Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

Zhou Su really wanted to ask his elder brother what he didn't have, but he finally held back. He picked up the chopsticks and picked up a piece of shadowless fish. Remembering that this was Zhou Guo's favorite, he put it into her bowl.

Zhou Gu felt that the ribs in his mouth were not fragrant at all. How could he talk to him about this?

Li Lai didn't dare to speak anymore.

Li didn't say a word the whole time. As the saying goes, the eldest brother is like a father. Zhou Mai is the eldest in their second branch, so it is his responsibility to be in charge.

On the contrary, the old man felt that in this world, one didn't necessarily have to take an imperial examination. Wouldn't it be good to manage the family business and make money? There were officials in the family anyway, and Zhou Dacang might become a general in the future, be granted a title and be promoted to a general, and the whole family would be prosperous.

Why would they have to work so hard to take the imperial examinations?

Zhou Guo felt that as long as you do what you like, it doesn't matter what you do. Since neither of them likes studying, it might as well stop for a while. Life is so long anyway, and maybe in a few years they will want to take the exam again.

Life is so long, it's good to try everything.

No one took the matter seriously and let it go. The two were still young and they thought whatever they wanted. When they grow up, if they really don't like these things, can their family members really force them to do anything?

Zhou Mai said this simply because he didn't want the two young people to do something that they would regret.

……

Zhou Guo stayed at home for six days and did nothing during these six days. After dinner, he walked around in the yard, looked at the flowers, looked at the vegetables in the vegetable garden, looked at the crabs in the crab pond, looked at the lotus leaves, and went to the fields to see the villagers working.

Chat with them and talk about this year's weather, spring plowing, and the expected harvest.

I was so bored that I went to the village entrance to listen to the old people talking about the past.

In such and such year and such and such place, someone saw a dragon circling and rising into the sky. Halfway up, it fell down and split the mountain in half.

Decades ago, someone was chopping wood in the mountains. Suddenly, a large dead tree was struck in half by lightning. Inside the tree appeared a large group of ants densely packed with thousands of them. He was so scared that his legs went weak and he ran home like crazy with his pants wet.

There are also cases of seeing ghost lights.

Zhou Guo stayed at the entrance of the village for most of the day, and an old lady even gave her half of her bench.

She hadn't heard such a story for a long time, but she was still fascinated by it now. These elderly people told stories even better than storytellers.

It would be a shame not to tell stories.

No wonder the old man likes to come here for a walk whenever he has time. It turns out there are so many stories.

Of course, in addition to stories, there are also gossips at the entrance of the village, and gossips from each family in the village are inevitable.

Zhou Guo stayed there for a few days, and except for what they asked about, he didn't hear any gossip about his own family. I guess they talked about it a lot on a regular basis.

Since I’m here, it’s hard to say.

In the following days, she brought a large plate of peanuts, melon seeds and some snacks and sat at the entrance of the village every day, and more elderly people came.

Later, when they saw that there were delicious food, not only the elderly came, but adults came as well. The adults brought their own children with them. There were so many people that it was impossible to listen to stories because it was too noisy.

There is no need to listen to gossip. Every family has someone. How can I explain this?

Seeing that there was nothing new to hear, Zhou Guo decided not to go. There were too many people there, and some came to ask her questions, and some asked their own children to talk and play with them more.

She became a monkey?

Seeing that she didn't go out after dinner, Li asked curiously, "Why don't you go to the village entrance? Aren't there many people telling stories at the village entrance? They tell stories better than the storytellers."

Zhou Guo said while eating melon seeds, "I'm almost like a monkey doing tricks. Everyone comes to look at me and hold my hand and won't let go."

Wu Ya smiled and said, "I heard that they finally got to see you, and they all wanted their children to get to know you more, even if it's just to get a little bit of your smartness."

The old man shook his head. "How can one acquire such intelligence in this way? If one could acquire such intelligence in this way, wouldn't everyone in our family be so smart? This is simply nonsense!"

Zhou Guo said, "That's right. If I don't come back, I guess all the children in the village will go there, and the chattering will give me a headache."

Li said quickly, "Then don't go. Rest at home. You are not well yet, so don't go around."

Zhou Guo looked at the chicken in her hand and thought about how he had killed more than ten chickens in the past few days since he came back. Every meal was ginseng chicken soup, so he said, "Mom, there are not many chickens at home. We should keep them to lay eggs and hatch chicks."

Li plucked the feathers without even raising her head. "Don't worry about that. How many chickens are there? I know. You can buy some from other families when you're done. Besides, there are so many more on the farm. You can have some to eat."

Zhou Guo couldn't help but said, "Why don't you just leave the ginseng alone? Even though it's just a little bit of ginseng root, it's not enough for me to eat it. If I eat too much, I'll get a nosebleed."

Several people thought of the incident that happened a few years ago.

The old man couldn't help but nod his head, thinking that taking too much supplements is not a good thing.

Li said, "I would rather make your nose bleed than see you look sick and listless like this."

Okay, Zhou Guo admitted that she really didn’t want to drink ginseng chicken soup anymore.

Li said so, but when the chicken soup was served that night, she leaned over and saw that there was no ginseng beard, so she grinned.

After resting for another ten days at home, she went to the farm only after she felt much better and full of energy.

Now that the spring plowing season is over, there are fewer people coming to buy fertilizer.

But the composting process never stopped. Every day the raw materials for composting were transported back from all over and turned into fertilizer in piles.

These are prepared for the next top dressing.

As for the dozens of people who come every day, either they plowed the fields late or they are here to apply top dressing fertilizer.

What they said is that it is a good time to buy some now while there are not too many people around and put them away so that they don’t have to squeeze with the crowd later and wait in line for a long time before getting a turn, which would waste time.

It’s better this way, so that there won’t be a swarm of people coming later, which would put too much pressure on the farm.

She also asked the delivery people to spread the word along the way.

After this publicity, more people came.

Anyway, they are not so busy at this time, so they might as well buy the fertilizer. They have the time.

She also wrote letters to Song County and several other prefectures, especially several other prefectures.

Currently, there is only one farm in the city, and the pressure is extremely great. Now that she is done with the work, she only lets everyone stop working at night. They work in two shifts every day, from the beginning of the morning to the end of the evening. Everyone can take a breath and have more smiles on their faces.

After receiving Zhou Guo's letter, all the managers began to make arrangements.

Although there were many people coming to the farm to buy fertilizer every day, it was still incomparable to the spring ploughing period, and we could cope with it without working day and night.

Zhou Guo received the letter and was very happy to see that several prefectures were arranged in an orderly manner.

After she recovered completely, she went to Song County again.