Joe's Farming

The yard was full of peppercorns drying in the sun. Qiao Yu made a simple bamboo rake out of thin bamboo strips and turned the peppercorns over to allow the sun to dry them more evenly.

Qiao Yu thought of the pepper seedlings that he had grafted before. Only three branches had leaves that had not withered. The others had turned black when he pulled them out. Qiao Yu was not discouraged. He had not held out much hope in the first place, and this result was already a pleasant surprise.

Qiao Yu carefully watered the three seedlings and decided to move the trees down from the mountain after the new house was built, and plant a batch of seedlings to plant an acre of pepper next year. Although peppers take two or three years to bear fruit, he only needs to provide for himself and Yipinxuan now, even if he wants to open a store in the future, this year is enough.

Because the officials had allocated nearly two acres of land to his family, one acre was used to plant peppers, leaving eleven acres. Qiao Yu wanted to plant one acre of peppers, so he wouldn't have to buy them from outside. There were several varieties of peppers here, but no one was planting them as cash crops. If he couldn't consume them all, he could process them and sell them.

He bought some broad bean seeds at the grocery store before, and he also tried to plant some in the backyard. Now they have begun to sprout, but he doesn't know if they can survive the winter. But even if they can't, it doesn't matter. He plans to plant half an acre next year and study how to make bean paste. If it succeeds, he thinks it will be wonderful, and then Sichuan cuisine and hot pot can be arranged.

Of the remaining nine and a half acres, two acres were planted with potatoes and sweet potatoes, one acre was planted with corn, half an acre was left as his own experimental field, and the rest was planted with wheat. Thinking that there was nothing missing, Qiao Yu went to the backyard again.

Looking at the dozens of large green vegetables in front of him, Qiao Yu narrowed his eyes. This kind of large-leafed green vegetable is most suitable for making sauerkraut. The taste is much stronger than that made from Chinese cabbage, and is very suitable for making sauerkraut fish.

Qiao Yu kept two and picked the rest, removed the roots, washed them, and hung them on a rope in the yard.

When Gu Feng came back from lunch, he found the yard full of peppercorns and green vegetables drying in the sun, and a basket of hawthorns in the corner.

Gu Feng raised his eyebrows. It turned out that building a bigger house was the right decision. This old house was not big enough for his husband to live in.

Qiao Yu had just finished her work and was sitting drinking tea. When she saw her husband coming back, she hurried to greet him. The three children and the old man had not come back yet, so they didn't have to wait, just leave some food for them.

Today's lunch is stir-fried cauliflower with meat, and radish and kelp soup. The kelp was bought by Qiao Yu when she went to Taoyuan Town last time. The soup base is made from pork bones given by the butcher. It is very fresh with the kelp added. Finally, some coriander is added. It tastes very good.

Qiao Yu ate two bowls of rice with soup and dried radish. He didn't like cauliflower, so he didn't eat much of the vegetable.

It was the first time that Gu Feng discovered that her husband was picky about food, and she silently picked back the cauliflower that she had given to her husband.

Qiao Yu smiled at him embarrassedly. He didn't really hate cauliflower, but there was a period of time in his previous life when he was trying to control his weight. One of the fat-reducing meals used cauliflower instead of rice, and he got hurt after eating it, so he didn't want to touch other foods anymore.

After dinner, the three children and the old man came back.

After washing their hands, the children could not wait to sit at the table to eat. Qiao Yu and Gu Feng sat beside them and chatted with the children and the old man. After everyone finished eating, Qiao Yu took Gu Feng back to the house to take a nap.

Gu Feng was too tired recently. After finishing his work at the construction site every day, he had to help Qiao Yu with work. Qiao Yu felt so distressed that even though she was tortured by her husband last night, she still hugged her husband tightly and asked him to take a nap with her.

Gu Feng couldn't persuade his husband who was acting like a spoiled child, so he hugged him and took a nap for half an hour. Fortunately, he was the boss and no one would bother him.

When she woke up, Qiao Yu kissed her husband on the cheek and asked him to get up and go outside to look for lightning. He was going to Taoyuan Town tomorrow and didn't want to ride the ox cart again.

