From the family treasure tree to build an eternal family

Chapter 10 Stealing Money
"Is Daniel okay?"

Jiazhen hurried forward to support Xu Xiaoniu, and saw that his body was covered with shoe prints and dust, she couldn't help but feel distressed.

She always felt a sense of indebtedness towards Xu Xiaoniu. After all, Xu Xiaoniu helped with farm work every day, and her family spent so much money on Xu Xiaogou's martial arts training.

"Mom, I'm fine."

Xu Xiaoniu didn't care about losing to his third brother, he just thought of it as a way to cheer him up.

"It's okay."

Seeing that Xu Xiaoniu had no injuries, Jiazhen reached out and patted the dust off his clothes. She turned and glared at Xu Xiaogou: "You're really using real kung fu on your brother? You've been practicing for more than three years, and your brother hasn't. What are you so proud of?"

"Oh."

Xu Xiaogou put away the smile on his face and felt that the victory just now was boring.

Indeed, beating his brother was nothing; beating those older kids who also practiced martial arts was what gave him a sense of accomplishment.

He recalled that he lost to Du Meng in the second duel today because he fell behind in his Zhuanggong. He knew that he was also better at Zhuanggong than Du Meng, and the reason he fell behind was because he lacked the nourishing medicine soup.

The children who practiced martial arts with Du Hai would buy nourishing herbs from Du Hai every once in a while.

"Tonic medicine" can speed up the progress of standing meditation.

Du Meng is Du Hai's son, so he certainly has no shortage of tonics. That's why his progress in standing meditation is faster than Xu Xiaogou's.

----

"It's okay, the kids are just joking." Xu Fugui tried to smooth things over.

"Everyone go wash your hands and get ready for dinner."

The children clamored to wash their hands.

The eldest son Xu Xiaoniu is thirteen years old, the second daughter Xu Xiaoxia is twelve years old, the third son Xu Xiaogou is ten years old, the fourth son Xu Xiaoyun is six years old, and the fifth son Xu Xiaoan is about to turn three years old.

Three years ago, when Xu Xiaoan gave birth to Jiazhen, she had a difficult delivery and was in critical condition.

Afterwards, the mother and child were safe, and Xu Fugui had only one thought in his mind: as long as they are safe.

So he named his fifth son "Xiao'an".

A family of seven gathered in the main room to eat, and the atmosphere was lively.

"My dear, Xiao An's third birthday party is coming up in a few days. I'll come back early to cook so that our whole family can have a good meal."

The children were excited when they heard “have a good meal”.

"I want to eat pig's trotters."

"Mom, I want to eat pig ears."

In response to the children's request, Jiazhen said "Okay, okay", but she looked at Xu Fugui with worry.

Now that her children are older, there are some things she is not comfortable saying in front of them.

With five children at home, the expenses are just too high.

This year the weather was dry and the harvest was poor.

Although the imperial court reduced the land tax by half this year due to the drought, and reduced his family's tax from 80 taels of silver to 40 taels, as prices rose, the people's lives became difficult and their overall quality of life declined.

Jiazhen manages the money at home. Seeing that the savings are still not much after the autumn harvest and there are still places to spend money everywhere, she can't help but worry.

Except for the "food" item, which was not reduced according to Xu Fugui's request, the rest of the family was extremely frugal. The clothes they wore were patched again and again, and they didn't replace them for two or three years. Xu Xiaoyun was still wearing Xu Xiaogou's old clothes, which were full of patches.

She decided to have a good discussion with Xu Fugui before going to bed at night.

next to.

Everyone was eating, but Xu Xiaogou, who was usually talkative and noisy, was surprisingly quiet.

He buried his head in his food, thoughts flashing through his mind.

----

At night, in the bedroom.

Jiazhen and Xu Fugui had a nighttime bedside conversation: "Husband, after paying the land tax, we only have 180 taels of silver left. How will we make it until next autumn harvest? What if there's another drought next year?"

"Don't worry, we still have eight mu of withered leaf ash. The withered leaf ash will be twelve years old by next autumn. If it grows four leaves, it will be worth a lot of money."

Xu Fugui comforted her.

In addition to the medicinal herb fields at home, there are also dead leaf blackthorn and iron root grass that have grown into magical medicines in the space inside his body, which are also worth a lot of money.

