Take the farm down to earth

Chapter 173 The benefits of door-to-door delivery
In order to welcome the first New Year after marriage, Baochai and Yingchun started to prepare one month in advance.

New Year's goods are indispensable, and gifts for relatives and friends during the New Year must also be prepared in advance.

Fortunately, Shi Zhongkui has no shortage of meat, let alone various preserved fruits, grains, vegetables and fruits.

Taking advantage of the opportunity that he basically stayed in the Tuntian camp for the past two months, when Yu Shun and the others showed up in the Tuntian camp in a carriage from time to time to pull goods home, no one suspected it at all.

The family thought that meat, fruit, grain and other things were all filial to Shi Zhongkui in the fields.

Don't talk about doubts, Baochai, Yingchun, the big and small stewards, maids, and servants are quite happy.

None of the officials and soldiers in the camp dared to check the Shi family's carriage. Even if someone checked it suspiciously afterwards and found that there was nothing missing in the camp, they had no choice but to give up.

After Shi Shun and others left, Shi Zhongkui would take out some meat and miscellaneous grain noodles from the space farm, and the officials in the camp immediately misunderstood that the things were sent by Yu Shun.

While drinking broth and eating steamed buns to thank Shi Zhongkui up and down, gradually no one cared.

As for the official censor who knew about this, at least he had to know the financial situation of Daying if he wanted to make trouble.

Otherwise, Shi Zhongkui would just use the money from the big camp to buy some meat for his subordinates when the new year is about to come. Not to mention the emperor and the important officials in the court, even the big bosses of Yushitai would not pay attention to this matter.

Shi Zhongkui even complained against someone who had shaken the morale of the army, and then deliberately slowed down the progress of land reclamation, and even found a few soldiers in the field who were in dire straits at home to make trouble. The unlucky ones were the censors and officials who complained.
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Since there was no shortage of snacks such as meat, grain, fruits and vegetables, and preserved fruits at home, Baochai and Yingchun naturally sent some to their natal family and relatives.

At the same time, the two girls did not forget to give some to Mr. Yu Hong and Shi Zhongkui's classmates and friends.

This gift also received a gift with a higher value.

After all, the younger generation is filial, and the elders cannot be stingy.

But as preserved fruits and other things entered Jia's house, the uncles and nephews Jia Amnesty and Jia Zhen finally found a reason to send someone to ask how the peach trees are growing this year.

After hearing this, Shi Zhongkui, who was staying in Tuntian Daying, remembered the peach tree he had made out of nonsense at the beginning, but he got a full 4 taels of silver from Jia's family.

Think about Xia Qiu, when a catty of peaches only cost a dozen or twenty renminbi, the price of one of my own peaches can be sold hundreds of times.

Even Shi Zhongkui felt that it was unreasonable not to give the Jia family 250 catties of ordinary peaches of four taels to six taels each.

The 250 catties of peaches, which had been stored in the farm warehouse for a long time and still kept their freshness, were personally escorted all the way from Changping to Jia's house by soldiers such as Shi Xingguo and Shi Xingtai.

However, Shi Zhongkui was careful, at least one-fifth of these peaches were deliberately frozen overnight.

It's not that he wanted to play tricks, but if none of the 500 peaches were damaged during transportation in the winter, it would be a ghost.

Jia Zhen and Jia Lian, who received Shi Xingguo and Shi Xingtai, inspected it, and their faces changed involuntarily.

Because of the eight-treasure wine, Jia Lian didn't care much about the freezing of a hundred peaches.

But Jia Zhen is different.

More than 100 peaches are equal to more than 50 catties, 2500 taels of silver, or even more.

After all, it was said at the beginning that the price might be doubled a year ago.

However, while Jia Zhen was worried that Shi Zhongkui would not compensate, she also felt that this was normal.

"Uncle Zhen and Second Master Lian said that when my master received this year's New Year gifts from relatives and friends in the west, he had already discovered that many gifts were damaged.

However, the share of gifts for each family has already been determined, so we can only send the things over first, and then send a letter to the west, so that someone can send another batch over as compensation. "

After Jia Zhen heard this, her expression finally improved.

After all, Shi Zhongkui said that he would make up for it, so if he entangled with this point, it would be unreasonable.

It's just that when I think of sending it from Chang'an, it will take half a month, or even a month.

In other words, the next batch of peaches is likely to be in the next year.

The price before and after this year has fully doubled.

After careful calculation, if you sell this year's peaches, you will earn a full 2500 taels of silver.

But when this matter reached Mother Jia's ears, the old lady laughed instead.

"Uncle is trustworthy, my family can't even lose face just for some food.

Besides, my uncle said at the beginning that the peach trees growing in the hot spring valley have different fruiting times every year.

