Chapter 191

As they ate, Qin Shuwu talked about preparing a few more dishes. Xu Ran remembered the fiddlehead they planted last year, and it should come into leaf now.

Xu Ran said, “Brother Qin, I will go back and see if I can find anything else to eat. I think that the fiddlehead in the mountains should be fine now. In that case, it can be used to make cold dishes and it tastes very good.”

“Alright, it’s up to you. Anyway, just send anything fresh you can get!” Qin Shuwu said.

Xu Ran nodded and continued, “Brother Qin, you should contact those restaurants again. For example, Mr. Chen’s restaurant will definitely sell these things at a higher price. In this way, both he and us can make more money.”

It was cheap and convenient to buy dishes in the store. It would cost more to eat the dishes in the restaurant and it showed a lifestyle.

Although people didn’t know much about lifestyle in that era, there were a lot of rich people and they definitely would feel ashamed to buy things at this store.

Qin Shuwu took some vegetables and said to Xu Ran, “You are really clever. I’ll ask about this of course. On the other hand, you should plant more vegetables in your farm, because it will cost less. I don’t have much land and I plan to plant vegetables on all my land. If you plant more, it should be enough.”

Xu Ran nodded, “I agree. Several acres are left uncultured and I will plant vegetables there soon.”

“Good.” Xu Lan replied.

Then they discussed on details, and when they finished, other people had been full and left.

Xu Ran thought of the fruit trees and asked Qin Shuwu, “Brother Qin, have you been to Half Month Town? Zhuo Yun sent me a letter saying that he was told there are many fruit trees in the own. He asked me go over and take a look.”

Qin Shuwu thought for a moment and said, “I’ve been to this town once. I’m not sure if there are fruit trees there, but there are surely quite a lot of fruits. I was told local people planted them. There should be fruit trees since there are so many fruits. Zhuo Yun wrote to tell you this from far away. I think he is right and you should go and take a look.”

Xu Ran nodded, “I agree, but I plan to go to Mr. Hu’s first. They plant strawberries there, so there must be other fruits there.”

Qin Shuwu nodded, “There are indeed, but not many. The most important problem is that these trees have grown up and you can’t transport them here even if you buy them. Another problem is that maybe people are not willing to sell them. I think might as well go to the mountain to take a look. There are probably many fruit trees on the mountain behind you house.”

Xu Ran recalled that he had seen some wild cherry trees and wild pear trees on the mountain behind. There were many indeed.

He smiled, “Thanks for reminding me, Brother Qin. I have planned to go out tomorrow to check it out. Now it seems that it must be postponed for some time.”

“You are welcome. Seldom do you care about this deli, and I’m not going to care about your planting fruit trees. I’ll look for as many as I can and you may do what you like.”

He meant courtesy called for reciprocity of course.

Xu Ran said, “Okay, thank you.”

Qin Shuwu waved his hand, “You are welcome.”

Xu Ran pouted and stopped talking.

Xu Ran didn’t leave until the store was about to close. Qin Shuwu checked and he could make at least one hundred taels of silver today, which was definitely an incredible sum. It was hard for most restaurants to make so much money in one day.

On the other hand, Qin Shuwu’s friends paid most, so he owed them a favour. It was a good start anyway.

…

Xu Ran and Liu Tong were going out on the 13th of the month, but they decided to go to the mountain first after Qin Shuwu said that.

Shao Yu and Qin Shuwen stayed at home with two of the four dogs. Huasheng was pregnant and got very fierce, so she must stay at home.

Xu Ran, Liu Tong and Gao Quan went to the mountain with Taozi and Lizi.

They knew some common fruit trees, and now many fruit trees were in bloom or just withered away, so it was even more easy to recognize them. The mountain was owned by no one, they could dig as many trees as they could.

When we reached the mountain, Xu Ran said, “Let’s split up. Tongtong will go with one dog, and I will take the other. Just dig small trees and don’t dig the big ones. Don’t hurt the roots. It is the time to bloom now, and the trees might die if their roots get hurt.”

Gao Quan and Liu Tong nodded and split up.

