Cowardly Stepmother Dressed As the Hero

Chapter 46



In the Sheng Dynasty, the exchange ratio of gold to silver was one to ten. Twenty taels of gold is about two hundred taels of silver.

At this price, for a rich man like Penghu, it is not too much to buy some rare antiques on weekdays.

But he never thought that a mere box of paper would dare to quote such a price.

Discarding the idea of ​​preparing to withdraw the money, Peng Hu snorted coldly and said, “You guys just opened today. I was thinking of seeking auspiciousness with the new store, but I didn’t expect that you would dare to slaughter customers like this!”

Little Er was stunned for a while, and was about to explain, but was interrupted by Peng Hu reaching out.

“I won’t tell you.” He sat back again, “Go and call your shopkeeper. Today, the third Peng, I really want to see it. Who dares to break the rules in this area of ​​Cannes City?”

Xiao Er heard the words and scratched his head in a hurry.

Seeing that Peng Hu seemed determined to see the shopkeeper, he finally compromised: “Okay guest, I’ll go and call the shopkeeper. But guest, please return this box of ‘Chunjian’ to me first, if I lose this item , the small ones can’t afford to pay.”

“Huh.” Peng Hu heard the words, his face even more ugly.

He took the wooden box from the servant and said with a sneer, “Either I can’t afford the twenty taels of gold, or I simply despise this thing.

“Let me put the things here, and you ask your shopkeeper to come and ask me in person.”

The second is really in a hurry now.

He hesitated for a while, and had to ask another person outside the room to help watch Penghu’s master and servant, and then trotted away.

Peng Hu was obviously very angry. After seeing him leave, he slammed the box on the table and said angrily, “Ridiculous.”

The servant behind him persuaded: “Master, calm down, why are you angry about such a trivial matter?”

Peng Hu glanced at him and taught him, “What do you know?”

He sighed: “You’ve been with me for so long, it’s not that you don’t know that our merchants in Liaozhou have always been looked down upon by people outside! It’s said outside that we are doing business with the Rong barbarians, and we are contaminated with the Rong people. The breath of the air is something inferior!

“Your master, I took over the family business and worked hard for half my life. Now I can be regarded as a businessman in Liaozhou. As a result, how much did I spend for the road to the capital? I still haven’t heard a single sound!”

He knocked on the wooden box on the table, and said angrily: “Now the frontier fortress guards are incompetent, and the business roads outside the fortress are all controlled by a Rong tribe in Danba, and our profit going north has been cut to a very low level!

“I’m urging local businessmen to form an alliance and infiltrate the south in unity. There are such out-of-the-ordinary profiteers here, and the reputation of Liaozhou’s businessmen is going to be ruined by these people.”

The servant opened his mouth and said after a while, “Uh… That’s what the lord said.”

He paused and reminded: “Master, you haven’t read this paper yet, maybe this thing is really worth twenty…”

“What’s it worth?” Peng Hu’s eyes widened and he said angrily, “The young master of the mansion is studying the history of the classics, and he is using the Wu Yun Xuan I brought back from the capital. One hundred pieces are only about twenty taels of silver.”

With that said, he simply pulled open the wooden box: “This thing is made of real gold, and it’s not worth twenty taels of yellow…”

Halfway through what Peng Hu said, he swallowed it back abruptly.

He frowned, lightly took out a piece of paper from the wooden box and looked at it carefully.

The paper in the box is about the same size as ordinary letter paper, the pages are light yellow, and it smells a little peach blossom.

But the most attractive thing is the beautiful portrait below the paper note.

In the hazy spring rain, a beauty with a paper umbrella was walking on the bluestone road. Just a slender back figure is fascinating.

Peng Hu was stunned for a moment, and immediately looked at the other paper in the box.

The pattern of the next few papers is exactly the same as the first one, but the color is slightly different. Looking further down, the pattern changed again, the girl disappeared, and the paper umbrella was left in front of the wooden door of a family.

Peng Hu has never read books, and his ability to appreciate calligraphy and painting is relatively low. For him, the paintings on paper can generally be classified as “good-looking”.

But that didn’t prevent him from identifying the value of this box of papers at first sight.

One of them is the value of several paints on the paper.

He had been in the stone business himself and knew that the indigo and azure colors on the paintings were made of two very expensive stones.

These gems that can be made into pigments are few in number and are worth more than the same weight of gold.

And the second is these same patterns.

