After counting nine, the weather became colder and colder, and the frozen north wind passed through the valley, swept away the dead leaves, blew the grass, and the earth was vast. This kind of weather is the most idle time for farmers. There is no work in the fields, and most of the men who went to the city to do odd jobs and carry long jobs have returned, and most of the wives and children at home are enjoying the hot kang head, and most of them do not go out. In addition, this year's weather is cold and snowy, and there are many adults and children with fever and cough, which adds a bit of melancholy to the New Year's flavor.

In such an atmosphere, Beigou Village is very lively. The adults and children who kicked the juju, hit the dog holes, and played to catch the bandits on the wheat drying field were densely packed, and from time to time there were shouts and shouts. Every time Zhoujia Village and other surrounding villages of the market day or city market, the village grows greenhouses, pickled cabbage and sour bamboo shoots, sticky sugar gourds, people will carry baskets, brisk steps to sell goods, how much will always earn back a few hanging money, with input, adults are not stingy, when they come back, or bring two pieces of caramel to the children, or buy a few gadgets picked by the merchants, the children playing in the store get gifts, screaming excitedly, chasing each other.

Gradually, the merchants who walked through the village knew that the adults of Beigou Village were generous, and a few merchants often carried a dazzling load of goods to the edge of the village store to shout, and they could sell a lot of things every day. The women in the village will also go to the side of the store to look for a merchant, so that it has become a place for people in the village to gather and chat, and it is very lively.

When Yu'er and Wenxuan go out to play, Jia's will always give their little shoulder bags delicious snacks, or candy snacks bought, or pastries made by Jia's, and the two little guys are not missing copper coins in their shoulder bags. Seeing that the merchant would also pay a penny or two to buy the things he liked on his burden, which made the children in the village envious.

Every time Lan Yi saw such a scene, she couldn't help but want to laugh. Children are the most innocent, and all joys, sorrows, and sorrows are brought on their faces. Fortunately, Yu'er and Wenxuan are both good children who know how to thrift, they don't spend money indiscriminately, and they don't forget their little friends every time they buy something. Let this little guy become more and more confident.

Because he was afraid that the two children would suffer a loss, every time he went out to play, Jia Shi was always at ease. The front and back feet followed, Lan Yi didn't stop him, and Jia Shi could talk more to the people in the village when he went out, and gradually became a woman who was better acquainted. Recently, he has gradually become more familiar with the people in the village than Lan Yi.

The first day of the twenty-nineth. After the two children painted the ninety-nine cold picture, they took Dafu and Niu Dan and other children to visit the little monkeys at home, and hurriedly ran to the store to play, Jia followed again, and Lan Yi waited at home for Wang Linxi and Xia Shun to come. They made an appointment to come and settle the accounts on the hillside today, and settle the money.

At the end of the year, all businesses have to settle accounts and dividends, and Wang Linxi and others are in a hurry to calculate the import and export accounts of the three main businesses of oil mills, groceries, and fresh fruits in Tsingshan Shangji, and it is expected that dividends will be distributed before the new year. Relatively speaking. The peony business on the slopes of the three houses in Beigou Village is much easier to settle.

Second Uncle Wang was the first to come. First took a closer look at Lan Yi's greenhouse and made a few pertinent comments, Lan Yi nodded seriously and wrote them down. Uncle Wang is an old cropper, although it is the first year to plant a greenhouse, but he grows seriously, and the vegetables in the greenhouse grow better than Lan Yi's greenhouse, which makes the old man very proud.

"This black-eared ewe looks pregnant with cubs again." Second Uncle Wang smoked a dry cigarette, pointed at Sanba and said happily, "It is estimated that the cubs will be born before the end of the year, what a good sheep!" ”

This sheep was picked up by Second Uncle Wang from the market, and Second Uncle Wang was very proud of being able to pick such a capable goat.

Lan Yi looked at the small Sanba, very surprised. Not long after those lambs were sent out, this is about to give birth again? "Second uncle, it's cold at the bottom of the year, I'm afraid it's not good to survive."

Second Uncle Wang shook his head, "This year's leap month, the sixteenth day of the lunar month, the spring festival, the rain festival at the end of the year, where can it be cold." ”

Lan Yi patted her head and smiled embarrassedly, it was really like this. "Second uncle, you always look at the sky, is it snowing soon, I'm really afraid of mountain fires if you continue to do this."

The wrinkles on Second Uncle Wang's face deepened, "It's hard to say, I'm afraid I won't be able to get down these two episodes." Anyway, it will be troublesome if it doesn't snow in the lunar month. ”

Second Uncle Wang can't snow in the past two episodes and a half months, that is, it can't snow, and Lan Yi is even more worried.