Both of them were more familiar with the mountain than Xu Ran. Xu Ran was not worried. He didn’t dare to go deep into the forest, so he just checked around it.

There weren’t many fruit trees, but there were many wild bur trees with edible fruits.

This basically matured at the same time as cherries. When it was ripe, it tasted sweet and sour, not bad.

Xu Ran got an idea. He thought that this would not occupy much land, and he could plant it at a corner.

He thought the family could eat it even if they couldn’t sell it! It must taste good dipped with sugar.

Xu Ran seemed to have completely forgotten the point and just dug the bur tree.

At noon, he still didn’t find a fruit tree, or perhaps he saw it, but he didn’t do anything.

He just stayed around the forest. Liu Tong saw him as soon as they came out. Liu Tong was holding several small saplings, some with flowers, and some even with fruits.

He saw the bur trees piled beside Xu Ran and felt a little strange. Liu Tong asked him, “Ran, why are you digging this? Do you plan to plant this too?”

Xu Ran said, “Yes, I will try! After we plant it, the kids could eat this even if we can’t sell it. Besides, as long as it is planted well this year, we can eat the fruit next year.”

It was up to Xu Ran. Anyway, it was simple to plant this and it was convenient to pick it up in their own garden.

Liu Tong saw that there were also a few little cherry trees beside Xu Ran, so he took a hoe to dig them.

After a while, Gao Quan came back with a pile of fruit trees like Liu Tong, and there were many kinds.

Xu Ran looked at the pile of bur trees in front of himself and touched his nose with embarrassment.

Gao Quan just glanced at the bur trees in front of Xu Ran and didn’t say anything.

Since Xu Ran didn’t work seriously in the morning, he planted fruit trees industriously in the afternoon, especially when he was digging holes.

Now the sun was not too bright, and the roots of the fruit trees were not injured and there was soil on them, so after the trees were planted and watered, at half of them would survive.

They searched fruit trees on the mountain for three days and didn’t get many. They were planted on at least five acres of land, not very densely.

Xu Ran specially spared a piece of land and planted the bur trees he took back on it, which was quite dense. Many of them bloomed and it looked nice.

As they searched fruit trees on the mountain, Xu Ran saw that the fiddlehead sprouted. Xu Ran recalled that he had told Qin Shuwu about selling fiddlehead, so he spent two days on getting it with his family.

By the time he went out, it was March 18th. He prepared to deliver everything to Qin Shuwu when he passed through the town, and he let Gao Quan take care of the family temporarily.

It was the first time that Xu Ran and Liu Tong went out together. More importantly, Liu Tong went out far away for the first time, so he couldn’t help get excited.

It was sunny spring, and it was great pleasure to travel with his lover.

The more Xu Ran thought about it, the more excited he got. He even wanted to have sex with Liu Tong in the open air.

Of course, he just thought it for a while and it couldn’t be done.

Even if he could be shameless, Liu Tong would definitely feel too ashamed and refuse.

Liu Tong and Xu Ran sat in the driver’s seat. They talked and watched the scenery by the road. It was so relaxing!

Occasionally, when they saw many fruit trees, they would stop and ask about the price, but people weren’t willing to sell. On the other hand, sometimes the trees were too big and they couldn’t bring them away, so they got a little disappointed.

Because Liu Tong was with him, they didn’t sleep in the carriage that night. They found a farmer and gave him some copper money, and then they stayed in his house for one night.

By the time they arrived, it was already in the morning, March 20th.

It was a busy farming season and many families were plowing land, so Xu Ran saw many people this time.

The villagers saw two outsiders came to the village in a carriage from nowhere, and they naturally got quite a lot of attention.

Someone came over to ask who they were looking for in the village. Xu Ran said that he was looking for Mr. Hu.

The person asked them, “Who are you? Mr. Hu left the village last year. Don’t you know?”

Xu Ran was stunned at this, “Didn’t Mr. Hu come back on Spring Festival? I sent him back myself!”

Xu Ran felt that something was wrong, so he ran towards Mr. Hu’s house, with the carriage left aside.