The Hidden Immortal Chapter 34: When I Grow Up, I'll Farm for the Master

Chu Xun now had nearly a hundred acres of fertile land in his hands. Even excluding the eight acres of abandoned land controlled by those few scoundrels, it could still provide an annual inco of over three hundred and fifty taels.

This was still because the newly purchased dozens of acres of land were handed over to tenant farrs to rent and plant, plus they were a bit far from Pinecone Village, making it inconvenient to go and cast the Major Cloud Rain Spell and Earth Control Spell.

Although spells were good, they easily attracted trouble.

Once enough black bean seeds were saved, Chu Xun planned to first hand them over to those tenant farrs to sow.

If done well, the farmland's harvest could be increased a bit more in the future.

There were also three seeds. After trial planting, they turned out to be burdock, seven-leaf one-flower, and fleeceflower.

Chu Xun specially found an old herb farr familiar with dicinal herbs to take a look. Among the three dicinal herbs, the seven-leaf one-flower had the highest value, even surpassing the fleeceflower.

It was also known as Chonglou or Zaoxiu. It could reduce swelling and relieve pain, cool the liver and calm fright, and was considered precious among many dicinal herbs.

But its planting cycle was extrely long. Just the seed germination had to go through two winters. From planting to harvesting, it would take no less than seven or eight years.

The fleeceflower seed's germination ti was even longer, requiring four years.

That old herb farr didn't even recomnd planting this thing, saying it took too long.

Life is short; how many four years can one waste?

In case the seed failed to germinate successfully, the wait would be in vain.

Moreover, fleeceflower could not be continuously cropped. Once harvested from the sa plot of land, sothing else had to be planted, which was very troubleso.

The only advantage was that if it was truly grown, it could be harvested in three or four years, and the profit was quite good.

As for burdock, the harvest ti was short, the price was not expensive, and it was easy to keep alive.

In the neighboring county, there were people who specialized in planting this, and it was said they could earn several hundred taels of silver a year.

After hearing the old herb farr's words and considering it repeatedly, Chu Xun still chose to plant all three dicinal herbs.

It didn't matter if the seed germination ti was long; he had plenty of ti.

Not to ntion three or four years, or seven or eight years, even a dozen or twenty years he could afford to wait.

By this year, the burdock had already left quite a few seeds, the seven-leaf one-flower had grown to about a foot high, and the fleeceflower seed had also begun to sprout.

It was just that there was still a long ti before large-scale cultivation and relying on dicinal herbs to earn silver.

But once they were grown, they would be much more profitable than rice, with the wealth calculated at least tenfold.

Chu Xun was not in a hurry. After distributing rain, he cast the Earth Control Spell to loosen the soil.

Precisely because of these two spells, he was able to so easily grow the two types of grain and three types of dicinal herbs.

If it were anyone else, the seeds would probably have rotted.

He no longer paid attention to the small weasel that had already gathered with a few voles, squeaking and playing.

Chu Xun ca to the front of the house door, squatted down, and looked at that Spirit Pearl Grass.

The flower bud had been growing for six years, but it was still only the size of a soybean.

The tight and dense cyan outer layer made it completely impossible for people to see what it looked like inside.

Stretching out his finger and gently touching the flower bud, Chu Xun sighed with emotion: "In another thirty-four years, neither you nor I will be what we once were. Ti passes so quickly."

Raising this Spirit Pearl Grass, a full twenty-six years had passed.

Today's Chu Xun was already thirty years old.

From having nothing but four bare walls, to having a substantial family estate.

From being a loner, to taking a wife and starting a family.

A lowly peasant, gaining the title of Honored Guest, able to directly enter the county office, exchange cups of wine with the County Magistrate, and gain his high regard.

His once tender face was left with only maturity and steadiness.

No one called him a beggar anymore. Those who bullied and mocked him when he was young had all grown up.

When eting, regardless of whether they were a few years younger or older, they would always politely call out "Brother Xun."

A flock of crows squatted on the eaves as always. A few born this year were extrely bold.

They took the initiative to land on his shoulder, affectionately rubbing their heads against him.

Chu Xun raised his hand and stroked them a couple of tis. A shout ca from outside the courtyard: "Brother Xun, where is Aunt Anxiu? We agreed to go to the temple fair together, why hasn't she co out yet!"

"Coming, coming! The temple fair won't run away, what's the rush."

Zhang Anxiu adjusted her newly made bright red floral coat for this year, tugged at her thick braided pigtail, and asked: "Brother Xun, does it look good?"

Having been married for several years, she was still accustod to calling Chu Xun "Brother Xun" instead of "Husband."

She always felt that a title like "Husband" was sothing only wealthy families in the city used.

Before Chu Xun could answer, the few half-grown boys outside had already shouted: "It looks very good, Auntie, you are the best-looking in the whole world. Hurry up, if we don't go now, the crowd will disperse!"

Zhang Anxiu glared, habitually putting her hands on her hips: "Shitou, Qi Ermao, if you two keep nagging, believe it or not, I won't let Brother Xun play with you anymore!"

Fourteen-year-old Shitou had a short, flat buzz cut.

Thanks to eating well at ho these past few years, plus doing farm work for a few years, his physique was now very robust.

Just looking at his height, he was already comparable to an adult.

It wasn't sumr yet, and the weather was still cold, but he only wore a thin short jacket, revealing large chunks of muscle.

Young people have abundant vitality and strong internal heat.

Standing outside the courtyard, he chuckled: "If we don't play with Brother Xun, who will play with him?"

These words sounded a bit off. Zhang Anxiu wasn't an unmarried young girl; how could she not hear what this brat was implying.

She imdiately grabbed a broom and chased out: "A dog's mouth can't spit out ivory! See if I don't tear your mouth to pieces!"