The exact same beauty is definitely not drawn by the artist. Although it lacks a bit of aura, it still has a neat aesthetic.

The production of these papers used a method beyond his current knowledge.

The more he looked, the more shocked he became, and he didn’t even notice two people walking into the outside world.

The visitor went straight to him, and took the initiative to salute, “Master Peng, I have made a mistake, and I hope you forgive me.”

This movement finally regained Peng Hu’s sanity. He quickly put the paper away, got up and returned a salute: “It’s okay.”

The person who came was the shopkeeper of the bookstore.

With an apology on his face, he took another bow to apologize: “My surname is Zhang, and I’m the temporary shopkeeper of this bookstore. It just opened today, and I’m a little busy. I couldn’t entertain Master Peng in person, and I hope Master Peng will forgive me.”

The shopkeeper was obviously different from the guy just now. He recognized Peng Hu as soon as he entered the door.

Although Peng Hu didn’t know him, he smiled politely at this time, and lifted the person up: “There is no need to be too polite, Manager Zhang.”

After Mr. Zhang got up, he took the initiative to sit down beside Peng Hu: “There are so many people in the reading room that I couldn’t get out of the room for a while. That little guy didn’t explain clearly to Mr. Peng, which caused Mr. Peng to have some misunderstandings!

“The bookstore is newly opened. These people are still to be discussed. Please forgive me, Master Peng.”

Recalling the “misunderstanding” just now, Peng Hu was also a little hot.

He originally thought that the bookstore was asking random prices, so he lost his temper. But after looking at it just now, Peng Hu realized that the value of this box of paper is indeed far beyond his imagination.

But considering the reality, he still raised his opinion: “It was indeed a misunderstanding… It’s just, Manager Zhang.”

He pointed to the wooden box: “This box of paper is worth 22 taels of gold. Although I know that the paint painting is really expensive, is the price still a bit high?”

Shopkeeper Zhang hurriedly said, “Master Peng, please listen to the explanation below.”

He coughed and said, “Just now, the guy told me. In fact, most of the paper notes in the workshop are not expensive, but you asked him to get the ‘best’ at the time. He was excited and didn’t confirm with you. Clearly, I took out the ‘spring note’.

“‘Chunjian’ is the treasure of this season’s store in the workshop. There are only 20 sets, while stocks last. In addition, the cost is high, so the price has gone up.”

“While stocks last?” Peng Hu pondered for a while, and then asked, “That is to say, there are only twenty sets in the entire Sheng Dynasty, and there will be no more after that, right?”

Shopkeeper Zhang nodded, “Uh… Of course, in the summer, the workshop will also launch ‘Xia Jian’ of the same quality, but the pattern on the paper is completely different.”

Peng Hu nodded in understanding.

Shopkeeper Zhang then turned his head and instructed the guy next to him: “Take the ‘Chunjian’ back, and then bring the top-grade paper in the Baizhangfang.”

After giving the order, he turned to look at Peng Hu again: “Just take it as my gift of apology to Master Peng.”

Hearing this, Peng Hu waved his hands again and again: “Hey! No no no, wait a minute!”

Shopkeeper Zhang asked in surprise, “Master Peng… this is it?”

Peng Hu coughed a little warmly, and said, “I don’t want this top-grade paper note, but, for the ‘Chunjian’, you can ask someone to get two more sets.

“…I want three sets.”

The bookstore opened, but Cao Mi didn’t have the energy to pay attention to the situation there.

She arranged things to the people below and ran to Rongguang Villa again.

King Bei’an moved quickly. Since the end of February, three batches of new refugees have been sent to the villa one after another.

Because the people were sent in batches this time, and Beisi and Nanxi had already had experience in resettling refugees last year, these people were quickly formed into a new production team and joined the team to reclaim new fields.

From the refugees who could not see their way out, they suddenly became the residents of the villas who could eat and clothe themselves. They also got the hope that they could participate in the division of land in two years. down, into the tense spring ploughing.

When Cao Mi arrived, the farmland reclaimed in the villa had nearly tripled compared to last year.

But this is not what Cao Mi cares about most now.

“According to what I said before, I want to separate the wool workshop.” In the study room of the villa, Cao Mi looked at the document and instructed: “The wool workshop is already under construction, and it will be built in about the end of summer. Before this, the list of women in the past will be prepared.

“When the time comes, these people will deal exclusively with wool.”

Beisi and Nanxi nodded and said, “Yes.”