In the first year of this year, my family was able to eat fresh peaches before the year, which is enough to say that my Jia family is very lucky.

It can't be said that he also received the uncle's luck to have this luck. "

When everyone heard it, they also felt that this was indeed the case.

Besides, the second son-in-law promised to pay a hundred catties of fresh peaches, and he might still buy them out of his own pocket.

In this way, people are indeed keeping their promises, and they are indeed taking care of the relationship between relatives.

Otherwise, if someone else comes, maybe they will cheat and not pay. After all, this is a full 2500 taels or even 5000 taels of silver.

For a while, Shi Zhongkui's reputation in Jia's family became even better, and even the attitude of everyone in Jia's family towards Yingchun became better.

While enjoying the snacks delivered to his mouth by Yingchun himself, Shi Zhongkui thought silently, is this considered cheap and good-looking?

But not long after Yingchun, he worried again, "Master, will my family pay for the new peaches that will be shipped in the next year? And if that's the case, doesn't it mean that the family has actually lost money?"

Shi Zhongkui smiled, put his arms around Yingchun's slender waist and said, "Since we made an agreement at the beginning, we must keep our word. As for the loss, it is nothing more than a hundred or so peaches.

Our family doesn't have enough food for ourselves, so there is no reason to sell it for silver. "

Yingchun and Baochai blushed slightly when they heard this.

It wasn't that the two of them liked peaches so much, but when they heard that this kind of peach was 50 taels of silver a catty, they subconsciously felt that it was indeed tastier than autumn peaches.

This is eating and eating, two or three a day is considered a small amount.

In addition, the four house-filling girls have already enjoyed the treatment of concubines. It is really unreasonable not to share some with them.

Of course, if Baochai and Yingchun refuse to give it, that's fine.

But the two were more worried about Shi Zhongkui's opinion, and if it spread out, they would be gossiped.

Now that Yinger, Xiangling, Amber, and Pearl are all there, other maids, big and small, should also be rewarded.

Together with Yu Shun, the guards and the servants in the front yard, the peaches that weighed more than a hundred catties lost half in just a few days.

Indeed, as Shi Zhongkui said, some of them are not enough to eat.

And this action also made Baochai and Yingchun gain the gratitude of the servants and female relatives in the family.

But after keeping it for a long time, and worrying that it would be damaged, Baochai and Yingchun couldn't help complaining after struggling for a long time, "If the peach fruiting time is half a month later, it would be better to send it here when the new year is approaching."

Shi Zhongkui laughed after hearing this.

Holding Yingchun and Baochai in his arms, he said with a smile, "Madam, how about the three of us having a rest together tonight, as a husband, I will send a horse to Chang'an tomorrow, and bring back two hundred catties first, how about it?"

Baochai and Yingchun immediately poohed, and gave Shi Zhongkui a hard look.

It is enough for the two of them to marry the same person to make people blush. If they serve Shi Zhongkui together again, they will not have the face to manage the people in the Shi family in the future.

And when we meet each other on weekdays, we will inevitably feel embarrassed in our hearts.

After all, ancient times are not strange things, they have become commonplace in modern society.

Etiquette restricts and persecutes countless people, but it also constrains the entire society.

And once the etiquette collapses, it will not be far from social turmoil or even war.

Baochai and Yingchun put their hands on Shi Zhongkui's waist at the same time, and twisted them hard.

Then they broke free from Shi Zhongkui's salty hands together, held each other's hands, and said while walking with a smile, "Master, our sisters are going to have some private conversations tonight, so you can honestly sleep in the main room by yourself."

Shi Zhongkui curled his lips, if his wife doesn't accompany him, why can't he eat his little wife?
It's a pity that since Baochai and Yingchun planned to punish him, they couldn't prevent him from stealing.

Not to mention that eating is filling the house, even a maid did not appear in his house.

Shi Zhongkui sighed helplessly, and could only really sleep through the night honestly.
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Now that Baochai and Yingchun have appeared, there are not enough fresh peaches to eat.

The Jia family, which has more people and more masters, is even more serious.

There is no need to worry about the loss of Jia Mu's share.

No one dared to compete with her, but Jia Amnesty, Jia Zheng and Jia Zhen were all uncomfortable.

I didn't even eat a few, but one after another old relatives and friends came to the door to fight the autumn wind.

If you just take a few out to accompany guests, it's actually fine.

If you plan carefully, you can at least last until the New Year.

But I am most afraid that people will want to take it after eating it, and those relatives and friends who come to the door directly ask for ten catties or twenty catties under the pretext of celebrating the birthday of an elder in the family.

Calculated in silver, ten catties is only 500 taels of silver, and the Jia family will not be reluctant to part with this amount of money.

But who made this peach only weigh 250 catties.

No, only 200 catties, about 400, are really intact.

