Chapter 102

When Xu Ran arrived at Wu Mei’s home, they had just come back from the fields and really hadn’t spared time to cook.

Xu Ran said, “I told you to go to my home for dinner tonight. Let the two kids go there first, but the three of us should go separately to ask others to go.”

Xu An nodded and began to assign tasks. “OK, let me go to Xu Fa’s home. Wu Mei, you go to Xu Zhen’s home. What about you, Xu Ran? Are you going to the village head’s home?

Xu Ran nodded and said, “Yes, I’m going there. Let’s go!”

Wu Mei asked his two kids to go to Xu Ran’s home first, and then the three adults headed in different directions.

When all the people arrived, Liu Tong’s dishes were ready.

Xu Ran had also warmed the liquor and poured a small cup for each one.

Everyone at the table knew that Xu Ran had something to say today. After they had eaten and drunk to get something in their stomachs, Xu Ran then began to talk about business.

“Today I asked all of you to come here because I really have something to say. The village head is also here today, but I still have to make one thing clear: don’t tell others what happened today. Village head, I know you are the head of the village, so you naturally hope everyone lives well, but my method is the result of my thinking. I don’t want to hide it from anyone, but others should know it later. Do you agree with me, village head?”

The village head knew that what Xu Ran had said was right. He could not share his method with others for no reason. Back then, when he had been in his hardest time, apart from Wu Mei’s family and these few families, no others had come to help him. Putting himself in Xu Ran’s shoes, the village head thought that Xu Ran’s act was right.

But he was the village head, after all! How could he not think about the benefit of the village? Unless he didn’t know about it.

The village head said, “Xu Ran, I’ve had dinner today, but I won’t listen to your method. When you decide to tell everyone in the village someday, then you can tell me.”

The village head’s reaction was within Xu Ran’s expectations. He didn’t say anything, but raised his cup and toasted the village head. At the dinning table, he didn’t mention the matter of making money.

Liu Tong was skilled at cooking, and the vegetables were many and fresh, so all the people at the table enjoyed themselves.

After dinner, the village head and Spouse Chen went home, while Wu Mei and the others stayed to help Liu Tong clean up the kitchen.

These few children were playing in the yard, and they would go and tease Big Black occasionally.

Xu Ran and the others went to the yard. Now it was gradually getting hot. Mr. Hu didn’t have to stay by the fire at night, so he often took a walk in the yard.

After the Ge’ers in the kitchen were done with their work, Xu Ran then asked all the people concerned to start talking about business.

The bamboo shoots had come out, and some people had begun digging and selling them on the street. Everyone knew about selling the fresh shoots, so Xu Ran had never thought about it. Painstaking efforts were made, but the seller could not make much money. It was really unnecessary to do something that needed great efforts but would yield no fruits.

Xu Ran said, “You should also know that some people have begun selling bamboo shoots in town these days! We won’t join in the fun. Let’s try a different method: making dried shoots and pickled sour shoots.”

“What is that?” The group looked at Xu Ran in confusion.

Xu Ran said with a smile, “It is very simple, in fact. The process is: bring back the bamboo shoots we dug, boil them, cut them into pieces or slices, and then dry them in the sun. In winter, we can make soup with them and bacon. It’s quite delicious.

“The pickled sour shoots actually taste the same as the pickled radish. They are sour and can be eaten with congee. Besides, they can also be fried with fat meat. It tastes good too.”

Xu Ran imagined the taste as he spoke, his mouth about to water.

“Can we make money in this way, Ran?” Liu Tong asked.

“Of course,” Xu Ran said confidently. “Pickled sour shoots can be sold at any time, but we can only sell the dried shoots when the winter comes. When you go sell fried chestnuts, you can put a big pot beside them and make soup with bones and the dried shoots. Sell a bowl of soup for two cents. Then, you put it in the market, right?”

Remembering the matter of the chestnuts last year, everyone started to feel confident in Xu Ran’s words. Probably, no one had ever tried such things before. Since people loved fresh things, they could sell lots of them.

“We have no objections. We all listen to you,” Wu Mei said to Xu Ran.

“Neither do we,” Liu Qing and Wu Lan echoed.

Xu An and the rest didn’t speak anything to object, either. Xu Ran was willing to help them, which made them very happy.

Xu Ran remembered that these few families also had relatives, so he specifically gave them a reminder. “I know each of your families has more than one son. Some people always want to have a share of the money-making method. To put it bluntly, this is the method I came up with. I don’t want to share it with others, so I hope you don’t tell others, or none of us might be able to do it then.”

Everyone nodded. Speaking of this, their family members had leaked lots of information about selling the chestnuts last year.

Fortunately, they were all independent of the families of their parents, and none of them was the eldest son. Anyway, they just needed to give the monthly money to support their dads and daddies. With that done, they were basically free to do other things.

