131 – Oh Mom, Bun!

After returning from Qingtian Prefecture, Qin Mian asked his servants to find out where to buy a large number of grape seedlings. Uncle Fu brought back the news that a household owned a small vineyard in Lin County. Lei Tie took four people to Lin County to negotiate with them. By the time the weather turned nice and warm, the grape seedlings could be transported back.

The work in the first few days when Double Xiang House and Eating Savory Restaurant resumed business was loaded in trivial details. Qin Mian oversaw Double Xiang House and also had people to clean up the shop he instructed Manager Sun to buy last year – it would open in a few days. When the shop owners in the town saw the “Glimmer of Paradise” trademark hung on the shop, they knew that this shop’s owner was the same owner of Double Xiang House. However, they knew nothing about what business it ran.

After a busy month passed by, it was Lei Yaqing’s one-month-old birthday. Lei Tie only had people prepare an ordinary gift to send; he and Qin Mian did not attend.

Although there were two old ladies in Lei Daqiang’s household, Du Shi had more seniority than Wei Shi. Moreover, her relatives were more than Wei Shi. Usually, whatever kind of happy occasion Lei Daqiang’s family did, the money and gifts were basically received through Du Shi’s grasp. One could imagine how resentful Du Shi was when she did not receive Lei Tie’s gift money for Lei Yaqing’s one-month-old birthday banquet.

Lei Daqiang was a little disappointed when Wei Shi gave birth to a daughter instead of a son. Du Shi thought that Lei Daqiang’s heart would turn to her immediately. Unexpectedly, Wei Shi’s means were powerful. In a month, Lei Daqiang had spent the night in Wei Shi’s room for at least 20 days. Moreover, he also treated the little girl well.

Meanwhile, Lei Xiangli began to work on the housing issue. He would move out of the old house after the house was built. For Du Shi, it meant that this son would also be out of her control.

A few unsatisfactory things happened together. Du Shi’s heart was holding back a fire; it was unknown when the flame would burst.

The residents of Leisurely Farmhouse were busy in a strained and orderly way. Uncle Quan and several servants drove the oxen to plow the farmland, while also leveled the soil for the vineyard in advance, and applied decomposed farmyard fertilizer, which was divided into two layers of fertilizer with soil and fertilizer mixture.

In the first ten days of the third lunar month, the weather turned warm again after a cold spell.

Qin Mian told Lei-Qin Shun and Lei-Qin Cheng to buy two peach trees, two pear trees, two plum trees, two cherry trees, two pomegranate trees, and two sweet orange trees to plant in Double Xiang House. In the future, the Silver, Gold, and Diamond Members who came to Double Xiang House could have another pleasure: they could personally pick fruits to eat, freely, however many they wanted to but not allowed to waste or take home.

Lei Tie took people to Lin County to transport back a large number of grape seedlings. The grape seedlings were transported back by fast carriage and planted in rows of fences. Qin Mian had already said that the vineyard was to be handed over to Uncle Quan. Uncle Quan was very dedicated and personally participated in every step of grape planting. Qin Mian and Uncle Quan were inexperienced. They went to the county to buy two servants, who knew how to do business, as Uncle Quan’s helpers.

Uncle Fu and Lei-Qin Le had also taken over the winery and vermicelli workshop respectively. The unmarried Lei-Qin Le immediately became hot in Green Mountain Village.

Yes, he was a slave, but he was also a manager. He was very much promising. As long as he had money, he might be able to get rid of his slavery status in the future. Besides, the rural people’s requirements for life were not high. As long as they could eat and wear warm clothes, they would be very satisfied. Moreover, it was heard that Qin Mian and Lei Tie said that the servants would be allocated a separate set of servant house when they got married. Given these points, many parents in Green Mountain Village began to seek Aunt Fu and even sent gifts to Aunt Fu, hoping that she could say many good words about their daughters in front of Qin Mian and Lei Tie.

