Chapter 29: The Can

Chapter 29

At the end of June, the school was built. On the day of completion, Old Lady Hu, who was usually stingy, exceptionally had someone buy a pig and treat the whole village to pig-killing rice.

Jiang Yuqing was also taken there by the old lady Hu.

Whether the big pot of rice tasted good or not was debatable, but it was really lively.

At the dinner table, Old Lady Hu drank too much. She sang dragon boat tunes in a broken voice, and as she sang she cried.

She cried and drank at the same time. She cried about the hard days of the past and the grievances the Jiang Family members had suffered...

The nearly sixty-year-old lady cried with tears streaming down her face, like a child.

Not to mention those who had experienced hardships with her, even she, an outsider, was quite moved.

This old lady had been thinking about the Jiang Family all her life, without any selfishness. Apart from her ability, just based on this point alone, she deserved the Jiang Family's respect and lived up to their ancestors.

Jiang Wenyuan entrusted former mountain chiefs and classmates, and offered very good conditions to find a gentleman of good character and integrity as a teacher for the Jiang Family's school.

The mountain chiefs promised that if they found a suitable candidate, they would definitely recommend him to Jiang Wenyuan.

In late early July, the road from Xijin ferry to the county road was fully paved and could accommodate two carriages side by side, nearly six miles long, all rammed with clay, wide, flat and solid.

Not only was it better than the county road, it was even better than the threshing grounds in many villages.

Xijin ferry became famous again. Girls from villages miles around were proud to marry Xijin ferry boys, and Xijin ferry boys were proud to marry Xijin ferry girls. Xijin ferry was in the spotlight again.

No matter how lively it was outside, it had nothing to do with little Jiang Yuqing. In the eyes of Lichun and Guyu, their young lady was really too lonely and pitiful.

At this age, she should be curious and playful.

But their young lady was either reading in the study or gardening in the backyard, or was carried by someone to inspect the fields.

Apart from a few brothers, she didn't even have a playmate, which made people feel sorry for her sensible personality.

Regarding the issue of playmates, Jiang Yuqing was also helpless.

Among the clansmen of the same surname, there were no other girls except her. There were a few from other families in the village.

But those older than her were hindered by her status and didn't really dare to play with her. Those around her age were really too young, they couldn't even speak clearly, how could they play together?

After all, not everyone was as gifted as her. If they accidentally made her cry, she would probably have to coax them instead, so it was better not to bother.

Ever since she was taught how to read and write in the study that day, Jiang Yuqing formally began learning.

When Dad was not around, she would learn with her brothers. With her previous life's foundation, she could grasp the general idea of a book by guessing even though she was just starting to recognize words.

When she encountered unfamiliar characters, as long as someone gave her a little guidance, she could remember them eight or nine times out of ten.

Her hands were small and couldn't hold a writing brush yet.

So Second Uncle made a small sandbox for her to practice writing characters every day with little sticks to reinforce her memory.

Later she simply took out pencil and paper from her spiritual space to write.

The elders in the family marveled more than once that if she had been born a boy, the family might have produced another top scholar.

When Jiang Yuchuan heard this, he secretly swore that since his sister could not be the top scholar, he would make her the sister of the top scholar, the most glorious sister of a top scholar.

From then on, Jiang Yuchuan studied even harder.

In July, the watermelons in Jiang Yuqing's spiritual space ripened. The harvested watermelons were piled up like a mountain in her spiritual space.

Since they could preserve freshness in her spiritual space, they wouldn't spoil no matter how long they were kept if not finished eating.

She just had to plant them outside next year, and then she could enjoy them openly and unrestrainedly, give them away or sell them.

Not like now, she still had to hide even in her own home, which really took away the fun.

The cry of cicadas urged the passing of time.

The hot July finally passed, and the autumn tiger was still ferocious after Beginning of Autumn. Amidst the heat waves, the people of Xijin ferry welcomed the autumn harvest.

The Jiang family had a total of 51 mu of good fields, and after harvesting and drying to remove chaff, they got a total of 16,371 catties of grain, averaging about 321 catties per mu.

The elders were elated, saying that the yield was very good. But in Jiang Yuqing's opinion, the output was frighteningly low.

Her family didn't need to pay grain tax, and the grain was enough to eat. Most commoner families still had to pay tax.

Take Third Grandpa's family for example. His family had thirteen mu of fields, of which eight mu were good fields and five mu were inferior fields. Based on an average yield of 300 catties per mu, they would harvest about 3,900 catties.

