Farming and reading lady

Actually, the Grand Minister of Agriculture had heard of the name of Songhua Eggs. It was a new food in the capital, and it was said to have been sold at sky-high prices. He had wanted to try it, but for a man like him, it was too extravagant to pay a high price to try a new food. But that didn't mean he didn't want to. Although he didn't know if this Songhua was the same as that Songhua, the taste was indeed unique and suited his taste.

"Old man, I want to ask, where did you buy this preserved egg and how much did it cost?" Good things must be shared with one's wife. The Grand Minister of Agriculture thought that the ingredients that could be on the farmer's table must not be too expensive.

Others also looked at the old man curiously. They had also heard of the preserved egg, but they only heard of it and didn't know what it was.

The old man chuckled and said, "You've asked the right person. This thing is unique to our country of Daling."

"Could it be that the source is among the people?" The Grand Minister of Agriculture was also aroused by curiosity.

"In Kyoto, a Songhua egg costs five silver taels. I wonder if this is the Songhua egg?" Although Wei Da is not greedy for food, he is still curious about new things. Everyone is curious about them. He has also bought one or two, but the ones on the table have been processed, so he couldn't recognize them at first.

The old man asked his grandson to bring another green preserved egg with the mud removed: "If it is like this, then it is correct."

Wei Da nodded: "That's right. Where did the old man buy it? How much did he pay? Can you buy one or two for us?"

The old man laughed and said, "You can't buy them outside for now, and don't ask how much they cost. When you return to Beijing, if there are any left, I can give you ten each to try."

“So this thing comes from your family?” Tong Mingyan had never expected that the Songhua Eggs, which were praised by many students as “something that can only be found in heaven”, actually came from the Gu family.

The old man nodded and said, "Yes, the third son of the family got the recipe for this thing by chance, and after repeated experiments, he finally replicated it perfectly."

He also learned the term "perfect replica" from his granddaughter, and he felt it sounded very high-sounding.

"Then why don't you sell it yourself?" Wei Da asked, thinking that with Tong Mingyan's relationship, sales in Beijing would not be a problem.

The old man shook his head and said, "We are just peasants. Business is not our strong point. We just want to earn some hard work fee."

"The old man is so righteous." Wei Da thought to himself, if you knew the price of preserved eggs in Beijing, you would definitely regret it.

The old man said: That's because you don't know the cost price. I have made a lot of money by buying one tael of silver per coin.

The Grand Minister of Agriculture was already making plans in his mind, planning to persuade the old man to get more money to bring back and show off to his old friends.

The dinner was a great success, and the Grand Minister of Agriculture, Wei Da and others also became more familiar with the Gu family. In addition, the children of the Gu family were all sweet-talkers, so everyone got along less distantly. The Grand Minister of Agriculture came with the intention of following the first season of rice and staying in Xiaoyuewan Village until the first season of rice was harvested. Therefore, Tong Mingyan, Wei Da and others stayed for five days, watching the fry being put into the rice fields, and left three guards to protect the Grand Minister of Agriculture. The others left in a mighty manner, and of course they did not miss the pine eggs. Of course, those who bought more than ten eggs also paid for them. The old man was unwilling to tell the supply price, and finally the Grand Minister of Agriculture made the decision to pay two taels of silver for each egg. After all, they had a contract, and they could not make things difficult for them.

Not to mention the pine flower gift-giving craze that was set off with the return of Tong Mingyan and his party to Beijing, which allowed the owner of Mingyue Pavilion to inexplicably take advantage of the popularity. Just take the Grand Minister of Agriculture who stayed behind. This old man is not a formal person. Except for sleeping, he has to report to the Gu family for every meal. He also requires that there must be a dish related to pine flower eggs on the dinner table every day, which means that he wants to eat to his heart's content here.

Gu Xixian kept clamoring for his food expenses, which made the old man so angry that he blew his beard and glared. The two of them had a verbal battle every day, but their relationship became better and better. They often squatted together and whispered, and no one knew what they were talking about. This made the old man jealous and said that half of his granddaughter was taken away by someone else. During this period, the two cousins ​​of the eldest house finished the Tongsheng exam and officially obtained the title of Tongsheng. When they came back, the whole family celebrated again. The Minister of Agriculture also gave them each a set of pens, ink, paper and inkstone as encouragement.

A few months passed in a flash, and the rice fish in the rice fields made the Minister of Agriculture feast on their appetite. He sighed that the cooking skills of the Gu family's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were far better than those of the chefs in Beijing. The fish was cooked without any fishy smell, leaving only the freshness, which was truly a unique dish.

Speaking of rice fish, we have to mention the good luck of the Gu family. As soon as they sold the fish, they hung it up in Mingyue Pavilion. They ate all the fish in Xiaoyuewan Village alone. The villagers were all very happy. The money from selling the fish was equal to the income of one mu of farm in previous years. Not to mention the heavy, attractive rice ears that bent over, which showed high yield.

The wrinkles on the face of the Minister of Agriculture were smoothed out by the joy of the harvest. Seeing the grains on the ears of rice becoming yellower and yellower, his heart was also lifted. As the Minister of Agriculture, what could make him happier than the increase in grain production? During this period, he watched the stars every night, fearing that there would be wind or rain that would affect the rice harvest.

After waiting for a long time, the harvest day that Grandpa Gu had mentioned finally arrived. Starting from the Gu family's rice fields, the whole village worked together, one family at a time, and it took only five or six days to harvest all the first-season rice that everyone had planted. In order to get the most accurate value, the Minister of Agriculture made two records: one was the net weight of the rice just harvested and the rice crumbs were blew away, and the other was the net weight of the rice when it was dried and ready to be stored in the warehouse. No matter which value it was, the Minister of Agriculture was surprised and even more surprised.

Because the first crop of rice was not subject to tax, everyone in Xiaoyuewan Village was very satisfied. This was their only food, their net reserve. In addition to being grateful to the Gu family, everyone was more determined to keep up with the Gu family.

The Grand Minister of Agriculture returned to Beijing in great satisfaction with a satisfactory answer and the preserved eggs presented by the Gu family. Not to mention how proud he was of the preserved eggs in front of his old friends, after submitting the rice production increase table, the emperor awarded him double his salary on the spot, as well as various other rewards, which made his beard twitch with joy.

The increase in grain production is a national happy event. There are solid records and every detailed step is attached. The emperor waved his hand and ordered all officials of the Ministry of Agriculture to go deep into the people to promote this method. Of course, this is only the seedling cultivation method promoted. The three-season rice is affected by the region and cannot be implemented nationwide. It can only be tried on a small scale in Jiangnan.