My delicate husband

After the county government collected grain, most families in Lianhua Village did not have much food. In order to survive until the autumn harvest, every household went out to find ways to get more food.

The county magistrate allocated food to the refugees in the resettlement houses in each village, but it could only barely last for three months. The rest would have to wait until the Chinese New Year.

In short, all the villages in Yunling County are now very lively, and people are willing to reclaim the wasteland that was originally ignored. After all, they have been exempted from taxes for several years, and no matter what they grow, they can make money.

There are quite a lot of villagers at the foot of the mountain. Some brave ones go to the edge of the mountain to collect firewood and see if they can find any wild game.

Lan An slept until dawn, and when he woke up he saw Zhang Xiaomo smiling at him.

"Brother Xiaomo, why didn't you wake me up yesterday?"

"An An has been so tired these past few days, I'm so distressed. Seeing you sleeping so soundly, how could I bear to wake you up?"

"Brother Xiaomo, why is it so lively outside?"

"Oh, the villagers are spontaneously reclaiming wasteland."

"Oh, that's good."

In fact, the current national food shortage and empty treasury of Chuqi State have a lot to do with the inaction of the current emperor.

The previous old king was incompetent and obsessed with pursuing immortality. He even took Hanxianlu (equivalent to a drug, which can paralyze the nerves and is addictive. The author named it at random). The people were living in misery. Later, the Northern Di invaded and it took decades of hard fighting to win.

The current emperor changed the country's name to Chuqi. He was supported by the aristocratic families and did not have much power. After ten years of war, the treasury was empty and all the wealth was controlled by the aristocratic families. The emperor had no way to change it.

The aristocratic family does not pay attention to agricultural development, but only pursues elegance and grace. They also love to absorb Hanxianlu to gain creative inspiration and do not care about people's livelihood. In order to cater to the aristocratic family, many lands are not used to grow crops, but to grow Hanxian flowers.

Yunling County was not so bad, as it was far away from the capital, and the county magistrate was diligent and loved the people. Although the people suffered, they could live as long as there were no major disasters. However, those people who were close to the capital were living a life worse than death. It was common for people to buy and sell their children and exchange them for food.

When Lan An went to a clothing store to buy clothes for the first time, he was very curious. Why were all the clothes loose and not conducive to work at all? However, this was the current situation in Chuqi Kingdom. Most of the people were thin and generally pursued the elegance of literati.

"An An, the village chief and the elders came to apologize to you yesterday, but I've taken care of it."

"Oh, Brother Xiaomo, I don't care. Just stop bothering us."

"Don't worry, An An, get up and eat. You must be hungry too."

"Brother Xu made some sweet steamed buns. You should like them."

"Okay, I'll get up right now."

Lan An got up quickly, packed up and washed up, and was about to leave the room, but was stopped by Zhang Xiaomo.

"An An, why can't you always tie your hair? Let me help you."

"Okay, thank you, Brother Xiaomo."

"Just use this headband. It looks nice."

"Okay, I'll listen to Brother Xiaomo."

The two lingered in the room for a while and then left together. Lan'an had been here for more than half a year, and he had taken good care of this body. He had grown a lot taller, and his facial features had also gradually developed, making it increasingly difficult to look away.

"Brother An, your hair looks really good today. Did your brother help you with it? Brother, do you think that Brother An is getting more and more handsome?"

"An An has always been beautiful."

"Brother, your hair-tying skills are really good."

"Zhang Xiaoguo, if you're bored, you can buy a few books on women's rings and read them."

Guo Ge'er stopped talking. The mountain behind the village had been quite lively recently, so he took Xiao Hui out to join in the fun.

After dinner, Brother Xu was going to the fields to check on the rice seedlings, so he casually asked Lan Euan:

"Ang'er, have you ever been to the fields to check on the rice seedlings?"

"No, Brother Xu, what does he look like?"

"It's better than the ones around here. I estimate it'll be ready for planting in about 20 days. It's probably a week faster than other places."

"Okay, should we prepare the fields in advance?"

"Just do it about ten days in advance. I'll prepare some fertilizer."

"Okay, you look at the arrangements."

"By the way, do you want to plant something on your land? I see everyone in the village is reclaiming wasteland. Should we also clean up our land?"

"Okay, then I'll go with you to the fields and I'll think about what to plant."

"An An, I'll go with you too."

