Chapter 1324: Chapter 1302: Incitement
Old Zhou caught her, "My daughter—"
Father and daughter happily hugged for quite a while, and Old Zhou praised her, "Manbao is getting more and more beautiful, this outfit looks great, and it’s so warm and toasty."
Manbao showed him, "This is a cloak, made from fox fur."
She said, "Dad, Fourth Brother and I bought quite a bit of fox fur to make fox fur coats for you, Mom, and Sister-in-law—it’s incredibly warm."
Old Zhou felt both touched and skeptical, "You bought it with your Fourth Brother? Since when has your Fourth Brother become so filial?"
Bai Shan and Bai Erlang had also arrived and jumped down from their horses to greet the villagers. Hearing this, Bai Erlang couldn’t help but purse his lips in a smile. Then he chimed in, "It wasn’t bought together with Fourth Brother Zhou; it was bought from Fourth Brother Zhou. But Fourth Brother said he didn’t make a profit and sold it at a fair price."
Old Zhou understood instantly and couldn’t help but huff and glare, muttering, "Fourth has come a long way, hasn’t he? He’s even learned to make money off his own sister now. What, he can’t even devote a little to his parents? Where is he? Where did he go?"
Bai Shan tugged Bai Erlang, who then laughed heartily, turned around, and ran off toward his father standing by the bridge.
Bai Dalang had already stepped down from the wagon and was greeting his father. His face looked somewhat pale, and seeing his younger brother full of such exuberance, he couldn’t help but shake his head, unable to understand where Bai Erlang’s endless energy came from.
After Bai Shan and Old Zhou exchanged greetings, they also headed home, with everyone returning to their respective homes.
The mule cart carrying luggage was packed according to each family, one cart per family. The cart with Old Zhou Family’s luggage went directly to their house, and, with the villagers’ help, the luggage was unloaded. Zhou Wulang plucked out a box, opened it, and inside were various wrapped pastries and candies.
All of them had been bought during their time in Mianzhou City. He handed the box to Second Sister-in-law, and Ms. Feng began unpacking the pastries and sweets to distribute to everyone.
The villagers didn’t stand on ceremony. After receiving their pastries and candies, they immediately turned to find their own children to give them snacks. Some even reminded their children to set some aside for the elderly to try back at home.
They didn’t immediately leave, though—they stuck around in the courtyard to chat with Old Zhou’s family, mainly eager to talk to Manbao.
They were very curious about the capital and wanted to know what it was like.
Zhou Wulang had already run off to see his wife and kids, leaving Manbao surrounded by the crowd. Everyone started to question her in a flurry of voices—was the capital’s main gate really eight zhang tall, had she truly seen the Emperor...
Manbao thoroughly enjoyed speaking with them. She took off her cloak, grabbed a small stool, and seated herself next to her father to begin spinning stories—or rather, telling the truth.
She explained that the capital was much larger than Luojiang County. Any random district was bigger than Luojiang County, with four main streets crisscrossing each district. Along the streets were shops, while behind them were rows of residences. Just think about it—Luojiang County only had one main street...
The capital was also brimming with delicious foods and beautiful things...
The villagers listened intently, engrossed in her tales. Old Zhou was the most enthusiastic audience member, while Ms. Feng tried to interject several times but couldn’t. She eventually gave up and turned to grab Sanya, moving the labeled boxes into their respective rooms.
Some villagers saw them carrying box after box of items into the house. Initially, they hadn’t paid much notice, but now envy and jealousy were written all over their faces. Unable to hold back, someone asked, "Manbao, what kind of nice things did you bring back from the capital?"
Manbao glanced back and replied, "Fabric for my parents, some specialties from the capital, and also some books and medicinal herbs. Oh, and I bought a bunch of herb seeds from Jishi Hall and merchants. You can try growing them on the mountainside..."
The villagers were astonished and couldn’t help but ask, "Medicinal herbs can be cultivated?"
It wasn’t surprising they were shocked—after all, in their impression, herbs were wild plants collected from the mountains.
Manbao explained, "I’ve asked around; some herbs can be grown. Anyway, it’s just mountain land being used, and these seeds aren’t expensive. Give it a try—if they grow successfully, it’ll be great. If not, it doesn’t hurt anything."
These seeds were ones she had asked merchants and herbal farmers to collect for her. There wasn’t much choice because many medicinal herbs weren’t cataloged in the herb encyclopedias, and the ones sold in pharmacies were usually processed, devoid of vitality. She had to jot down the names of herbs, identify the ones yielding seeds, and then pay merchants to gather seeds for her.
Otherwise, even if she could afford the cost of purchasing live herbs, because they’re difficult to transport and keep alive, the merchants wouldn’t bother taking the trouble.
Thus, Manbao had pivoted toward collecting seeds instead.
Some medicinal herbs do produce seeds.
But as the villagers mentioned, most herbs are wild, growing naturally in the mountains. The idea of cultivating them—as far as Qili Village or even other places were concerned—was rare.
As for the ginger and yams the villagers grew, they didn’t even consider them medicinal herbs, since they could also be used as food ingredients.
Only privet fruit was a bit unusual and classified as a medicinal herb.
Manbao said, "Privet fruit, ginger, yam, and jujube slices—all of these are commonly used herbs with significant demand. Since Fourth Brother has decided to regularly travel the capital trade route now, planting more of these won’t hurt."
The villagers’ eyes brightened. The new wheat seeds weren’t fetching much of a price anymore; rumors had it that even far-off northern areas had switched to the new wheat seeds.
And over the past two years, due to high yield and new wheat seed production, grain prices had even dropped a little. On the contrary, the old ginger harvested and dried by Zhou Silang and sold alongside Zhou Erlang’s fresh ginger in Mianzhou, Yizhou, and other places had brought back quite a bit of money.
Besides, ginger thrived in sandy soil—land that wasn’t ideal for growing grain could be perfect for ginger cultivation.
The topic naturally shifted, and the group began discussing farming issues, leaving the earlier curiosity about those boxes behind.
"Uncle Jin, your family planted only twenty or so jujube trees this year, right? Where did you find the saplings?"
Old Zhou replied, "Erlang brought them back from outside. I’ll ask him about it later."
"I still think planting jujube trees is a good idea. Fresh ones can be eaten as fruit, dried ones can be sold to pharmacies. You can grow them directly on the hillsides and save plenty of land as well."
"Manbao, what kinds of seeds did you bring back? Are those herbs expensive?"
Everyone chimed in at once, and Manbao responded slowly. Upon learning that even she hadn’t tried cultivating the seeds before and that many herbal farmers hadn’t either, the villagers were skeptical despite her explanation of planting methods. Instead, they focused on discussing how to increase ginger cultivation.
Ever since Old Zhou Family suggested that dried ginger could be sold to pharmacies as medicinal herbs and fresh ginger could also be stored for longer periods, everyone had started planting ginger more intentionally.
Now it seemed like they could grow even more.
After all, Qili Village’s arid land was abundant. They could plant fewer beans and grow more ginger.
The villagers noticed Old Zhou Family’s kitchen was about done preparing food and got up one by one to head back home. Old Zhou tried to keep a few, but two families decided to stay for the meal. The rest bundled them out, laughing, saying, "It’s their family reunion—what are we sticking around for?"
As soon as everyone left, Zhou Sanlang closed the door and gathered the chairs back into the courtyard, splitting them into two tables for the family to sit down and eat.
Once seated, Old Zhou realized something was off. He looked around and asked, "Where are Fourth, Sixth, and Datou? Why aren’t they here?"
The family: ... Dad, are you not reacting a bit slow?