I was a stepmother in ancient times, and I led my whole family to wealth.

Chapter 90 Agate fruit?

Everyone...

What is this? They all had questions in their minds.

This includes the Jun family, mother and her two children.

Chenglin's family was well prepared.

Aunt Gu saw Dongfang Jin working on that round lump with her own eyes, saying that Gu Chenglin bought it from a merchant caravan at the dock today.

"Ah, is that round lump?"

Dongfang Jin nodded, glanced at Gu Chenglin, and said, "Yes, Chenglin said that potatoes are a specialty of the Western Regions, and there is also something called chili peppers."

Fourth Aunt, all her families' braised meats can't do without chili peppers, ginger, and garlic.

Add this potato, do you think we can make it this winter?

Gu Chenglin...

Honey, don't look at me, I'll obediently take the blame.

I've been cooperating the whole time.

"Can vegetables be grown in winter?" Uncle Gu asked at this moment.

Dongfang Jin nodded: "Sure, you have quite a few empty rooms in your house, including the room where you sleep."

I believe that nailing a few wooden boxes won't be a problem for you, and neither will the soil.

It's warm inside; when it's warm, what can't grow?

It just takes some firewood; I don't think that's a problem for your family.

Once you master this dish, your family will never have to worry about food again. Isn't Ping An Restaurant there?

You said you have too many vegetables for his family? I suggest that if you have extra vegetable seeds, plant them all.

You can come up with this reason yourself. Tell me, is there anything anyone would say about this?

If others ask, you can boldly retort, "Let whoever wants to plant it, plant it."

If every household grows vegetables, who will keep an eye on your family? When it comes time for Ping An Restaurant to collect the produce, do you think they'll trust you or them?

Grandpa Xu...

That really works. Doesn't he also keep those medicinal herbs indoors during the winter?

Why didn't they think of growing and selling vegetables before?

The Lin family shared the same idea; it was truly a wake-up call!

What do farmers have the most of...?

There seems to be a reason why they are poor...

You should know that in winter, almost every household here heats up their kang (heated brick bed), and when people visit each other, they sit on the kang.

Who doesn't have a big house and a large kang (heated brick bed)? This whole winter is being wasted!

Aunt Gu and Madam Lin...

The pain is most intense in the flesh...

Gu Chunsheng perked up: "Auntie, isn't there an empty room next to the cowshed? Let's clean it up and build a fire wall."

As for nailing boxes, we know how to do that; we can make one in the time we're resting at night.

That room, plus all the other rooms, Auntie has... quite a lot.

Gu Chunsheng became more and more excited as he spoke.

Aunt Gu asked in a daze, "Is this okay?"

Dongfang Jin nodded: "Just think of it as an experiment this winter. Everything is difficult at the beginning."

If your family tries it this year and succeeds, you can build greenhouses in the fields next year and grow it on a large scale.

We'll plant some this winter too. If you've decided what you want to plant, you can plant whatever I'm planting. You can come to my house to get the seeds and seedlings.

You really don't need to worry about not being able to sell them. I'm the one worried about not having enough to sell.

At this point, Aunt Gu was just like Lin Lizheng, only able to say yes, okay, alright.

Uncle Gu looked at Gu Chenglin with a face full of shame. To be honest, he was angry at the time because his uncle had asked to step down from his position as clan elder.

Because the clan elders received a bushel of grain every year, how could he not be angry now that Gu Chenglin was gone?

But now, as he finds business for his own family, his anger dissipates.

Grandpa Xu was a doctor, and Dongfang Jin had nothing to give him, so when he left, he gave him a bowl of braised meat, a jar of wine, and a packet of tea.

Gu Chenglin wanted to take him home, but Xu Changhua refused.

His grandfather liked both of them, and Chenglin had given them everything he wanted, which was quite generous.

His grandfather studied medicine, but none of his descendants have any talent for it.

His father and his second uncle would fall asleep every time they memorized medical books. They were the same; they would doze off whenever they saw the names of the herbs in the books.

