Daily life of farming and supporting a family on the ancient Loess Plateau

Niu Lizheng, his face flushed, laughed and said, "Oh, is that for sure? We farmers value honesty above all else! We treat every job like tending to crops, doing it with the utmost care. We'd rather work slowly than cheat people."

Niu Suozi stretched his arms and sighed in agreement: "That's right! Oh my, I really didn't expect that we old folks, so old and about to go to our graves, could still make money with our own skills! And we can make this money right at our own doorstep!"

Such a good thing, no one would believe it if I told them! These past two years, it's truly all thanks to Second Uncle Ji and Yonglingwa; they taught us how to make compost and led us to earn money! Luckily, I'm thick-skinned, otherwise I'd feel embarrassed just taking advantage of them!

Although Grandpa Ji was beaming with joy, he still modestly shook his head: "We're just making a pittance, barely scraping by! We won't earn much money! We just earn a few copper coins in our spare time, enough for us old folks to buy some salt or cloth, so we won't have to ask the kids for every copper coin we need in the future!"

“That’s exactly right! When you’re old, as long as you can still move around and make some money, that’s better than anything else! Otherwise, we’d have to ask our kids for money every time we eat salt or drink vinegar, and we wouldn’t be able to save face! If we have filial kids, it’s fine, but if we have kids with bad tempers, they’ll give us a hard time if we ask for money!” Old Ji nodded in agreement.

Niu Lizheng chuckled, "What are you talking about? The young men of our Niu Family Village are all filial! They would never do anything to give their parents a hard time!"

"Oh, that's hard to say! We farmers don't take the imperial examinations to become officials, so we don't care that much about our parents!" Niu Suozi said, pursing his lips.

While the old men chatted idly, they hurriedly made rubber soles for their shoes. Meanwhile, back in the county, Ji Mancang finally managed to rent a shop after several twists and turns.

When it came time to plant castor beans in the spring, Ji Yongling had discussed it with Ji Manchuan and Ji Manqing. She felt that her family didn't have enough manpower, so they should just focus on farming and not expand too much. Therefore, after the castor oil mill was opened, it mainly focused on pressing oil, while the sales were left to Ji Mancang in the county.

Firstly, they only pressed oil and didn't handle the sales, which saved them time and effort. Secondly, no one in their family had ever worked in a shop in the county, so they had no idea what kind of people they had to deal with in a shop besides selling goods.

Having spent years navigating the county's underworld, Ji Mancang was well-connected, familiar with the local market, and adept at navigating social situations. He was the perfect person to open a shop selling products from Niujiazhuang.

Besides, if one brother helps the other, the other shouldn't be left behind.

Another very important aspect is that Ji Yongsong is the most likely among the younger generation of the Ji family to achieve success through education, so it is only right and proper to help him at this time.

If Ji Yongsong were to pass the imperial examinations and become a scholar, then their actions today would be like providing timely help. It would be far better than helping him after he has already passed the examinations, which would seem too deliberate and forced.

Ji Manchuan and Ji Manqing naturally agreed with Ji Yongling's suggestion.

For the two of them, the happiest thing was that their brothers were all making progress together and living a good life.

When Ji Mancang learned that his two brothers wanted him to open a shop to sell the products of Niujiazhuang, he hesitated and declined at first. But then he thought that he was getting old and it was not a good idea to always work in other people's shops.

Besides, Ji Yongsong's schooling was very expensive, so he gritted his teeth and agreed. After all, they were his own brothers, not strangers, so he wasn't afraid of taking advantage of them.

However, Ji Mancang couldn't find a suitable shop no matter how hard he looked. He was worried that the rent in the city was too high, and he wouldn't even be able to cover the rent if he sold things like castor oil and lamp oil, which were common household items.

After much deliberation, he decided to give up on renting a shop in Ningping County and instead rented a shop in the market street outside the county.

The rent for shops in the market is much cheaper, and the people coming and going are mostly from the countryside, making it the perfect place to sell castor oil.

Ji Yongling also agreed with Ji Mancang opening a shop in the market, because according to her plan, the shop would not only sell castor oil, but also other items produced in Niujiazhuang, including shoe soles, hemp rope, and seeds, etc.

Ji Yongling's ultimate goal was to sell affordable and high-quality goods that benefited ordinary people.

.....

Summer has just begun, and autumn is already here.

Before we knew it, the wind rose again, the leaves fell to the ground, and another autumn had arrived.

This autumn, Ji Yongling was particularly looking forward to it because the corn in her experimental field had ripened, the terraced fields that she had suggested transforming the slope had also produced crops, the castor beans that the villagers had been looking forward to could be harvested, and the family's oil mill should open for business.

"Let's pick castor beans! Let's pick hemp seeds!" The children in the village who couldn't go to school were already running around the ditches with baskets, picking castor beans.

Castor beans are easy to grow and thrive. In the past, in order not to take up space, everyone planted castor beans in ditches or along roadsides and walls in the village.

Because adults had repeatedly warned that castor seeds were poisonous and should not be eaten casually, the children would not pick them even though they found the spiky plant fun.

But now the castor beans are ripe, and the adults say that these things that look like little hedgehogs can be picked, and the seeds inside can be dug out and exchanged for money at Ji Yongling's house. So the children in the village are even more enthusiastic than the adults, carrying small baskets everywhere to compete in picking castor beans.

The castor bean stalks have grown tall and strong. A group of children play and frolic among the towering castor bean bushes, like playing hide-and-seek, and are often scolded and admonished by the adults.

"Never eat castor seeds, they'll kill you with tuberculosis! If you die from tuberculosis, you'll never see your parents again!"

"I know!"

Because Ji Yongning and his children had to go to school, they only had time to pick castor beans after school.

To show off his abilities and to flaunt his talents, Ji Yongning secretly strung together the castor seeds he had picked and took them to the school.

That day, class ended.

Zheng Xiucai went into the back room to eat, while the children in the school rested and played after finishing their dry rations.

After finishing his meal, Ji Yongning wiped his mouth and immediately took out the castor seeds he had prepared beforehand, calling his friends over to look at them: "Come on, come on, I'll show you something good! You've never seen this before!"

These are castor beans. Don't be fooled by their appearance; they look like tiny pebbles, but when lit, they shine incredibly brightly—far brighter than your oil lamp! Hurry up and move the table up; I'll hang it from the rafters, and you'll see for yourselves once it's lit!