Aunt Fu didn’t accept the gifts. Lei-Qin Le was a sweet-mouthed and decent person. He came to Leisurely Farmhouse at the same time as she and Uncle Fu. Therefore, Aunt Fu regarded Lei-Qin Le as her nephew. She was very devoted to Lei-Qin Le’s personal affairs. After inquiring about the characters of a few girls and asking for Lei-Qin Le’s opinions, the person selected as Lei-Qin Le’s wife was Xiao-Xu from the same village.

When Aunt Fu reported the matter to Qin Mian and Lei Tie, Qin Mian and Lei Tie had no objection. After Xiao-Xiu signed the sale deed, they set the date for Lei-Qin Le and Xiao-Xiu to get married.

As long as the servants were loyal and dedicated, Qin Mian did not mean to treat them harshly. He prepared betrothal gifts for Lei-Qin Le: betrothal money, 2 silver taels, betrothal cake, 8 jin; betrothal wine, two jars; and betrothal rice, 2 ladles. The betrothal gifts worth about 5 silver taels, which was better than other people’s betrothal gifts.

However, Lei-Qin Le was a servant after all. It was not good to do a big wedding. In a few days, all six etiquettes were done and they were married ten days later. Lei-Qin Le’s guests were Uncle Fu, Uncle Quan, and Lei-Qin Zhong’s group; there were also not many relatives on Xiao-Xiu’s side. No one from the village was invited to the wedding reception.

Xiao-Xiu married Lei-Qin Le and became “Lei-Qin Le’s wife”. She usually helped Aunt Fu and Aunt Quan doing Leisurely Farmhouse’s miscellaneous works.

When the matter at home was brought to a temporary close, Qin Mian and Lei Tie rushed to the town.

The reason why they were in such a hurry was that the two pink balls in the space had become more and more active recently, and they both had a vague sense that they were expected to bloom in the coming days. Once they made proper arrangements in the town, the two men would wholeheartedly stay at home and wait quietly.

After making rounds in Double Xiang House and Eating Savory Restaurant, they came to the new shop. The shop was decorated very meticulously; it was neat and simple yet elegant. Into the door, there were wind chimes above the head. The jingling sound of the chimes was crisp and beautiful. The shop was not big, about twice size as that of Eating Savory Restaurant, and divided into two parts by a wooden wall. Near the door were two sets of tables and chairs fixed on the floor. Inward was a chest-high counter with a square board hanging above it. Behind the counter were three custom-made shelves, all of which were three layers. The kitchen was behind the wooden wall.

“Wife, what is the new shop going to do?” asked Lei Tie.

Qin Mian said, “Sell pastries and drinks. Aunt Fu, Aunt Quan, and Lei-Qin Le’s wife are not smart but work earnestly and attentively, and also very diligent. Just doing laundry and weeding at home is not worthy of their talents. So, let the three of them make pastries and drinks at home, and transport them to the shop to sell.”

Naturally, it was on the premise that Qin Mian had to teach Aunt Fu and the other two women first. Lei Tie put his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “The money earned won’t be finished. I don’t want you to work too hard.”

“Rest assured.” Qin Mian leaned on him. “As for this shop, my main purpose isn’t to make a lot of money but to occupy a position in Running Water Town first. Can’t let this shop be empty.”

Seeing the tiredness on his face, Lei Tie was worried, “For months in a row, your vital spirit’s refining speed is extremely slow. If I’m not wrong, it should be related to the pink balls. Wife, we’d better go back first. In case there is a change, it’s more convenient to do things at home.”

Qin Mian nodded, “Actually, I also have such a guess. The space and I are one, and the pink balls are in the space. I’m afraid that most of the spiritual Qi I absorb is absorbed by the pink balls.” He had a premonition that these two flowers were not ordinary.

Thinking of this, he was somewhat too impatient to wait, “We’ll go back now.”

The two simply put things in order and galloped on horseback to Green Mountain Village.

With hands akimbo, Du Shi stood in the middle of the only road into the village. It was obvious that she was here to wait for them. It was half a li¹ from the village’s entrance.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie reined in the horses in time.

