Beautiful Peasant Girl: The Young Marquis's Beloved

Chapter 23

Time flies, and it has been three months since I signed the contract with Zuiyunxuan.

Due to the solar terms, the number of mushrooms on the mountain has gradually decreased. It is also the busy farming season, and there are almost no people picking mushrooms.

They are picking less and less willow catkins, but fortunately Zuiyunxuan offers new dishes with willow catkins every month, so business is still booming.

Xu Ruolan finished her confinement half a month ago. With her taking care of the household, Liu Xu also started to study mushroom cultivation.

With Xing'er and Shuisheng, she went up the mountain every day to deal with rotten soil and dead wood, and went to her great uncle to pack sawdust for furniture. She had requisitioned the original utility room, and in order to make good use of the space, she also asked Liu Dongxiang to help build a shelf along the wall. Each mushroom bed was two feet wide, leaving a one-and-a-half-person width in the middle. There are currently three mushroom beds in this room. She also asked Liu Dongxiang to build a partition 4 feet above the ground, intending to use it to cultivate precious mushrooms in the future. Seeing that there was no place to put those farm tools, she built a straw shed next to it.

God helps those who work hard. Early that day, when Liu Xu went to water the mushroom bed, he found that mycelium had already grown on it.

"Hahaha, I finally succeeded!"

"Mom! Mom! I did it!" When Xu Ruolan heard the voice and ran in holding the two little ones, she saw her daughter with her hands on her hips, looking up and laughing madly.

The two little ones, one month after their first birthday, show no signs of premature birth. They are chubby and plump, and their facial features have perfectly inherited the best features of Liu Donglai and his wife. They are as exquisite as two lucky dolls.

Xu Ge'er is relatively quiet, except when he is hungry or has defecated, he will cry. When he is awake, his black gemstone-like eyes will look around curiously, and occasionally make a babbling sound. Unlike Hao Ge'er, if he is not satisfied, he will howl non-stop and scratch everywhere with his little hands. Two days ago, he not only scratched his own face, but also scratched Xu Ge'er's face. Xu Ge'er cried for a long time out of grievance.

Seeing her daughter's expression, Xu Ruolan smiled with satisfaction. She knew that Liu Xu had been busy with this recently, forgetting to eat and sleep. Now that it was finally done, she was happy for her daughter.

Seeing Xu Ruolan holding a baby in one hand and standing at the door looking at her with a smile, Liu Xu quickly reached out and took one.

"Mom, look, my mycelium has finally grown. With this, we can wait to count our money this winter!"

Liu Xu laughed proudly and whispered to Brother Xu in his arms:

"Brother Xu, our family will have a stable income from now on, are you happy? Hahahaha"

Perhaps because Liu Xu was laughing happily, Brother Xu also responded with a toothless smile.

Xu Ruolan also saw that some golden wool had grown on the so-called fungus bed that her daughter had been playing with. Just as she was about to say something, Hao Ge'er in her arms was probably frightened by his sister's crazy look or voice. He was stunned for a few seconds, then he howled.

After feeding the two little ones and coaxing them to sleep, Xu Ruolan pulled her daughter to sit on the bed.

"Xu'er, with this mushroom bed, do we no longer have to go to the mountains to pick mushrooms?"

"Well, you could say that. Mom, the strains I cultivated this time were just common ones. I want to look for more to see if there are any more precious ones."

"Are these mushrooms precious?" In Xu Ruolan's impression, aren't these mushrooms just picked up casually in the mountains, and aren't there some that are poisonous and some that are non-toxic?

"Of course, these common mushrooms are just for their good taste. But the precious mushrooms have medicinal value, such as snow fungus and ganoderma lucidum. These are very precious mushrooms."

Looking at Liu Xu who was talking so freely, Xu Ruolan felt a little confused.

"Xu'er? How do you know all this?"

Their family is now engaged in farming. After she married Liu Donglai, she never mentioned the past. Lingzhi is easy to talk about, as everyone knows. Snow fungus is a tribute. Even she had to pay a lot of money to buy a little bit of it after her father came across it by chance. How did Xuer know this?

Liu Xu's heart skipped a beat: Oh, damn, I was so excited that I said too much...

She looked at Xu Ruolan cautiously, only to see her mother frowning and looking at her inquiringly.

"Ah, mother, do you believe what I dreamed about?"

"So you dreamed about your cooking skills?" Xu Ruolan had been a little confused before. When her husband was at home, Xu'er was spoiled by her father. She knew nothing in the kitchen except how to light a fire. Even though her grandmother treated her harshly later, she could only cook simple porridge and rice, but suddenly her cooking skills improved by leaps and bounds. If Xu'er hadn't been born and raised by her, she would have suspected that her daughter had been swapped.

