Joe's Farming

Qiao Yu woke up in the morning because she had to go to the bathroom. Maybe she drank too much water last night.

He hurriedly put on a coat and went to the small hut in the backyard to take care of himself.

After I washed up in the yard feeling refreshed, I found that the yard was very deserted today.

The stove in the kitchen, which had been used to boil medicine, had grown cold. In the pot, a bowl of medicine, a bowl of porridge, and two eggs were kept warm using the method he used the day before.

Qiao Yu brought out all the food and sat in the yard to eat slowly.

After a while, the laughter of two children came from outside the yard, and Gu Feng appeared in the yard carrying two large buckets. It turned out that he was going to fetch water. Since Qiao Yu came, the water in the yard was often not enough.

So Gu Feng went to pick them out before he got up, and washed the dirty clothes and brought them back to hang out to dry.

There were two clotheslines in the yard. Qiao Yu looked at Gu Feng in surprise as he took off the backpack on his back and skillfully hung up the clothes, including the underwear he had changed yesterday.

Qiao Yu felt that she was too lazy. She hadn't even thought about washing clothes for a few days.

"Why... don't you ask me to wash the clothes myself?" Qiao Yu didn't even feel the taste of eggs was good anymore. She wished she could turn into Superman and do all the housework at home.

"By the way, it's good for your health if you sleep a little longer." After hanging up the clothes, Gu Feng stretched them.

Qiao Yu diligently peeled the second eggshell and held it in front of Gu Feng's mouth. "I can't eat it anymore, help me eat it."

The two children looked at each other, thinking that their mother and father had a very good relationship.

The lump behind Qiao Yu's head had almost subsided, so he discussed with Gu Feng that he did not want to take medicine anymore. Seeing that he did not seem to be faking it, Gu Feng agreed.

He also told Qiao Yu to take him to town today and asked Aunt Shi to take care of the two children.

Qiao Yu was a little worried, "Why don't we take the child with us? What if Aunt Shi doesn't have time to help?"

"It's okay. Aunt Shi has her daughter-in-law and grandson at home, and the two little ones have playmates." Gu Feng dispelled her husband's concerns.

When he just came back half a year ago, he would go into the mountains to hunt and would simply leave the children at home and not allow them to run outside.

It was Aunt Shi who knew about it and asked him to hand over the child.

Gu Xiaoxue also said to Qiao Yu sensibly: "Mom, I miss Xiao Shitou too. You can go out with Dad without worry. I will take good care of Xiaoyan."

Shitou is Aunt Shi’s grandson. His full name is Wang Hu and he just turned one year old. When Gu Xiaoxue and her brother were at Aunt Shi’s house, they liked this little brother very much.

Qiao Yu: "Okay then, Xuebao and Yanbao, stay at Auntie's house and wait for us to come back and pick you up."

Gu Xiaoxue and Gu Xiaoyan nodded obediently. Daddy just told them that they should follow Aunt Shi obediently today, and Daddy would buy them candied haws when he came back.

After leaving the child with Aunt Shi, Qiao Yu and Gu Feng set off for Qingyuan Town.

Qingyuan Town is the nearest town and also the poorest town. Four hours north of Qingyuan Town is a town called Taoyuan Town, which is the seat of Taoyuan County.

It is much more prosperous than Qingyuan Town, and there is a canal port in the town with convenient transportation.

Qiao Yu listened to Gu Feng's introduction silently, thinking that she would go to Taoyuan Town after saving some money.

After all, Qiao Yu had just had a few days of good food and rest, so he felt a little tired after walking for half an hour.

Gu Feng also noticed it and deliberately slowed down his pace, thinking to himself that he would rent a bullock cart for his husband every time he went to town in the future, or simply buy one.

Finally, an hour later, Qiao Yu and Gu Feng arrived at the town. When they entered the town gate, the soldiers guarding the gate glanced at them and let them in.

Others who carried mountain products and vegetables to sell were charged two cents each.

Gu Feng: "We don't have to pay this fee if we don't go into the city to sell anything today. When we get to the market, if we need a fixed stall, we have to pay extra money there."

Qiao Yu nodded.

Today's task is to buy the seasonings and some vegetable seeds that I have been craving for.

Like leeks, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, bok choy, etc. It would be even better if there were potatoes. Buy some ribs and go back to make braised ribs for everyone.

However, when Qiao Yu arrived at the grocery store, he realized that he had thought too much. The Great Yan Dynasty did not belong to any era he was familiar with, and there were no condiments such as star anise and fennel in the store.

Having soy sauce, canola oil and sesame oil is pretty good.

Fortunately, although the grocery store does not have all the seasonings, it does have a wide variety of vegetables.

However, there were no potatoes and tomatoes. But Qiao Yu was not discouraged. He drew the appearance of the two ingredients and sent them to the store, asking them to pay attention.

The boss also liked generous customers like Qiao Yu. After hearing that the seasonings and spices he described were similar, he suggested that he go to the spice shop to have a look.

Qiao Yu suddenly realized, yes, maybe the Dayan Dynasty had discovered the seasoning, but the uses were different. In addition to the spice shop, he could also go to the pharmacy to have a look.

Qiao Yu was chatting happily with the shop owner and didn't notice the confusion in Gu Feng's eyes beside her.

After buying the seeds, Qiao Yu asked Gu Feng to take her to the spice shop and the medicine shop.

Gu Feng led the way silently, and continued to observe Qiao Yu silently along the way. Qiao Yu then found costus root, cinnamon, star anise and bay leaves in the spice shop.

