Spring comes to the desperate place

No one knew who spread the rumor in the city that the Ninth Prince was not the blood of the previous emperor. When the emperor found out, he immediately sent the imperial guards to silence them. However, there were still some people who were not afraid of death and spread the rumor privately. Someone even wrote a storybook called "A Few Things Between Me and the Imperial Concubine".

Although the storybook did not mention Prince Ru'an and Concubine Wan explicitly, the identities and backgrounds of the protagonists were obvious at a glance. Moreover, the book was written in a very erotic way, with a long section describing the two people's bed affairs. The person who wrote the storybook was very talented, and it made many people feel excited when reading it.

Of course, this book was soon listed as a banned book and disappeared from the market, with only a few people having a single copy.

When Song Chunlin heard about this for the first time, his reaction was the same as when he had eaten a big melon in his previous life. He did not expect that people in ancient times could be so gossipy and imaginative. He also smuggled a copy of the book back home. He had to say that the writing was very good, so good that even a fake ancient person like him could understand it. No wonder it became popular so quickly.

If anyone now says that the ancients were old-fashioned, Song Chunlin will be the first to jump out to refute them. The ancients just lived in a long time ago, which does not mean that their thoughts are also old-fashioned. Their enthusiasm for watching melons is not much worse than that of the netizens in previous lives.

Because of the rumors, when the thin 'Ninth Prince' appeared at the palace banquet on New Year's Eve, everyone looked at him sideways, and they immediately felt pity for him when they saw the much thinner 'Ninth Prince'.

Some people wanted to approach the Ninth Prince and make friends with him, but when they got a little closer, the Ninth Prince got up and left in a hurry.

This brief appearance successfully left everyone's impression of the 'Ninth Prince' as being thin and timid. It felt like this was the image of a prince who had lost all his support and was struggling to survive in the palace.

This was the first step that Gu Fengyun took for Xiaojiu, to make everyone gradually accept the fact that he did not like to appear in public, and to dilute his impression in public. This way, if the 'Ninth Prince' suddenly disappeared in the future, it would not cause any waves.

The real Ninth Prince, thanks to the loving feeding of the Song family, became plump and chubby. He was in a good mood this winter and naturally ate more. In less than two months, the baby gained ten kilograms.

Because he gained weight too quickly, Song Chunlin strictly controlled his snacks. Even his tearful pleas were of no avail. Song Chunlin was not only cruel himself, he also asked others to be cruel as well.

"If a child is too fat, he won't grow tall. He is fine like this now. Please don't give him snacks in private anymore. I can see it all!"

Song Chunlin glanced at Song Dazhuang and Song Chunsheng, who was keeping his head down and not speaking. These two were the key objects of observation because they were the ones who fed the most.

The father and son who received the warning looked at each other guiltily, with disgust for each other in their eyes.

'You must have fed him too much!'

"It was you, Dad, who gave snacks to Xiaojiu and Xiaobao behind my back. I saw it!"

"I didn't! You were the one who ate with them!"

"Dad, have you forgotten that I was the one keeping watch for you the last time you took them to eat peach cakes?"

Song Chunsheng stared at Song Dazhuang coldly, as if he was going to bite him if he said anything wrong. Song Dazhuang knew he was in the wrong, so he simply turned his head away and pretended to be dead.

In addition to the rumors, Song Chunlin also heard another piece of news.

"Set up a stall?" After Song Dazhuang heard his son's plan, his first reaction was that this kid was talking nonsense.

"Yes, I have inquired about it. The court will open a number of stalls on the fourteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, near the north city and the west gate. They do not specify which merchants are needed, and anyone can sign up. Although the stall fee is a bit expensive, there is no need to pay taxes after the goods are sold. This business is definitely worthwhile."

"Is this news reliable?"

"It's absolutely true. The Street Division will not issue a notice until tomorrow, but some well-informed people may have known about it a long time ago."

Grandpa Song asked his grandson curiously: "Our family's output is barely enough to eat. You said you want to set up a stall, so doesn't that mean we have to sell the things in the space?"

Song Dazhuang also reacted. He felt that this was inappropriate and hurriedly advised his son: "Chunlin, the things in this space are too magical. You can't take them out."

Seeing that everyone looked terrified, fearing that Song Chunlin would really take out a bunch of things from the space to sell, Song Chunlin hurried to comfort everyone.