“Also…” Cao Mi looked at Beisi and asked, “I said earlier that we will raise more poultry and pigs this year. How are you preparing now?”

Hearing the words, Beisi reported, “According to the order of the princess, a place has been selected in the east of the villa and a ‘chicken farm’ has been built. The two thousand chicks purchased a few days ago have been sent in. “

Hearing this, Cao Mi said “um” without raising his head.

“But…” Bei Si was a little distressed. “Princess, there are only a few people in the villa who have previous breeding experience. They have been sent to the chicken farm. But they all feel… breeding so many birds at one time… It’s very risky. “

“I know.” Cao Mi nodded, “Remember what I said before, pay attention to keeping the chicken farm ventilated, clean up the manure in time, and send it to the composting place.

“Also, sanitize with lime water or alcohol every once in a while.

“As long as you do this, you can greatly reduce the probability of disease in the flock.”

Cao Mi studied veterinary medicine in her previous life. Because her ideal at that time was to return to her own home to develop agriculture and livestock, she took many courses on breeding.

Raising chickens can easily lead to chicken plague, which is difficult to treat, but it can make a fuss about prevention.

“I recently saw a prescription in a book.” After talking about the external environmental conditions, Cao Mi also mentioned: “Guanzhong, Atractylodes rhubarb, bile grass, Mingxiong, mint leaves, wheat, etc. are boiled with water, and then boiled. Potions can be used to prevent flocks from getting sick.”

She took a piece of paper next to her, “I have written the dosage and usage on it, you can take a look, and then instruct the people at the farm to do what is written on it.”

Beisi was stunned when he heard the words, and then took the piece of paper in surprise and said, “Yes.”

Cao Mi rubbed his forehead.

Recently, she feels more and more that her profession is a bit tasteless here.

In modern times, if she wants to prescribe medicine for the farm, she only needs to indicate whether it is a II-series seedlings or IV-series seedlings.

But Sheng Chao didn’t have these things at all. She had been flipping through the books in the space for a long time these days, and only then did she turn to this local recipe recorded in the corner.

She only hopes now that this prescription can really effectively prevent diseases in the flock, otherwise her farm may not be able to do it.

Fortunately, she only bought 2,000 chickens in her first attempt. Even if something went wrong, she would not be able to afford the loss.

After talking about the poultry, Cao Mi asked again, “Where’s the piglets? Are you all fanned?”

Just last year, when Beisi heard Cao Mi say that he was going to stir up pigs, he blushed at a loss and couldn’t even say what to say.

Several veterinarians in Zhuang Nei couldn’t accept it at first, and it was unthinkable to turn a good piglet into a “eunuch”.

But the few pork feasts last year had completely changed their minds. After eating pork that was fat and had no fishy smell, the veterinarians in Zhuangnei didn’t need any orders from Beisi this year. Knife and fall, simply and neatly cast for them.

Now the little piglets are getting better as they grow, everyone sees it, and they only regret that they didn’t know this amazing skill!

So Cao Mi saw the joy on Beisi’s face, nodded and replied, “Yes, it’s all done.

“With experience this year, those piglets are better than last year!”

“Well, that’s fine.” Cao Mi nodded.

After finishing some important affairs, she packed up the documents in her hand.

After taking a sip of tea, Cao Mi suddenly asked casually, “Speaking of which, how are the seeds I sent last year?”

In fact, the most nervous thing in her heart is these precious new grains, but she doesn’t dare to show any strangeness to let others know that she cares.

Hearing this, Beisi nodded: “According to the princess’s instructions, I specially found the best farmer to serve, but…”

“Just what?” Cao Mi lightly frowned, “Don’t you look good?”

“No…” Beisi frowned, as if he didn’t know how to report.

After hesitating for a while, he still said: “Princess, you said before that you want to plant those flowers and plants, and invite your distinguished guests to watch them. But…

“The old farmer in charge of farming said that, according to his judgment, only about half of those seeds can bloom. As for the other kinds… The villagers can’t tell what will grow out.”

Hearing this, Cao Mi temporarily calmed down: “Well, it’s fine.”

She explained: “It doesn’t have to be flowering, as long as it’s novel, it’s good.”

Beisi was stunned for a while, then nodded clearly: “The villain knows.”

Cao Mi nodded and said calmly: “There is nothing else to do here, it’s still early, you can take me to those fields to see.”

Beisi bowed and saluted, “Yes.”