Lan An did not refuse. It was okay for Zhang Xiaomo to go out for a walk, which was good for his health. However, it was still too far to walk, so he asked Brother Xu to move the ox cart over, and the group rode the cart to the fields.

The farmlands of the countryside in spring are lush and vibrant. The rice seedlings sway gently in the breeze, like a green ocean in motion.

The waterwheel turns with the wind, and the gurgling water flows down from afar, along the irrigation channel, and irrigates the fields, forming a unique landscape painting.

"Brother Xiaomo, we're almost at the field. How are you feeling?"

"I haven't been away from home for a long time. It's not bad."

After a while, the group stopped on a wasteland.

"Brother Xu, are we there yet?"

"Well, An'er, these empty plots belong to ours, and the ones planted next to them belong to Auntie Wang's family. Our two families are next to each other."

"Auntie Wang and her family are all very hardworking."

A group of people got out of the car. Lan An carefully held Zhang Xiaomo's hand. Brother Xu walked closer, took a look, and then touched her with his hand.

"These are soybeans. They should all be beans, but they aren't growing very well and the germination rate isn't high."

"Oh, we don't grow these in our fields. We grow something different."

"An An wants to grow tomatoes?"

"Brother Xiaomo is really smart. Besides tomatoes, there are other things. Let's try them all and see which one has the best yield."

The group walked around again. Zhang Xiaomo was in good spirits. He looked around and found everything curious.

"Ang'er, this land is pretty good, but it's not very fertile and doesn't retain water very well."

"So I installed a water truck. Otherwise, I can't grow anything on the land and the yield won't be high."

"Yeah, we have a manure pit at home, we can use it as fertilizer for the land."

"Brother Xu, please help me sort out the five acres. I want to plant something in a few days, so I need to hire a few more people.

You can decide the labor and wages. Meals are not included, but the pay is 10 wen more than in town."

"Okay, An Ge'er, don't worry."

Lan An returned home. Not long after, her sister-in-law, who had been helping Lan An at home, came over. It was obvious that she had something to discuss with Lan An.

"Anger, Mo Hanzi, I just saw you guys going to the fields. Are you planning to clean up your wasteland?"

"Sister-in-law Lan, we have this plan."

"Ang'er, we want to ask you what you plan to plant. Can you show us around? Planting beans is too unprofitable. Is there anything else we can plant besides beans?"

"Okay, don't worry, aunties. I haven't decided yet. You guys should prepare the land in the next two days. I'll have Brother Xu let you know when I've decided what to plant. But I'm not sure if it will be successful."

"Ang'er, don't worry. Whether it succeeds or not, we will follow your arrangements."

After chatting for a while, the aunts went back to their work. They had to work hard to develop the land and not hold Ang'er back.

At noon, Lan'an prepared the meal, but Guoge'er had not come back yet. After waiting for a while, Guoge'er came back with the dirty Xiaohui.

"Brother Guo, what have you been doing? Wash Xiao Hui clean before you eat."

Lan Euan was a little angry. When he saw Xiao Hui's dirty paws, he felt a little disgusted. This stupid dog even wanted to come over and pull at his outer robe. He really wanted to give it a couple of hits. Of course, Guo Ge'er couldn't let it go either.

Under the cold gazes of his brother and Ang'er, Guoger went to the kitchen. Fortunately, there was hot water, so he quickly gave Xiaohui a bath.

The dirty little dog still looked presentable after being washed. Lan'an was in a good mood and fed him some spiritual spring water and tasteless meat. The puppy licked Lan'an's fingers with his wet tongue. Zhang Xiaomo was a little jealous and hugged Lan'an in his arms and asked Guo Ge'er to take care of Xiao Hui.

"Brother Guo, what did you do today?"

"Ang'er, I went to the back mountain. There were a lot of children collecting firewood there. They looked quite pitiful."

"Well, I have a task for you. Go to the resettlement house and find a dozen or so children. I'll hire them to work. Choose those who have worked on the land."

"Okay, An Ge'er, don't worry."

"Don't make Xiao Hui dirty again."

Guo Ge'er nodded solemnly, and his funny look made Lan An laugh. Brother Xu did not delay and went to Aunt Wang's house to ask her to help introduce some reliable people to do the job.

"Brother Xiaomo, should we buy two more acres of land to make up to five acres?"