Normally, all we can do for him is dig up some medicinal herbs, dry them, and move them around to do some physical labor.

In the family, only Xiao Zhao from my eldest cousin's family can barely learn a little bit from Grandpa, but not for long, or she'll get sleepy.

Now that they have this business opportunity, they can really show off their skills.

Everyone had something to do, and they left Gu Chenglin's house excitedly, each carrying a grand plan in their hearts.

On the way away from Gu Chenglin's house, everyone cursed Gu's family for not knowing what was good for them, for pushing away a cash cow, and even cursed the Gu clan patriarch for being stupid...

The autumn wind is chilly...

The evening breeze was a bit chilly, but it did nothing to dampen their burning passion.

Dongfang Jin watched the group walk away and stretched deeply: "They're all gone. Let's all wash up and go to sleep. One day is over, and we're about to welcome a new day."

It's so nice to rest at sunset these days.

How beautiful...

Jun Wenhui looked pained: "You gave away so much stuff all at once, Xiao Jin, what were you thinking?"

It's important to understand that any one of these factors could support a small family to grow into a large one, and could be a business that can be passed down through generations.

"From now on, you and Chenglin... this little bit of money will eventually run out."

This child is too loose-handed.

Dongfang Jin reached out and took her arm: "Aunt Hui, I don't want to work from dawn till dusk."

This way I don't have to do anything. Just thinking about doing those businesses myself is exhausting.

Let me tell you, the things we give away are all worthless; they're all laying the foundation for our family's future business.

I don't want to be the one to stick my neck out.

Upon hearing this, several people exclaimed, "Wow, isn't this a profitable business?" Then what exactly constitutes making money?

Even Gu Chenglin looked at her now, his face full of curiosity.

Dongfang Jin didn't hide anything: "What do you think of the Zhuyeqing tea we're drinking today?"

Jun Qirui didn't know why she brought up wine, but he still said, "This wine is good, no wonder it's the Liu family's signature product."

Jun Wenhui turned to look at her, asking with a curious expression, "You want to brew wine?"

Dongfang Jin snapped his fingers: "Yes, but it's not baijiu. The baijiu here isn't pure, and the alcohol content isn't high."

What I'm going to make is wine, also known as red wine.

When I bought this house, I had my eye on Mr. Tang's hundred-acre orchard.

Those are grapevines, but they are all treasures. The grapes grow in bunches, with thin skins and lots of juice... It's just that they don't know how to grow them.

I'll clean up the area next spring, and it should bear fruit that year.

You all probably don't know this, but the optimal period for these grapes to bear fruit is only three years.

The hundred-acre vineyard behind our house has just reached its expiration date, and Mr. Tang even provided branches that he had nurtured for three years.

With those branches from that hundred-acre plot, I could propagate several hundred-acre orchards.

Do you think this deal was worth it?

Hehe, I'm going to buy all the wasteland on the back mountain and along the South River and plant grapevines on it all.

By the time……"

Jun Qixian looked at her and asked, "Is it the fruit I'm thinking of? The purple one, the kind that grows in bunches like agate fruits?"

Dongfang Jin asked in confusion, "Do you call it grape agate fruit here?"

In my mind—grapes are known as: the fruit of immortality, the fruit of longevity, the agate fruit, the bodhi seed, the god of fruits, and so on…

I go……

Seeing her surprised expression, Jun Qirui smiled and said, "If it is as you described, it is indeed an agate fruit, a specialty of the Western Regions."

However, some people planted fruit trees here in the early days, just like the orchard behind, where the branches of those fruit trees spread all over the ground.

Finally, they were all burned…

Upon hearing this, Dongfang Jin asked with great curiosity, "Has no one of you ever seen how people from the Western Regions cultivate crops?"

Aren't there caravans going over there? Don't those people know about it?

Gu Chenglin: "..." Wife, do you think everyone is like you?

He had heard of this at the border, that in the area where agate fruit was grown in the Western Regions, a high earthen wall had been built.

Outsiders are not allowed to set foot there.