Chapter 108 - Chapter 108: This Woman Is Not Simple
Chapter 108: This Woman Is Not Simple
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
This time, she didn’t hire anyone and worked with the servants to plow the land. They spread chicken and cow dung and sprinkled a layer of wheat straw on top before setting it on fire.
Afterward, they plowed the land again and watered it.
At this point, it was time to set up the wooden stakes.
Qiao Mai instructed Shopkeeper Niu to order many unprocessed wooden materials from the carpenter’s shop. These were freshly cut tree branches of similar thickness, with their ends sharpened.
Upon arrival, they were systematically driven into the ground, enclosing the five acres of land.
Qiao Mai divided the land into ten equal sections, each half an acre. Due to the size of the warm shed and the harsh winter conditions in the area, they could only work on half an acre at a time, splitting it into five equal parts.
When Old Mister Wang finished his lessons, he often came to the backyard to observe Qiao Mai’s work, curious about what she was doing.
“Girl, what are you planning to do?”
“I’m building a warm shed, similar to the ones that large households have, but without the underground heating.”
“What are you growing?”
“Vegetables.”
“Aren’t the costs relatively high for this?”
“The prices for vegetables are high, so it’s worth it.”
“I see. Good things are always worth the price.”
“Exactly. I bought some vegetables from elsewhere last year and sold them for two taels of silver per pound during the Chinese New Year. Many people bought them. If I can grow them myself, I’ll make even more.”
“Well, in that case, I’m looking forward to a delicious winter.”
“Of course, I’m growing these vegetables for two reasons: to sell and to have convenient access to fresh produce for our family.”
“In my family’s greenhouse, we use glass on the top. Can you obtain glass for this purpose?”
“I won’t use glass; it’s too troublesome to install and maintain. Instead, I’ve made transparent fabric. Sunlight can still penetrate it, and the vegetables can grow just as well.”
“Impressive! I’m really looking forward to it.”
“You can count on it. Once they’re ready, you can pick vegetables whenever you like.”
After finishing his lessons, Yuan Jiaqi also came to help in the afternoons. The children couldn’t be of much assistance, so they watched from the sidelines and lent a hand when needed.
After all the wooden stakes were set up, Qiao Mai started making the transparent fabric.
She cleaned the courtyard, removed any obstructions from the ground, and set up a large iron pot in one corner, filling it with wood underneath.
They poured buckets of milky-white latex into the pot. This was a physically demanding task, so Yuan Jiaqi volunteered to stir the latex when it became thicker.
It was manageable, but as the latex thickened, the effort required increased.
Qiao Mai saw Yuan Jiaqi struggling and took over, alternating with him to stir the latex. Once it reached the desired consistency, she took a small spoonful and spread it on a piece of fabric. When it cooled and solidified, they laid it out.
Using a smooth scraper, Qiao Mai evenly spread the latex on the flat white fabric.
Old Mister Wang sat on the side, watching with great interest. He was deeply impressed by Qiao Mai’s abilities.
A woman who appeared delicate and petite was doing tasks that were even more challenging than those typically done by men. This woman was remarkable.
He felt extremely fortunate to have become the teacher in this household. Although he wasn’t paid, he realized he had gained much more in material and spiritual aspects.
Yuan Jiaqi felt the same way.
When he saw Qiao Mai looking tired, he took over the task she was doing and tried to do it himself. With her guidance, he became better at spreading the adhesive evenly.
After they finished spreading the adhesive, two maids took needles and thread to join the pieces of fabric together.
Qiao Mai had already torn the fabric into pieces in advance. For a five-acre piece of land, it was about 300 square meters, with a width of about twelve meters and a length of about twenty-two meters.
The white fabric was 2 feet 7 inches wide and 10 meters long, roughly equivalent to one meter. To cover a five-acre piece of land, they needed to sew thirteen pieces of fabric together, with two on each side.
They could only produce one piece of transparent fabric for a piece of land in a day. Once the adhesive on the fabric had cooled, the maids started sewing and joining the pieces together.
When it wasn’t too dark, they securely fastened the fabric to the wooden stakes in the field.
In the middle was a 1.5-meter-wide and 2-meter-high opening for people to pass through, with a cotton curtain hanging from it. They had already made arrangements with tenant farmers to install a straw curtain on top.
