Time flies, and it is the end of the year in a blink of an eye, but this year's climate is a bit abnormal, until mid-December, there is no snow in the Hexi Corridor, the weather is dry and cold, and there is an endless stream of vehicles on the official road.

In the early morning, a chirp echoed in the sky above Guo Song's mansion, and the fierce son hovered over the mansion, Guo Mansion was very lively today, which really made it a little curious, it kept circling, curiously looking at the busy crowd in the mansion.

Today is December 20th, is the cotton festival in Hexi, this is the festival only this year, last year and this year for two consecutive years of Gaochang and Beiting cotton harvest, the army is far from using, Guo Song will give cotton as a welfare to every household in Hexi and Longyou, each family is divided into two catties of cotton, how to use it has been handed over to everyone in advance, and cotton, cashmere the same.

At Pan Liao's suggestion, everyone unanimously agreed to designate December 20 as the Cotton Festival, on which every household should use cotton to make cotton robes, shoes and hats.

Guo Song Fuzhong is the same, but they have fifty catties of cotton, which will be more troublesome, but fortunately, there are many people in their house, and everyone goes into battle together.

In the large courtyard of the atrium, more than 20 large tables were set up, and all the maids and servants, as well as relatives and friends, sat together, including Yang Yu's widow and son Yang Xuanwu, Zhang Lei's wife and three children, and of course, Guo Song's family, three children, two wives and one concubine.

The table is full of snow-white cotton peaches, everyone has a bamboo basket in front of them, the first step is to peel cotton seeds, this is the most troublesome level, the number of cotton gins is too small, they are used in the military, everyone has to use manual cotton seeds.

Although it was very hard, everyone talked and laughed, but they were also happy, and they didn't feel hard.

Guo Song is not in the house, Xue Tao is a housewife, coordinating everyone's labor, she came to Li Wenyu's side, only to see Zhang Lei's eldest daughter Zhang Yuer, Zhang Yuer is sixteen years old this year, out of a flower like a big girl, she is more introverted, not much to talk about, especially like painting, so she followed Xue Tao to paint and read poetry.

Xue Tao held Zhang Yu'er's shoulders and asked with a smile: "Why are you alone, Tiger Head and Gillian?" ”

Zhang Yuer's brother is called Zhang Fu, nicknamed Tiger Head, he will be seven years old next year, he is a miniature version of Zhang Lei, he is good at fighting, he is very righteous, Gillian is Zhang Lei's youngest daughter, a few months younger than Zhang Fu, and she is also smarter and naughty.

Zhang Yu'er pursed her lips and smiled: "Those little guys went to the backyard to feed the fierce son." ”

Xue Tao found that his daughter Xiaowei was also gone, and it is estimated that he followed them to be naughty, as well as Yang Yu's son Yang Xuanwu, who is also an elf and eccentric little guy.

But his son Ah Cheng, only three years old, sat on a small stool to peel cotton seeds seriously, preoccupied, although a cotton peach peeled for half an hour and did not find a clue, but still persevered, so that Xue Tao was angry and funny in his heart, his son didn't know who he was like, he was always steady at a young age, and his sister's lively and naughty personality was just the opposite.

"Ahh Sister-in-law, you have actually peeled so much! Xue Tao suddenly Li Wenyu actually peeled off almost a basket, and others had less than half a basket!

Li Wenyu smiled and said: "It should have something to do with my martial arts training since I was a child, and my strength is relatively large." ”

Xue Tao looked at the four of Daoyue, they also peeled a lot, it seemed that it was related to martial arts, Xue Tao simply sat next to Zhang Yu'er, peeling cotton, and whispered to her.

Ah Qiu and Dugu Youlan sat together, ten days ago, Xue Tao officially made the decision, let her husband take Ah Qiu into the room and become Guo Song's concubine, but the status of the concubine is not high, she just has a name, the people in the house still call her Qiu Niang, not the third lady, of course, if A Qiu can get the command, her status will be a little higher, but she can't be called the third lady.

Ah Qiu's full name is Zhang Minqiu, and after she became a concubine, Guo Song restored her full name, and her family called her Minqiu, instead of calling her Ah Qiu.

"Minqiu, I heard that your brother has found it, congratulations!" Dugu Youlan smiled.

Zhang Minqiu's face turned red, and she was a little worried: "Sister Youlan, their family is coming to join me, what do you think I should do?" ”

Zhang Minqiu's elder brother is a homeless family in Longyou, called Zhang Daqi, this name is a bit different, it was inadvertently seen by Guo Song, he asked Cao Wannian to inquire, his parents' names are the same as Minqiu's parents' names, and their life experience is the same, basically it can be determined that this Zhang Daqi is Zhang Minqiu's brother.

found her brother, Zhang Minqiu was happy, but she was a little worried, afraid that her brother and sister-in-law would be greedy and disgusted.