Not to mention giving it to my old relatives, even my own family really doesn't have enough to eat.

As for the one hundred catties that Shi Zhongkui sent after the year, it was because the far water could not save the near fire.

For a while, Jia's family didn't have enough peaches to sell for money, even if they were used to welcome and send relatives and friends.

I can only ask Shi Zhongkui again.

But Shi Zhongkui would not allow the Jia family to take advantage of it directly, but Jia Amnesty and Jia Zheng probably wanted to show face, and when they ordered Jia Lian to come to the door, they brought a lot of good things.

Shi Zhongkui didn't give anything, and felt a little embarrassed instead.

But only a dozen or twenty catties of peaches are not enough for the Jia family.

In the end, I had to find Yingchun again.

But this time, Yingchun didn't even think about it, and just sent away the woman who came to the door.

Of course, there are no peaches, so it is necessary to send some other things.

After all, regardless of whether Yingchun is the daughter of Jia's family, but only because of Shi Zhongkui's reputation, Yingchun can't be as stubborn as an iron rooster.

When the woman returned to Jia She and Mrs. Xing and reported to Jia She and Madam Xing, she said, "My lord, ma'am, the girl said that there are only twenty catties of fairy peaches left for the New Year. There are not even enough tributes for ancestor worship."

Even though Jia Amnesty ran around in a hurry, he had no choice but to give up in the end, and then hid in the East Courtyard of Rongguo Mansion like a turtle, leaving all the troubles on Jia Zheng.

Anyway, Jia Zheng was the head of the Rongguo Mansion, and these old relatives and family friends would not go past Jia Zheng to find him, an old man who didn't care about anything.

It's just that Jia She was so angry that he could make money but couldn't make it. His heart was trembling.

And Jia Zheng, who was under heavy pressure, only lasted for three days, and his hair turned gray a lot due to the force of his old relatives and family friends.

After all, for the sake of filial piety and reputation, those elders who have passed their birthdays don't care whether Jia's family is in trouble or not.

So Mrs. Wang had to let go of her arrogance and sent a woman to find Aunt Xue, and then learned from Baochai that Shi Zhongkui's thoughts were all on horseback recently.

With a thought, he came up with an idea and said to Jia, "Master, since the second son-in-law is short of horses in the fields, why don't you tell those old relatives about it, and my family and my son-in-law really don't have many fairy peaches.

In exchange for a horse, the relatives have no reason to gossip, and they can help my uncle solve some troubles. From now on, the second girl and my uncle will get closer to Baoyu. "

As soon as Jia Zheng heard it, he agreed in his heart, but he said with a troubled expression on his face, "Madam's idea is really good, but I am worried that my old relative's family also lacks a good horse, and I am worried that the censors will impeach me.

After all, Boqian begged for the job of Tuntian ambassador of the Ministry of Industry in my body for the sake of his relatives. "

Mrs. Wang frowned. It was no secret that some people in the Ministry of Industry were envious and jealous of Jia Zheng.

After thinking about it for a long time, Madam Wang said, "Master, why don't you find a solution with my brother?"

After finishing speaking, the more Mrs. Wang thought about it, the more she felt that it was feasible, and she continued with a happy face, "And the second son-in-law is also on the errands of farming and opening up wasteland, so there must be more than just horses.

The selected land reclamation site is close to the Great Wall, maybe my uncle also lacks weapons to guard against bandits.

Since we are relatives, if you help my uncle, outsiders can only say that my Jia family has affection. "

Jia Zheng's face brightened, if he followed Mrs. Wang's idea and sent some weapons to Shi Boqian as a gift in return, let alone some peaches, he would even come to kowtow to the old lady in person.

Jia Zheng grabbed Mrs. Wang's hand and said with a look of relief, "Madam is still a virtuous woman who knows how to take care of her nephews and juniors, so I will write a letter for my husband."

Mrs. Wang was showing a shy expression at first, after all Jia Zheng hadn't shown any gesture of intimacy for a long time, let alone grabbed her hand.

But Jia Zheng went to the study without stopping for a moment, Madam Wang was so disappointed.

If Jia Zheng hadn't returned to the main house unexpectedly not long ago, Mrs. Wang might have resented Jia Zheng in her heart.

And Jia Zheng, who solved his worries, was surprisingly gentle and cheerful that night.

The next morning Mrs. Wang's complexion was so good.

In addition, Shi Zhongkui sent a thank-you letter early the next morning, and for the first time formally invited Jia Baoyu to come to reminisce about the past, and even hinted that when the time came, he would ask Jia Baoyu for a no-nonsense but noble official position.

Mrs. Wang's attitude towards Shi Zhongkui immediately took a 180-degree turn.

Then I began to regret in my heart that in the past year, I was a little alienated from Aunt Xue and Xue Pan.

(End of this chapter)