Under the guidance of the head of the grange, Jia Lu finally entered the house, a cool and comfortable wind blew, and he felt that the heat and irritability of the hot summer had dissipated a lot.

"You have prepared this thing, and it's hard for you!"

Grange said, "It's not worth it, these ice cubes are rare elsewhere, and we are really good here." ”

"Why is that?"

Grange head replied, "The flowers and plants we raise here are delicate, some like cold, some like hot, some like the sun, some like cloudy, some like dry, some like wet, the house sent these over, if it is in line with our time here, it is naturally good, if it doesn't, it's like such a hot day, and they all have to die, fortunately, the mountain that the girl saw just now produces saltpeter, saltpeter mixed with water, and the water freezes!"

Jia Lu stood up in an instant, saltpeter made ice, and there was a thought at this time, and said,

"That's the case, isn't that what you can do to make money?"

The head of the grange smiled bitterly, "How can there be such a good thing, you have just seen it, although it is said to be a mountain, it is not too big, and the production of saltpeter is also limited.

Another one, this ice, the rich and noble families themselves have ice cubes stored in winter, that is a few tons and tons of storage, and we can't look at our little bit of Xiaoice, for ordinary people, they can't afford this, that is, some ice-making traders will buy some! But we are remote here, and we can't find it here when we are idle!"

Jia Lu shook her head, "That's it, you have some truth in what you said." ”

Then the head of the grange asked respectfully, "I heard that the girl wants to see the rare and exotic grass overseas, we are all ready, I wonder if the girl plans to go and see it now or rest for a while?"

If it was before, Jia Lu said that he couldn't wait, and it wouldn't be such a time, but after today, the old man owed usury because of grain, and the interest was rolled to such an extent, and he also thought about the so-called food in the famine year, so he said,

"Don't wait, let's go over and have a look!"

Since the master returned like this, the head of the grange did not stop, sat down for a while, and led Jia Lu to the courtyard at the back, and led Jia Lu to a low tree-like plant, which was full of red and green fruits, delicate and clear, and extremely lovely.

Listening to the explanation of the head of the grange, "This plant, the stem is like artemisia, four or five feet high, the leaves are like wormwood, the flowers are like pomegranates, a branch bears five fruits or three or four fruits, and a tree has twenty or thirty fruits. ”

Jia Lu picked a fruit and said secretly, isn't this a tomato?

When he got it to his mouth, he was about to gnaw it, but the head of the grange hurriedly stopped him and said,

"Girl, it's slow, you can't eat it, this fruit looks good, it's really sour and astringent inside!"

Jia Lu stopped and asked, "Why have you eaten it?"

Tian Zhuangtou replied with a smile, "The kid is stubborn, when he saw that this fruit was red and gorgeous, he gnawed on it, and he was so sour that his teeth were about to fall out!"

When Jia Lu heard this, he also let go of the idea of eating tomatoes, and was a little unwilling, so he broke the fruit in his hand, and sure enough, he saw that there was no modern tender and juicy inside, but there were flesh with a hard feel inside, which didn't smell very good, so he had to put it down.

Jiao Qian took the handkerchief and carefully wiped it for her, and said, "The girl is not careful, if you want to see the fruit and give an order, why bother to do it yourself?"

"It doesn't matter. Jia Lu replied, she looked at the tomato although it was tree-shaped, but the branches were soft and intertwined, thinking that it seemed that the tomatoes she had seen before were hanging on the vines, no, so she commanded two words,

"Grange, I look at the branches of this tomato and see that there are some similarities with cucumbers, why don't you also set up a shelf and climb it?"

Although the head of the grange didn't believe it in his heart, he still responded and said, "Yes!"

The head of the grange led Jia Lu into another room, and only then did he enter, it was bright, and before he could say anything, he was smoked out by the rolling heat, mixed with the smell of wet and rotten earth, which was disgusting, Jiao Qian hurriedly helped Jia Lu out, and complained,

"Uncle Tian, how did you arrange the place, how could this house be hotter than outside?

The head of the grange hurriedly pleaded guilty and said, "Forgive the sin, the girl doesn't know, most of these rare and exotic plants come from the south, they can't stand the cold winter here with us, especially in the first two years, especially a lot of deaths, and they can't stand the drought on our side, so Tete cleaned up this house." ”

He added, "This house is different from other places, not only is the roof above lifted, specifically facing the sunlight outside, only in winter, the beams will be covered with thick firewood, grass and cotton wool, but also a water source is specially drained from the mountain, and eight ditches are closed, which keeps them!"

Jiao Qian wanted to say something, but Jia Lu stopped, got closer, and looked through the window, it was lush, such a tall, lush and bright green really didn't look like a northern variety, even in the Jiangnan region, it was rare, I am afraid it had to be in Yunnan and Hainan.

"Well, I'm not going here, I wonder if there is anything else?"

Seeing that she was not to blame, the head of the grange nodded and said, "Yes, yes, yes, girl, just come with me." ”

After only two steps, Jia Lu felt uncomfortable, touched the back of his neck, it was wet, he was afraid that the clothes behind him were soaked, and he had the intention to end it earlier, and he couldn't avoid it, so he said,

"Grange, do you have a plant here that is inconspicuous on the outside and grows in the ground, and the fruit grows in the ground, which is similar to yams?"

The head of the grange frowned, they have always cultivated exotic flowers and plants for the masters and girls in Kyoto, if the appearance is not enough, maybe it will be lost, such a fruit grows in the ground, I really don't care!

Then he asked, "I don't know where the girl got that?" Can you describe in detail what this plant looks like?"

"This, this. Jia Lu paused for a long time, and she didn't know what to reply, she had seen sweet potatoes, but she had never seen them outside, and she couldn't say it!

"I saw it in a book about overseas customs, and I don't know what it looks like outside, I only know that the fruits hanging on the rhizomes are lumpy plants one after another, which seem to be as involved as vines, I don't know if you have them here?"

The head of the grange shook his head and said, "We have hundreds of species planted here, but if we don't know the shape of the outside, I may not be able to find them?"

What he didn't say was that they had taken good care of it, and that the root system had been carefully examined, but that he had never seen the kind of plant that the girl had said, that they had never brought it back, or that it had been brought back and discarded for various reasons.