Qin Mian didn’t dismount the horse. He looked at Du Shi and frowned. He didn’t know what kind of lousy idea would she come out with again.

“Eldest, it’s not easy for Mother to meet you.” Du Shi turned a blind eye to Qin Mian. She looked at Lei Tie with loving eyes and gently said, “Come home with me first. Your father and I have something to tell you.”

Lei Tie’s mood did not fluctuate at all as he dully said, “Du Shi, just speak directly.”

When Qin Mian saw Du Shi’s eyes turning disorderly, he knew that there was something wrong with her. “Old lady, if you have anything to say, just say it. We still have a lot of things to do.”

Du Shi coldly stared at him with a disgusted look and swung her arms hard as if sending away a beggar. “Qin Mian, it’s none of your business here. Go away.”

Lei Tie shook the reins and the black horse moved with all its hooves, “Wife, let’s go.”

Du Shi was in a great hurry and quickly blocked their way.

“Wait! In that case, I’ll say it straight.” With a righteous expression, Du Shi said, “Eldest, there are three cardinal offenses against filial piety, and having no male heir is the gravest of the three. No matter how good Qin Shi is, he can’t give you children. So, your father and I decided to give you a concubine––”

“What are you saying?!” Qin Mian was stunned. All of a sudden, there was a burst of sharp pain in the pit of his stomach. He grunted and reached out a hand to cover his mouth.

“Wife!” Lei Tie jumped onto his wife’s horse and embraced him. Suddenly, he turned his head and stared fixedly at Du Shi. His cold and piercing eyes seemed to be looking at a dead person.

As though she fell into an icehouse, Du Shi’s whole body was cold and unable to move a step.

Lei Tie swung his left palm.

Du Shi was hit hard by an invisible force and fell heavily to the ground with a sharp pain in her chest. She looked at Lei Tie in horror. She opened her mouth to speak, but found that she could not make a sound!

The brown horse leaped over Du Shi’s body and galloped to Leisurely Farmhouse at full speed.

“Wife, how are you doing?” Lei Tie looked down at the person in his arms, endlessly worried.

At this time, the spiritual Qi in Qin Mian’s body fluctuated rapidly, and he realized that there was a change in the space. The two pink balls seemed to communicate with him; they were anxiously calling him.

“Quick, get into the space!”

Lei Tie couldn’t wait to return to Leisurely Farmhouse; he directly created an illusion with his vital spirit to prevent people from peeping in the distance and disappeared with Qin Mian on the spot.

When the two men appeared in the space, they nearly fell to the ground by the fluctuation of spiritual Qi in the space. They raised their heads and were surprised to see the boundless spiritual Qi, like a small-scale tornado discharged from the quadrangle courtyard, congested in the space.

“Pink balls!” cried Qin Mian in alarm.

Lei Tie embraced him and appeared in front of the flower bed in the quadrangle courtyard. Within the rippling spiritual Qi, the petals of two pink balls gradually unfolded. The spiritual Qi leaped on the petals and seemed to emit silver radiance.

The pink petals that were bigger than the lotus leaves, unfolded piece by piece. Qin Mian did not even dare to breathe heavily. Lei Tie was not much better than him. He clenched his fists without being aware of it and locked his gaze on the pink balls.

As more and more petals unfolded, they felt the joy from the pink balls. They looked at each other in surprise, and their gazes fell back on the pink balls.

About an hour later, the pink ball on the left side was the first to unfold the last two petals. At the same time, a burst of baby’s cries sounded. On the center of the flower, lay a naked baby!

Qin Mian rubbed his eyes in disbelief; the baby was still that baby. Instantly, he had mixed feelings of surprise and joy, “Oh mom, bun!”

Nearly before the sound of his voice had died away, the other flower also completely bloomed. An identical baby, with its eyes closed and legs kicked out, cried very loudly.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie hadn’t had the time to make a reaction when there was a sudden change in the space. The surging spiritual Qi born out of thin air turned the space like the sea surface encountered strong wind turbulence.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie were in confusion before they fainted.

🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉

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