Transmigrated into the fat wife of the future prime minister

Chapter 187 Fresh Dates and Apples

“I’m telling you, you can read anytime. What’s most important for you right now is to rest and recuperate, you hear me?” Xu Qingmeng said, glancing at him.

"Yes, my wife is right. I will never dare to do it again."

"Stop joking, I'm serious."

"it is good."

Xu Qingmeng went over and helped the person up, saying, "You're back a bit late. I didn't expect there to be so many people at home. Are you hungry?"

"I don't get hungry that easily. I've just been lying around and haven't done anything." Gu Yunyi smiled. "But you're the one who's been working hard. You're exhausted."

I chatted with Mrs. He for a while in the morning, then went to deal with the shop's affairs. When I came back, I still had to take care of him. I haven't had a moment to rest.

Xu Qingmeng shook her head: "No, now that my sister-in-law is here, I don't need to do any work in the kitchen. You just need to take good care of yourself."

That's true. Sister-in-law Xu is really good to Xu Qingmeng. Now that she's pregnant, why would she make her do chores?

Xu Qingmeng placed the food on the bedside table. Gu Yunyi glanced at it and asked, "You haven't eaten yet?"

"Yes, there are quite a few people, and there aren't enough seats at the table. Mother and sister-in-law are eating in the kitchen. We don't know any of the people from Shiqing Village. Father, eldest brother, and second brother are entertaining them outside."

After Xu Qingmeng finished speaking, she asked in confusion, "How did Father and the others find out so quickly?"

Gu Yunyi explained, "Father and the others came to offer their congratulations. The results of the provincial examination have been out for several days now, and Father has been keeping a close eye on it. He asks everyone who comes into the city about it. It's just that they couldn't come to offer their congratulations..."

Well, it was just a coincidence.

"Oh, right, those are some fruits that my sister-in-law and her family brought over. They said they're from their own orchard. You can take a look later and see what they have."

Xu Qingmeng responded, but after thinking for a long time, she couldn't recall any fruit that her family had grown.

When I visited their home, the gifts I brought were piled up inside, suggesting that other neighbors had also come by. There were quite a few things on the table.
Some people brought snacks, some brought brown sugar, and some brought eggs; all sorts of things were placed here.

Gu Yunyi was probably referring to the two cloth bags beside him. They looked big and heavy, and Xu Qingmeng imagined that her eldest and second brothers must have been exhausted from the journey.

Xu Qingmeng opened one of the bags and took out several large, red apples. Besides the apples, there was also a bag of fresh dates, both green and red.

"Wow, this looks delicious, and these dates too." Xu Qingmeng didn't mind at all, picked up a date, rubbed it on her clothes, and stuffed it into her mouth. It was crisp and sweet.

Upon seeing the jujubes, Xu Qingmeng remembered that the Xu family owned a jujube orchard, but she couldn't recall the apples for the time being.

It's okay if you can't remember, but it won't affect your eating, right?

"Do you want apples or dates? I'll go wash them for you." Actually, she was just asking, because she had already taken the dates and a few apples to the kitchen.

Gu Yunyi watched Xu Qingmeng's retreating figure and smiled indulgently.

She had eaten plenty of the Xu family's big red dates, and for a moment she had forgotten about them. However, this was the first time she had eaten fresh dates since she transmigrated.

She happily took the things to the kitchen to wash them. After washing the dates, there were about three bowls, some red and some green, which looked very nice in the bowls, along with some red apples.

"Sister-in-law, these dates are so sweet! Mother, you should try some too." Madam He took a bite and said with a smile, "They are indeed very good."

Sister-in-law Xu also picked up one by one and stuffed them into her mouth, looking at Xu Qingmeng like she was a child: "My little girl loves to eat them. I'll have your older brother send over more later. It's the season when there are plenty of dates."

"But where did these apples come from, sister-in-law?" Xu Qingmeng asked, eating a date and looking at her sister-in-law.

The Xu family has a jujube orchard, where the jujubes are big and sweet. Every year, they produce a lot of jujubes. The Xu family is not the only one in Xujia Village; almost every household grows one or two trees. So, they don't sell for much money in the surrounding area.

Xujia Village is quite far from the county seat, and it's troublesome to transport the fresh dates out. So every year, the Xu family dries them into dried goods, and then the eldest or second eldest brother takes them to the county seat to sell.

While dried goods may not be as expensive as fresh ones, they are still a source of income.

Sister-in-law Xu wasn't particularly interested in the jujube. "As for the apples, I don't know where your second brother got the saplings from, but your three older brothers managed to grow them."

Xu Qingmeng was surprised, and then asked Xu's eldest sister-in-law about the yield of the jujube and apple trees, and how much the jujubes could sell for.

Sister-in-law Xu was puzzled. How come her sister-in-law had gotten married and she couldn't remember the family's income?

However, he didn't think too much about it and immediately said to Xu Qingmeng, "The harvest around the Mid-Autumn Festival each year, whether good or bad, is about a thousand catties. But after drying, there's not much left. Relatives give some to the family, and the children eat some. In the end, we can only sell three or four bags and earn a few taels of silver."

Xu Qingmeng nodded, but what she was thinking was whether these dates could be used in other ways.

Besides eating them directly, these fresh dates can also be made into candied dates, which would fetch a higher price. Even if that's not possible, Jinxiuxuan can still use candied dates to make desserts.

And these apples, if more chickens could be grown, it would be a good source of income in the future. They could also be made into dried apples, and fruit juice could be added to drinks.

With these thoughts in mind, Xu Qingmeng then rushed to the side room to discuss them with Gu Yunyi.

After hearing this, Gu Yunyi said, "I have eaten these candied dates before. They are sweet and cloying. How should I put it, they are a bit too sweet. I don't know if this is what you mean. But I have never eaten these dried apples."

"You're probably referring to the pickled kind, but there are many kinds of candied dates. The candied dates I'm talking about are the kind that are boiled with white sugar. After they cool and solidify, they develop a layer of sugar frosting. They taste sweet and slightly grainy, and these are easier to store."

"And this dried apple is made by washing and slicing fresh apples, then drying them to remove moisture, which helps it store better."

"If you'd like to try it, my wife, you can give it a shot after you've had your child."

"No, by the time the baby is born, the jujube season will be over."

"But are you feeling alright right now? I'm worried about you."

"It's alright, I can do it. Besides, my sister-in-law is here, so she should be able to learn it soon. That way, they'll have another option when they go back, and the fruit trees can be planted."

Gu Yunyi had no choice but to nod, but he still reminded her that her health was more important.

Xu Qingmeng felt that once Gu Yunyi recovered from his injuries, the family would be heading to the prefectural city, and it wouldn't be so easy to see the Xu family again in the future.

If she could have another source of income, she would feel much more at ease going to the prefectural city.

(End of this chapter)