Exiled to Lingnan, the Crown Prince's wife raises children, cultivates the land, and leads the

After a hearty dinner, Lin Huilan and her daughter wisely took the bowls and chopsticks and went to wash the dishes.

Cheng Qiqi led her daughter into the room, and was quite happy that Lin Huilan and her daughter were not arguing or making a fuss!

She enjoys cooking, but she hates washing dishes the most.

"Mother, the lamp will still light even without oil!"

Jin Sui'an lay on the bed... no, on the floor, looking up at the area covered by the skylight, overjoyed. She hugged Cheng Qiqi tightly: "Mom, I like Uncle Beard."

"Aren't you afraid of his beard?"

"I'm not afraid."

Jin Sui'an tilted her head and thought for a moment: "Uncle Beard doesn't prick people!"

Why do you like Uncle Beard?

Cheng Qiqi found it strange. Before the exile, An'an rarely had contact with men. After the exile, several uncles took turns carrying her on their backs, which she missed dearly. She wondered if her father's carrying her was just as steady.

But he never said that he really liked any particular uncle!

"Well……"

Jin Sui'an blinked her big, round eyes, then finally frowned and said, "I don't know."

The little girl hesitated, unsure how to express herself, but finally broke into a bright smile: "Uncle Beard is so amazing! He can fly, and he even gave me a big horse ride!"

Cheng Qiqi: "..."

Jin Mozhi muttered to himself, "Zhao Heizi didn't give you any trouble, did he?"

Zhao Heizi was the one on the training platform who was responsible for assigning tasks to them.

"Who am I, your father?"

When Marquis Zhongyong mentioned this, his mustache couldn't help but bristle: "Three wild boars! If it weren't for me, several of them would probably be dead today. Zhao Heizi is too ruthless! The big wild boar weighed over two hundred jin, and the piglets weighed seventy or eighty jin, and in the end, he only gave me a leg!"

"Dad is the best."

Jin Mozhi praised, and then said, "Father, I contacted a batch of old furniture tonight, and we'll install it in the house then."

"Is there a bed? We can sleep on the floor, but we can't let your grandmother, your mother, your wife, and your daughter sleep on the floor, can we?"

When the Marquis of Zhongyong was on campaign, he could sleep outdoors, but his female relatives could not.

"have."

Jin Mozhi nodded affirmatively.

"When are you going to the Northwest?" Marquis Zhongyong stared into his eyes. He and his daughter were clearly together today, but he couldn't acknowledge them. He felt guilty towards his son!

"I'll leave three days later, after the first batch of supplies arrives."

The conditions in the exile were even harsher than he had imagined. The five dou of rice that Cheng Qiqi exchanged for her pen seemed like a lot, but it wouldn't last her family more than ten days!

Furthermore, they needed to prepare some things for their trip to the Northwest.

Jin Mozhi quietly went out, and under the cover of night, the old furniture he had secretly selected arrived.

Fifteen beds, bed boards and bed frames, were all pulled into three carts!

The Jin family members were overjoyed to see the beds; finally, they wouldn't have to sleep on the floor anymore.

At Jin Mozhi's instruction, a bed was also installed in Cheng Qiqi's room. Jin Suian, who was originally very sleepy, took a look with excitement, then snuggled up in Cheng Qiqi's room and fell fast asleep.

Since they were setting up their beds, they naturally couldn't go back to their rooms, so Cheng Qiqi asked about the betel nuts.

"The areca nut is a bit astringent when chewed, but when mixed with withered leaves and clam shell powder, it becomes more and more fragrant the more you chew it. Even in the dead of winter, I broke out in a sweat."

Marquis Zhongyong recalled this and said, "When we were cutting down camphor trees today, we saw many areca nut trees. We also heard from Lord Zhao and the others that areca nuts are abundant in Lingnan. Whoever picks the areca nuts in the mountains keeps them!"

"Dad, I want to pick betel nuts tomorrow."

