It's late spring, the peach and pear blossoms have faded, and the fruits are still very small. They are almost all green, just light green, light green, and dark green.
Across Taoli Mountain, there is also a fruit tree mountain, all planted with bayberries.
The old man loved drinking wine when he was alive. When the bayberries were ripe, he would eat fresh ones and use the rest to make bayberry wine.
The Xu Mansion also has a cellar dedicated to storing wine for the old man.
However, after the old man passed away, his original parents were not interested in bayberry wine. In addition, as they were keeping filial piety for the old man, everything that had nothing to do with the spice business was left to the stewards.
Xu Da, who turned out to be the steward of his father's yard, hired outsiders to pick out the bayberries as soon as they were ripe, and sold them to the houses of dignitaries in the city. This bayberry mountain alone cost him a lot of money.
"From now on, just keep doing what you did when the old man was here!" Xu Yin walked through the Yangmei Forest and said to the village chief, "Send some fresh fruits to the house and make wine for the rest. In addition to the fresh fruits soaked in wine, I will give you another one later. Here’s a recipe, try fermentation to make bayberry wine.”
The village chief naturally agreed.
Xu Yin thought it would be nice to live here. Wait another month or two, and the peaches, bayberries, and pears will gradually mature. You can eat as much as you want, and it will be enough for rice.
You can make wine, make wine, or make jam if you can't finish eating.
"Jam? What is that?" The village chief asked in confusion after hearing what she said, "Is it made like bean paste?"
"Almost. If you are interested, I will give you a recipe. You can try it when the fruit is ripe. However, jam is not suitable for selling in the market. It requires sugar and the cost is too high. Ordinary people may not be willing to buy it. You can find someone to do it. Knock on the back kitchen doors of those wealthy families, they might be interested."
The village chief took her words to heart.
Further inside Yangmei Mountain is Tea Mountain.
Xu Yin looked up at the Xu Mansion Courtyard built on the top of the mountain, and twitched her lips:
No wonder there are soft sedan chairs in Xujia Village. Among the masters who are accustomed to living in a pampered way, who can climb the top of the mountain after climbing two mountains?
Fortunately, the tea mountain is not high and the mountain road is not steep. The steps are shallow and one level, so it is not tiring to walk.
The group went up to the top of the mountain and entered the courtyard. When she decided to come and stay, the housekeeper sent someone to clean it up, so she could move in directly.
Xu Yin took her maid and mother-in-law to live in the second courtyard, leaving the front yard for the nursing staff and the boys running errands. The cooks brought by the government were also placed in the front yard.
The village chief waited for her to settle down before going down the mountain and going home.
We made an appointment to take people to start cleaning the Chai Mountain next to the tea garden early tomorrow morning.
Xu Yin has to go to the cemetery tomorrow. After all, she is here to pay her respects.
It is still the tea-picking season, and tea farmers can be seen everywhere on the tea mountains.
Although the tenderest Mingqian bud tips are no longer visible, the tea produced before and after Grain Rain has plump buds and leaves, green color, and the brewed tea has a fresh taste and pleasant aroma, and is still very popular.
Xu Yin had nothing to do after taking a nap, so she asked Ziyuan to take a small wide-mouthed bamboo basket, walked out of the courtyard, picked an area that the tea farmers had not picked yet, picked a basket of buds, and took them back to the mountaintop courtyard to fry them themselves.
When the old man was still alive, he would stay here for a while every time he came to the cemetery to pay homage to his ancestors during the Qingming Festival, and experience the joy of picking tea with the tea farmers. Therefore, the courtyard is equipped with complete tea-frying tools.
The maids and wives who were waiting around her were all beaten by the old housekeeper before going out. As long as the girl could get over the grief of her deceased relative, she could do whatever she wanted.
What's more, isn't it just tea picking? There is no danger, as long as the girl is happy.
But when it came to making tea, they were worried about burning her hands, so they all waited on her side with worry and trepidation.
"Girl, why don't you let the tea farmers do this job? Is this slave going to call for a woman with quick hands and feet to come up?"
Xu Yin has already been fired.
Although I haven’t fried tea for a long time and my hands are a little raw, I soon became familiar with it. I shook my head when I heard this:
"I just want to experience it. There is no need to disturb the tea farmers."
I think back then, my sister even fertilized and planted the tea trees herself. What did it mean to just pick and fry tea?
"But……"
"Zi Yuan, do you want to come together? It's quite fun!"
"..."
Zi Yuan looked suspicious.
Isn’t it just like cooking tea? It's just that the spatula is replaced by hands. How fun can this be? "
Xu Yin said slowly while frying tea: "Think about it, picking the tea by yourself, frying it by yourself, brewing it by yourself and drinking it later, wouldn't it be a lot of fun? It's very fulfilling, right? Really! If you don't believe me, try it! "
She deceived the eldest maid and the little maid into landing, and they made tea together and experienced the daily life of a tea farmer.
After frying the picked tea, it became dark.
After eating a six-course vegetarian meal cooked by the chef in the house, plus a small bowl of rice, I rested early after washing up.
The next day I got up and braved the morning dew to go to the cemetery.
She paid homage to the ancestors of the Xu family, the old man, and the original parents in turn, and promised in front of their graves that she would carry forward the Xu family's incense industry and never let her ancestors' hard work end in her generation.
In fact, she not only said this to her ancestors, but if the ancestors wanted to hear it, they had to hear it! Mainly for the people around you to listen to.
Next, she will start her aromatherapy business aggressively. If she gets too involved and makes the maid and mother-in-law suspicious, she will be in trouble.
Now, in front of her ancestors, she vowed to inherit the Xu family's spice business and carry it forward even if she never married, which shows her determination.
Once a person makes up his mind and moves forward, it makes sense that his personality will change drastically.
Coming out of the cemetery, Xu Yin saw Zi Yuan peeking at her, and raised her eyebrows lightly: "If you have anything to say, it's okay to just say it."
"Girl." Zi Yuan spoke boldly, "You just said that even if you remain unmarried for the rest of your life, you will continue to develop the Xu family's spice business and keep it in your hands. Is that true?"
"That's what I said."
"But if you don't get married and have no heirs, how will you pass on the Xu family's inheritance? Then don't you have to stop it?"
Xu Yin: "..."
Hey! This girl is very logical! It’s too late to be a maid!
Hearing this, the two mothers-in-law who accompanied me started to persuade each other:
"Girl, it's absolutely impossible to get married without getting married! If you are worried that no one will take care of the business in the house after you get married, you can just do like my wife and recruit a son-in-law!"
"That's right! When the girl's mourning period is over and she reaches the age of marriage, she can throw the hydrangea to attract a bride and find a good uncle who loves his wife as much as the master does!"
The two mothers-in-law became more and more excited as they talked.
Xu Yin twitched her lips. Fortunately, she was out of the cemetery. Otherwise, would it be ridiculous to talk about her lifelong events in front of the tombs of Xu family ancestors?
But the mother-in-law said: "I didn't listen just now, otherwise I would have made the girl take back what she said in front of the master and madam's graves. The master and madam know well, and they must hope that the girl can find a husband and have children, but the girl must not Motivated by emotion..."
Xu Yin pinched her forehead with a headache: "Okay, okay, I will consider this when the filial piety period comes."
The mother-in-law just shut up.