The straw curtain had ropes, which could be rolled up during the warm daytime and lowered during the cold nights.
This whole process took more than ten days. By mid-October, the warm shed for the land was finally completed. At this point, the land was ready for planting.
Qiao Mai decided to start with some popular vegetables in the region.
First, she chose Chinese chives, which the local people liked to use for dumplings and stir-fried eggs. It was a popular side dish.
Next came garlic sprouts, great for stir-frying with cured meat, scrambled eggs, or adding to soups.
Then there were braised eggplants, garlic mashed eggplants, cucumber slices with dipping sauce, sesame sauce with long green beans, stir-fried hollow heart vegetables, lily celery, hand-pulled cabbage, stir-fried eggs with red chilies, and stir-fried pork with green chilies.
These were all staple foods, and she also enjoyed eating them, so she decided to grow these ten varieties.
With the preparations complete, they started their purchase.
They purchased a good amount of white lotus roots, Chinese cabbage, white radishes, red radishes, hawthorns, chestnuts, and pine nuts.
They needed to purchase and sun-dry Chinese sweetgum fruits.
Fortunately, they had plenty of family members, which reduced a lot of pressure on Qiao Mai.
They also had to stock up on peanuts, melon seeds, and other mountain products.
During the harvest season, the prices were not high.
This period kept Qiao Mai busy. She hardly had time to enter her space during the day, let alone do embroidery work. By night, all she could think about was getting some rest.
As the auspicious day for Ruxin approached, she, as the master, naturally couldn’t forget about it.
She had already dispatched Shopkeepr Niu to prepare all the necessary wedding decorations, ready for the final setup on the day before the wedding.
The wedding gown for the bride had also been collected and was placed in Ruxin’s room.
The marriage gifts from the Feng family amounted to thirty loads, and when combined with the fifty loads of dowry prepared by Shopkeeper Lu, it totaled eighty loads. This was an exceptionally generous contribution, unique in the county.
Additionally, Lu Sanniang had secretly arranged two shops in the county for her daughter. She provided her with two thousand taels of silver for her personal use.
To ensure her daughter’s independence and self-reliance, Shopkeeper Lu even hired a trusted housekeeper and two maids for Ruxin.
The housekeeper was experienced and well-mannered, capable of teaching Ruxin the proper etiquette. This way, Ruxin wouldn’t easily fall victim to sweet talk and deception.
The Qiao family was hosting a grand wedding for the first time, and it was indeed a splendid affair. They invited the town mayor, but Qiao Mai did not extend an invitation to Wang Zongsheng. His status didn’t quite fit in this celebration, and she didn’t want to attract too much attention from the town. Therefore, she only invited Wang Jiaru.
On the first day in the afternoon, Wang Jiaru and her brother moved into the
Qiao family’s residence.
Qiao Mai also presented a congratulatory gift to Ruxin, a pair of golden bracelets, which greatly pleased Shopkeeper Lu.
The next morning, Mayor Qian arrived with two guards and presented a gift box to Lu Sanniang.
Following that, several of Shopkeeper Lu’s sisters and acquaintances from town, dressed in silk attire and accompanied by two servant girls each, arrived with gifts.
Some familiar faces from the town also attended, including the carpentry shop and Jingtai Restaurant’s owner.
Finally, the relatives from Shopkeeper Lu’s family arrived, which was the first time Qiao Mai saw them.
Her parents appeared to be around fifty years old and well-preserved. It was evident that they rarely engaged in manual labor.
Her older brother, Lu Haoran, dressed in scholarly robes, exuded an intellectual air. He currently runs a private school at home. Her sister-in-law, Madam Lu Qi, was slightly plump and had an average appearance, but she had an astute and graceful demeanor, devoid of any unpleasantness.
They brought along their son and daughter, both already married. The married couples held their children in their arms.
Only Shopkeeper Lu’s mother gave her daughter a red cloth bundle.
There weren’t many guests today, so there were no banquet tables. All the congratulatory gifts were handed over to Shopkeeper Lu.
Unexpectedly, the Mayor of Tianhe Town had also heard about the wedding and sent gifts…