"Oh, my lady, I want to chop more firewood every day and sell it. I can make a hundred or two hundred coins a day, which is not a small amount."

"One or two hundred coins? How much wood do you need to chop?"

Jiazhen knew the price of firewood very well. How many kilograms of firewood could be bought for one or two hundred coins?

"We've got enough firewood for the winter this year. I carry back 300 kilograms of firewood every day, and it's no problem to sell it for a few hundred coins."

With Xu Fugui's nearly perfected physique from the first level of Zhuang Gong, carrying three hundred kilograms of firewood wouldn't be a problem. "Three hundred kilograms? Are you trying to kill yourself?"

Jiazhen raised her voice.

For a skilled person who often goes up the mountain, carrying back 100 kilograms of firewood in one trip is already a lot. Wouldn’t he be exhausted and vomit blood if he could carry back 300 kilograms?

She lay in Xu Fugui's arms and said softly, "I won't let you go. You have to live to be eighty. If you die of exhaustion, who will take care of me and the children?"

"Don't worry, your husband is in good health. If you don't believe me, just try it. Hehe..."

"Oh, that's disgusting..."

Then a suppressed voice was heard in the room.

----

a few days later.

Forest farm at the entrance of the village.

Xu Xiaogou finished his morning practice of standing meditation, with sweat all over his body.

"Morning practice is over. You don't need to come to evening practice today. Take a half-day break. Dismissed."

After Du Hai shouted "disband", Xu Xiaogou followed several children and walked towards Du Hai.

"Zhang Zan, two sets of tonics for you. Li Mo, one set of tonic for you."

Du Hai distributed the prepared nourishing herbs to the children, for which he had paid in advance.

The formula of the tonic was no secret, and the herbs used were all common, with transparent pricing. Du Hai was familiar with the city's pharmacies because he frequently shopped there, and because he bought in large quantities, he was able to get some discounts.

He makes a small profit from the discount.

After distributing the medicinal materials, there were two more children to buy.

"Master, I want to buy two sets of tonic medicine."

"Master, I want to buy three pairs."

They gave the money to Du Hai.

Finally, it was Xu Xiaogou who took out one ounce of silver and said, "Master, I want to buy three sets of tonic medicine."

"You? The silver your mother gave you?"

Du Hai took the silver from Xu Xiaogou's hand with a sharp gaze.

"Uh, yes, my mother asked me to buy it."

Xu Xiaogou's expression remained unchanged, but his palms were sweating unconsciously.

"Okay, come get it tomorrow after morning exercise. I don't have any copper coins, so I'll keep the remaining 100 coins in mind."

A set of tonic medicine for the first level of standing meditation costs three hundred coins.

"Yes, master."

After Xu Xiaogou finished speaking, he breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look for his companions.

He and a few of his friends had agreed to take a ride in someone else's carriage to the county town for some fun. Tomorrow was his fifth brother Xu Xiaoan's third birthday, and he wanted to buy a small gift.

----

It was daytime.

Xu family house, main hall.

While sewing patches on the pants in her hands, Jiazhen taught Xu Xiaoyun to read.

"One, two, three... up, down..."

"Mom, I forgot this again."

Jiazhen looked at the yellowed calligraphy in Xu Xiaoyun's hand and said with a smile, "You can even forget such an important character. This character is pronounced yin, and the yin in yin means money.

Don’t learn the complicated parts later on, just read the simple ones at the beginning.”

"Oh."

Xu Xiaoyun turned to the first page of the copybook and started from the beginning.

Just then, Wang Qian came.

She was wearing an exquisite silk gown that outlined her curves and showed off her slender waist.

Seeing Jiazhen sewing, she couldn't help but feel sorry for herself, sighing, "Everyone has their own destiny." But on the surface, she smiled and said, "Jiazhen, are you teaching the child to read? Xiaoyun, how many words can you recognize?"

Xu Xiaoyun was very familiar with Wang Qian. He counted on his fingers, unable to count how many characters he knew, and said in a childish voice, "Auntie, I know many, many characters."

Seeing Wang Qian coming, Jiazhen put down her work and offered her a seat: "Sister Qian is here, please sit down and I'll pour you some water."

(End of this chapter)