Lightning was very smart. When he saw Qiao Yu coming, he came over to let Qiao Yu touch his neck. Gu Feng helped him put on the carriage, then put his arm around his husband's waist and carried him into the carriage.

Qiao Yu sat obediently next to Gu Feng and watched him drive the carriage.

The two of them went back and forth between the village and their home twice, and once they even sent their children and grandfather there. The children in the village were extremely envious, after all, they were the only family in the entire Shangtian Village that owned a horse-drawn carriage.

Tian Guihua stood far away, looking at Qiao Yu and Gu Feng with resentful eyes. If Gu Feng had not given her a betrothal gift of five taels of silver, she would not have been deceived by her brother. Now that the silver had been lost by that gambler, Qiao Lao San's attitude towards her had also changed.

The better Qiao Yu's life is now, the more regretful Qiao Lao San is, and all this retribution is on Tian Guihua.

Tian Guihua is now very busy every day. She has to cook when she gets home. Qiao Laosan will beat her up if he is not satisfied. Tian Guihua took a last look at Qiao Yu, who was smiling like a flower in the carriage, and turned to walk towards the Li family.

She didn't dare to mess with Gu Feng. Who the hell was Wen Ge? He went to Qiao Yu every day. Everyone knew that he was a money-loser.

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After Qiao Yu had done a few trips back and forth, the horse was stable. He returned home to feed and water the horse. Then he went to the construction site with Gu Feng. Gu Feng went to work, while he checked the progress. The house had taken shape, and the wall was almost half a person's height. It was made of inferior bricks that Gu Feng sold exclusively, and the price was cheap.

The cellar was half dug, and the excavated soil was transported to the backyard to build the earth wall. After all, the new backyard had to go all the way around the old house, so it was not practical to use bricks for everything.

Qiao Yu followed the traces of the wall and found that Gu Feng had also drawn the mountain spring. Wow, this spring will be his from now on. But it's better this way, it's safer.

Qiao Yu looked around and found that everyone was busy. He felt embarrassed to be the only one left out, so he quickly left.

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After drying overnight and half a day, the sweet potato starch finally dried. Qiao Yu crushed the large pieces of starch with his hands, then sifted them finely with a bamboo sieve, crushed the coarse pieces and sifted them again. Finally, he got half a basin of fine, white and clean starch, which Qiao Yu carefully poured into a medium-sized earthenware jar.

In fact, it is easy to make sweet potato flour after this step. But now he only has one can, and he is a little reluctant to give it up, so he will not try it for now. When he is free one day, he will ask Brother Wen to make it together and let them taste the springy sweet potato flour.

After a while, Wen Ge'er and his friends came back, picking three full baskets of hawthorns. As it was still early, they took the initiative to stay and ask Qiao Ge'er if he needed any help.

The Sichuan peppercorns that were dried the day before yesterday were almost ready for shelling, so Qiao Yu asked Wen Ge'er and Li Li'niang to shell them first and then sift out the black seeds.

Wen'er and his little sister washed the hawthorns. They took out the chopping board and started to cut the hawthorns into slices.

After drying two baskets of water, Qiao Yu felt that it was enough. He washed the rest and hung them aside for tomorrow.

After paying the wages, Qiao Yu kept Wen Ge'er and told him that they would set up a stall in Taoyuan Town starting tomorrow.

Wen Geer agreed of course. He was a little worried because the orders for braised dishes had been decreasing in the past few days. He stayed to braise the braised meat for tomorrow's sale.

While Wen Ge'er was braising the meat, Qiao Yu made another batch of soap, which he could remove from the mold before going to bed at night. He had waited overnight before, and it was very hard to cut when he cut it.

Before Wen Ge'er left, he gave him a round piece of soap, which made Wen Ge'er very fond of it. He wrapped it in a handkerchief and put it in the basket.

Qiao Yu asked Wen Ge'er to wait for her at the entrance of the village tomorrow. Lin Da would come over in the afternoon, and Lin Er would deliver the order on horseback.

Qiao Yu did not find out what the negotiation between Gu Feng and Lin Da was like. She only knew that Lin Da finally returned five taels of silver to Gu Feng and promised to split the money earned in the future equally based on the actual profit.

Everything is ready, we're ready to set off tomorrow.