Chapter 81

On the 10th day of the first lunar month, the wound on Liu Tong’s forehead began to form a scab, and at the same time, the villagers began to get busy. Xu Ran’s plan this year was to build a new house and buy a piece of land on the mountain to plant fruit trees apart from the imperial examination.

At present, his biggest problem was that he was short of money. His savings of a few hundreds of taels of silver was enough to buy a land on the top of a mountain, but there were not so many fruit trees on the mountains here, so he needed to go somewhere else to buy them, which might cost a great deal. Thus, it was impossible for them to build a new house now.

Xu Ran was a little upset. He wondered how he could make more money?

In spring, there were mushrooms and bamboo shoots in the mountains, which could be sold for money. In addition, there were wild ferns. However, it seemed that not many people bought them, but if dried, they were worth more.

What else could be planted without buying mountains? Xu Ran sat at the door with his chin cupped in his hands and was lost in thinking. The wind was blowing, making him shiver in the cold.

Liu Tong came out of the house and found Xu Ran sitting at the door. He asked, “Ran, why are you sitting at the door? Aren’t you cold?”

Xu Ran shivered and stood up to hold Liu Tong in the arms, “Tongtong, I’m thinking about how to make money! You see that I’m going to take the imperial examination this year and we’re going to build a new house. And maybe you are in the family way. We have to invite someone to take care of our baby then, but I can’t do anything if I have no money.”

Xu Ran felt quite down, which made Liu Tong feel sad and started to blame himself for being useless.

Seeing that Liu Tong was silent, Xu Ran realized that he had said something improper. He then changed the topic and asked, “Tongtong, what fruit do you like to eat the most?”

“Fruit?” Liu Tong was confused.

“It’s something like cherries, strawberries and pears. They are called fruits.”

Liu Tong thought for a moment and answered, “Cherry and strawberry. They are red. Just by seeing them, you’ll have an appetite.”

Strawberry! Xu Ran’s eyes suddenly lit up. Strawberry was really easy to be planted, and he didn’t need to buy mountains for its planting. They could directly grow in the field.

He remembered that in modern times, he used to see large strawberry plantations in other people’s fields, which was enviable, not to mention the fact that the fruit could help solve the problem of eating and drinking as well as make money by selling it.

There was no specific season limit for planting strawberries, as long as there was plenty of sunlight and water in the soil. Xu Ran considered buying a few acres of fields to plant strawberries. He estimated that if the seedlings were planted this year, they would bear fruits this same year.

Xu Ran happily shared his thoughts with Liu Tong. Of course, Liu Tong supported Xu Ran in any way he did. He said smilingly, “Ran, go ahead. I support you no matter what.”

“Hmm, Tongtong, then we don’t build a new house first. You keep 100 taels of silver first and with the rest of the money, I’ll go and buy fields and strawberry seedlings.”

“Okay.” Liu Tong nodded and then both of them entered the house together.

In addition to the two hundred taels of silver notes paid by Mr. Chen before, all the deposits in their family were cash silvers, and there were also a lot of copper coins. Therefore, they were easy to use. Liu Tong kept a silver note of a hundred taels, and after a second thought, he picked up 10 taels of copper coins. He then gave the rest of the money to Xu Ran.

Xu Ran did not take all of them, but only took the other silver note of one hundred taels, “Keep them well first. This silver note is enough for me to buy the land I need. I’ll go to ask Zhuo Yun for help to buy the strawberry seedlings. It should be a lot cheaper.”

“All right. Just follow your idea.”

In the afternoon, it started to rain. Xu Ran’s plan to go to the town had to be put off. At this time, the village head was probably busy in the field. The rain in the spring was valuable and the land was the hope of a farmer’s life. Naturally, it was normal for farmers to work in the fields this time.

Xu Ran had nothing to do, so he simply went back to his study. He had recited well all the books he bought back. He planned to buy a few more books in the town in a few days so that he could be well prepared for his coming imperial examination.

The rain went on for several days. Although it was light rain, the ground was all wet. People walking outside had to step on the mud.

It was just the season to plant potatoes. Unlike those planted in winter, the harvests of the potatoes planted now were different not only in quantity but also in size.

The rain didn’t stop until the noon on the 14th of the first lunar month. The potatoes had been prepared well at home and the ash was being kept in the pit, waiting to be used as fertilizer for the plants.

Thus, their field work began. Liu Tong dug a hole, Guoguo put potato seeds into the hole, Tangtang added ash into it as fertilizer, and at last Xu Ran filled the hole well with earth. After two days of hard work, the family completed a total of two mu of the potato planting work. Xu Ran and Liu Tong were all right, while Tangtang and Guoguo was really exhausted.

It was the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth of the first lunar month. In order to make it up to the two children, Xu Ran planned to take them to the town. In this era, during the Lantern Festival, people at most put on some lanterns, and sold some new and interesting gadgets, apart from which, there was nothing enjoyable. Tangtang and Guoguo were young, after all, they felt everything there was fresh.

That day, Wu Mei’s and the other families were also planning to go to the town. It took the ox-cart back and forth twice to get all the members into the town.

Thinking that it would be too late to go back, and it would be inconvenient for the ox-cart to run twice. After Xu Ran arrived at the town, he decided to rent another ox cart so that all the people could get home once at night.

It was not cheap to rent an ox cart, especially when it needed to work at night. Xu Ran had to pay 50 copper coins for it, but he didn’t mind it because it was only a case once a year.

