Traveling through the mountains and farming

After Lin Wan and the others left, Aunt Li couldn't wait for Uncle Li to come back to discuss it further. She felt that there should be no objection to such a good thing.

He immediately instructed his grandchildren to notify the other branches and asked each family to send two capable people to come after dinner to discuss matters.

After dinner, representatives from each branch of the Li family gathered in the main hall of Uncle Li’s house.

Afterwards, Aunt Li explained in detail that Lin Wan had invited everyone to go to the county town to sell crystal ice jelly today.

Considering the fact that Lin Wan's ice jelly sold well at the market today, and the credibility of the Li family's head and wife, the other three families had also carefully considered the matter and felt that this could make money, so they all said that they must seize such a good opportunity.

Finally, they discussed and decided to try setting up a stall for a week. During this week, each family would send out one person, a total of four people from four families, consisting of two men and two women. They would work together to transport the crystal ice jelly on a cart on the way into the city, and then sell it according to the divided areas after entering the city.

In this way, in the early stage, each family does not need to arrange a man to transport the ice jelly into the city, thus saving the cost of public inspection. Later, they can consider whether to add staff based on the situation of the stalls.

Finally, everyone agreed that after breakfast tomorrow, all those who were responsible for setting up stalls in the county town would take their household registration cards and go to the head of the village to go through the public inspection.

~

At bedtime, in Uncle Li’s bedroom.

"Old man, I'm a little worried about our family's Yu Niang going to the city. Ever since she heard the news that Chongran and Chongwen disappeared on the battlefield, she has locked herself in the house and rarely goes out except to work." Aunt Li sat on the bed, looking worried.

She thought about the difficulties her second daughter-in-law, Wang Yu Niang, had faced over the years. More than 20 years ago, Wang Yu Niang had just married her second son, Li Changyi, and she followed them to flee famine in the south. All her relatives from her mother's side were separated from her and there had been no news of them for all these years.

After settling in Quanshui Village, she gave birth to two sons and one daughter for the Li family. The eldest son, Li Chongran, was conscripted into military service as soon as he came of age.

"Letting her set up a stall in the city is also to let her go out for a walk, meet more new people and things, divert her attention, and perhaps she can see things more positively." Grandpa Li sighed. They were sad when they mentioned their second grandson Li Chongran. This child is so sensible that it makes people feel heartbroken when they think of him.

A year ago, according to the conscription policy, their family had to choose one person to serve in the military. At that time, in addition to himself, his second son Li Changyi, youngest son Li Changli, eldest grandson Li Chonghao, and second grandson Li Chongran all met the requirements.

Li Chonghao was the only descendant of his eldest son's lineage, so all other priorities were eliminated;

The two children of the youngest son, Li Changli, were still young, and the youngest daughter-in-law, Chen Lian, was reluctant to do so.

Finally, the second son Li Changyi stepped forward and said that he would go. However, he never expected that the second grandson Li Chongran would go to the head of the village privately to change the roster and replace his father.

"Let's arrange it this way first. Go to bed early. Tomorrow morning you will accompany me to the village head to handle the public inspection." Aunt Li lay down and turned to face inward, her voice a little stiff.

~

The next morning, after finishing her breakfast, Lin Wan took her household registration card and half a wooden basin of ice jelly and went to meet at Uncle Li's house.

Because last night, after Uncle Changyi finished the Li family discussion, he came to tell her that everyone had decided to sell ice jelly together, and they also agreed to go together after breakfast today to handle the public inspection.

When she arrived at Uncle Li's house, others were very happy to see that she had brought ice jelly.

Because they had only heard Uncle Li's family describe how good-looking and delicious the ice jelly was, now that they could see and taste it for themselves, they suddenly felt more confident about setting up a stall in the city.

After eating the ice jelly, everyone excitedly discussed the deliciousness of the ice jelly and their aspirations for setting up a stall in the future, and walked happily towards the village head’s house.

On the way to the headman's house, Lin Wan learned from a conversation with Uncle Li that one hundred households form a village here, and the five villages of Quanshui Village, Lianhua Village, Xigou Village, Donggou Village, and Hejia Village are combined into one village, with one headman for each village.

