Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

Besides, many families in the village still live in thatched huts. If the Mu family were to cover the cowsheds with tiles, what would those families living in thatched huts think? It's better not to bring hatred into the family.

The cowshed was built quite high, with a second floor made of wooden planks in the middle, which could be used to store the fodder for the cows.

Considering that the cows will reproduce in the future, and that the cow owner may send more dairy cows in the future, the cowshed built this time can accommodate more than thirty cows.

In addition, a stable, three small huts for raising rabbits, and five duck sheds were built.

Ducks definitely need to be raised in large numbers. After the duck shed was built, Mu Xiao bought a hundred ducklings from the town.

The construction of the cowshed and other sheds cost fifteen taels of silver, including bricks and labor. The labor was contracted directly to Master Liu, but meals were not included.

While picking peach blossoms, Wang Qing'er was still thinking about the honeysuckle. She said to Mu Qin, "Mu Qin, take me to see that patch of honeysuckle!"

After hearing Old Man Mu mention a patch of honeysuckle that day, she had been thinking about it and wanted to see how big it was. She had seen some honeysuckle in other places before, but they were scattered here and there and didn't form a large area.

"Okay, sister-in-law!" Mu Qin immediately agreed. She always granted Wang Qing'er's requests. Sometimes, when her mother asked her to do chores, she would dawdle before she would move.

Is it far away?

"It's not far, there's a whole lot of it on that hillside over there," Mu Qin said, pointing to the distant hillside.

"Zitong, do you want to come with us?" Wang Qing'er asked, looking at the two who were still quickly picking flowers.

"Sister-in-law, we won't go." Zitong looked at her sister, and seeing Wu Zihan shake her head, she smiled and said to Wang Qing'er.

"We'll go take a look and be right back. You two rest for a bit and have some water," Wang Qing'er instructed the two before pulling Mu Qin toward the hillside.

These days, Wang Qing'er spends her days picking peach blossoms and her evenings making scented soap and teaching Muqin and Zitong to read and write. The two little girls are very smart; they remember the words after being taught once or twice, and they copy the newly learned words several times every day.

Unable to find suitable storybooks for them in the county town, she had no choice but to teach them to read the Three Character Classic first.

After teaching them the Three Character Classic, I taught them the Rules for Students and also told them other stories. Although I was very tired every day, I felt very fulfilled.

As Wang Qing'er walked, holding Mu Qin's hand, she asked, "Did you pick the honeysuckle and sell it before?"

"Yes, they are all sold to pharmacies. Mother said that they can sell more than ten taels of silver every year, but they are too difficult to pick. There is no time to eat while picking flowers."

“Alright, but she doesn’t want to sell it directly. She wants to keep it to make scented soap and floral water. Now the family can earn nearly ten taels of silver a day. Grandma, Father and Mother probably won’t care about the ten taels of silver from selling these honeysuckle flowers.” Wang Qing’er thought as she walked.

"Sister-in-law, do you recognize what this is? It will bloom in a while," Mu Qin asked, pointing to a small patch of plants at her feet.

"Is this a lily?" Wang Qing'er tried hard to recall the shape of the lily branches and leaves, which looked very similar to this one. She couldn't be sure without seeing the flower.

"Lily? Sister-in-law, you said it's called lily?"

"I'm not sure either, Muqin, what color and shape its flowers are?"

“There are white ones, yellow ones, and pink ones, and they smell really good! Shape? Hmm?” Mu Qin said, thinking about how to describe the shape of the flowers. Suddenly her eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands and said, “Like a trumpet shape, that’s right, like a trumpet. The trumpets that people blow when they get married, only not as big.” Mu Qin was very sure that they were trumpet-shaped.

"That must be a lily." Wang Qing'er was quite certain it was a lily, and she was a little excited.

"Lily, what a beautiful name! Sister-in-law, you know so much!"

"Now you recognize it too, right? When we get back, I'll teach you the three characters for lily, okay?"

“Okay. There are several osmanthus trees over there, and the flowers smell so good! There are also a few trees over there with big red flowers. They already have buds, and they will bloom in a few days.”

As Mu Qin walked, she pointed here and there, telling Wang Qing'er where the flowers were and what their colors were.

"A red flower? Such a big one?" Wang Qing'er muttered to herself, her mind racing through images of large red flowers, but she couldn't make heads or tails of them.

"Yes, it's very red and has big blooms." Mu Qin thought her sister-in-law was asking her, so she gestured with her hand to show the size of the flower.

"Muqin, take me there to see!" Since there are already flower buds, she should be able to recognize them!

"Okay, let's go this way." Mu Qin led Wang Qing'er to a tree with red flower buds. The trunk was as thick as a cup. Wang Qing'er knew at a glance that it was a camellia tree, which she could see everywhere in parks or green belts in her previous life.

"Muqin, this is a camellia. Are there many of these trees?"

"Not many. There are two here and three there. There seem to be only five trees. There are a few over there that look similar to these, but they have white flowers and lots of green fruit. If you put them on a slingshot and shoot someone, it will hurt a lot."

Are there many of those? How many are there?

"There seem to be five or six trees. There are some saplings around them, but they have never flowered or borne fruit."

"Ah? That's too little. If it were tea oil trees, there would be very little. What a pity," Wang Qing'er thought to herself.

"Sister-in-law, do you want to go see it?"

"Hmm, let's go take a look." I was a little disappointed to hear there were only a few trees, but I still wanted to go see them.

Camellia oleifera can be propagated by cuttings, which will bear fruit after three years. Seeds can also be planted after they mature, but it will take ten or even more than ten years to bear fruit.

Just thinking about these long years makes it hard to endure.

Camellia oleifera fruit can be pressed for oil. Camellia oil can be used not only for cooking, but also to make soap and for skincare, with effects such as removing blemishes, acne, and wrinkles.

When I went over, I saw that there were only five or six mature camellia trees, but there were quite a few seedlings around them. I went back and told Brother Mu Nan to replant these seedlings. The seeds that fell randomly from the trees were all crowded together after germination, and there was no room for them to grow.

In addition, we need to cut some branches and dig up some tree roots to propagate. "Propagation? Can we also propagate soapberry? This season should be just right. We can also try propagating camellias and tea trees. What if they survive? Didn't all the fleeceflower root survive? Let's leave them all to Brother Mu Nan. After all, he is more professional."

Wang Qing'er originally only wanted to propagate camellia trees by cuttings, but now she feels that everything can be propagated by cuttings.

Mu Qin led Wang Qing'er to the honeysuckle forest.

No wonder Old Man Mu wanted to buy this area. The entire hillside was covered with honeysuckle, with brown vines covered with dark green leaves and clusters of small green flowers. They would start to bloom in about half a month.

Life was busy, and the tea leaves on the back mountain were picked by Wang Cuiying and Zixuan.