Of those, two mu were tax-exempt, so the tax grain was about 110 catties. After paying the tax, there would be less than 3,800 catties left.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the weather cooled down day by day. Jiang Yuqing was taken by the Lu family to stay in the city for a while.

In September, autumn fruits began to go on the market in large quantities.

This year, the weather was favorable for crops, and the fruits yielded a bumper harvest.

Among them, the largest yields were tangerines, oranges, pomelos, pears, chestnuts and persimmons.

Everywhere on both sides of the streets were people selling fruits, and there were also some out-of-town merchants who came to buy fruits, but the number taken away was very limited.

Because these were common fruits in the south, all states and prefectures had them, and they were not rare.

Under the circumstance of oversupply, the price of fruits would inevitably fall to the point where fruit farmers would cry without being able to sell them.

Take persimmons for example, large persimmons weighing three or four taels, no one wanted even seven for a penny.

A fruit farmer runs a stand for a day, and the income is still not enough to buy two buns for himself.

How can this work?

If the fruits could not be sold, they would rot in the fields. Without economic income, families would fall into difficulties.

When the common people's livelihood was difficult, how could Jiang Wenyuan, as the prefect of a county, sleep soundly?

During this period of time, in order to sell more fruits for the elders, Jiang Wenyuan even lowered his status and personally pulled merchants, just asking them to buy more.

But compared to the huge remaining base, it was still very limited. He worried so much that his hair fell out in clumps.

Jiang Yuqing was carried by her father, walking on the main street, looking at the fresh fruits on the whole street that could not be sold. She thought it would be better if some of them could be sold later, for example, coming on the market again in winter.

Thinking of this, she suddenly had an inspiration. That's right, we can make them into canned fruits!

With this thought, she immediately pulled her father's clothes and whispered in his ear, "Dad, go home. Fruits have solutions."

As soon as Jiang Wenyuan heard this, his eyes lit up instantly. He anxiously asked his daughter, "Good baby, do you really have a way?" Jiang Yuqing nodded heavily.

So Jiang Wenyuan didn't wander anymore either. He carried his daughter and walked back with big strides. A Ping could hardly keep up with his pace.

Back at home, he dismissed his subordinates. Jiang Wenyuan asked his daughter, "Good baby, how to do it, tell Dad quickly."

So Jiang Yuqing took out a bunch of things from her spiritual space supermarket, including a box of persimmon cakes and two cans of canned fruit.

"Dad, make cans."

As soon as Jiang Wenyuan saw the persimmon cakes and the two cans, his eyes shone like they were inlaid with titanium alloy.

He could barely make out the various ingredient ratios clearly marked on the can labels.

After reading for a long time, he asked, "Dear, can we make them?" Jiang Yuqing nodded, "Yes, let's try!" In her previous life, in order to earn tuition fees, she didn't know how many jobs she had done, sometimes working several jobs at the same time.

Among them, she had worked in a specialty food factory, and was very familiar with the process of making cans and persimmon cakes.

Since it was difficult for Jiang Yuqing to speak, she simply took paper and pen and wrote down what she knew one by one, and attached specific production methods.

After writing, she also explained them one by one, drawing comparisons and making sketches. Jiang Wenyuan finally understood completely.

First, fruits such as tangerines, peaches, oranges, pears and so on can be made into canned fruit, with the production method of canned fruit attached.

Second, the long-term storage method of chestnuts.

Third, the production method of persimmon cakes.

He asked his daughter if the cans could be opened to taste the flavor. Jiang Yuqing nodded and said of course. He then decisively took them to the kitchen...

The dinner that night was food that was bought back from outside.

As for the kitchen at home, it had been temporarily requisitioned by his parents to experiment with canning. Jiang Yuqing was the technical instructor.

Canned food was not difficult to make.

The ceramic jars were washed clean, and steamed with cork stoppers to sterilize them.

Tangerines were peeled, with the pith removed, washed clean and drained.

The pot was washed clean, an appropriate amount of water was added (enough to submerge the tangerine flesh), an appropriate amount of sugar was added and dissolved over low heat, then the tangerine flesh was added and cooked briefly. While still hot, it was put into the jar, stoppered with the cork, then sealed around with melted beeswax. The canned food was done.

Such canned food could be stored for three months.

The production time of persimmon cakes was much longer. They needed to be dried and kneaded first, dried and kneaded alternately, and finally frosted.

Jiang Wenyuan hugged his daughter and kissed her hard twice.

Then, holding the few cans he had made himself and the box of persimmon cakes his daughter had given him, he convened subordinates and several famous big businessmen in Qingzhou for an overnight meeting.