Since their children had grown up, they needed to attend school and get married, but houses had not been built. Anyway, it was a large sum of money. These few families understood that if they couldn’t make much money but just earn money bit by bit, they were not sure when they would accumulate enough.

Wu Mei’s family was a typical example. In those days, when he had found that Xu Ran, of the Xu Family, had bullied Liu Tong because of his mental disorder, he had told Xu An that he wanted to leave the old family and build a new one.

Xu An was the second son in his family, with his status being neither high nor low. Due to this reason, he had not been favored. But he had worked in town and learned skills from others, so he had contributed to most of the family income. As for his eldest brother and third brother, they had not been gluttonous and lazy guys, but they had never been diligent. They had always been trying to get money from his pockets, but he had handed in all his money to his daddy, so how could he have been able to give them money?

Without money brought back, Wu Mei and their two children would have had to live a hard life. Being strong-willed, Wu Mei had thought that they could not live like this anymore. Remembering Liu Tong’s life, he had realized that he was not as capable as he was. Therefore, he had told Xu An that he wanted to leave this family and build a new one.

Initially, Xu An had not agreed, but when having seen their children and his spouse bullied several times, he had hardened his heart and agreed to Wu Mei’s request.

After moving out, the two had only relied on themselves, but their life had become better.

Taking Wu Mei into consideration, Xu Ran had decided to take care of their family. Naturally, they would not be ignorant of the current situation. Besides, Xu Ran’s method was indeed a way to make money.

After the discussion, no one had any objections. Xu Ran had decided to go to the mountain and dig bamboo shoots tomorrow morning.

Liu Tong had chosen the location. The road wasn’t difficult to tread. As long as they went early, no one would notice them.

Xu Ran didn’t plan to bring the shoots home to bask. After all, their house was being built, and many people were here; now Xu Ran was a student who hadn’t joined the primary imperial examination, so some people always wanted to come and chat with him. It was not good if this was found.

Members of the four families would all go up the mountain together, even including children and elders because they could help peel the shoots, gather firewood, and watch the fires.

After thinking it over, Xu Ran began to give tasks. He explained everything clearly, including the things each family should carry on their backs to the mountain, what to do when they were up in the mountain, and how to do each of their tasks.

They wouldn’t need to dig too many bamboo shoots tomorrow, but they had to prepare all the tools they would need, for this would also facilitate their future work.

Fiddleheads could also be processed like this, but it was too late this year because their season had passed. When winter came, this would be something really good.

With their discussion closed, each family’s parents took their children home, but all of them would gather at the Xu Ran’s home the next day.

After seeing off Wu Mei’s family and the other families, Xu Ran then began to tell his two children and the old man. The children were very excited when they heard that they were going up the mountain. Mr. Hu had said that there was no problem. Anyway, he would merely sit at home if he was left behind, and it was acceptable to go up the mountain and see something.

He hadn’t been outside often since he came to Xu Village. The strawberries in the fields were good, and there was no need for him to give any help. He didn’t want Xu Ran’s family to think that he couldn’t do anything but eat, so he was always very proactive no matter what Xu Ran said.

After that, Liu Tong took the two kids to bathe and sleep, while Xu Ran went to take care of Mr. Hu.

When they were all asleep, Xu Ran and Liu Tong began to look for things. There were many bamboo mats in their house, and they could be used when the bamboo shoots were basked, so they would take some to the mountain.

Besides, every household had to prepare hoes.

From tomorrow on, no one would be at home in the daytime, but there were animals to feed in Xu Ran’s house. The pigweeds and horse weeds must be prepared in advance. He would only go up the mountain after feeding them tomorrow, and he should come back to check the condition at noon.

Eating would also be a little troublesome. It was impossible for them to come back and cook!

Xu Ran had a headache as he thought about it. After telling Liu Tong something about what he hadn’t finished, he went out to Foreman Li.

Foreman Li and his companions were about to sleep, but when he saw Xu Ran, he asked jokingly if he was scared by what had happened during the day so that he had come to huddle with them.

Xu Ran answered perfunctorily with a smile and then took him out.

Foreman Li looked at Xu Ran with a confused expression. “Xu Ran, you don’t want me to help you work now, do you? It’s dark.”

Xu Ran hit him once with his fist and said, “It’s not now but tomorrow. We’re going to the mountain tomorrow, along with a few friends. Please cook meals for us tomorrow, and I’ll pay for the dishes.”

“Hey!” Foreman Li waved his hand and said, “I thought it should be something eventful! Just tell me the number. I’ll ask them to help cook the meals.”

“Seventeen, including my family members.” There were four in each of the other families, and there were five in their family. In total, there were lots of people.

“Don’t worry. Come back for meals tomorrow when it is time.”

“Thank you, Foreman Li,” Xu Ran said with his gratitude.

“You’re welcome. Now go back and sleep. Leave this to me.”

“Then I’m leaving.”

Xu Ran went back after getting this done. Liu Tong had packed up everything, so the two washed up and went to bed!