Everyone followed Cao Mi out of the room, all the way to the most fertile land west of the villa.

The seeds have just been sown for less than a month, and now some tender seedlings have grown.

Cao Mi looked over the fields one by one, and when he passed by the cornfield, he touched its leaves with relief.

Beisi introduced from the side: “This is a plant grown with that kind of golden seeds. With enough water and fertilizer, it grows in good spirits.”

Cao Mi nodded: “Well, yes! After a while, when it starts to grow long, pay attention to the fertilizer must be given enough, so that it can grow well.”

Beisi was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

He listened to Cao Mi’s words, and in a trance, he felt that Cao Mi knew this plant very well.

Cao Mi stayed in the cornfield for a while, then continued to walk forward.

Soon, she saw a thriving sweet potato vine growing in an unknown plant.

When the new sweet potato vines are young, they stand on the ground in the field, winding into a green place.

Before Cao Mi could move, Bei Si, who was standing behind her, explained embarrassingly, “Princess… This, er, really looks like this when it was planted… Maybe it will bloom in the future, maybe it will look better.”

To the farmers in the North Temple and the fields, those sweet potato vines are no different from the wild grass that grows wildly in the mountains when spring arrives.

The key is that they are really easy to feed like weeds, and they can grow well when watered every day. Unlike corn and unknown plants in other fields, it needs to be handled with care.

In their eyes, such a thing really does not deserve special treatment by Cao Mi.

But what the people in Beisi didn’t know was that these vine leaves, which seemed “ordinary” in their eyes, were now more important in Cao Mi’s eyes than the other crops in the entire villa combined.

She went straight to the field, carefully found a place to stay, and squatted down to check.

After confirming that most of these sweet potato seedlings were very healthy and had not encountered any disease or insect pests, Cao Mi breathed a sigh of relief.

She turned her head and praised Beisi who was following: “There are actually such novel vine leaves in this world.”

Beisi: “???”

Cao Mi continued to praise without changing his face: “Look at the green leaf color and the crooked vine, it’s really hard to put it down!”

She turned her head and looked at Beisi with bright eyes: “You guys are doing really well! You deserve a reward!”

The expression on Beiji’s face, who had recovered his senses, was a little stiff.

He nodded, and daringly agreed: “The princess is satisfied.”

Cao Mi took this opportunity to talk to him about cuttings.

“I remember that some vine-leaf plants can be planted with rattan, you know?”

Beisi thought for a while, and answered honestly, “It seems that some farmers have mentioned it.”

Over the past year, he has managed the farming affairs in the villa, large and small, and has dealt with farmers and Han a lot, and inevitably he has also come into contact with some agricultural knowledge.

Cao Mi nodded and said again: “This kind of vine leaves is so beautiful, I am going to expand the scale to plant it!

“Let’s arrange it and let the farmers try one or two plants first. If the cuttings can really grow, then wait for all the canes to grow, and plant them in time for the summer ploughing season, understand?”

Although a little puzzled, Beisi nodded and said, “Yes.”

He thought for a while, and then asked, “How many acres should we expand during the summer ploughing season?”

Cao Mi felt that he hated iron for not turning into steel when he saw that he was not enlightened. She stood up and said solemnly: “Of course… as much as you have, you can plant as many as you want.”

Beisi stood up for a while, and suddenly felt that his legs seemed to be squatting for a long time, and they were numb.

Cao Mi walked straight forward, and said in his mouth: “You should make it clear to those old farmers that you should also do your best to take care of these vine leaves. Although they are not on the side of the field, they are also very caring… Wait! Liyan, please don’t. come over!”

Before she could finish her words, she suddenly found a fiery red figure running over here, and she was about to step on the sweet potato vines in the ground.

Cao Mi hurriedly stepped out of the sweet potato field, only to be relieved when he saw that the flames actually stopped obediently by the field.

This sweaty horse, who just turned seven years old in the New Year, is still the closest to Cao Mi even though he hasn’t seen Cao Mi for so long. I don’t know if it’s really smart to recognize people, or if I’m always thinking about the carrots and apples that Cao Mi can change from time to time.

Seeing Cao Mi coming over, he carefully arched over and went to her hands to find something to eat.

There were too many people behind him, and Cao Mi really couldn’t do anything at this time, so he touched its ears with his hands and reassured him, “Riyan, be nice!”

Beisi and others rushed over at this time.