"If this macaque doesn't leave, don't rush, when the winter mountain returns, it will leave." Second Uncle Wang advised, "Animals are all human, and they must be able to throw a few wild fruits for you when you go into the mountains and meet them." ”

Lan Yi couldn't help twitching the corners of her mouth, she was particular about being a person who threw herself into Li and repaid her with Qiong Yao. This little monkey has eaten a few cucumbers and radishes from her, maybe he will pick a few delicious fruits for her?

The fruit that monkeys love to eat, she doesn't necessarily like to eat.

After Wang Linxi and Xia Shun arrived, Lan Yi placed tea fruits in the hall, and several people sat down around the Eight Immortals table.

The furnishings in the house are the same as last year, except that the stove has been added, which is significantly warmer. Xia Shun stretched out his hand to bake the fire, and said with a smile: "Madam, the cold weather is getting warmer and warmer, and it is still used in the old house." ”

Second Uncle Wang said with a smile: "Brother doesn't know, when this house was built, it was a few thick adobe buckles for me and my eldest brother, and the adobe inside the wall, and the green bricks pasted on the outside, which are more than a foot thick, look at it, but it is warmer than ordinary houses." ”

Xia Shun smiled, "The second brother's work is the bottom road, and now many houses in the city are just a piece of green bricks, if you talk about it, it is not as warm as this old house." ”

Second Uncle Wang nodded, took a sip of tea, he had long seen that Lan Yi didn't like to smell dry tobacco, so in her house, Second Uncle didn't light dry tobacco.

"Second brother, since everyone is here, let's forget it, don't you have to rush back to the city."

"Got it, Dad." Wang Linxi took out the account book, "Shopkeeper Xia, sister-in-law, I will read the situation of our hillside peony this year, we all remember this pen clearly, if you think something is wrong, we are closing the account." ”

The two nodded.

"On the hillside this year, Miss Xia's hillside has collected 2,200 catties of peony seeds, and sister-in-law's hillside has collected 1,000 catties. Isn't that the number right? ”

Lan Yi and Xia Shun nodded.

Wang Linxi then read: "This year, I also collected 1,000 catties here, left 150 catties of seedlings, and the rest were also pulled to the oil mill. This year's peony seed summer shopkeeper said. According to the price of one pound and one and a half pennies, Miss Xia should be three times and three hangs, sister-in-law has always been five hangings, and my side has always been two hangings of seventy-five yuan. According to the meaning of Shopkeeper Xia, this part of the money has been withdrawn from the oil mill account, and it will be calculated for everyone later. ”

Second Uncle Wang's face was happy, and Wang Linxi continued to read: "Let's talk about the peony seedlings planted on our hillside last year." Last year, we planted 150 catties of peony seedlings. Except for one family, which left a hundred seedlings for the hillside, the others were sold, a total of 143,000 plants. Among them, 23,000 were sold to villagers and relatives in the early stage. The price is five wen two plants, a total of 57 and 5 hanging; The remaining 120,000 plants, the price ranges from 5 wen to 20 wen per plant, and I will not read them one by one. A total of 1,800 pieces. In the end, it is 1,857 and five hangings, and all the peony seedlings sold have been recovered, and they have all been put into the account. ”

Lan Yi was stunned, she didn't expect there to be so many! Compared with selling peony seeds, planting peony seedlings is indeed much more suitable. However, this is to catch up with this year's big price, and there will be no such market next year.

Xia Shun didn't expect that there would be so many. Stunned for a moment. Wang Lin was happy to see their expressions and said with a smile: "We just bought the hillside." There is no need to pay rent to the yamen for ten years, and the silver on the hillside can be done. ”

The tax system of Dazhou is clear and strict, and the rent and tax that should be paid by all walks of life are not low, and the agricultural tax is relatively small. This is because after decades of war, the population plummeted and large areas of land were barren, and the imperial court encouraged the cultivation of land to reduce agricultural taxes. Moreover, compared with the previous dynasty, the Great Zhou Dynasty reduced the fruit tax collected by tree species such as jujube trees and mulberry trees, and encouraged farmers to plant a variety of fruit trees. Lan Yi The hillside they planted last year did not need to pay taxes for ten years according to the regulations, so Wang Linxi said that the more than 1,000 taels of silver could be done.

Xia Shun reacted, "According to the number we set, no matter how much this batch of peony seedlings is collected, half of it will be counted as the reward of the gardener Zhao Shangjing, that is, ...... Ninety-two and eighty-five and seventy-five, right? ”

Wang Linxi nodded, this is many times higher than Zhao Shangjing's annual salary! The peony trees and peony seedlings on the hillside, if it weren't for Zhao Shangjing's careful guidance and care, would not have grown so well, and this part should be shared by everyone in his opinion.

