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Chapter 118: Apricots are ripe (asking for monthly recommendation tickets)_l

She and Dani planted 200 golden ears each, and this time they sold it for fifteen taels of silver.

Added to the score or so earned last year, they now had over thirty taels. Compared to the girls of her age in the village, Ernian was practically a little rich girl.

“When you get married later, you can use the money you’ve been saving to buy a shop in the county town. Even if you don’t do any business yourself, you can still make money by renting it out to others every month,” Yingbao suggested to Ernian. “So you need to save up as much as you can now.”

Ernian agreed and asked with a wistful expression, “How much silver does it take to buy a shop in the county town?”

“It depends on the location. A shop in a good location will cost about two hundred taels at least.”

“What? It’s that expensive!” Ernian did some quick calculations, and compared it to the silver she had on hand. It didn’t seem like an impressive amount anymore.

Next time when they divide the mycelium, she might as well plant an additional 200 golden ears.

But the problem was, she needed space to cultivate the mushrooms.

The mushrooms required a delicate environment, they couldn’t be exposed to sun or rain, nor planted too densely. Ten or twenty extra plants would be fine, but any more would require the construction of a new bamboo shed.

Ernian scratched her head. Building a bamboo shed was no easier than building a house.

After breakfast, Mother Chun took the children to meet the new bride.

As they entered Jiang Erlang’s courtyard, they saw most of the Jiang family members had already arrived.

Yanru was in a red dress, serving morning tea to her in-laws from a bowl.

The morning tea was an egg soup, made with boiling water and sugar added.

“Dad, Mom, please have some tea,” Yanru respectfully offered the bowl.

Old man Jiang and Jiang Liu took the bowl, drank a sip, and gave their new daughter-in-law a red packet each.

After serving the tea, Jiang Erlang introduced his wife to the family. “These are my eldest brother and eldest sister-in-law.”

“Eldest Brother, Eldest Sister-in-law,” Yanru greeted obediently.

Jiang Dalang and his wife nodded at her but said nothing.

“Here are my third brother and his wife,” Jiang Erlang introduced his younger brother and sister-in-law.

“Third Brother, Third Sister-in-law.”

“Second Sister-in-law,” Jiang Sanlang and Mother Chun nodded in acknowledgment.

“Over here are Dacheng, Erquan, Dani, Yuanbao from my eldest brother’s family,” Jiang Erlang introduced. “Over there are Yingbao, Xiaojie, Xiaowu from my third brother’s family.”

Yanru took out a large handful of silver jujubes and handed them out to the children, two for each.

The children thanked her in unison: “Thank you, Second Aunt!”

Jiang Erlang then pulled his own two children closer. “Pay respects to your mother.” He turned to his newlywed wife, “Yanru, this is my eldest daughter,

Ernian, and this is my eldest son, Huzi.”

Ernian and Huzi looked a bit awkward, but they still called her “mother”.

Yanru gave each of the siblings a fancy silver lock, and personally put them on for them.

Once the introductions were over, Yanru went into the kitchen to cook, while Ernian went in to help with the fire.

Mother and daughter worked well together, one at the stove and the other at the fire, their cooperation silent but efficient. It was harmonious.

Jiang Liu sighed in relief. In a low voice, she told her second son, “Now that you’re married, settle down and lead a good life. Yanru seems to be a good girl, you ought to treat her well.”

“I understand, Mom.” Jiang Erlang said with a beaming smile, “No one needs to make lunch today; we’ll all taste Yanru’s cooking.”

Zhou and Mother Chun both nodded with a smile.

After the children had met their new aunt, Yingbao and the others ran off because Jiang Quan said he would take them to the pond to catch shrimp.

The pond at South Slope was quite large, surrounded by many lotus plants. Their leaves were now quite large and could be used as hats when they are picked.

Each of the kids had a large lotus leaf on their head and were catching shrimp with small nets by the pond. Very soon, they caught almost half a basketful.

After catching the shrimp, Jiang Quan took them to see his fish pond, in which there were many loaches squirming around.