Cheng Qiqi immediately spoke, her gaze falling on the black soil used to build the bed in the room, and asked, "Dad, if they have time, could they help pick some?"

"Yes, you can."

As Marquis Zhongyong spoke, he immediately said, "You shouldn't go up the mountain; there are many snakes, insects, rats, and ants on the mountain."

The bed was set up, and Jin Sui'an slept soundly in her arms. As night deepened, Cheng Qiqi and her daughter slept on the bed, which was much softer than the floor.

"what?"

Cheng Qiqi touched the bed, wondering if it was just her imagination, but her bed seemed newer.

next door.

"My lord, Heitu and Chongshan are men after all. When the bed was being set up, Lizhi and Runzhi should have been the ones to do it. They are our own people."

Before Liu Suyi could speak, Marquis Zhongyong interrupted, "Lizhi and Runzhi are both men from outside the family; how can they prepare a bed for Qiqi?"

"That Black Earth is a man too, isn't he? It's fine when Mo'er is still alive, but now that Mo'er is gone, we should..." Avoid suspicion.

Before Liu Suyi could finish speaking, Marquis Zhongyong interrupted, "Heitu is fine, but he's not an outsider..."

A biological son assembling a bed for his own father and maternal grandmother is no problem at all!

As for installing a bed in the room for Cheng Qiqi and her daughter?

Making a bed for my own wife is even less of a problem.

"Huh? He's not a man? He's a eunuch? Wait, do eunuchs have beards?"

Liu Suyi completely misunderstood. If he were a eunuch, he would indeed be more suitable than Lizhi and Runzhi.

Marquis Zhongyong: "..."

Forget it, I can't tell anyone that my son is still alive. It's okay if it's a misunderstanding...?

The next morning, Cheng Qiqi's eyes lit up when she saw several sacks of areca nuts!

"There are even clam shells?"

"Withered leaves?"

Cheng Qiqi was overjoyed and said, "Dad, thank you so much! You've thought of everything so thoroughly, even preparing all these things."

"If you want to thank someone, thank Heitu."

Marquis Zhongyong said, "I only let him pick betel nuts."

"I'll thank him next time."

Cheng Qiqi was happy. She used the leftover pig's trotter soup from yesterday as a base, and then made some dumpling soup with flour paste. It was filling and simple.

After eating her fill, Cheng Qiqi started processing the betel nuts.

The entire Jin family went to work, leaving only the pregnant Gao Shenglan, Liu Suyi who was taking care of her mother-in-law, and Jin Yun and Jin Suian!

"Mother, I'll help you."

Jin Sui'an, the youngest, obediently sat next to Cheng Qiqi on a tree stump stool, holding a betel nut in his little hands and washing it just like Cheng Qiqi.

"An'an is great."

Cheng Qiqi praised her daughter while washing the betel nuts, making her very happy.

Gao Shenglan, Liu Suyi, and Jin Yun all came over to clean the betel nuts.

Cheng Qiqi said, "Mother, you two wash first, I'll go start the fire and boil the betel nuts!"

She used to enjoy watching various traditional production methods, and she actually knows how areca nuts are made—just boil them until soft and then dry them!

Fresh areca nuts are even simpler to prepare!

Many hands make light work. Soon, the betel nuts were being cooked, and Cheng Qiqi started thinking about the clam shells!

Cleaning clam shells is difficult; crushing them into ash with a stone mortar and pestle is a challenging process at every step.

"Shenglan, you're pregnant. Why don't you rest?"

Cheng Qiqi looked at Gao Shenglan, who had been helping with the cleaning for most of the day, and was afraid that there might be something wrong with the baby in her belly. This was the only grandson of the third branch of the family!

"It's okay, I'm just sitting here doing my work, it's not tiring."

Gao Shenglan didn't want to lie down anymore. Her family ran a martial arts school, and she didn't even know how to embroider. Now that she could do some work, that was good. Most importantly, she felt that selling betel nuts might actually make her money!