The road to wealth of a peasant widow

They were a few meters away from the fruit shop and were almost there. Changping looked at his mother and asked: Do you want to go?

Chen Cui couldn't help but sigh as she watched the little girl staring at the man, sucking his fingers and drooling.

It’s just lunch time. The little girl ate half a bowl of noodles and was so full that her belly was bulging. Why is she so greedy when she sees other people eating?

But looking at her daughter's pitiful appearance, Chen Cui had no way to refuse and could only nod helplessly.

After getting his mother's consent, Changping immediately carried his sister to the fruit shop. Chang'an and Changfu followed closely with expectant expressions on their faces.

Chen Cui was the last to go in. She saw Sui Sui in her eldest brother's arms, staring at the counter, pointing at the various fruits with her arms outstretched, and shouting, "Yes, yes, yes!"

Looking at her excited expression, if her legs were not short and she could not reach the counter, she would have come down and grabbed it herself.

Changping would not just listen to her, but turned around and looked at Chen Cui.

Chen Cui nodded and looked at Chang Ping: "Buy it for her. Buy some of what you want to eat as well. Don't buy too much. It's hot and it won't keep well."

The interior of this fruit shop is nicely decorated. It is clean inside, the counter is tidy, and she always feels that this shop is particularly cool.

The store not only has a variety of fresh seasonal fruits, such as peaches, apricots, kiwis, raspberries, apricots, and cherries, but also a lot of dried fruits, candied fruits, and even snacks made with fruits as raw materials.

What Suisui had been staring at was the bright red gourd, which was eaten by the little boy just now.

Changping saw that these fruits were common locally and many of them were grown in the mountains, so he didn't want to spend money to buy them.

"Sui Sui, we have all these in our village. I will go up the mountain to find them for you tomorrow. Let's buy some candied fruits." Chang Ping coaxed.

I don’t recognize those candied fruits. They must be shipped from other places and are rare. If I were to buy one, I’d buy that.

But Suisui didn't buy it and still stared at the bright red gourd with sharp eyes, showing no intention of changing his mind.

The guy behind the counter couldn't help but say, "My dear customer, the fruits in our shop are not those grown in the wild in the countryside. These are specially grown in our garden. They taste great. If you don't believe me, try them!"

As he spoke, he carefully took a ladle and handed it to Changping.

Seeing this, Sui Sui stared at her brother's hand and even swallowed her saliva involuntarily.

Changping quickly put the fruit into his sister's mouth.

Sui Sui, who got the ladle, chewed it contentedly and even squinted his eyes happily.

Chen Cui saw that the gourd looked very similar to a strawberry, both were red in color, with many seeds on the skin, but it was much smaller in size.

"How much is one pound?" she asked.

"Sister-in-law, this gourd is not wild. It is specially planted in our master's orchard. It is carefully cared for and grows so bright red and sweet. One pound costs twenty cents."

Twenty cents?! So expensive!

As for this small fruit, if you look carefully, you should be able to find it in the mountains. When the three brothers were not in school, they would often bring back some small fruits from the mountains for their parents to eat.

However, in the past six months, the family was busy burning charcoal and then studying, so they were too busy to find wild fruits.

But seeing that the little girl didn't look satisfied at all, Chen Cui still reluctantly bought a pound of it, as well as a pound of apricots and a pound of kiwis.

When she got closer to the counter, Chen Cui realized that the reason why the room felt cool was because there was crushed ice on the side of the counter, and water was sprinkled on the fruits from time to time to keep them fresh. No wonder it was cooler than outside.

The guy seemed to be very talkative. While serving them fruits, he couldn't help but promote his own business to them.

"You really have a good vision. Our boss is a wealthy family with orchards not only in Longnan, but also in Shuzhong. In a few days, the lychees produced in the orchards will be shipped to us, so that the people of Yinping County can have a taste of them."

He is from a wealthy family, so he even puts ice in the fruit to keep it fresh when selling it. Most people can’t do that!

Chen Cui didn't pay much attention to what the waiter had said about the orchard. She just thought that the ancients were quite business-minded. Now people knew about growing and selling fruits on a large scale. But she was a little surprised when she heard the name of lychee.

"Lychee? Is it the lychee that the emperor's concubines of the previous dynasty liked to eat? Aren't they only found in Lingnan? How could it be in Shuzhong?"

Chen Cui asked in shock.

"I don't know whether she is a concubine or not, but I know that our boss has a lychee orchard in Shu, and the lychees grown there are delicious!"

The guy looked confused at first, then he said happily.

He was once fortunate enough to be given a lychee with a slightly discolored shell by the shopkeeper. It tasted so sweet, juicy and extremely delicious. Even though it was about to go bad, how delicious must the fresh lychee be!

Seeing the clerk's fascinated face, Chen Cui finally came to her senses and asked hurriedly, "Can I ask where in Shu these lychees were shipped from?"

"Well, it's just Shu. I don't even know what the place is called." The guy scratched his head.

Chen Cui nodded thoughtfully, thinking to herself, if lychees can really be grown in Shu, then couldn't their family also give it a try?

Changping saw his mother was in a daze, so he gently pushed her and asked, "Mom, do you want to buy something else?"

Chen Cui came back to her senses and smiled, "No, these are enough, let's go."

The family left the fruit shop. Chen Cui looked up at the sign above which read "Baiguofang". Well, it really sounded very grand.

Changping held Suisui in her arms and fed her food from time to time. Changan and Changfu carried the fruits they had bought, and the family walked towards where the mule cart was parked.

Chen Cui looked at the happy faces of the children and felt very relieved.

She decided to wait for a chance to inquire about growing litchi in Shu, perhaps this could be a chance to get rich.

It was already mid-afternoon when the family of five drove the mule cart back home. They unloaded all the things they had bought from the cart, removed the mule cart from the mule, and led it into the house to let it drink water and eat grass.

The mule has been working hard recently, so it needs to be taken good care of. Changping grabbed a handful of soybeans from the stone trough as a snack for it.

Chen Cui went to the backyard to check on the chickens, added some food and water to them, and went to the vegetable garden to pick some vegetables for dinner.

The tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and beans in the vegetable garden are growing lushly. We started picking and eating them a month ago and cooking them in various ways.

A lot of peppers that were planted in the spring have produced fruit, but they are still small and have not fully grown. Chen Cui is reluctant to pick them and eat them, so she often takes them out from the space to make up the number.

The peppers in the space have been picked several times and are still blooming and bearing fruit.

After cutting the original corn stalks, Chen Cui planted a new crop of corn. The seedlings are now half a foot tall. The tiny corn seedlings contrast beautifully with the lush pepper plants.