"Grandpa, Dad, I have my own plans. Can't I plant fruit trees in this space? There are so many fruits in it, plus the ones I collected before, there are too many to eat. This is what I think. If we sell fruits directly, it will definitely not work. Many fruits are not available here at all. So I think we can sell jam."

Grandpa Song: "Jam? What is that? Maybe candied fruit or something like that?"

Song Chunlin said: "That's pretty much the same, except that the jam will be boiled at high temperature, and then you can spread it directly on bread or steamed buns, or soak it in water and drink it as fruit tea."

Words are not enough, you have to see it with your own eyes. It was afternoon now, so Song Chunlin took out some of his usual jams, toast and steamed buns. He picked up a piece of bread as a demonstration, spread the strawberry jam in the bottle on it, and then handed it to Grandpa Song to taste.

The jam was sweet and the bread was soft, and the combination of the two was indeed delicious. Grandpa Song immediately smelled a business opportunity.

"Chunlin, how did you make this bread?" It was Aunt Song who spoke. He always loved studying these Western pastries, so he was very interested in toast.

Song Chunlin found a recipe for toast for him. Under Song Chunlin's encouragement, everyone in the Song family could read, so just looking at a recipe was not difficult for Grandma Song.

"It's not difficult to make toast, but I don't have many ingredients in my space, so our main focus is making jam. I have a lot of apples and peaches in my space, and these two are also very common fruits here, so we can just make these two first."

Seeing that his grandson had made all the arrangements, Grandpa Song expressed no objection. Since they were going to set up a stall, they would definitely have to stock up in large quantities. There were no preservatives in those days, and pure natural products would not last long. If Song Chunlin did not have the space to rely on, he would not dare to do this. Otherwise, if they made too much and could not sell it, they would lose a lot of money.

The family acted as soon as they said it. Taking advantage of the early hour, Song Chunlin immediately took out a basket of apples. Except for the two little ones, everyone else was given a peeler. Everyone peeled the apples frantically and then threw them into the large basin in the middle. When the basin was full, Song Chunlin put the apples back into the space.

Song Chunlin planned to adopt an assembly line operation and peel the apples first today. There were about one ton of apples in the space, and it was impossible to peel all of them. Song Chunlin only planned to peel one thousand kilograms. For the remaining peaches, he also planned to peel one thousand kilograms.

One thousand kilograms sounds like a lot, but after being crushed and boiled into jam, it shrinks by at least half, and the final total is about eight or nine hundred kilograms at most.

After finishing this batch, if the jam sells well, Song Chunlin plans to make more.

The Song family had been peeling fruit all day, and they had just finished peeling the apples just before going to bed. Next they had to cut and crush the apples, so everyone went to bed early.

Early the next morning, Song Dazhuang followed Song Chunlin's instructions and came to the city gate to wait to enter the city.

Just as the Street Office had told Song Chunlin, there were people guarding the door early. Song Dazhuang arrived neither too early nor too late. The stalls were chosen by drawing lots, and Song Dazhuang was lucky enough to draw a relatively front position.

Facing everyone's envious eyes, Song Dazhuang happily took the number plate of his stall to pay the fee, and then received a rental document. He carefully put away the plate and the document, and then hurried home without stopping.

Today everyone was peeling fruit again, but they were peeling peaches. With yesterday's experience, they peeled the peaches very quickly. When Song Dazhuang came back, half of the peaches had been peeled.

The lease document and sign were passed from one family member to another, and everyone looked at them with curiosity.

"Is this our stall? Dazhuang, is this location good or bad?"

"Dad, I've seen this position. It's relatively forward, so it should be considered good."

Hearing Song Dazhuang's yes, Grandpa Song nodded repeatedly.

"That's good, that's good." Then he handed both items to Song Chunlin and told him: "Keep them and take them out when you need them."

The process of making jam is not complicated. The Song family worked hard for several days and finally made all the jams in time. Song Dazhuang went to the next village and bought a large cart of clay jars. Each jar could hold about half a pound of jam. Song Chunlin decided to price it at one hundred coins per jar, and buy three jars and get one free.

On the fourteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Song family got up before dawn. Grandpa Song and Grandma Song stayed at home to take care of the two children, while Song Dazhuang and his wife took the brothers Song Chunsheng and Song Chunlin into the city to set up a stall. After the jam was made, it was put into the space. Only when it was time to enter the city did Song Chunlin take the things out and put them in the carriage.

