Gu Jinli was relieved after listening.
After hiding the items, both of them went back ho to rest.
They thought they carried out the affair without anyone knowing, but Elder Qin still found out.
Although Elder Qin was old, he was keen of hearing and sight. He heard so noises, knew that San Lang had gone to find Xiao Yu, and gave her the heirloom as compensation.
At first, he wanted to stop it, but then he held back.
Putting the heirloom in Xiao Yu’s hands was safer than in San Lang’s...
The next morning, a few families woke up before dawn to see off Qin San Lang and the others.
Village Chief He also ca.
Village Chief He was very excited, saying to Third Grandpa and Elder Qin, "The youngsters in your families have made it. Getting a job in the county governnt ans they won’t have to worry for a lifeti."
Having soone in the village working at the county governnt was a great thing for their village.
Elder Qin said, "They still have to compete. Whether they can get into the governnt service is yet unknown."
Village Chief He said cheerfully, "What’s there to fear from the competition? Qin Er Lang, Qin San Lang, and Brother Wu have real skills. They are sure to win."
After the elders had a few words with Qin Er Lang, Qin San Lang, and Luo Wu, they sent them off at the edge of the village, only turning back ho when they could no longer see them.
Gu Jinli and his siblings, Gu Dashan, Third Grandpa, Gu Dafu, and the rest went back to the workshop to deliver tofu to He Dacang and his group.
The workshop was now producing up to two thousand eight hundred catties of tofu. In a few more days, once He Laoguo and his group got the hang of it, there would be more soy milk produced, and even more tofu made in the workshop.
An hour later, after Gu Jinli and his group finished the morning work, Gu Jin’an recorded the accounts and went ho for breakfast, then headed off to school with his bag.
He Laoguo and his group weren’t producing much soy milk yet. After Gu Dashan finished breakfast, Third Grandpa asked him to call Gu Dafu, Gu Dalin, and the half-grown children from several families to go to the fields to water, fertilize, and weed.
Gu Jinli also took Mo Chunyue to the fields, weeding the herbal dicine plot and sprinkling grass ash fertilizer on it.
Mo Chunyue asked her, "Young Master, how much money can we get from selling these dicinal herbs? Are they worth more than white rice?"
Gu Jinli said, "It depends on what kind of dicinal herbs you’re growing. So herbs are worth more than white rice, and so are cheap, worth as much as soybeans."
However, she was still very optimistic about cultivating dicinal herbs, which was a steady business that could be passed down through generations.
Cultivating dicinal herbs didn’t require paddy fields; they could be grown on mountainous or barren land. If done well, so dicinal herbs could fetch hundreds of cents a catty, which was more profitable than growing rice.
Mo Chunyue wanted to follow Gu Jinli in cultivating dicinal herbs. She felt this Young Master was a lucky person, as if whatever she did could make a lot of money. But after hearing Gu Jinli’s words, she began to doubt and didn’t know whether to follow suit.
Gu Jinli saw right through her thoughts and said directly, "Valuable dicinal herbs are harvested every few years. If you want to grow dicinal herbs, you’d need to invest. If you want quick returns in half a year or a year, then don’t cultivate the herbs."
"You don’t need to fret over this now; your family doesn’t have any land at the mont. Better work and save money to buy land first."
He Sanlai’s family used to have land, but it was all lost due to his troubles. Now, they don’t even have half an acre and still owe debts to the He family clan. What could they use to buy land for planting dicinal herbs?
Mo Chunyue, after hearing this conversation, decided to put aside the idea of dicinal farming. Instead, she thought it best to concentrate on making money to pay off the remaining debt, and then consider buying land.
A single mu of dicinal field was not much. Gu Jinli and Mo Chunyue busied themselves in the field for two hours, and by noon, they had managed to tend to the whole mu.
"Second Sister, Dad, Third Grandpa, co ho for lunch!" Brother Cheng, with his little short legs, ran pitter-patter into the fields, calling out as he ran.
Gu Dashan ca up from the soybean field, catching the gleeful Brother Cheng in his arms: "Stop running, you might fall."
Brother Cheng looked up at Gu Dashan and smiled, "Dad, I am strong now, I won’t fall."
Second Sister always made them nice foods to eat, which made him quite chubby.
He also said, "Dad, I practiced writing this morning, practiced the characters big brother taught ten tis."
Brother Cheng was only four years old and hadn’t started school yet, but Gu Jin’an taught him how to write every day when he ca ho; even Gu Dashan was roped in to learn characters.
The days at ho are getting better and better, and as the head of the family, Gu Dashan knows he must learn to read. It’s essential for managing the family’s business in the future.
Gu Dashan’s dark face was filled with smiles: "Our Brother Cheng is really good."
Back in their old ho, Brother Cheng hardly spoke, frightened by Granny Gu. Now that they have left the Old Gu Family, Brother Cheng has grown increasingly cheerful.
Thinking of the Old Gu Family, Gu Dashan murmured to himself: "I wonder if they are still alive."
"Dashan, let’s go ho," Third Grandpa and Gu Dafu ca up from the fields. After brushing off the dirt from their shoes with handfuls of wild grass, everyone headed ho for lunch.
After lunch, the n of each family headed to the workshop to cook soy milk and make tofu.
Gu Jinli spent the entire afternoon in the workshop, fearing that Zou Yuzhen and his sister might co again. Oddly enough, the siblings didn’t show up and hadn’t visited a few other families either.
Gu Jinli didn’t let down her guard. Instead, she instructed Gu Jinxiu to lock the courtyard gate and not to open it if anyone from the Lu or Zou families ca. The enmity between these two families and theirs was not shallow, and she didn’t believe Zou Yuzhen and his sister had co with a sincere apology.
That evening, Qin San Lang and the others didn’t return. Old Luo drove a mule cart over to deliver a ssage, saying that Qin San Lang and his companions had passed the first round of tests and had two more rounds to compete in. If they lost, they would return earlier; if they passed the tests, they would only be able to return ho after the third day.
The families, receiving this news, were sowhat relieved. At the sa ti, they were concerned for the well-being of Qin San Lang and the others but stayed busy with work at the workshop.
Three days later, at noon, five mule carts drove into Da Feng Village. Leading them was Qin San Lang at the reins.
"Brother Qin is back!" Tian Erqiang, who was at ho mixing incense, saw Qin San Lang driving the cart and hurriedly ran out to shout to the surroundings, taking it upon himself to inform the families.
The small path at the end of the village was too narrow, and with four more carts following Qin San Lang, it wasn’t easy to stop. He just shouted to Tian Erqiang, "Hey, we’re back. Brother Luo Wu, Brother Qin Er, and I all passed."
Hearing this, Tian Erqiang exclaid even louder, "Brother Qin, Brother Qin Er, and Brother Luo Wu have all passed! Now they’re officials who eat governnt als!"
Tian Erqiang was extrely happy. Back in their old place, his family was an outsider and had to act subserviently in the village. His grandmother, when still alive, often said that if their family could have a mber who worked in the governnt office, their lives would be much better.
Tian Erqiang always rembered this, and now that he saw Qin San Lang and the others working in the county governnt, he was overjoyed. Their status in the village would get higher, and if anyone wanted to bully them, they would have to think twice.
Jiang Jiao had also arrived; he was delivering people to Gu Jinli’s house.
On the seventeenth of March, when Gu Jinli and others had gone to Scholar Shang’s Family, they ntioned buying workers to oversee the workshop. County Captain Jiang inford Jiang Jiao of this and asked him to bring back several workers from the Prefecture as per Gu Jinli’s request.
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