The happy little days of the Ye family

After inquiring about it, several people were ready to go back. When we returned to the place where the donkey cart was stored, Grandma Ye and Mrs. Li were already waiting.

Along the way, several people passed by two drug stores. Mr. Ye went there to find out whether they accepted honeysuckle.

The two drug stores Mr. Ye asked about both sold honeysuckle.

The honeysuckle collected by pharmacies must be sun-dried, as long as the buds are free of leaves and branches. Sun-dried honeysuckle costs 55 cents per pound, which is 5 cents more than the drug store in Luohe Town. Now Mr. Ye and Father Ye were finally relieved.

Mrs. Li can drive a donkey cart, and when she went back, it was Mrs. Li who drove the donkey cart, carrying Grandma Ye and Ye Qingqing mother and daughter back.

Mr. Ye and Father Ye were in a donkey cart. On the way, they were discussing how to plan the small back mountain.

"Both the drug stores in the town and the county town all accept honeysuckle, so you don't have to worry now. I will start looking for honeysuckle in the nearby mountains tomorrow and transplant some to the small back mountain." Mr. Ye drove the donkey cart said.

"Honeysuckle is good and basically doesn't need to be taken care of. The honeysuckle on the mountain all grows wild and grows well without anyone taking care of it. But we can't just grow honeysuckle, just like our grocery store can't just sell it. Something."

Father Ye was still thinking about what could be planted on the mountain, and suddenly he thought that merchants from Shu often came to the county to purchase pepper. Zanthoxylum bungeanum was found in the nearby mountains. It would be no problem to transplant some that had been planted in the small back mountains in the past.

"Dad, we can also grow peppercorns. There are them on the nearby mountains. We can just dig some seedlings and plant them in the small back hill." As he said this, Father Ye began to think about which mountains nearby had pepper trees.

"You can plant more kinds of pepper trees, they cost 55 cents per pound, and pepper is easier to preserve. Even if you can't sell it right now, you can keep it and sell it later." Mr. Ye said excitedly, patting his thigh.

"Dad, there are also fruit trees. It would be great if we could find saplings of wild fruits and chestnut trees. These can be planted on the mountain, especially the jujube trees. The red dates are good things. Don't worry about not being able to sell them."

Speaking of this, Father Ye felt a little regretful. When he was in the county town just now, he should have gone to see if there was anyone selling fruit seedlings.

The jujube saplings Ye's mother's father, Grandpa Ye, bought in the county were pretty good. Compared with the wild jujube trees on the mountain, they were worlds apart. Not only did they bear many fruits, but they were also very sweet.

"You're right. In the past few days, I will go to the nearby mountains to look for honeysuckle, chestnut seedlings and pepper seedlings. I will go to the county to buy fruit trees later. The wild fruit trees on the mountains are average in appearance and taste. If you want to plant them, just plant them. It tastes good, so I’ll go to the county town to buy some fruit trees later.”

Mr. Ye looked deeply at the mountains in the distance and said: "It is too risky to plant only one crop. Although the drug store now collects honeysuckle, what if it stops harvesting one day? You can't put all the eggs in the same basket. , plant some of various crops, it’s safer.”

"Yes, yes, our shopkeeper purchases goods from several places. He said that we cannot only purchase goods from one place. This is too risky." Father Ye has learned a lot of business experience from the shopkeeper in the grocery store over the years.

"And we'd better arrange it according to different times. For example, in spring there are wild vegetables, spring bamboo shoots, and Chinese toon. Later when the weather gets hotter, there are also various mushrooms in the mountains. In May and June, you can go pick honeysuckle. After picking honeysuckle, it's almost the same. The farming season is about to begin, and after the farming season is over, it will be autumn, and the wild fruits, jujube trees, and chestnuts on the mountains will also be ripe."

The family does not have enough manpower. If we plant all honeysuckle or all fruit trees, we will probably have to hire someone to help take care of it. The things on the mountain are not worth much in the first place. If we hire more people, there will be no profit.

Mr. Ye and Mrs. Ye are not young anymore. Mother Ye and Ye Qingqing cannot do heavy work. Their two sons are still in school. It is most appropriate to arrange them according to different seasons.

Mr. Ye also thinks Father Ye's proposal is very good, "Your arrangement is very good, so that you can make money all year round, and the time is divided. There is not much work on the mountain, and I can still take care of the work at home."

The naughty boy who played with cats and dogs all day finally grew up, and Mr. Ye suddenly felt a little emotional.

It was still early when we returned to Taohua Village, and everyone in the village was busy working in the fields. We didn't meet many people along the way, so Ye Qingqing and the others returned home in low spirits.

Seeing that several people came back safely, Mrs. Ye finally breathed a sigh of relief, "How was it? Nothing happened along the way, right?"

"Mom, the weather has been good for the country and the people in recent years. The road to the county town is very safe." Mother Ye said softly. She knew that Mrs. Ye had never traveled far, so she was still a little worried about how many people were going to the county town.

"The people in the county are really rich. Mom, guess how much money we sold for the mountain goods we brought to the county this time. If you guess correctly, there will be a reward!"

"Don't guess, you are not the only one in the family who knows whether you like to talk or not." Mrs. Ye rolled her eyes in disgust. She is a father of three children and is not stable at all.

Poor Ye's father was despised by his mother, and was also brought down by the little cotton-padded jacket at home. "Nai, we sold 978 coins this time, which is more than 200 coins more than last time in town."

Mr. Ye parked the donkey cart and explained to Mrs. Ye: "There are many rich people in the county, and the food is more expensive than in the town. However, our family does not have a donkey cart, and we cannot always use the donkeys from our in-laws. It’s better to make it into dry food.”

There was no donkey cart at home, and going to the county town to sell vegetables was too time-consuming. Mr. Ye and his father had already discussed it on the way back, and both wild vegetables and spring bamboo shoots were dried into dried products.

"What's the price of dry goods? Is there anyone in the county who collects dry goods?"

It takes an hour and a half to go to the county. Mr. Ye is not young anymore. Mrs. Ye feels sorry for him. It would save a lot of trouble if he could learn about it.

Mr. Ye told Mrs. Ye everything he had learned about. "The winter in the north is very cold. The most lacking thing in the north is vegetables. Dried bamboo shoots and dried vegetables are very popular in the north. Every year before winter, many northern businessmen come to buy dried bamboo shoots and dried vegetables. go back."

"There is no bamboo in the north, so the price of dried bamboo shoots is relatively high. It can be sold for twelve or thirteen cents per catty. Dried wild vegetables and vegetables are about five cents per catty."

"The price is so high, the dried goods are good, and they are easy to preserve." Mrs. Ye's eyes lit up, she didn't expect the dried bamboo shoots and vegetables to be so valuable.

"I went to the county pharmacy and asked about it. All the county pharmacy stores charge honeysuckle at 55 cents per pound."

Mr. Ye and Mrs. Ye were chatting happily, and they never thought about what they had just said about going to the village chief's house to return the donkey cart. Father Ye had no choice but to return the donkey cart to the village chief first.

Ye Mu and Ye Qingqing took the fabrics they bought at special prices and the rags they received as gifts back to the hall, and took the embroidery items back to their respective rooms. Then the two of them entered the kitchen and prepared to cook dinner.