands to gently stroke the balls.

The two pink balls had completely split and looked plump and lovely. When Qin Mian and Lei Tie touched them, their colors immediately became vivid – very fascinating.

Qin Mian couldn’t tell what he felt now. The two pink balls seemed to be connected with his heart. Even outside the space, he could also feel their ‘’emotions’’.

Lei Tie scooped a ladle of spiritual spring water and handed it to Qin Mian. He stared thoughtfully at the two pink balls for a moment and turned his head to look at Qin Mian.

The man’s stare gave Qin Mian the creeps, “What are you looking at?”

“You.”

Qin Mian said calmly, “Go ahead. Now that the brown bear’s wound is healed, we’ll send it back to the mountain.” It was just a joke when he said he wanted to keep the brown bear.

They went out to the back of the mountain. Since the brown bear was saved, it was impossible to kill it anymore. To prevent it from going down the mountain and hurt people, they went all the way to the deep mountain before bringing out the brown bear and White Spot.

As soon as White Spot found that the surrounding scene had changed, it knew it was out of the space and understood that the masters were going to release the brown bear. It howled a few times at the brown bear and then left with Qin Mian and Lei Tie.

The brown bear stood still for a moment, turned, and walked away. Its huge body disappeared into the dense forest.

The next morning, Qin Mian was awakened by Lei-Qin Le’s scream. After asking about it, it turned out that at dawn, the brown bear lay quietly at the gate with a 40 to 50 jin wild –broken neck– goat on its back. Lei-Qin Le had gotten up early. When he opened the gate to clean up the fallen leaves, he got a big fright.

Since then, the brown bear had become ‘’domesticated’’ like White Spot. Every time the villagers mentioned Leisurely Farmhouse, they had strange expressions. In the past, they would gather together to chat under the big trees near the gate of Leisurely Farmhouse. However, ever since the brown bear settled in Qin Mian’s house, they wouldn’t want to come even if they were beaten to death.

At first, the people in Leisurely Farmhouse were also frightened. Later, they found that as long as they didn’t provoke the brown bear, the brown bear ignored them. Only then they were relieved.

And White Spot got a companion – they were often not at home.

At the end of the tenth month, the sweet oranges in the orchard began to ripen. The fruiting period of sweet orange was from the tenth month to the twelfth month, and the late-ripening varieties could last from the second month to the fourth month of the next year. Leisurely Farmhouse had entered another busy season.

Qin Mian hired people to make 5000 canned sweet oranges, 5 large jars of sweet orange sauce, and 20 large vats of orange juice to sell in spring and summer. At the same time, Double Xiang House launched orange cake, orange soup, and orange rice wine juice.

The eleventh month was the harvest season of the lotus root. For several months, Lei-Qin Zhong and his group had trained not only in self-defense skills but also archery, horsemanship, and swimming. The work of digging lotus roots was handed over to them.

There were a few more dishes on Double Xiang House’s menu and Qin Mian’s table such as lotus root and spare ribs soup, deep-fried lotus root, osmanthus glutinous rice filled in lotus roots, sweet and sour lotus root, diced assorted lotus root with chili, lotus root balls, and so on – all of which caused people to have a deep attachment.

Due to many works at home, Qin Mian and Lei Tie did not go to help Lei Xiangren and Lei Xiangyi building their new houses. It was not until Lei Xiangyi invited Qin Mian and Lei Tie to his housewarming banquet did Qin Mian vaguely recalled that the separation of the old house had been settled.

The homesite that Lei Xiangyi bought was in the south of the village. On the three-room homesite, two mud-brick rooms had been built. In one room, half part was a kitchen and the other half was a side room of Lei Xiangyi and Qian Shi. The other room was the central room. There was a heap of firewood outside the house.

When the housewarming banquet ended, Lei Xiangyi sent off the guests and asked Qin Mian and Lei Tie to stay for a while.

Qian Shi served tea to Qin Mian and Lei Tie and then sat quietly aside to sew an article of small clothing.

Qin Mian asked about the charcoal’s business¹, “I heard that you have already started charcoal burning. Have some been sold?”

Lei Xiangyi looked very relaxed, “Started it a month ago, and the first batch of charcoal was about 3200 jin. Because it’s good smokeless charcoal, it sold at a high price of 8 Wen per jin. The first batch of charcoal sold for 25 silver taels. Second Brother cut less firewood, so he was given 5 silver taels, while Fourth Brother and I got 10 silver taels each. It’s all thanks to Eldest Brother and Eldest Sister-in-law. I can’t even begin to say how grateful I am. Afterward, if you two need me, just say it! By the way, I have discussed with Fourth Brother that when the second batch of charcoal comes out, we will send 500 Jin to you.”

Qin Mian nodded, “Since Third Brother and Fourth Brother have this intention, I will accept it. However, the recipe is given to you all, so it is yours. It has nothing to do with us. The matter of the recipe is over and done with.”

Lei Xiangren’s homesite was bought in the east of the village, which was the first house in the village and separated by four houses from the old house. The area of the homesite was not small. Qin Mian estimated that the homesite alone cost at least 15 silver taels. Lei Xiangren’s house construction started almost at the same time as Lei Xiangyi’s, but his house was bigger, more complex in structure, and slower in progress – it still needed four to five days to finish. However, the layout could be seen. There was not only a front yard but also a backyard. The gate of the front yard was very imposing – very similar to that of the rich families in the town. Both sides of the gate had a room opposite the main house. In the middle of the main house was the central room. On the left side of the central room was a kitchen and a side room, and on the right side of the central room were two side rooms. A small door in the central room led to the backyard. The chicken house, pig house, latrine, and vegetable garden were all in the backyard. Zhao Shi had already told the villagers that she wanted to make a small flower garden in the front yard, and invited everyone to be her guests when it was done.

