Chapter 91: Banquet at Song Mansion
The Lu brothers had no relatives at home, so they stayed, along with Zhang Chong and his wife. After dinner, Zhang Chong and his wife went to the village to find the head of the village.
The village head had heard from Shen Zhi that they wanted to buy a piece of land, build a house and settle down in Shitou Village, and he was eager to do so. Keeping people settled in the village was also a kind of achievement for them, so when the officials came to measure the land yesterday, he asked them to measure that piece of land as well. There were about three mu of land, and a yard was built, and the extra space could be used to grow vegetables and crops. The three mu of land was also calculated at two taels of silver per mu, a total of six taels of silver. Zhang Chong gave the village head an extra tael of silver, asking him to help with the red deed, and then asked him to help find someone to build a house.
The head of the village agreed without hesitation. There was basically no work in the fields at that time, and the men were all idle at home. Everyone was happy to earn some money to celebrate the New Year.
The village head was very efficient and quickly went to the government office to get the red deed. The village head also handled the wasteland that the fifteen people wanted to buy yesterday.
Before coming back, I went to the brick kiln and ordered red bricks, tiles and other things for building the house.
After returning to the village, Li Zheng handed the red deeds to the villagers one by one, and then quickly arranged for people to go up the mountain to chop wood together.
Zhang Chong asked that his house be built according to Shen Zhi's style, even the small vegetable plots in the yard should be the same.
Fortunately, the village head was in charge of the construction of Shen Zhi's house, so he was familiar with everything. Zhang Chong also supervised the construction on site every day. He wanted to take advantage of this month to finish the house so that he could return to work with peace of mind.
Cao Rumo followed his uncle to the fields every day these days, watching him harvest potatoes with amazing yields. When all the potatoes were harvested and weighed, the three mu of land had harvested more than 23,000 kilograms of potatoes, which was more than 7,000 kilograms per mu. This yield shocked him, and he ate a lot of food made from potatoes these days, which tasted soft, sticky and sweet. Shen Zhi also explained to him that potatoes are poisonous once they sprout, so he explained the storage method in detail and demonstrated the production method of potato flour on the spot. This potato flour can be stored for a long time, and it is chewy and smooth when put into the pot, which is a delicacy.
Cao Rumo was so excited that he immediately sent a pigeon to the emperor with all the information about potatoes, and begged the emperor to let him stay in Shitou Village for a while longer.
Shen Zhi stayed at home these days to help Shen pickle bacon and sausages. The pickled bacon and sausages were hung under the eaves to dry. Other pig heads and offal were cooked in the braising pot at home. Several pots were set up in the yard, bubbling with steam and a fragrant aroma.
Shen Zhi had a lot of free time these days, and he could easily make Cao Rumoxiang fall in love with him with just a random braised dish.
The pigeon message from the capital soon came back, saying that the emperor was particularly interested in potatoes and allowed Cao Rumo to stay in Shitou Village. After the New Year, the emperor would send several officials from the Ministry of Agriculture to Shitou Village and ask them to plant spring potatoes in the hundred acres of fertile land in the farm awarded to Shen Zhi, and then return to the palace with the officials from the Ministry of Agriculture to report when the potatoes were harvested.
Cao Rumo was overjoyed after reading the pigeon letter. He was sent to the palace when he was seven or eight years old and was trapped in the palace walls all his life. Although he enjoyed all the splendor and wealth, he was still like a canary in a cage. Now that the emperor allowed him to return to the capital after the spring potato harvest, it meant that he still had at least half a year to enjoy the pastoral life in Shitou Village, which was worth it.
Shen Zhi also understood Cao Rumo's happiness. The palace walls were too high, so high that they trapped everyone inside for life.
A few days later, Shen Zhi received an invitation from the Song Mansion, inviting the entire Shen family to attend a banquet held to celebrate the return of General Song. Eunuch Cao also received an invitation, but he sent a guard to deliver a gift, saying that he had something to do that day and would not attend. Shen and the third uncle also felt uncomfortable attending a banquet for a high-ranking family, so only the two sisters Shen Zhen and Shen Zhi attended that day.
Shen Zhen and her sister put on two sets of Hanfu from the Wei and Jin Dynasties that Qin Zhi bought in the space. Both sets were straight skirts with plain gauze single clothes, Shen Zhen wore a light green straight skirt, and Shen Zhi wore an orange straight skirt. The two clothes were different in color, not ostentatious but fresh and refined.
The two sisters came to the Song Mansion in a carriage with gifts, and Song Rou was waiting for Shen Zhi at the door.
"You are finally here. Grandmother urged us to come out to welcome you early in the morning." When Song Rou saw Shen Zhen and her sister, she smiled and took their arms and welcomed them to the old lady's yard.
At this time, there were already many guests in the yard, and everyone surrounded Old Mrs. Song and said congratulations.
Shen Zhi saw Bai and two bright girls from afar. Song Rou said with a look of surprise, "Stay away from those two. They are Zhu Mingyang's sisters. The one in purple and Zhu Mingyang are both Bai's daughters, the second child, named Zhu Minglan. The other one in pink is the third child, born out of wedlock, named Zhu Mingjuan. They are more sinister than Zhu Mingyang. When Zhu Mingyang appeared last time, my grandmother didn't want to have too much contact with the Zhu family, so she didn't send out invitations. Who knew that Bai would bring them here today, and with so many guests present, it would be difficult to drive them away. That Bo also said in a roundabout way that the Song family looked down on poor relatives, which made my grandmother so angry that she almost had a headache.
Song Rou brought the Shen Zhen sisters into the hall, where Old Lady Song was sitting at the top.
The two of them bowed to Old Mrs. Song and greeted her.
When Old Mrs. Song saw them, she smiled sincerely and told the maid to bring stools for the two sisters to sit down.
Mother Zhao, who was behind Old Lady Song, brought in a tray with two jade bracelets on it. They were obviously made of jade with very fine water content.
"Girls, this is something I prepared specially for you two sisters. It is made of top-quality jade that I asked someone to bring back from southern Xinjiang. You two are both good children. Come here and try it out to see if it suits you," Old Lady Song waved her hand.
Song Rou also pulled the two of them over, but Shen Zhi said that these were too valuable and could not be accepted.
Old Madam Song pretended to be angry and said, "I can't refuse a gift from an elder."
Shen Zhi accepted it and bowed to express his gratitude. Zhu Minglan, who was standing next to him, looked disdainful. She muttered quietly, "A bunch of country bumpkins who have never seen the market."
The faces of the Song family members all changed. Old Madam Song glanced at Zhu Minglan and said, "The Zhu family has seen the world. Why were you still envious of Bu Yao on Rou'er's head just now, and even asked my Song family to buy headgear for the two of you to attend the plum blossom banquet at the Yang Mansion?"
Bai smiled awkwardly, and hurriedly stood up to smooth things over, saying, "Aunt, Minglan is still young and naive, so she is a little outspoken, but she has a kind heart. Don't you love Minglan the most? Can you bear to see Minglan go to the Yang Mansion for the banquet without makeup? Then all the noble families will laugh at our family."
Old Madam Song's face darkened. Here she goes again, always using the Zhu family's reputation to cheat the Song family out of food, drink and money. "Hmph, there's nothing I can't bear. I have my own sons and granddaughters to worry about, so how can I have the energy to worry about the younger generation in the next room. I'm tired, you can take your two daughters out for a walk."