From the family treasure tree to build an eternal family

Chapter 5 Secret
Xu Fugui returned home with his head down, and Jiazhen had just started cooking.

"Hey, why are you back so early today?"

"Husband, are you sick?"

Seeing that he looked weak and frail, Jiazhen hurried forward to support him.

"I'm fine, I'm just very hungry. Give me a steamed bun."

Xu Fugui waved his hands and spoke weakly.

Jiazhen brought him a steamed bun, and seeing that he was eating it eagerly, she brought him a bowl of water.

He swallowed the steamed bun in a few bites, drank half a bowl of water, and regained some strength.

"Are you too tired recently? Take a few days off."

Jiazhen felt sorry for him and worried that he would collapse from exhaustion.

"I'm really fine."

Xu Fugui's voice was a little more powerful. "Jiazhen, let's improve the food standard at home. Give each person an extra egg in the morning and evening, and eat meat once every five days."

"Ah? Again?"

When Xu Xiaogou was sent to practice martial arts a month ago, the family's food standards had been improved a little.

Jiazhen was thinking:

Xu Xiaogou's apprenticeship fee for martial arts training was ten taels of silver, and after a month, he had to pay another two taels of silver. If he continued to practice martial arts, the two taels of silver per month would be a fixed expense.

If the food standard is raised to eating meat once every five days, the harvest from the fields will not be enough to cover the expenses.

"How much money does your family have now?"

The Xu family's money is managed by Jiazhen, who keeps accounts of all income and expenditure.

"There are more than two hundred and thirty taels of silver."

Jiazhen was frugal and diligent in managing her household, which was why she had saved so much money. Few ordinary farmers in the village could come up with even 20 taels of silver, let alone 200.

"Isn't that a lot? You're pregnant, the kids are growing, and San Gou needs to eat more meat for martial arts training. The weather has been good this year, and the harvest is good. If things don't work out, there's even a herb field."

Don’t be too frugal.”

Given Xu Fugui's family situation, as long as they didn't have extravagant meals every day, they could still afford to eat meat once every five days.

"Ok."

Jiazhen felt uneasy.

She likes to save money. After all, there are many children in the family, and it is inevitable that they will encounter minor disasters and illnesses. Only when the family has savings can they have confidence.

----

Half an hour later, Jiazhen finished cooking. "Children, it's time to eat!"

Xu Xiaogou had just returned home from his morning exercises. Every day before dawn, he would rush to the forest farm at the entrance of the village to practice standing meditation with Du Hai for two hours.

Noon is their rest time, and in the evening they go to the forest farm to practice standing meditation or boxing and kicking techniques for an hour and a half.

In the main hall, everyone was eating around the eight-immortal table.

"Hey, there's an extra egg today?"

Xu Xiaogou saw that there were two eggs in front of everyone.

"I'm telling you good news. Your father said that from now on, we'll add an egg to the morning and evening meals, and we'll eat meat once every five days."

Jiazhen told the children the news.

"Great!"

Xu Xiaogou cheered.

Xu Xiaoniu and Xu Xiaoxia also looked happy.

Xu Xiaoyun, who was sitting on Xu Fugui's lap, was so excited by the atmosphere that she danced and babbled, "Okay, okay, I want to eat meat too."

Seeing the children so happy, Jiazhen's reluctance to give up the money disappeared: why should she feel bad about filling the children's stomachs?

----

a few days later.

Xu Fugui is very proficient in the "Five Elements Posture Exercise" and has grasped the essence of it.

After an hour of standing meditation each morning and evening, he could clearly feel the heat in his meridians and acupoints. The transformation of qi and blood through the meridians and acupoints made his body stronger. This improvement was minimal, but the martial arts is like this, accumulating little by little, and quantitative change leads to qualitative change.

Today is the day for improved meals at his house, and dinner includes braised pork and a steamed grass carp.

After Xu Fugui finished his meal, he could feel the food in his stomach being quickly digested and nourishing his body.