Dugu Youlan thought for a while and said, "It's actually very simple! If you have the ability, you can let him be an official and a general, if the ability is mediocre, then give their whole family a wealth and live in peace, they can also be satisfied, and then train their children well, and when they grow up, they will serve their husbands, what do you say? ”

Zhang Minqiu nodded, "You're right, Sister Youlan, I want to ask again, what is the reaction after pregnancy?" ”

Dugu Youlan's eyes widened, "You're pregnant, it's impossible!" You only ....... ten days ago."

Zhang Minqiu's face turned red and whispered: "I have been sleeping with me for a long time."

Dugu Youlan suddenly covered her mouth and asked with a smile: "Then did you come to the moon?" ”

"I came, I only came yesterday."

"Then there is no pregnancy, and the premise of pregnancy is that menstruation stops, understand?"

"I see, thank you, Sister Youlan."

At this time, the door suddenly opened, and only the voice of the owner Guo Song was heard, "Move in!" Be careful, everybody. ”

Everyone got up one after another, and saw five or six personal soldiers carrying into a behemoth, like a large wooden box, and like a waterwheel, with pedals and railings in front of it.

Xue Tao stepped forward and asked her husband, "Husband, what is this?" ”

Guo Song said with a smile: "This is called a cotton gin, which is specially used to peel cottonseeds." ”

When everyone heard that it was used to peel cottonseeds, they were immediately surprised and delighted, and they came forward to watch, only to see that there were more than a dozen thick wooden shafts in the wooden box, tightly side by side, but they didn't know how to peel cottonseeds.

Guo Song said to several pro-soldiers: "Demonstrate!" ”

Two soldiers stepped on the pedal, held on to the railing, began to pedal, more than a dozen wooden shafts also began to slowly rotate, another soldier evenly sprinkled cotton peach on the wooden shaft, not long after, only to see the cotton was pulled into the wooden box, the cotton seeds were squeezed out, left on the wooden shaft, the soldiers quickly cleaned the cotton seeds with a small brush.

"Have you seen it, in fact, two people are enough, one person stepped on, one person put it, and our fifty catties of cotton peaches can be squeezed clean in one morning."

The crowd was immediately rejoicing, and Guo Song asked his own soldiers to come down, and let two sturdy women go up to pedal, and the other servant woman was responsible for putting cotton peaches and cleaning cotton seeds.

After accumulating a box, the cotton was taken out from below, and the two soldiers began to play the cotton with a bamboo bow, and re-bounced the cotton softly, and used very fine twine like a web to make cotton tires from the cotton that had been played.

Sewing bedding, clothes, shoes and hats, this is the highlight of the cotton festival, Guo Song put on a small red satin cotton robe sewn by his wife to his son, touched his little face and asked with a smile: "Is it warm?" ”

"Warm!" Guo Jincheng nodded heavily.

"Husband, it seems that there is not enough cotton!"

Xue Tao suddenly found that there was too little cotton, and it would cost five or six catties to make a bedding, at least two catties to make a cotton robe, and where would fifty catties of cotton be enough?

Guo Song smiled slightly: "I know it's not enough, I'll transport another three hundred catties right away!" It cannot be said that each person has a bedding, at least each person can have a cotton robe. ”

Li Wenyu next to him suddenly said: "Senior brother, is this cotton gin for sale, I want to buy a hundred." ”

Li Wenyu is worthy of fighting in the shopping mall for many years, very business-minded, she immediately realized that this will be a big industry, Meishou Distillery has been transferred to the Hexi government, at present, Zhang Lei is doing tea business in Chengdu, making tea cakes in Bashu, and then trafficking to Hexi, Li Wenyu is idle in Hexi, she has been looking for another opportunity to do business, and the cotton gin makes her eyes shine.

"Senior sister wants to start a workshop?" Guo Song asked with a smile.

Li Wenyu nodded again and again, "I not only want to ginn cotton, but also make clothes, but also buy a manor to grow cotton, as well as the cotton sleeping bags last time, I believe these are bestsellers." ”

Guo Song nodded, "Actually, the principle of the cotton gin is very simple, I will give my senior sister a drawing, and my senior sister can recruit a carpenter to do it herself." Of course, if you want to buy the current city, one acre of land in Gaochang and Beiting can produce 250 catties of cotton, and we planted 10,000 acres, and the output is too large. ”

"Alright! I'm in charge of this, and I'll do it tomorrow. ”

Li Wenyu is worthy of being a strong woman, she will do what she says, and she is not ambiguous at all.

A few days later, the belated heavy snow finally arrived, the cold wind howled, the snow flew, and for two days, the entire Hexi and Longyou were engulfed by the blizzard.