Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Essentials for Becoming Wealthy_1
Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Essentials for Becoming Wealthy_1
“What’s in here? Where did it come from?” Lin Yue poked the large cloth bag in Zhao Erhu’s hand and asked curiously, wondering if it could be something nearly spoiled that Zhao Erhu’s stepmother from the Wei Family had grabbed to return the favor. Last time, when Wei Family sent some grain, Lin Yue found worms in it when she opened the bag to check, not knowing where it had been stored, and it was completely inedible. It seemed such a waste to throw it away. No wonder the Wei Family was so generous in giving it to them. Lin Yue had no choice but to store it in the storage room, planning to catch a chicken or two to raise when spring warmed up and feed them with it.
Lin Yue guessed wrongly this time. The reason Wei Family had given a return gift last time was still based on seeing her on her first visit. Since Lin Yue’s family had taken quite a lot, it would have looked bad on Wei Family’s part not to return a favor, so they had given away old and spoiled grain just to make up the numbers. This time, when Zhao Erhu brought the gifts over, the Wei Family said a few nice words on the surface, and Zhao Erhu’s father even thought it natural and righteous for a son to honor his father, so he took the gifts as if it was his due, and Zhao Erhu didn’t even get a drop of water to drink. Of course, it was also because he didn’t want to linger in the old house, so he went straight to his uncle’s place after delivering the gifts.
“Uncle gave it to me. You’ll know if you look yourself,” Zhao Erhu said, leading Lin Yue into the house and placing the bag on the table for her to see for herself. Anyway, his answer would not save him the effort since Lin Yue was going to check it over again.
“Let me see,” said Lin Yue, who was going to check the contents anyway. She took out the items one by one: there were about ten pounds of glutinous rice, two pounds of flour, one pound of peanuts, one pound of pork, and surprisingly, half a bag of sweet potatoes.
“This much?!” Compared to Zhao Erhu’s stingy father at the old house, the uncle was way too generous. He was more like a real elder, giving so much to Zhao Erhu, including the sweet potatoes. Lin Yue knew that even though sweet potatoes were not rare at this point, they were not cheap either.
It’s said that sweet potatoes had been introduced to the Great Zhou Dynasty quite some time ago. For some reason, the yield wasn’t as high as Lin Yue knew it could be, so not many people grew them. Mostly, only families with some extra money planted them, and they didn’t store them as a staple food.
Lin Yue was aware of the many advantages of sweet potatoes, an essential item for getting rich in numerous transmigration farming novels. How could she miss out? Initially, she even wondered if sweet potatoes had been introduced to the Great Zhou Dynasty; if not, she didn’t know where to find the seeds. After asking Zhao Erhu, she found out that they were already available, just that the seeds were expensive, and the yield was moderate, which was why few people planted them. It wasn’t easy for farmers to have enough to eat all year round, so why would they want to spend so much money on seeds? Zhao Erhu had promised Lin Yue to plant sweet potatoes this year, so naturally, she wouldn’t cook the sweet potatoes Uncle had sent. She had Zhao Erhu put them in the underground storage room in their house.
Zhao Erhu saw Lin Yue’s surprise and explained, “When I went over today, Uncle Xinglin was also there, having just returned from his leave. All these things were brought back by Brother Xinglin to honor Uncle. Uncle had me bring some of each back, saying it was for you and the children.”
“Uncle is too polite, and so are you, Brother Erhu. You went there to give, and now, look, you’ve brought back so much. How can we accept it?” Lin Yue said, recalling that she had deliberately made their gift even heftier, and now this turn of events…
“It’s nothing. Uncle is not an outsider. I have received many things from him since I was little. From now on, we just need to honor Uncle well,” said Zhao Erhu, showing just how close he was to his uncle; thus, he was lowering his guard. Zhao Erhu then mentioned going over to his uncle’s place for dinner that night.