After the house was built, it looked quite imposing and considered to be unique in the village. As expected, Zhao Shi made a flower garden in the front yard and even ran to Leisurely Farmhouse to ask for flowers. Qin Mian was too lazy to deal with her and directly let White Spot and the brown bear guard at the gate. Zhao Shi left with resentment. She spent money to buy some flowers in the town and asked Lei Xiangren to dig some in the mountain.

Lei Xiangren gladly and diligently dug flowers at the foot of the mountain. However, he mistook a snake for a stick and was bitten. Fortunately, the snake was not poisonous, but Lei Xiangren’s leg was swollen. He lay in bed for several days. This incident became a laughing stock that circulated in Green Mountain Village for several days.

The new house had been drying for less than half a month when Lei Xiangren and Zhao Shi couldn’t wait and moved in.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie once passed by and looked at the house from outside. They concluded that Lei Xiangren had already spent at least 40 silver taels out of the 100 silver taels. Alas, it had nothing to do with them.

Two days later, Lei Xiangzhi was on school break. Lei Xiangren set the day of his housewarming on this day.

The reason why Qin Mian and Lei Tie kept in touch with the old house before was only for the sake of Lei Xiangyi, Lei Xiangli, Lei Xiangzhi, and Lei Chuntao. Now that Lei Xiangren was separated and moved out, his relationship with Lei Tie became further away. Qin Mian and Lei Tie had no intention of making a deep friendship with Lei Xiangren. They went to the town on the pretext that they had something to do and didn’t attend the housewarming banquet, but only had Lei-Qin Le send over a basket of sweet oranges.

After returning from the town, Qin Mian listened to Lei-Qin Le saying that Lei Xiangren and Zhao Shi had said some sarcastic words after receiving the congratulatory gift. The gist of it was that they thought the gift was too poor coming from Qin Mian and Lei Tie who were rich.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie didn’t care. Qin Mian felt that talking with Lei Xiangren and Zhao Shi was a waste of saliva. He dared to bet, with Lei Xiangren and Zhao Shi’s temperament, sooner or later they would cause big trouble. He had already thought to gradually weaken the relationship between their family and Lei Xiangren. Afterward, as long as there was an opportunity, they would completely cut off the relationship, so as not to be implicated later.

Lei-Qin Le also mentioned another thing: Lei Xiangren, Lei Xiangyi, and Lei Xiangli had broken up on their joint efforts in the charcoal business, mainly because Lei Xiangren was always lazy and cut less firewood, and he often didn’t help during charcoal burning. Lei Xiangzhi suggested that they sell the charcoal burning recipe and divide the money directly. The quality of the charcoal made with this recipe was very good. Lei Xiangyi and Lei Xiangli didn’t want to sell the recipe. Later, they were convinced by Lei Xiangzhi and planned to make another batch of charcoal before selling the recipe.

Qin Mian did not ask much about this matter.

Fast forward to the twelfth month, Lei Xiangyi and Lei Xiangli sent 500 jin of charcoal to Leisurely Farmhouse.

They took the initiative to mention about selling the charcoal recipe to Qin Mian and Lei Tie. It was sold for a total of 200 silver taels. Lei Daqiang and Du Shi believed that the recipe was given by Qin Mian and Lei Tie before the family separation, so it should be counted as collective finance. The 200 silver taels were divided into five parts: Lei Daqiang, Lei Xiangren, Lei Xiangyi, Lei Xiangli, and Lei Xiangzhi each got 40 silver taels. Lei Xiangzhi did not at all want this money but insisted to divide it among Lei Xiangyi, Lei Xiangli, and Lei Chuntao. Lei Chuntao got 10 silver taels saving for her dowry, and Lei Xiangyi and Lei Xiangli each got 15 silver taels. Lei Xiangyi and Lei Xiangli had no choice but to accept them. However, they both inwardly decided to give the money to Lei Xiangzhi when he took part in the triennial provincial examination.

In the twelfth lunar month, Qin Mian and Lei Tie transported canned yellow peaches and canned honey peaches made in summer to Double Xiang House. One jar was priced at 1 silver tael and sold for a limited amount every day. Those who wanted to buy it would have to hassle with others.

The vegetable in Leisurely Farmhouse’s greenhouse also began to mature – red tomatoes, green chives, three-colored amaranths, green peppers, bitter gourds, fresh cucumbers, plump eggplants, and huge white gourds thrived. There were only a few kinds of vegetables in winter. Everyone couldn’t stand eating those kinds of vegetables every day. When these summer vegetables appeared on Double Xiang House’s menu, the whole of Zhaoyang County was sensational. Even if a plate of fried amaranth was sold at a high price of 100 Wen, Double Xiang House was still a full house every day. Even the rich and noble families in the neighboring counties often came to Double Xiang House to eat.

On this day, Manager Sun was off work. Qin Mian and Lei Tie were going to the town to stand in for him. In passing, they would send over a hamper of tomatoes, a hamper of cucumbers, and a hamper of eggplants.

Lei Chuntao came in a hurry, with a happy face. “Eldest Brother, Eldest Sister-in-law. Fourth Brother is going to be engaged.”

Note:

Footnotes