The fierce peasant woman is busy farming

"Thank you, Uncle Qi. As for the third thing, I would like to ask Uncle Qi to help me find out how much ginseng can be sold for."

"Oh, you have ginseng?"

The village chief's curiosity was aroused, and even Aunt Qi and Yuan Mo stared at Zhou Yue.

"Oh, I'm just asking. The gift that the official gave us last time contained a small root of ginseng. We farmers can't afford to eat that stuff.

I thought, why not sell it and get some money to treat my father-in-law's leg.

“Oh, I don’t know anything about medicine, let alone ginseng. I only know that it is a very precious medicinal ingredient, a good thing that can revive the dead.

This man is dying. If he puts a piece of ginseng in his mouth, he can live a few more days until his children and grandchildren come back.

So, for this matter and Xuan Ge'er's case, I will ask my two children to ask around in the county. They know a lot of people in the county, so maybe they know someone in the pharmacy."

"Okay, Uncle Qi, you guys take a nap. We won't bother you anymore. Don't see you off when we get home."

Aunt Qi hurriedly stood up, picked up all the things, and stuffed them into Zhou Yue's hands.

Uncle Qi also got off the kang, put on his slippers, and together with Aunt Qi, stuffed all the gifts into the hands of Zhou Yue and Yuan Mo.

Zhou Yue hurriedly pulled Yuan Mo and ran away.

Hearing the calls of the two elders behind them, they ran back home in one breath.

Yuan Mo was thinking as he ran, how come he didn't know that there was ginseng in the things that the adult sent?

Maybe I didn't notice it?

I must go and see when I get back, what does this ginseng look like?

--split line--

It was said that Ning Yuan had just arrived at the county the day before.

He searched the house quietly for a long time but couldn't find any bedding or silver.

Presumably, Qian had placed the bedding in her own room, where Old Man Ning was taking a nap, and he didn't dare to go there again to bring bad luck upon himself.

The fifty taels of silver should have been hidden carefully by Zhou.

After searching for a long time without any results, Ning Yuan had to give up. He had to go back to the provincial capital today.

Before he came, he told Wang that there would be good news in three days at most.

It has been five or six days. If he doesn't go back, he is afraid he won't be able to explain himself.

Without a carriage or horse, he could only walk to the town.

Then they hired a donkey cart in the town and took him to the county.

When you arrive at the county, you will see the daily mule caravans from Tongzhou Prefecture.

He had in his hand a few coins secretly given to him by Qian, as well as the money he had saved up from Wang to buy writing brushes and ink.

This gave him enough money for the bus fare and food and drink along the way.

When he arrived at the county, it was noon and he was about to go to a food stall to buy two steamed buns and a bowl of vegetable soup to fill his stomach.

But I met an acquaintance.

A person who couldn't be more familiar.

It was his third sister Ning Yao.

His only sister had married into a wealthy family in the county many years ago.

But after marriage, her mother-in-law was afraid that she would secretly help her poor family, so she always controlled the family's financial power.

At first she was still thinking about her parents' home, but after she gave birth to the child, she gradually forgot about her biological parents.

Over the years, she only sent the farmhands to bring some gifts during the four festivals and three ceremonies, and she seldom went home, even during the Chinese New Year.

It can’t be said that I have never come back once.

She came back once when Ning Yuancai passed the imperial examination.

When she heard that Ning Yuancai was going to study in the county and be closer to her, he never showed up again, and even often missed the four festivals and three ceremonies.

Old Man Ning and Mrs. Qian felt sorry for her because it was not easy for her to be a daughter-in-law in such a wealthy family, but Zhou Yue saw it clearly.

The younger sister of the Ning family was afraid of giving financial support to her mother's family, and was afraid that the whole family would often go to her house to ask for money, so she gradually became estranged from the Ning family.

I have to sigh that good bamboo shoots come out of bad bamboos. The old couple Ning are honest and decent people.

Although they have the cunning and wisdom unique to Chinese farmers, they know what is important and know their limits.

They have their own moral standards and bottom line in their hearts.

They are filial and protective of their children.

Their children did not inherit much of their virtues.

Ning Yuan just met his third sister, but he didn't recognize her at first because they hadn't seen each other for many years.

Even though Ning Yuancai had been studying in the county school for many years, Ning Sanmei had never visited him once.

Ning Yuancai also kept his father's teachings in mind and did not disturb his sister's peaceful life.

This time Ning Yuan didn't dodge, he had something to ask his sister.

When the brother and sister met, they were not very affectionate, but they had a great conversation because they had common interests.

They had a secret conversation and planned a big conspiracy against their own daughter and niece, but we won’t talk about it for now.

——The insidious dividing line between relatives——

At this time in Beijing, Song Yuan returned to his home, the General's Mansion.

Fenghuangtai Village is located in Yi County, Yizhou Prefecture, which is very close to the capital.

It is closer to the capital than Yizhou Prefecture.

It only takes one day to get there by riding a fast horse.

However, it takes two days to travel to Yizhou Prefecture on horseback.

At this time, the General's Mansion no longer has the glory it once had.

Song Yuan's grandfather was a great general during the time of the previous emperor. He helped the previous emperor, Emperor Taizong, to expand the territory and made unprecedented contributions.

Like other founding heroes, he was granted the title of Duke of Ying by Emperor Taizu for his outstanding military achievements.

Because Emperor Taizu rose to power through military power, our dynasty learned from that lesson and was on guard against military generals and nobles.

Taizu established a rule: the noble families would be demoted to hereditary status.

What this means is that the original Duke had become an Earl after three generations.

Therefore, the head of the mansion now is Earl Yingwu, who is Song Yuan’s elder brother Song Gao.

Song Yuan's father, the Marquis Yingwu who had fought bravely on the battlefield in those days, married the late emperor's biological sister, the aunt of the current saint, and was now conferred the title of Grand Princess.

After getting married, he gave up his military power, took a sinecure, sat at home and spent his days running dogs and hawks, completely laying low.

A few years ago, he felt that his health was not good, so he passed the title to his eldest son, Song Yuan's eldest brother.

Unexpectedly, his health has been getting better day by day since he passed on the throne.

This dynasty is not very friendly to military generals, but is very preferential to civil officials.

Taizu stipulated that during the Dahui Dynasty, the emperor and civil officials would rule the world together.

Therefore, the military officers of this dynasty lived a miserable life with low salaries, and military officers of the same rank had to perform formalities when meeting civil officials.

The most important one is that civil servants’ salaries are very high.

This resulted in a lack of military talent and poor military effectiveness in the dynasty, which had only been established for a few decades.

However, there were more and more civil servants, and the main goal of scholars was to pass the imperial examination and become an official.

Speaking of the Yingwu Marquis' Mansion, the family is originally wealthy and has a princess in charge, so I think life will be pretty good there.

But unexpectedly, the surface of the donkey dung egg was shiny.

Because the old Yingwu Marquis and his wife, one was a rude warrior and the other was a noble princess, neither of them was engaged in farming and did not know how to run a business.

The old marquis' salary was pitifully low. After he retired to the second line, his salary was even lower, not even as high as that of a minor clerk at the city gate. Later, the marquis's family was even ashamed to collect the annual salary of a few stones of rice and a few hundred dollars.

This noble family has been living off their savings and now doesn't even have enough servants to support themselves.

On weekdays, the gate is closed and there is no one at the gatehouse.

The house is cleaned by several elderly people in the mansion. They were widows and orphans adopted by the old marquis on the battlefield.