When they arrived at the town, the four families went separated. Xu Ran planned to take Liu Tong and the children to visit Zhuo Yun. Since Zhuo Yun had gone to pay him a New Year’s visit, he had to call on him anyway. After all, he still needed his help.

Xu Ran brought with him potatoes and chili paste to Zhuo Yun.

As they didn’t know where Zhuo Yun lived, the Xu Ran and his family first went to Zhuo Yun’s seed shop. When they got there, it was still not dark and they were just in time to see the shopkeeper coming out to close the door.

“Hey, sir, why do you close the door so early today?”

The shopkeeper turned around and saw it was Xu Ran. He smiled and greeted, “Hello, Mr. Xu!  Have you ever seen any customer come to  buy seeds in the evening, let alone the Lantern Festival today?”

After being lectured, Xu Ran replied modestly, “You’re right.”

Xu Ran asked again, “Yes, sir, are you going home? Could you show me to visit Mr. Zhuo? I’d like to send him New Year’s greetings.

“I’m going back to the Zhou Mansion right now. You can go with me! My master has been very happy and in high spirit all over the past few days,” said the shopkeeper. He also could not hide the joy on his face.

“Okay, great. Thank you, sir.”

Xu Ran and his family thus went to the Zhuo Mansion with the shopkeeper. Zhuo Yun was really happy. Upon knowing Xu Ran’s coming, he was grinning from ear to ear. Before Zhuo Yun told him, Xu Ran guessed the reason. It must be because Qin Shuwen’s problem had been solved.

After being informed by the servant, Zhuo Yun came to the gate to meet Xu Ran in person. As soon as they met, Zhuo Yun said, “Bro Xu, here you are! If you don’t come, I’ll go to you. I’ll tell you that I’ll…”

“Don’t worry about it. I didn’t come alone. My spouse and children are all here. Do you want to keep them standing there?” Xu Ran interrupted Zhuo Yun before he could finish speaking. Xu Ran knew he was going to talk about Qin Shuwen, but last time Liu Tong was angry with him for this. He wouldn’t be so foolish to make the same mistake twice.

Until then, Zhuo Yun noticed the people behind Xu Ran. He had seen Liu Tong, Tangtang and Guoguo before, so he apologized to Liu Tong, “Hello, Brother Liu, I’m sorry.”

Liu Tong felt that his intimate appellation was quite sickening, but it was not good to show it directly, so he just pulled Xu Ran’s clothes.

Having lived together for so long, Xu Ran understood what Liu Tong felt. He waved at Zhuo Yun, “Mr. Zhuo,  please don’t stand on ceremony. My name is Xu Ran. My spouse is called Liu Tong. You can just call us by names directly in the future.”

Zhuo Yun smiled, “Well, Xu Ran, you can also just call me Zhuo Yun. Don’t call me Mr. Zhuo.”

“Okay, fine. Just call you Zhuo Yun.”  Xu Ran stretched out his fist and touched Zhuo Yun’s.

After leading the guests into the house, Zhuo Yun said to Xu Ran, “Xu Ran, I’d like Liu Tong to accompany Shuwen. It’s not convenient for him, a Ge’er, to stay here with us.”

“All right. ” Xu Ran nodded, “Tongtong, take Tangtang and Guoguo over there. I’ll call you when leaving.”

“Okay,” Liu Tong replied, and followed a servant to go to Qin Shuwen’s room.

As soon as they left, Zhuo Yun couldn’t wait to share his success with Xu Ran, “Xu Ran, let me tell you. Shuwen has agreed to try living with me. He won’t leave right after his labor. Also, he has forgiven what I did back then. Haha, Isn’t it good news?”

Xu Ran had guessed this, but he was still very interested in the story of the event. He touched Zhuo Yun with his arm, who was sitting opposite him, “Tell me, what has happened?”

Zhuo Yun sat upright and then began to narrate what had happened after they came back from the Qin Family.

It turned out that on the ninth day of the first month, they came back from the Qin Family. The next day, people who were sent out to find the poor boy reported that they had found the poor man. Zhuo Yun hoped to take advantage of the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot, so he quickly ordered the servants to bring the poor boy to the Zhuo Mansion.

The poor boy’s surname was Zheng and his first name was Zhoumin. His dad and daddy died early, so he grew up on the food from many families in the village. When he grew a little older, he went to the town to find work to support himself. He and Qin Shuwen met by chance. Qin Shuwen valued the honesty of the poor boy, so he fell in love with him wholeheartedly.

The poor boy also knew that he was not worthy of Qin Shuwen. He was one year younger than Qin Shuwen and could not give him anything. The poor boy expressed this to Qin Shuwen. However, Qin Shuwen didn’t care about those things. He felt that he only needed to be with the person he liked.

Qin Shuwen’s true feelings moved the poor boy. Just at the time when the poor boy was working hard, Zhuo Yun appeared. He offered the poor boy a sum of money and let him leave the town to marry a Ge’er so that they could live a good life.

Besides, he analyzed the situation with the poor boy to see who could give Qin Shuwen a happy life.

The poor boy had always felt ashamed of his inferiority, so he talked a lot, hoping Zhuo Yun would cherish Qin Shuwen. Then he took the money and left.

The poor boy got married three years ago with a virtuous Ge’er. Now their child was already two years old, and his Ge’er was pregnant with another baby.

Zhuo Yun invited the poor boy to his home. He just wanted to show Qin Shuwen that the poor boy was living very well now. As long as he let go of the knot in his heart, he could also have a good life.