Chapter 265 I Don’t Want to Know Too Much
Chen Ming took the silver and smiled, "It took more than two months to earn so much from these acres of land. I never dreamed of it. However, Dad also knows that I took advantage of Ah Fu again this time."
Chen Ah Fu smiled, "The extra silver is my filial piety to my parents."
The family made money, and rewards were also given to servants and long-term workers. Zeng Shuang and Old Man Lin were rewarded the most, 20 taels of silver each, followed by Wang Laowu, 10 taels of silver, and then 2 taels and 1 tael, respectively. Everyone in Fuyuan was very happy.
With the treatment of the good doctor and the Yan Chenxiang wood residue, Dabao's leg recovered very well.
In the blink of an eye, it was early July, and Dabao began to go to Tangyuan to study with Mr. Liao again, but Xue Dagui and Chu Xiaoniu took turns to carry him back.
The watermelons planted in Tangyuan and Chen Ye and Chen Ming's homes had another good harvest. Because the temperature is high in summer, watermelons grow faster than in spring.
Only half of the five mu of watermelons planted in Tangyuan were sold, and the remaining half was kept for their own consumption and for giving as gifts. Because there were so many watermelons, they were sent to relatives and friends in the capital and Shizhou Prefecture.
Now, this kind of watermelon has a special name, called Dingzhou Big Melon. Because most of these watermelons were sent from Dingzhou or bought by merchants from Dingzhou, they were called so.
Chen Ming's three mu of land earned more than 40 taels of silver. The five mu of land planted by the eldest family sold 70 taels of silver.
Their watermelons were mainly sold to other places through the Fuyunlai Business in Dingzhou. Although it could not catch up with the previous watermelon price of Chen Afu, it was still two cents higher than the price of other melon farmers.
This made Chen Ye and Hu Shi crazy. The previous five mu of land could only earn ten taels at most after working hard for a year, but this time they earned so much in two months.
Old Mrs. Chen, Chen Ye and Chen Agui also bought gifts to Lai Fuyuan to thank Chen Afu. Perhaps they were afraid of Mrs. Hu's nonsense, so they didn't dare to bring her here to get in the way.
Mrs. Hu did feel that she shouldn't thank Chen Afu. In her opinion, if Chen Afu had asked their eldest wife to plant watermelons when they first planted watermelons, they would have made more money.
Chen Agui pushed his mother back at that time, "Afu told me at that time that it was because we didn't have any vacant land at home that I didn't plant them. I didn't know that these watermelons were so profitable at that time, otherwise I would have pulled up the worthless crops long ago."
Now Chen Ye has also opened a small grocery store in Sanqing County, named Chen Da Gan Za. At the beginning, Chen Ye's family pulled some watermelons to sell in their own store, but due to the limited purchasing power of Sanqing County, they couldn't afford a good price. In the end, they could only sell them at a higher price through Fuyunlai Business.
Chen Ye and Chen Agui both like farming, and they are unwilling and unable to do business, so they didn't go to the county to manage the grocery store in person, and they also hired a shopkeeper and waiter. Such a small store still hires people and rents a store, which is bound to lose money. But because their shop bought goods from Fuyunlai Trading Company, the goods were good and the purchase price was low, and because of the relationship with Constable Xia, no one dared to go to the shop to cause trouble, and the shop could make a little money every day.
In Chen Afu's opinion, this small shop was really meaningless. Half of the money earned was given to the shopkeeper and waiter, and he could only get less than one or two taels of silver per month. Instead of doing this, it would be better to farm well, use the saved money to buy more land, or hire someone to reclaim wasteland and grow good varieties of grain, and become a big landlord, and still make money.
However, Chen Ming told Chen Ye about it, but Chen Ye didn't listen, thinking that since his two younger brothers had their own shops, he should have one too. Chen Afu was even more difficult to say. If she said too much, the eldest wife might think that her Fuyunlai Trading Company was reluctant to give them cheap goods.
So far, Chen Ming's Chen Er Grain Shop is still losing money, except for the money earned from selling watermelons at the beginning. Because they only sold grain and had a single variety of products, the grain shops in the county were already saturated. They also had to pay the rent of the shop, as well as the wages of the shopkeeper and the waiter, and they could not make ends meet every month.
This made Chen Ming want to close the shop or switch to selling sundries. Chen Afu asked him to hold on a little longer, and when the fields harvested good varieties of grain, their grain shop business would be better. Although it was impossible to sell all the good grain to them, with good varieties, other grains could also be sold well. In this era, grain shops can make a lot of money if they are well managed. Moreover, grain shops cannot be opened casually. Chen Er Grain Shop was opened only after Shopkeeper Luo found the county magistrate and the county magistrate approved it.
On the evening of July 19, just as Chen Afu and others were about to eat, Chu Lingxuan came again.
"Daddy."
"Brother."
"Daddy"
Not only Chu Hanyan and Chu Lingzhi greeted Chu Lingxuan loudly at the first time, but even Chen Dabao shouted.
Through this injury, Dabao truly realized that not only his mother, grandmother, grandfather, uncle, sister, fifth uncle and others cared about him, but also the animal home cared about him, and Daddy Chu also cared about him sincerely. He thought to himself that this was the reward for his heart-to-heart exchange. So now he treats Chu Lingxuan more enthusiastically and sincerely than before.
Hearing the surprised shouts of several children, the corners of Chu Lingxuan's mouth also curled up. Seeing Chen Afu getting up and preparing to go to the kitchen, his smile deepened.
After dinner, it was still the old Lord Chu who went back to Tangyuan first, and Chu Lingxuan took the two children to continue playing in Fuyuan. Now that Dabao's legs are inconvenient, several children go to the west wing to sit and play with building blocks. Dabao and Chu Lingzhi have been studying for a day, and this is the most relaxing moment.
Chen Afu and Chu Lingxuan went to the west room of the upper house. Dabao has been in trouble for so long, she feels that there are some things she should say to him. She also has a feeling that Chu Lingxuan seems to have something to say to her.
None of the servants were aware of it and did not follow him. Only Chu Huai stood on the corridor outside the house.
In the west room, the two of them were sitting at a round table. The sunset outside has not completely set, and the afterglow of the sunset shines into the house, still bright. But it seemed inappropriate to have a man and a woman in the room, so Chen Afu lit the candle on the lotus jade cup. The candlelight was dim, beating occasionally, illuminating the faces of the two people.
"I……"
"I……"
They both spoke at the same time.
"Speak first." Chu Lingxuan said softly.
"No, you should say it first," Chen Afu said.
"Okay, let me talk first." Chu Lingxuan smiled, his head lowered forward, his face closer to Chen Afu, and he stretched out his hands to grab Chen Afu's hand on the table, and said, "Ah Fu, although we have not been together for a long time, I know that you are a gentle, virtuous, and kind girl. Otherwise, you would not be so fond of your 'son' and you would not be so protective of my Yan'er. We are engaged and will be getting married early next year. I think there are some things that I should tell you... Even my father and I didn’t know about these things at the beginning, and I only found out about them the day before we got engaged. My second uncle, second aunt, and even my mother and third aunt don’t know. If you hear this, you must keep it deep in your heart and no one can tell it.”
Chen Afu didn't want to hear it anymore. She didn't want to know too much.
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