"Um, mother... do you remember the time when grandma almost beat me to death?" Liu Xu swallowed and saw her mother looking at her steadily: What to do, make up a story!

"Didn't I faint for a while? At that time I thought I was dead, but when I opened my eyes, I found myself in a strange place. The houses there were taller than the mountains, and the people dressed differently from us. There were iron boxes that could run without being pulled by horses, iron birds that could carry people in the sky, and many strange things. There I met a kind old lady, who took me home, provided me with food and shelter, and sent me to school. I don't know how long I was there, but one day, the old lady suddenly told me that the time had come and I should go back! Then my eyes went dark, and when I woke up again, I saw my mother sitting in front of the bed."

Well, that’s it, she can’t make up any more stories.

"So, you learned all these things from that place?" Xu Ruolan looked surprised.

"Uh-huh."

"An iron box that can run without being pulled by a horse, an iron bird that can carry a person and fly... God, Xu'er, have you mistakenly entered the place where the gods live? You silly child, why didn't you tell me at the time? No wonder after waking up, it was as if your brain suddenly opened up and you understood everything."

"Xu'er, that old lady must be a fairy, right?"

"Uh, probably!" Mom, that was something I made up based on my grandma in my previous life...

"No, I have to go to town to buy some incense and candles tomorrow. From now on, our family must remember to offer sacrifices to the old immortal every day."

ヽ(°〇°)?

Seeing her mother looking like she wanted to burn incense to worship her grandmother, Liu Xu swallowed her saliva, then thought about it and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. This was good, if she accidentally revealed the truth in the future, she would have a source.

"Well, mother, keep a low profile. We just need to know about this ourselves, otherwise the old immortal will be unhappy."

The main reason is that most people of this era believe in ghosts and gods, and if the story is spread around, who knows what kind of things people might say about her.

"Do I need you to teach me this? If outsiders knew that you had such a great fate with the immortal, the threshold of our house would be trampled down. It would be bad if they kept asking for this and that and disturbed the old immortal." Xu Ruolan said it seriously.

Liu Xu: Wow, looking at her mother’s awareness, it must be six six six.

"Yeah, that's the truth. Then mother, what if someone asks about it in the future?" Liu Xu asked cautiously. There was no other way, she had to get an agreement with her mother first, otherwise if she was exposed, what would she do if people thought she was a monster?

"That's easy. Just say... just say that your mother taught you. It was passed down from your mother's great-grandmother. Anyway, your maternal family has been scholars and merchants for generations, so it's not surprising that they have some secret recipes."

Liu Xu's mouth became an O shape when he heard this.

"So... Mom, were you a rich lady before?"

It's no wonder she was surprised, because her mother always said that she was an orphan who fled from famine and never talked about her family's past. Although she knew that she could read and write, she just thought she was from a poor scholar's family or something like that.

"Yes. Your maternal family is in Yongkang Prefecture. Back then..." Xu Ruolan told Liu Xu in detail about the Xu family's financial situation back then and how she had gone from being a rich lady to ending up here. Liu Xu sighed after hearing what she had said.

"Then have you never thought about going to look for your grandparents and uncles over the years?"

"It was such a mess back then. I asked around on the road, but there was no news. I don't know if they are still alive, or where they are lucky enough to have ended up... Then she married your father. You know our family situation. I am willing but unable to help!"

After Xu Ruolan finished speaking, she sighed with a sad look on her face.

"Mom, don't worry. Grandpa and uncle are blessed by heaven and will surely turn danger into safety. Maybe they are also looking for you everywhere. When our family saves some more money, Xu'er will help you find it!"

Liu Xu gently hugged Xu Ruolan and comforted her.

"By the way, mother, I have to go to Zuiyunxuan to settle the bill tomorrow. Please take a look and see if there is anything else we need to buy. I will bring it back when the time comes."

Afraid that Xu Ruolan would overthink it, Liu Xu quickly changed the subject.

Xu Ruolan nodded slightly when she heard this. The mother and daughter sat in front of the bed and started discussing, you said one thing, I added another.

Seeing her mother's face getting better, Liu Xu finally felt relieved. At the same time, she thought: I still have to work hard to make money. When I have money, I can ask someone to help find my grandparents and let my mother feel at ease.

Willow catkins, oh willow catkins, you have a lot of tasks on your shoulders, comrades still need to work hard! !