The happy little days of the Ye family

Father Ye and Mother Ye were about to go to the counter to give money, when the clerk from the bookstore took out a large stack of books from the corner and placed them on the counter.

"Shopkeeper, I have sorted out the old books that Li Xiucai sold to the bookstore yesterday. I have put away the books on scientific examinations. The rest are some travel notes and miscellaneous books."

The shopkeeper flipped through a few books at random. They were all worthless miscellaneous books. "These books are a bit old. You can wipe them clean and put them up for sale at the door tomorrow morning. They will be sold at half price."

Ye Mu happened to be standing next to the counter and saw at a glance that the top item was a landscape album.

Ye Mu: "Shopkeeper, can we take a look at these old books?"

"Okay, okay, these books are a bit old, but they are not damaged and will not affect viewing. And they are only half price, which is a very good deal."

These miscellaneous books were collected by the shopkeeper at a very low price. The shopkeeper wished that Ye Mu would buy all these books back. He happily directed the clerk to move a large stack of old books to the table aside for Ye Mu to choose.

Mr. Ye and Mrs. Ye were waiting for Father Ye to pay with their three children. When they saw Mother Ye and Father Ye picking out old books, they gathered around again.

Because she had to keep accounts, Mrs. Ye specially learned some common words and simple arithmetic from her father. Mrs. Ye was a little embarrassed when she learned it. Mr. Ye was also dragged over to be a strong man and forced to learn together.

Because Ye's mother learned accounting from Mrs. Ye, she also learned Chinese calligraphy from Ye's father for a while, and now she can also read some simple words.

Ye Qingqing was educated with Ye Donglin when he was young. When Donglin went to school, Ye Qingqing wanted to go with him. However, the school did not accept female students, so Ye's father had to let Ye Donglin go home and teach Ye Qingqing.

Poor little Donglin, after returning from school, in addition to hunting pigweed, he also had to teach Ye Qingqing how to read.

Ye Qingqing learned calligraphy from Ye Donglin for a year. Although the handwriting was a bit uglier, he recognized all the commonly used characters.

Speaking of which, the seven members of the Ye family are all literate, but only Ye's father and Ye Donglin know better. The others are half-empty and half-informed.

Ye Mu picked up the landscape painting album at the top. The first few pages were filled with paintings of famous mountains, including the well-known Huangshan Mountain, Huashan Mountain, Lushan Mountain, etc. Continuing to scroll back, most of them are landscape paintings.

The more Ye Mu looked at it, the more she liked it. The paintings in it were just suitable for making embroidery samples. Ye Mu happily put the picture album aside and wanted to look through it to see if there were other picture albums.

Ye Donglin and Ye Xilin fell in love with a travel journal that wrote about some customs and customs in the north. The two brothers read it with gusto when their half-grown children were curious.

Mrs. Ye, who was a little bored after waiting, casually picked up an old book and looked through it, "Isn't this a wild vegetable in the field? Why is there honeysuckle on the book? This one looks familiar to this one, as if I've seen it in the mountains."

Hearing Mrs. Ye's words, Father Ye also came over curiously. "This is a diagram of herbal medicine. The Chinese herbal medicines are drawn on it. The names and functions of these herbs are written below."

Father Ye looked at the page about honeysuckle again. It was basically the same as what the drugstore said. Mrs. Ye opened the two plants that seemed familiar just now and showed them to Father Ye.

Father Ye said excitedly: "I have seen these two plants on the mountain. Let's buy this herbal book."

"First, let's find out which plants can be found in the nearby mountains. When we pass by the drug store later, I will ask if the drug store accepts these medicinal materials. Then we will go to the mountains to find medicinal materials."

Ye Qingqing on the side was flipping through a collection of ghost stories. The book was much thicker than other books, and it contained all kinds of exciting ghost stories.

Ye's mother did not find other albums, but she found a book about Nongsang. Ye's mother didn't know much about Nongsang, but she thought that Mr. Ye would like this book, so she gave the book to Mr. Ye.

The old man has been farming all his life and attaches great importance to mulberry farming. Some of the contents in the book are known to old farmers like Mr. Ye, but there are also many things that Mr. Ye has never thought of.

The Ye family spent more than half an hour picking and choosing, and finally picked out five books.

There are landscape albums selected by Ye’s mother, herbal pictures selected by Mrs. Ye and Father Ye, collections of ghost stories selected by Ye Qingqing, travel notes selected by brothers Ye Donglin and Ye Xilin, and agricultural books selected by Mr. Ye.

"Basically, miscellaneous books are about 100 texts. Used books are half price, so I'll charge you 50 texts each. Five books in total are 250 texts."

The few people picked and picked for a long time, but they didn't expect to buy five books at once. The shopkeeper was so happy that his big white teeth were exposed.

When she heard that these old books cost 50 yuan each, Mrs. Ye almost threw the books back. In the end, she gritted her teeth and negotiated with the shopkeeper for a long time, and finally bought these five books for 230 yuan.

After coming out of the bookstore, it was already getting late. Mother Ye asked the three children to quickly get on the donkey cart and prepare to go home.

When passing by the drug store, Ye's father deliberately went to the drug store with a diagram of herbal medicine to inquire about it. Ye's father often came to the drug store to sell honeysuckle and honey, and he was familiar with the drug store's shopkeeper.

"Shopkeeper Wang, please help me take a look at these herbs. Do the drug stores accept them?" The seven or eight herbs that Father Ye pointed out can be found in the mountains or fields near Taohua Village.

Shopkeeper Wang took the herbal chart and looked at the herbs on it carefully, "Honeysuckle is always collected by the medicine shop, and the quantity is relatively large. You know this. This, this, and this need to be brewed. Yes, and the brewing method is more complicated than you can handle."

"The remaining three medicinal materials can be collected by pharmacies, and they only need to be simply dried in the sun. However, these are relatively common medicinal materials, and the price is ten yuan per catty."

Father Ye became discouraged when he found out that common herbs only cost ten yuan a pound.

More than ten pounds per kilogram sounds like a lot, but dried herbs are lighter. Usually three or four kilograms of dried herbs only weigh one kilogram, and herbs don't grow like wild vegetables all over the field.

Father Ye might as well continue to be his little shopkeeper during this time.

The shopkeeper added: "The medicinal materials you pointed out are the most common ordinary medicinal materials and are not worth much. In fact, there are many medicinal materials in the herbal map that can be found in the nearby mountains. You can go to the mountain with the herbal map when you have time. Find out if there are any other medicinal materials.”

As to what medicinal materials are found in the mountains of Taohua Village, you have to ask Dr. Li in Taohua Village. Dr. Li often collects medicinal herbs in the mountains. He has even been to the mountains many times. He knows very well what medicinal materials are in the mountains.

But when Father Ye thought about it carefully, it seemed that no one in the family had time to collect herbs.

Mr. Ye is in charge of his family's fields and crops in the small back hill. Mrs. Ye can basically make more than two taels of silver every month by making hairbands and headbands. She probably doesn't like digging for medicinal materials. silver.

Not to mention Ye Mu and Ye Qingqing, who have small arms and legs and can't dig medicinal materials. Moreover, mother and daughter make more money from doing embroidery than digging for medicinal herbs.

As for Ye Donglin and Ye Xilin, just hunting pigweed every day is enough to keep them busy.

Thinking of these, Father Ye gave up the idea of ​​going up the mountain to collect herbs.