"In addition to Zhao Shangjing's, we should take out another half of it." Xia Shun looked at Second Uncle Wang and said with a smile: "In addition, in the past year, the second brother has been busy on the uphill day by day, hoeing grass and watering seedlings, and then directly built a shack to sleep on the peony seedlings and watched, with no less thought than Zhao Shangjing." If Zhao Shangjing is the first credit, the second brother should be ranked second, and we can't live up to this hard work. In my opinion, this half of the second brother deserves it, ma'am, what do you think? ”

Lan Yi nodded, she also had this thought, but it was much more appropriate for Xia Shun to raise it than for her to mention it.

Second Uncle Wang stood up in surprise and hurriedly waved his hand, "This can't be helped, I haven't seen anything, pull out the weeds and see how the seedlings deserve so much money!" ”

Xia Shun pressed his shoulders with both hands and asked him to sit back, "Second brother, don't shirk, our brothers will settle the accounts and get as much silver as they go." Let's talk about it first, this half of it is not only for the second brother, but also the second sister-in-law and your two daughters-in-law, they are all busy with their work, you can't push their share away, right? That's it. ”

In business, Wang Linxi is now very accustomed to the way of thinking about problems that Lan Yi instilled in everyone, he also nodded in response, took notes, and then read: "In this case, take out the one percent of Dad and Uncle Zhao, and divide the rest equally among the three of us, each family is five hundred and fifty-seven and two hanging fifty wen." ”

The four of them looked at each other and smiled widely.

Wang Lin was happy to see this, and then said with a smile: "At that time, I sold peony seedlings, and because I recovered a lot of silver, I kept them in the business records for safety." I'll take it back tomorrow and we'll divide it, Uncle Zhao's share, he said he would pick it up himself before the New Year, I think I'll take the time to send it to him, and save him another trip. ”

Wang Linxi respects Zhao Shangjing very much, when he first started planting peonies, he followed Zhao Shangjing with all his heart, planning to be a florist, and then Shang Ji's business was getting better and better, and he didn't have this kung fu, but Zhao Shangjing's mind did not change.

Lan Yi nodded, after calculating, she could get nearly six hundred taels of silver, far exceeding her expectations, and she was naturally in a good mood.

Second Uncle Wang couldn't close his mouth with a smile, who would have thought that the person who was worried about the dozen yuan of silver for building a house last year would be able to share so much money with a turn of his head, enough to smash him to death!

"Everyone, do you have anything to do?"

Second Uncle Wang shook his head a few times, and they all looked at Lan Yi. Lan Yi smiled and said, "It's a great joy that we can have such a harvest. Next year, we will make persistent efforts, close the peonies on the mountain, take care of the business of Shangji, and I won't say much more about the details. Next, I have one thing I want to discuss with you. ”

Everyone immediately put away their smiles and drove Lan Yi seriously. According to their understanding of Lan Yi, the things she can bring up are all carefully considered, extremely feasible, and all of them carry large benefits.

"Seeing that the peonies on our hillside are growing bigger and bigger, and there are more and more people planting peonies around, there will be a lot more people who come to see the flowers in spring than this spring. At that time, everyone had plans to build a house on the hillside, and now this matter can be seriously considered. I thought, we don't have to build a big inn, but it must be distinctive, it must be exquisite, and we must pass guò This inn to play the name of our Qingshan Danyuan, so that everyone will give a thumbs up, think of Huangxian peony can think of our Qingshan Danyuan, think of Qingshan Danyuan can think of our Danyuan Inn, of course, the specific name has to be thought about by everyone, I will mention it so. ”

This matter is not unexpected, everyone knows it in their hearts, so they should accept it.

Lan Yi took out a draft document and handed it to Xia Shun, "These are some good ideas and practices that I have thought of in the past few days, including some of the characteristics of our inn." In the construction of garden pavilions, we also have to find special craftsmen to see, what are the inappropriate ones, let's change them. Let's take a look first, let's settle this month, find a good craftsman to design a specific style before the end of the year, not necessarily how many strange stones to dig and how many ponds, it is best to follow the characteristics of the mountains and forests, and integrate them. As soon as the sting is over next year, we will prepare the materials to start work, and our inn will start business before the peony blooms. ”

As soon as I said this, it immediately became urgent. Second Uncle Wang also followed Lan Yi's thinking, "This is estimated to cost a lot of silver, how can we calculate this part of the money?" ”

Lan Yi said with a smile: "Let's not rush the money matter first, let's settle it down first and then the second brother will carefully calculate it, how much silver is needed, let's go out again, second brother, you are busy with the accounts of the business first." (To be continued......)