Because the price was too high, I only ordered half a catty of star anise and one tael of bay leaves. Anyway, they could be used. Star anise was 20 wen per tael, and bay leaves were 30 wen per tael. In total, I spent 130 wen.

There are many spices in the pharmacy, including cardamom, amomum villosum, galangal, pepper, fennel and cumin.

Qiao Yu bought one or two taels of each item, spending a total of three hundred coins.

Including the vegetable seeds I bought earlier, it cost almost one or two taels of silver.

Qiao Yu felt a little sorry for the money. After all, she had no income now and relied entirely on her husband to support the family.

Qiao Yu: "Brother Gu, let's buy some more meat and go home."

Gu Feng probably guessed that the young man was worried about money. He comforted him, "Don't worry, Qiao'er, buy whatever you want. We have money at home."

Qiao Yu: "But, I still want to buy some land, and I need to save the money." I finally got to a place where I can buy and sell land freely, so how can I not buy land?

Gu Feng: "I'll listen to you and buy a few more strings of candied haws. I promised to give them to the children."

Qiao Yu: "Yeah, let's buy some more salt and rapeseed oil, and some dried chilies, I want to make some dried radish."

Gu Feng was stunned for a moment. This was another thing he had never eaten before. Could it be that Qiao'er's mother taught him to eat these foods? He would have to ask her about it when he got back.

When we got to the butcher's shop, all the good meat had been picked out, leaving only a few large bones, a few pieces of meat, as well as pig lungs, livers and offal.

Qiao Yu frowned: "Boss, how much do you sell these for?"

Zhu the Butcher was familiar with Gu Feng because Gu Feng often put his prey on consignment at the butcher shop. When he saw the boy in front of him and Gu Feng together, he guessed that he was Gu Feng's new husband.

Zhu the butcher waved his hand generously: "These are not good things. If my sister-in-law likes them, I will give them eighteen cents for good luck."

Qiao Yu also heard that Zhu the Butcher knew Gu Feng, so he looked at Gu Feng.

Gu Feng: "Brother Zhu, don't be like this. It's what it should be."

Qiao Yu: "Yes, Brother Zhu. I manage the money in our family."

Zhu the butcher was amused by Qiao Yu's proud look and said with a smile: "We really can't collect too much. Apart from the remaining meat, which is about one or two kilograms, no one usually wants the offal."

What a waste of natural resources, Qiao Yu thought. "Brother Zhu, give me all of them. I may come here often to buy them. Can you give me ten cents for these offal?"

Zhu the Butcher: "Sure, why not. Just come over when the time comes."

Butcher Zhu happily loaded the things, collected the money, and exchanged a few words with Gu Feng, praising him for his good fortune.

Gu Feng was proud in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face.

After leaving the butcher shop, Gu Feng took Qiao Yu to the pastry shop. Her husband seemed to like yesterday's cloud cake very much, so he bought two kilograms at once.

Then he went to the stalls and bought some vegetables that he didn't have at home. Qiao Yu saw someone selling sweet potatoes and bought some too. He planned to go back and grow them. When they grow leaves, he could pick them and stir-fry them. They tasted good.

When they had almost finished buying everything, Qiao Yu persuaded Gu Feng to go to the store to buy two pieces of cloth and ten kilograms of cotton, preparing to go back and ask Aunt Shi to make a few winter cotton-padded clothes for them. Although it was still autumn, it was reassuring to prepare in advance.

In this way, Qiao Yu had already spent 126 yuan in the town. So when Gu Feng suggested that they have lunch in the town before going back, Qiao Yu refused.

I'd better go back and cook for myself.

About half a mile outside the town gate, there are many ox carts parked, as well as some farmers who are unwilling to pay to sell their goods in town.

Coincidentally, Qiao Yu found Lin Da and Lin Er who were delivering furniture to her.

"Brother Gu, are you two here in town to do some shopping?" Lin Da greeted them warmly.

Gu Feng: "Yes. We just happened to be going home, I wonder if you two are free to take us home."

"When I'm free, when I'm free." Lin Da asked Lin Er to unload their belongings onto the ox cart.

Although Qiao Yu felt sorry for the money, he would have to lie down to carry so many things back. So he didn't waste any words and jumped onto the ox cart in a few seconds.

After getting on the bus, Lin Da asked Lin Er to get off and he saw them off. Then he shouted, "Is there anyone else in Shangtian Village who wants to leave? We're leaving soon."

Qiao Yu thought, isn't this the "wild" of later generations? She couldn't help but laugh. Gu Feng saw it and asked hurriedly, "Qiao Er, what are you laughing at?"

Qiao Yu: "Nothing, I just think Lin Da is very capable." Gu Feng's face suddenly turned dark.

However, Qiao Yu was a slow-witted person. At this moment, his eyes were attracted by the shouting and bargaining around him. He found that although it was chaotic here, there were also many people. Setting up a tea shed to sell water should be a good business.

"Hey, hey, wait a minute, I'm going to Shangtian Village." Two women came running over and helped each other get on the car. They were stunned for a moment when they saw Qiao Yu, and then they started whispering to each other.

"Shangtian Village, is there anyone from Shangtian Village? Last one, get in the car and leave!" Lin Da continued to shout.

Finally, an old woman got on the cart, holding a big basket in her hand. She almost fell down when she got on the cart, but Qiao Yu helped her up. Lin Da then drove the ox cart and slowly set off.

Qiao Yu saw that there were little ducks and chicks in the big basket, they were so cute.

Qiao Yu: "Grandma, do you want to sell these chickens and ducks?"

"Humph, some people are so rich that they have money to buy ducks." One of the two women mocked.