“These are all the ones I’ve raised. Let’s catch a few more loaches later, coat them in flour and fry them in lard. Trust me, they’re delicious.”

Yuanbao and Huzi were salivating at the thought, quickly urging Jiang Quan to catch more loach for them so that it can be fried in oil.

Yingbao was also yearning for some fried food, but she preferred sour and sweet fruits like apricots and peaches.

Her family had many fruit trees around their house – peaches, apricots, pears, persimmons, jujubes, and even a couple of apple trees, alongside several exotic vines that she did not recognize.

After pruning and grafting, the fruit trees started to bloom and bear fruit this year. As it was the first year they were fruiting, there were not many fruits.

Each tree bore only several fruits. Yet, the sheer number of trees made up for it.

Now it was the end of May, and most of the apricots had turned yellow. It appeared to be the right time to eat them.

“Big brother, let’s go and pick some apricots.” The apricot trees were too tall for Yingbao, and the apricots were hidden behind the leaves, unreachable without a long bamboo pole.

“Sure, let me take the shrimp and loach home first.” After Jiang Quan had collected enough loaches, he ran home with the basket. Soon after, he returned with a long bamboo pole.

Thus, the kids started to pick apricots again.

With each hit from the bamboo pole, the ripe apricots fell from the tree. Xiaojie and Xiaowu let out exclamations as they picked up the fallen apricots, and when they found a big one, they would show it to their sister, brimming with joy.

Yingbao, Yuanbao, and Huzi also picked up the apricots. If they picked one that was squashed, they would wipe it clean with their sleeves and eat it straight away.

The ripe apricots were very delicious – sweet and sour, far better than cherries.

However, eating too much would harm one’s teeth and stomach. Soon enough, Yingbao felt she could not bite into anything else, yet she still desired more.

Jiang Quan stopped picking after half a basketful and started discussing with Yingbao, “Yingbao, shall we take the leftover apricots to the market to sell tomorrow?”

He knows that these fruit trees belong to Yingbao and thus he must discuss these matters with her.

Yingbao nodded her head, “Hmm, please take me with you at that time.”

“No problem!” Jiang Quan started to laugh, tousling Yingbao’s hair, “When we sell them, we will each get half of the money.”

“Good.”

At noon, all members of the Jiang family gathered at Jiang Erlang’s house for lunch.

Indeed, Yanru made two large tables of dishes, each dish made with great effort. Not only were the dishes aromatic, but they were also beautifully arranged.

The shrimp and the loaches Jiang Quan brought back were also made into a dish according to his suggestion – fried in oil, placed in a large dish with a small round lotus leaf at the bottom, green and tempting.

Both Zhou family’s wife and Chunniang, who had cooked for a lifetime, were not aware that dishes could be presented in this way.

For instance, a circle of leaves could be arranged around the steamed fish, with a small piece of yellow apricot on each leaf. It looked extremely nice.

During lunch, the adults sat at one table and the kids at another. Although the dishes served were the same, the fried shrimp and fried loach served at the children’s table was more in quantity.

After lunch, Yanru started to clean up the dishes, Chunniang and Da Ni’er also

lent a hand.

Yingbao led her two younger brothers home.

Having eaten too much at lunch, she took her two puppies for a stroll in the courtyard.

The gourds that had been planted in the spring had now started to climb up the trellis, blooming with many small white flowers. Tiny green gourds had begun to emerge from beneath the flowers, and some had already grown to the size of half a palm.

Xiaojie found these small gourds interesting and stretched his hand to pick them. He was stopped by Yingbao, “These are baby gourds that have not yet grown up. We can’t pick them just yet. Let’s wait until they grow and then we will pick them, okay?”

Reluctantly retracting his hand, Xiaojie murmured, “We can’t pick the tiny gourds yet. We will pick them when they are bigger.”

“Such a good boy.” said Yingbao as she patted Xiaojie’s head.

Suddenly, Xiaowu ran over, lowered his head in front of his sister, waiting for her to pat his head while saying: “Xiaowu is the best behaved.”

Yingbao had no choice but to pat him too and praised, “Xiaowu is also well-behaved..”