The headman's home they were going to was in Hejia Village, which was the largest village nearby with more than 30 households. Almost all the villagers were from the He family. Every household in the village made wine. It was also a relatively wealthy village nearby. The headman was the eldest son of the head of the He family.

When Lin Wan and the others arrived, He Li was at home. After entering the house, Uncle Li exchanged a few pleasantries with He Lizheng and then explained his purpose.

"Now that food prices have gone up, do you still want to go into the city to set up a stall to sell food?" He Lizheng frowned and asked worriedly.

Out of kindness, he wanted to remind Uncle Li and the others that food is essential for cooking. The price of grain has risen sharply now, and with various handling fees, the cost is not low. They should avoid losing money later.

"Now that we have paid the taxes, there is only a little food left at home. Even if we tighten our belts, it is not enough to eat. We have to try selling food." Uncle Li replied helplessly.

"Yes, our village's winemaking has also been affected. As grain prices rise, the cost of winemaking has increased a lot, making life more and more difficult for everyone." The head of the village sighed and stopped persuading him.

He fetched pen and ink, filled out the documents according to the regulations based on each person's household information, collected three cents as a handling fee from each person, and told them that they could come and pick it up tomorrow evening.

After everyone thanked the head of the village and left the head's house, Uncle Li asked Lin Wan if she had paid attention to the recent grain prices when she went to the market. He didn't want to ask in detail in front of the head of the village as he was afraid of wasting his time.

Lin Wan told Uncle Li the price of paddy at 60 wen per dou and rice at 86 wen per dou that she saw at the market yesterday.

Uncle Li didn't say much after hearing this, but just muttered to himself: "It's increased a lot~"

Afterwards, they returned to Uncle Li's house together, and Lin Wan explained the relevant matters to them.

Each household decides on their own how much to sell each day. All they need to do is tell her how many buckets they want to order one day in advance, and have the wooden buckets used to hold the ice jelly delivered to their home. They can then go to their home to pick up the ordered ice jelly before leaving the next morning.

She would provide the required syrup, a bucket of ice powder and a small bamboo tube of concentrated syrup.

In addition, she specifically reminded them to remember to bring an empty wooden bucket for holding water to wash dishes, and bring multiple bowls for customers to eat ice jelly on the spot. The size and specifications of the bowls used by all stalls must be unified, and there are also bamboo tubes for take-out.

Also, they can pay when they pre-order or after they sell out.

~

Most of the morning had passed when Lin Wan returned home. Li Chongle and his sister were not at home. They had probably gone out to pick figs and Chinese lantern fruit. Now whenever they have free time, the brother and sister will go out to pick figs and Chinese lantern fruit.

They also have their own picking plan. They first pick the fruits from the edges of the fields, on both sides of the creek, at the foot of the mountain and on the slopes of the mountain in the village, and finally pick them from the mountains behind their homes.

The two siblings are very active. Every morning, Li Chongle goes to the river to put the fish basket, and Li Ke is responsible for watering the flowers and plants in the backyard. Li Chongle will always pay attention to chopping firewood in time, and Li Ke will take the initiative to help with the laundry.

After entering the hospital, Lin Wan first turned over and dried the Gastrodia elata. It would take another day to dry. When she was ready to go to the city, she would take some of it to the pharmacy to exchange for money.

She had just made an agreement with the people who were going into the city to set up stalls that they would get the official certificate tomorrow and then go into the city the day after tomorrow, so that everyone would have more than a day to prepare.

She can also pick fig fruits and lantern fruits to collect ice powder seeds during these two days. The daily consumption of ice powder seeds will be relatively large in the future.

Calculating the time, she thought the brother and sister should be back soon, so she went into the house to prepare dinner. Today's lunch would be wild lilies dug from the mountain and stir-fried fresh fish.

Every time she cooked, she missed the modern chili peppers very much. She was the type of person who loved spicy food. She had never seen chili peppers in her original memory. It might also be that chili peppers had not yet spread here. She decided to go into the city the day after tomorrow to see if she could find any chili peppers.