"—Ahem, we have things to do, so we won't disturb you. We're leaving!" Seeing how inseparable they were, Duan Youyan couldn't bear to interrupt. He coughed awkwardly and had the coachman drive away quickly.
After they left, Xu Huaiqian held Chen Liejiu a while longer until his arms went numb, then slowly let go. Still holding his hand, he asked: "Is everything busy at home? Are the ginger and peppercorns still getting sick and bothering you?!"
Xu Huaiqian knew about the ginger and peppercorns getting sick; Chen Liejiu had told him at the academy. But at that time, he was busy memorizing texts, and even if he knew treatments, the medicines weren't available here. He could only give Chen Liejiu some simple handling methods.
"Not anymore. Let me show you." Chen Liejiu held his little husband's hand and walked back into the field. "I followed your methods—treat what could be treated, dig up what couldn't, disinfect the soil with lime. Except for the first s that weren't treated in time, look at all these later s—they're all perfectly fine."
Ginger had high yield but was also pr to sickness—ginger spot disease, ginger rot, ginger wilt, and a bunch more. It also attracted bugs.
Peppercorns were easy to plant but also suffered severe diseases—dry rot, gumming disease, dieback, anthracnose, and many others.
Looking at the well-tended field with almost no large-scale losses, Xu Huaiqian held Chen Liejiu's hand, his eyes full of heartache: "You've worked so hard."
It was easy to imagine how much effort Chen Liejiu had put into caring for them.
"It wasn't hard." It was worth it, worth it. No matter how tired or frustrated he had been, hearing his little husband's words now made it all feel like nothing.
"Let's dig some up to taste, okay?" Peppercorns took two years to mature; the grafted branches were thin and hadn't produced much yet. What little there was consisted of small green peppercorns. Xu Huaiqian couldn't bear to waste them, so he squatted down, pushed aside the lush green ginger leaves, and dug into the sandy soil below. Finding it ready for harvest, he suggested to Chen Liejiu: "These ginger plants made my husband work so hard—you should eat more to make up for it."
"Okay." Chen Liejiu had long been drooling over the ginger dishes Xu Huaiqian often talked about. He might not believe other things, but he definitely believed in his little husband's cooking.
Seeing his husband's ten long, jade-like fingers digging in the soil, he hurried over to help pull out the ginger.
"Today I'll cook personally." After gathering some ginger, Xu Huaiqian washed his muddy hands in the stream and cleaned the dirt off the ginger, ready to go home and properly compensate his husband.
"Alright, I'll tend the fire for you." Seeing that Xu Huaiqian looked rosy and not as pale as when he saw him in May or June, Chen Liejiu knew his health was better lately and didn't refuse.
Mmm, it had been so long since he tasted his little husband's cooking—he really missed it.
Returning home, Xu Huaiqian put on his apron and used the freshly dug young ginger to make several dishes.
Ginger-shredded duck—sponsored by Chen Xiaomei's duck.
Stir-fried chicken with young ginger—sponsored by Chen Xiaomei's chicken.
Ginger egg rice—sponsored by Chen Xiaomei's eggs.
The whole family ate and drank well, achieving the milest of only Chen Xiaomei being hurt.
"Burp—" Chen Xiaomei hiccupped, completely unaware, still praising: "Second Brother, everything you make is so delicious."
"It's the ginger that's delicious." All-natural, pollution-free, pesticide-free ginger, and most importantly, ginger his husband grew for him—Xu Huaiqian found it delicious no matter how he cooked it.
"Mhmm." Chen Xiaomei nodded. "I never thought ginger could be so tasty in dishes!"
"But I wonder how we'll sell this ginger?" Wang Wanwan was worried. They could accept the taste of ginger, but could others?
Five mu of land, densely packed with ginger. Just digging up two plants yielded so many dishes. Could it all be sold?
"Don't worry." Xu Huaiqian didn't plan to sell young ginger. "We'll talk about it when the old ginger is ready in November."
Xu Huaiqian was calm and confident, fully assured as if he had planned it long ago. Despite her worries, Wang Wanwan set her mind at ease.
She had to trust Xu Huaiqian. Had he ever failed to deliver on what he said?
He said he could hatch chicks with quilts—and he did. He said ginger could make a fortune—it definitely would!
The Chen family's attitude toward Xu Huaiqian was word: unconditional trust!
After the meal, the whole family lay in the yard to digest. Chen Xiaomei took the initiative to bring up her troubling problem: "Second Brother, do you think I should build another heated room?!"
Originally, she didn't want to. One heated room earned five or six taels a month. After nearly two years of hatching, minus Xu Huaiqian's share, her own savings were almost fifty taels.