"An An, there's no need for that. If there's more, Brother Xu won't be able to handle it alone, right?"

"Then why don't we hire a few more reliable people? All the things at home depend on Brother Xu alone, and he's quite tired. Besides, there are so many family members coming to visit us every day."

"It seems An An has another good plan? Tell me about it."

"It's nothing. I just want to buy the residential land next to it and build an ordinary blue brick and tile house. Let's go to the county town to buy a few more reliable people. Otherwise, I will be separated from you every time something happens. Zhang Xiaomo, I don't want to be separated from you. I just want to be a small landlord and live a good life together."

"That's fine, I'll listen to An An."

Brother Xu and Brother Guo have not been at home for the past two days, and the villagers are all busy with their own things. Lan An and Zhang Xiaomo enjoyed a long-awaited leisurely time together.

Lan An was bored and planned to try making some potato chips and popcorn to eat. After all, it would be a pity to have no snacks during such a leisurely time. Thinking of him eating potato chips, leaning leisurely in Zhang Xiaomo's arms, letting him read miscellaneous notes, it seemed a bit refreshing no matter how he thought about it. Lan An couldn't wait to take action.

Lan'an took out some potatoes. Peeling them was too troublesome, so Lan'an directly bought a peeling and slicing tool from the space mall. In a short while, he had cut more than a dozen potatoes.

"An An, what is this?"

"Secret, Brother Xiaomo, I think you will like it."

Lan Euan took a look and found that the corn grown in the space could not be directly fried into popcorn. Lan Euan had no choice but to wait until he had time to study it in the future. Anyway, Zhang Xiaomo also liked to eat sweet corn directly after cooking.

Lan Euan has made another pot of tomato sauce. Now I just have to wait for the potato slices to dry so that I can fry them in oil.

The potato chips were not ready yet, and Zhu Ni, the bricklayer, whom Lan An had not seen for a long time, came to visit, which surprised Lan An a little.

"Angel, I didn't disturb you, did I?"

Zhu Ni, the bricklayer, was a little embarrassed, and Lan An smiled.

"No, I want to come find you in a couple of days. I plan to buy the residential land next door, and I'll definitely need your help then."

"Didn't you design the house last time?"

"Let me be frank. I plan to build it for my servants to live in. I plan to buy a few more people."

Zhu the bricklayer also heard about the conflict between the village chief and Ang'er. He quite approved of Lan'an's approach. Since he had the ability, why should he choose to suffer for no reason because of others?

"Okay, you can just come to me when the time comes. I came to see you today because I heard you were looking for children to help with your farm. I wanted to ask if I could let my two boys come and try."

"Okay, I quite like your two boys. My job is very simple, just let them come directly when the time comes."

"Then I thank An Ge'er."

"It's all trivial. I still like you as a person. We are friends now."

"Haha, let's have a drink when we have a chance."

"Didn't we agree to have a drink after your house is finished?"

Zhu the bricklayer chatted with Lan'an for a few more words and then left. Lan'an didn't care. He wanted to continue preparing potato chips and think about what to plant on those acres of wasteland.

It was the first time that Zhang Xiaomo saw Lan An express his love for someone so directly. She felt a little jealous and was no longer interested in the mysterious food Lan An prepared. She secretly sulked.

The potato chips are ready soon and can be eaten after they cool down. There's also a quota for what to plant on the wasteland: two acres of tomatoes, one acre of peanuts, one acre of watermelon, half an acre of chili peppers, and half an acre of ginger.

In this era, there are watermelons, but they are called cold watermelons. They are expensive and not tasty. In the original owner's memory, summer is still very hot. It would be miserable if there was no air conditioning, but it would be miserable if there was no ice watermelon to eat.

"Brother Xiaomo, the potato chips are ready."

"Mmm, An An, it tastes good."

Lan Euan was very sensitive to Zhang Xiaomo's emotions. He immediately thought about it and guessed the reason why Zhang Xiaomo was angry.

"Brother Xiaomo, I just think Zhuni is a good bricklayer. I don't mean anything else. I only love you and only want you. How about the house next door, which is now completed? Let Guoge live there too. It will just be the two of us in this house."

"No, An An, I just care a little bit. Now it's okay, the potato chips are really delicious. You have to make them for me in the future. I like the ones with ketchup, not the ones with coarse salt."

"Okay, let's give the coarse salt to Brother Guo."