After resting for a while, he took Xu Xiaoniu to the backyard and locked the backyard door.

"Daniu, today Dad will teach you martial arts. Remember, this is our family secret, don't tell anyone!"

Xu Fugui looked extremely serious as he looked into Xu Xiaoniu's eyes.

"Ah? Martial arts training?"

Xu Xiaoniu wondered when his father started practicing martial arts?
"Dad accidentally got the secret manual of Zhuang Gong. Don't worry about how he got it, you just need to know that if this secret manual gets out, our whole family will be in danger."

Xu Fugui memorized the "Five Elements Posture Exercise" in his mind, but he didn't dare write it down because it was the biggest secret in his family at the moment.

Especially the fact that the Five Elements Posture can cultivate five types of pseudo spiritual roots must not be known to anyone.

The path to immortal cultivation is long and arduous, and he must be cautious and take his time. As a farmer in a mountain village, it is unrealistic for the Xu family to suddenly become an immortal family. Only through the joint efforts of generations can the family have the opportunity to grow and prosper.

Xu Xiaoniu realized the seriousness of the problem and nodded heavily: "Well, I won't tell you even if you kill me!"

"Don't tell your mother and your brothers and sisters yet."

Although Xu Fugui said that he would teach other children martial arts later, they were still young and might not be able to keep the secret.

"Let's get started."

Xu Fugui taught Xu Xiaoniu the first level of "Five Elements Posture Exercise".

He was already very familiar with the Zhuang Gong, so he was able to teach Xu Xiaoniu. Even so, after an hour, Xu Xiaoniu still couldn't get the point.

Xu Xiaoniu is not as smart as Xu Xiaogou, and he is only ten years old, so it is normal that he learns slowly.

"Go to bed early tonight and continue in the fields with me tomorrow morning."

"Oh, I see."

Xu Xiaoniu responded obediently.

----

Time flies, summer goes and autumn comes.

The harvest season has arrived and this year is a bumper year.

Of the Xu family's eighty acres of land, twenty acres of medicinal herb fields are "deposits."

Medicinal herb fields are the most precious. Those herbs take several years to grow to a sufficient age for medicinal use, and they also require painstaking care, so they are expensive.

The twenty acres of medicinal herb fields are closest to the Xu family's house to prevent them from being destroyed or stolen by others.

Thirty acres of dry rice and wheat are the Xu family's "food guarantee" in case of any natural disaster or man-made disaster that leaves the family without food.

In terms of returns, growing crops has the lowest returns.

The advantage is that it does not require much maintenance and is easy and simple.

After harvesting thirty mu of dry rice and wheat, Xu Fugui planted another crop of potatoes. When the potatoes matured, he continued to plant wheat and dry rice for the next year.

There is also a thirty-acre orchard, which is the main source of income for the Xu family.

Orchard management is the most time-consuming and labor-intensive part, including weeding, watering, fertilizing, pest control, pruning branches, combing fruits, setting up supports, picking...all of these require a lot of time.

The advantage is that the orchard has good yield and price, and can make a lot of money.

For example, the yield of fragrant pears is three to four thousand kilograms per acre, and selling them to fruit vendors can earn three to five taels of silver.

Thirty acres of orchard can make the Xu family earn more than one hundred taels of silver.

However, land tax needs to be paid after the autumn harvest.

Their land tax, regardless of what they planted, was collected based on the number of mu (approximately 1 tael of silver) per mu. Even herb fields that hadn't produced anything for several years were still subject to the tax.

The Xu family had eighty acres of land and paid eighty taels of silver.

By this calculation, after deducting the land tax, there would not be much left from the harvest of his orchard, rice fields, and wheat, which was not enough to cover the family's expenses this year.

The land belonged to the Xu family. If it were rented by tenants, after paying the land tax and giving a portion to the landlord, the remaining amount would be barely enough to make a living.

(End of this chapter)