So much my—she couldn't spend it all and could only find ways to buy things for the family.
Like the recliners they were sitting on—she bought them because she saw Xu Huaiqian liked reading while lying down, so she bought him .
Later, the whole family enjoyed lounging on them, so she simply bought for every. On early autumn days like this, lying in the yard after a meal to digest was extremely comfortable.
But now, more and more people were coming to her privately to buy chicks. They couldn't get any and were going crazy—it seemed so pitiful.
Besides, hatching more chicks meant more my for her—no real loss. The only problem was...
"You can't handle the workload." Xu Huaiqian pointed out her concern. Before, Wang Wanwan could occasionally help, but now Wang Wanwan had her own work and couldn't assist much.
She could barely manage heated room al, let al two.
"Mhmm." Chen Xiaomei nodded and shared her solution: "I want to hire people."
"Aren't you afraid others will learn the method?!" Xu Huaiqian looked at her somewhat surprised.
Usually, Chen Xiaomei guarded her heated room heavily. Even if some entered, she never allowed any in while she was controlling the temperature by burning fire or sprinkling water.
So, for over a year, the heated room had been managed only by family, never hiring outsiders.
"I heard from a official there's a confidentiality agreement. If some breaks it, the consequences are severe." Chen Xiaomei explained her idea: "When hiring, I'll make it clear—only those who agree to sign this contract will I hire!"
"That works!" Seeing she had her own plan, Xu Huaiqian didn't interfere, just asked curiously: "Who do you want to hire?"
Chen Xiaomei had it all figured out: "Brother Xiaoshan, and Chen Xiaoqing, younger brother of Chen Daqing next door."
Xu Huaiqian had seen Chen Xiaoqing a few times—a quite shy man. Rumor had it, because of Chen Liejiu's reputation, he hadn't married yet, stayed home rarely going out—a worry-free choice. He didn't object.
"Who is this Xiaoshan?" Xu Huaiqian himself didn't go out much, especially since he didn't get along with villagers and was very unfamiliar with them. He hadn't even heard the name.
"A very pitiful man." Chen Xiaomei thought for a moment and told Xu Huaiqian about Jiang Xiaoshan's situation: "Like Big Brother, he raised his younger siblings himself, but the man he married is no good—always beats him."
Hearing this, Xu Huaiqian frowned. Chen Liejiu directly objected: "Xiaoqing is fine, but forget about Xiaoshan."
Jiang Xiaoshan's husband, Sun Wangcai, was a troublemaker. He was afraid if little sister hired him, Sun Wangcai would bully her when he acted up.
"Not afraid!" Chen Xiaomei shook her head. "Chen Wu and Chen Qiang are usually home; they'll help me. Besides, I'm not afraid of Sun Wangcai. If he dares bully me, I'll have the villagers drive him out."
Chen Xiaomei was no longer the disaster the village cursed daily. Because Xu Huaiqian once said she was the family's treasure, the family's golden child.
Now, every in the village raising chickens and making my saw her as a golden child, liking to touch her for luck when they could.
The Chen Gui family next door, who had beaten her, now avoided her—buying chicks through others, not daring to face her.
If Sun Wangcai dared bully her, she'd dare stir up the village to bully him back.
Xu Huaiqian was taken aback. He realized Chen Xiaomei had a bit of Chen Liejiu's bully aura—the type who doesn't provoke but won't be provoked, who returns double if crossed.
"You decide." Chen Liejiu thought about it—when he was ten, he dared to go on escort missions. Chen Xiaomei was just hiring a man with a troublesome husband.
No reason for Xiaomei to be afraid while he was scared? Worst case, find an excuse to disable Sun Wangcai?
Xu Huaiqian glanced at Chen Liejiu—he felt Chen Liejiu's look just now had a hint of mischief.
Chen Liejiu smiled at him—no, he was just thinking, not actually planning anything.
"Then it's decided. Build a bigger heated room, hire two people. Hmm, I need to calculate expenses and decide fair wages." After two years of learning characters, Chen Xiaomei hadn't forgotten why she learned—she kept her own account book. Xu Huaiqian had seen it; it was messy, so he taught her bookkeeping. Now she carried her little account book everywhere.
She sat up from the recliner to check her accounts. Wang Wanwan, sitting beside her, slowly brought up her question: "Second Brother, do you think I should teach them?"
"Teach them! It's a good thing!" Xu Huaiqian thought it was excellent. He learned this originally to give housebound village women an income. Passing it on in this time and space made him happy. But seeing Wang Wanwan's hesitation, he added: "What are your thoughts?"
"I think every having this idea is good," Wang Wanwan bit her lip, silent for a moment. "But I also feel it's too unfair to give the method to them for free."
?Why should I?