Seeing that Cao Mi was worried about the flames causing trouble, he found a gap and said to Cao Mi: “Princess, this sweaty horse has always been very measured. Although it galloped recklessly in the village, it also trampled on some crops at the beginning.

“After being repeated by the veterinarian a few times, he remembered it and never got into trouble again.”

Hearing this, Cao Mi tiptoed to touch Lie Yan’s mane with relief: “Li Yan is very smart, you can tell it, it will understand.”

The big red horse seemed to know that Cao Mi was praising him, so he stamped his front hoof excitedly and snorted.

After playing with the flames for a while, Cao Mi saw that the sky was about to turn dark, so as usual, he waved with the flames: “Okay, I’m going back, I’ll come to see you next time.”

In the past, when the flames heard these words, they would leave obediently and find fun by themselves.

But this time, it twisted its body and directly blocked Cao Mi’s way.

Cao Mi was stunned for a moment, then touched it again and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Raging flames turned his head to the east, “Haha” and let out a few breaths.

Cao Mi can probably guess that it wants to go somewhere with it.

She was a little distressed: “Want to take me there? Is it far?”

She walked all the way today, and just squatted in the sweet potato field for a while, and now her feet are sore.

Flame arched her stomach, as if trying to carry her.

Cao Mi quickly waved his hand.

Not to mention that she doesn’t know how to ride a horse at all, Lien Yan was raised in the villa, and has always been used to freedom, without any saddles and stirrups on her body. That is, a horse trainer like Qi You dared to ride directly on it.

Seeing her refusal, Rie Yan continued to make offerings relentlessly.

Cao Mi then compromised and said, “Okay, okay, don’t bump, I’ll go take a look with you.”

A group of people followed her and started to go east.

On the way, Cao Mi asked Beisi, “Where is the front?”

Beisi thought for a while and said, “There is a granary there… Oh, yes, the sweaty horse and the horses sent by the previous prince’s people also live in the stables in front.”

Cao Mi nodded: “Looks like I’m going to the stables.”

Sure enough, as she expected, after walking for another quarter of an hour, they stopped in front of the stables.

The veterinarian who was confronting the three mares in the stable saw Cao Mi, and hurriedly put down what he was doing and came over to salute.

Cao Mi asked them to get up, looked at the three mares that were staying in the stables, and frowned slightly: “I said that I always felt something was missing today, it turned out that these three horses were not following Li Yan.

“Are they sick?”

The veterinarian who used to work in the palace wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, “Concubine Qi…or we have been close to the stables because of the sweat and blood of the horse these past few days, the villain also found it temporarily leaving today, and then sneaked in. “

He paused, and continued to explain with some shame: “But the three mares are not allowed to be approached, and the villain has not yet checked the results.”

Cao Mi smiled and said, “Hmm. Tsk, Li Yan has such a big temper.”

She stood at the door for a short while, and the flames who returned to the stable were already impatient, and turned back to call her twice.

Cao Mi told everyone to stay where they were, said “no problem”, and walked over alone.

Seeing her coming, the flames excitedly pushed her next to the three mares.

Seeing that the three mares were wary of her, a stranger, Cao Mi took the fodder from the railing, wrapped the radishes smuggled out of the space, and fed them to the four horses one by one.

With the bribery of the food and the maintenance of her by the flames, the emotions of the three mares also relaxed.

The flames looked very interested, and even turned around in a circle after eating the carrots. The three mares were much calmer, just staring, looking forward to Cao Mi’s feeding again.

Cao Mi thought for a while, and vaguely made some judgments.

She touched the body of a group of white horses closest to her, feeling the plump body and shiny fur under her palm.

Then, she turned back and asked the veterinarian, “How long have these horses been without flames?”

The veterinarian thought for a while and replied, “This… should be less than half a month.”

Cao Mi nodded.

She remembered that the mare stopped estrus around twenty days of gestation. According to the energy of their three sticky flames before, they should have put on the pony cubs in the beginning of spring, and then they no longer followed the flames at the same pace.

But… this time, there are actually three horses…

Cao Mi turned his head and glanced at the flames: “Tsk, I underestimated you before!”

The flames held their head high, and the little tail swung vigorously.

The author has something to say: Thank you to the little angel who threw the mines: 2 for Moon Dusk; 1 for Mu Yue and Zhen Zhen;

Thanks to the little angel who irrigated the nutrient solution: 5 bottles of veramatcha; 2 bottles of Joan; 1 bottle of Duoduo, still fighting monsters today;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!


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