Chu Xun stood up, laughing at the sight.

These boys had liked to co and make a ruckus in his courtyard since they were young, and who knows how many tis they had bickered with Zhang Anxiu.

Thinking back to when Shitou, bare-bottod and with a bitter face, said he didn't know how to write the number "four," it seed like just yesterday.

Chu Xun couldn't help but sigh again; ti flies like a shuttle, gone never to return.

The only pity was that, whether it was his reason or Zhang Anxiu's, the two had shared a bed for many years but had never been able to have a child.

They had sought doctors to check their pulses, but no cause was found.

After drinking herbal dicine for over half a year, there was no movent at all.

People in the village would sotis gossip. For a year or two, they could pretend not to care, but after hearing it for a full five years, how could they still pretend not to hear.

The secular countryside equally valued the continuation of offspring.

Especially since Chu Xun had a substantial family estate, if there was no one to inherit it in the future, wouldn't it make people laugh.

Zhang Anxiu had beco increasingly anxious these past two years, but there was nothing she could do.

Even though she secretly bought folk redies behind Chu Xun's back, after drinking them for a long ti, it was still in vain.

Chu Xun himself didn't care too much about this; not having offspring was also a way of living.

Knowing Zhang Anxiu's thoughts, he could only comfort her more on ordinary days.

Not long after, Chu Xun and Zhang Anxiu, taking Shitou, Qi Ermao, and the other boys, walked along the stone beam bridge built over the Songliu River to the opposite bank.

This stone bridge was specially built three years ago when Tang Shijun allocated one hundred and twenty taels of silver and raised another eighty taels from various villages.

Built with bluestone hauled from dozens of miles away, it was ten zhang wide, with three piers and four arches, and the gaps were filled with glutinous rice mortar. Several people could walk side by side.

A stone stele titled "Record of Songliu Bridge" stood at the bridgehead, inscribed with: "In the twenty-third year of the Kingdom of Jing, County Magistrate Tang Shijun led the townspeople to build this bridge, costing two hundred and twenty taels of silver, to facilitate the travel of the people."

Below it recorded the nas of the donors, densely packed.

Chu Xun donated ten taels, ranking third.

On the opposite bank of the river, the Songliu Water God Temple stood, its drifting incense smoke becoming increasingly prosperous.

In these few years, there had been several floods, all of which spared the people on both banks from natural disasters due to the tily appearance of the flood discharge channel.

Because of this, the commoners believed even more that there truly was a Water God in the Songliu River protecting them.

So smart people took the opportunity to set up incense stalls to earn silver.

Seeing that it really could make money, more people brought other things to sell.

Tang Shijun was indeed very smart. After building the stone bridge, he announced that the day the bridge opened would be the Songliu Water God Temple Fair.

In three years' ti, people from dozens of miles around would co here to play around the ti of the temple fair, and it had already beco the liveliest place within a hundred miles.

Peasant won carrying loads shouted loudly, their baskets displaying coarse cloth handkerchiefs and small bamboo dustpans.

The peddlers' rattle drums thumped, their loads stuck with sugar paintings and blown sugar figurines.

A few children stubbornly stayed there, clamoring for sugar figurines.

Their parents, perhaps with unbulging purses, had to drag them away while scolding.

An old man selling incense and candles at the temple gate squatted on the stone steps smoking dry tobacco, the smoke from the crudely made incense sticks curling upwards.

Various mixed sounds rose and fell; the myriad states of the secular world were overwhelming to the eyes.

Not to ntion anything else, just this lively atmosphere alone made people linger and forget to return.

Shitou, Qi Ermao, and the other children were quickly drawn away by the blown sugar figurines or the shadow puppetry.

Although Zhang Anxiu had just been chasing them with a broom, she now shouted worriedly: "Don't run around wildly!"

"Got it!" Shitou shouted back, but quickly led the others out of sight.

Seeing Zhang Anxiu still looking worried, Chu Xun couldn't help but smile: "They aren't exactly little children anymore. Even human traffickers wouldn't dare act recklessly in such a lively place."

Say what you will, they were ultimately children she had watched grow up since they were young, how could she not worry.

Chu Xun had to lead her forward. On the way, they happened to et a few tenant families.

Seeing Chu Xun, those tenant farrs hurriedly bowed and greeted: "Boss."

A few children of varying heights snuggled beside their parents, looking on timidly.

Chu Xun smiled and asked: "The harvest has been pretty good these past two years, you should have saved so silver, right? What did you buy at the temple fair this year?"

The tenant farrs hurriedly answered: "Thanks to the boss's blessing, we saved so silver, but we're thinking of waiting until the end of the year to spend it."

Zhang Anxiu saw a child drooling at the candied hawthorns on a straw stick nearby, so she went over, bought a few skewers, and stuffed them into the children's hands one by one.

"How can we accept this, absolutely not!" The tenant farrs hurriedly waved their hands.

Zhang Anxiu said: "We aren't strangers, and today is the temple fair, we should let the children be happy. It's just a few skewers of candied hawthorns."

Chu Xun was kind-hearted, and she had learned to be kind-hearted as well.

A dark and thin tenant farr hurriedly pushed his own child: "Hurry up and kowtow to the Madam!"

Without a word, the child plopped down on his knees and knocked his head three tis loudly.

Zhang Anxiu hurriedly helped him up: "It's not even the New Year, why perform such a grand ceremony? Look, the child's forehead is bruised."

She wasn't putting on a show, but coming from a similarly poor family, she couldn't bear to see children suffer.

The child was also very smart, shouting at Chu Xun and Zhang Anxiu: "When I grow up, I will also be like my dad, and farm for the Master and Madam!"

[End of Chapter]