The road to wealth of a peasant widow

It took ten days before all the wheat and millet were threshed, dried and stored in the granary.

After a busy farming season, the whole family became more than one shade darker, with their faces, necks and bodies being completely two different colors.

Chen Cui's skin was originally a little rough, and now that it's darkened, she looks even older.

Fortunately, she has good facial features and a good foundation, so she is not too ugly, but her appearance has seriously declined.

Before leaving, Chen Dahai looked at his sister's dark face with heartache, thinking of how lively she was when she was young: "Don't work too hard. These children can go to work after two years of school. When they have jobs in the shop and can bring home money, you can relax a little."

In fact, he didn't quite understand why Cuicui let all three children go to school. After all, so much money had to be spent every year. But his father said that this was his brother-in-law's last wish, and his sister had her own plans.

After Chen Dahai left, Chen Cui thought about his pity expression just now and couldn't help touching her face.

It seems a little rough, but at least there are no pimples or wrinkles. But am I really ugly now?

She knew from Chen's memory that she was good-looking and one of the most famous girls in the nearby villages, otherwise she would not have married Liu Eryong, who came from a wealthy family.

But after Chen Cui came here, she has been worried about her livelihood and has no time to pay attention to her appearance.

Moreover, her status as a widow did not allow her to dress up, so she simply deliberately became sloppy and did not take care of herself at all. She did not even put on facial oil.

But, wasn't she going a bit too far? Even a rough guy like Chen Dahai thought she was too rough. Shouldn't she clean up a bit?

There is a bronze mirror at home, but it has not been polished for a long time. The reflection of a person is very blurry and you can barely see the facial features.

Chen Cui felt that after she was done with this busy period, she should take care of herself. She didn't have to look radiant, but at least she shouldn't look too old.

When I go to town later, I will ask someone to polish my bronze mirror so that I can keep an eye on my appearance at any time.

After all, she is only in her early thirties now. If she can eat well and sleep well in the future, she can live to at least sixty or seventy years old. She can't age prematurely!

After the summer harvest, the most important thing is to pay taxes.

The annual standards have been the same in recent years and have been announced long ago. Every household weighs out the corresponding grain according to the number of acres of land and sends it to the village chief, who collects it together, pulls it to the town by ox cart, and hands it in together.

In previous years, the ox carts of Liu Youcai and Liu Youliang pulled the load together. However, last year Liu Youliang's sick ox was sold, and this year they bought a three-year-old calf that could not pull heavy objects, so they requisitioned Chen Cui's mule cart.

The Muramasa family had helped her family so much and provided so many conveniences. It was just a matter of transporting food to the town, so Chen Cui naturally would not refuse.

She even asked Changping to go along with her, saying that he was going to drive the carriage, but in fact she wanted him to broaden his horizons.

After all, when paying grain, one has to deal with the tax officials in the town. Let Changping see how the officials behave and how Muramasa responds.

After delivering the grain, when Changping drove the mule cart back, the expression on his face was indeed different from usual, with a lot more thought.

Chen Cui didn't say anything, as there were some things he needed to figure out on his own. She just asked him to go to Muramasa's house to discuss planting corn.

Looking at the small bag of yellow corn kernels brought by Chen Cui, Liu Youcai picked up a kernel and looked at it again and again.

"You said this thing is called corn, which is drought-resistant and high-yielding?" Liu Youcai asked.

"It wasn't me who said that. It was the owner of the shop who said that it came from the west. They have less rain there than we do, so they grow this kind of stuff."

Chen Cui explained and added the following few sentences.

She wanted Muramasa to mobilize everyone to grow corn, but she was not convincing enough, so she could only impress him with the advantage of drought resistance.

"How do you eat this thing after growing it?" Liu Youcai studied it for a long time and was sure that he had never seen this kind of food, so he couldn't help but ask.

"The boss said that it can be ground into flour using a stone mill just like wheat, but without the bran. The flour can be used to make steamed bread, cornbread, or porridge."

Chen Cui started to make up stories again. This was not said by the boss at all, but by herself.

"Is it so good? How many kilograms of grain can be produced per acre?" Liu Youcai asked the question that concerned him most.

"It is said that in a good year, one acre of land can produce more than 400 kilograms." Chen Cui finally reported the most conservative figure.

In fact, according to the output of the land in her space, one acre of land should have eight or nine hundred kilograms, but that is the output under ideal conditions. I am afraid that the output will not be so high outside.

The most important thing is that she was afraid that if she said too much, people would not believe her.

"What? Four hundred kilograms per acre of land? Are you serious?" Liu Youcai stood up from his chair excitedly.

"Uh, it wasn't me who said that. It was the shop owner who said that." Chen Cui was so scared when she saw him suddenly get so excited that she quickly waved her hands.

"It is said that an acre of good land in Jiangnan can only produce more than 300 kilograms of grain at most. We are in the northwest. If an acre of land can produce 400 kilograms of grain, it can be reported to the court as a good omen!"

Liu Youcai was so excited that saliva was flying all over the mouth, and his beard was standing up.

Liu Daqiang quickly supported him and smoothed his back: "Dad, don't be so excited. My sister-in-law only heard it from others. It's not certain whether it is true or not!"

What he meant was that Chen Cui might have been deceived, and that the seeds might really be a new kind of grain they had never seen before, but the yield would definitely not be that high.

Liu Youcai calmed down and sat back in his chair. He seemed to have calmed down a bit and murmured, "Leave this bag of seeds. Let me think about it."

This was exactly what Chen Cui had expected. Planting a new crop that had never been seen before was a very risky thing to do. Even if Liu Youcai's family had a lot of land, he would not risk losing a season's harvest by trying it casually.

In fact, when Chen Dahai left, Chen Cui also asked him to take some seeds and asked him to go back and talk to his father about planting corn.

Chen Dahe was present when she bought the seeds. She told Chen Dahai the whole experience and asked him to go back and tell his family about it.

Although Chen Dahai felt that what his sister said was unreliable, he was not the head of the family, so he could only go back and tell his father exactly what she said.

Although his father would listen to his eldest son's opinions on major issues, he usually made the final decision.

After all, there are three brothers in the family. As long as the family is not divided, it will not be the turn of him, the eldest brother, to be the boss of his two younger brothers. The old man must have an overall view of the situation, and only then will the brothers below be convinced.

Chen Cui didn't have to wait long. At noon the next day, Liu Youcai asked Changgen to come and tell her and her son to go to his house after dinner.