Because today is the first day of setting up the stall, there are a lot of people coming into the city, not only to sell things, but also to buy things. Song Chunlin and his friends waited for about half an hour before they were able to enter smoothly. They went through the north gate, which was very close to the market. When they arrived, there were already many people walking around.

Seeing that it was getting late, the Song family quickly carried down all the jams they were going to sell. There was nothing on the stall except a drawn grid with marks on it. Fortunately, what they wanted to sell was simple, so Song Dazhuang carried down a wooden board with two benches underneath, which served as the stall.

Everyone deftly placed the small jars on their own stalls. Song Chunlin even opened two jars and poured some out. He smeared it on the steamed bread slices with a small bamboo stick, and then cut it into small pieces, pierced them with bamboo sticks and placed them on a plate. This was for tasting.

At first, everyone was a little confused, so Song Chunlin patiently explained to them: "Even good wine needs to be hidden in a remote alley. To know whether this thing tastes good or not, you have to try it first."

As soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged woman next to him came over immediately after hearing this. She asked with a smile: "Hey, young man, you sell food here, right? Can I really taste it?"

Song Chunlin immediately put on a sweet smile and greeted her warmly: "This auntie has good taste. What we sell here is jam. This is Pinellia jam, and this is peach jam. Both jams are delicious. You can spread them on steamed buns, or drink them directly with water. You can try this one for steamed buns."

Seeing that Song Chunlin spoke sweetly and obediently, and the steamed bread slices on the plate were smeared with translucent jam and looked very appetizing, the middle-aged woman hesitated for a moment, but still picked up a bamboo stick and tasted it. She found that although the jam was translucent, it had a strong aroma of Pinellia fruit and a sweet taste, and the steamed bread tasted even better with it.

The apple is what the ancients called the pinang fruit. This thing was introduced from the Western Regions, but the local pinang fruit does not taste as sweet as the modern apple. Instead, it tastes a bit sour. However, because it is easy to preserve, it was relatively common in ancient times.

It was not the first time for the middle-aged woman to eat Pinellia fruit, but the Pinellia fruit jam in her mouth tasted even better than the Pinellia fruit. It did not taste sour and astringent, but rather had a rich fruity aroma. After tasting a piece, she decided to buy a jar. Her eyes swept over the peach jam next to her and she thought that if the Pinellia jam was so delicious, wouldn’t the already sweet peaches be even more delicious?

So he picked up another bamboo stick and tasted the steamed bun spread with peach jam. Sure enough, it had a strong peach fragrance and tasted even more refreshing than the Pimiento jam.

"Oh, your jam is really delicious. How much is this jar?"

"Aunt, our jam costs 100 coins a jar, and this jar weighs about half a pound. If you buy three jars, we will give you one jar for free. It's much more cost-effective than buying individually."

The price was actually quite expensive, as one hundred coins could only buy half a pound. But thinking of the delicious taste of the jam and the buy three get one free offer, the woman gritted her teeth and took out three hundred coins to buy three jars.

"Well, give me half of each."

Song Chunlin packed the food for her with a smile and handed it to her: "Two cans of Pinellia fruit and two cans of peaches, take them, Auntie. You are welcome to come again next time."

"Look at this sweet little mouth. If it tastes good, I'll come to your house to buy it."

After seeing the woman off, Song Chunlin handed the money to Song Qinshi with a grin.

"Mom, you've got it."

Song Qin took it with a smile. It was a good sign that they had business as soon as they arrived.

In the following time, more and more people came and after trying the jam, they all thought it was delicious. However, some people thought that a small jar of jam was sold at a hundred coins, which was too expensive, and wanted to bargain with the Song family.

The Song family members all told them with a smile that they would not bargain.

"Buy three and get one free, sir. This offer is only available for the first three days, so buy yours as soon as possible."

When the man heard that the discount was only for three days, he finally gritted his teeth and bought three cans. Song Chunlin gave him one can with a smile.

As time passed, more and more people came to the market. The Song family's jam tasted really good. Even though it was expensive, some people were still willing to pay for it because of the temptation of buy three get one free. In one day, they sold more than 60 jars.

Song Chunlin originally prepared eighty cans to test the waters, and was quite satisfied with the result. After all, this was only the first day.