Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 621: Golden Years

Shangjing City, Zhenbei Marquis Mansion

"Jin'er's grandmother, Jin'er wrote to say that Lei'er gave birth to a big fat boy, hahahaha..."

Old Marquis Pei walked into Songhe Courtyard excitedly, holding the letter he had just received in his hand.

"Really? Jin'er wrote to you? How's Lei'er? She didn't suffer any hardship, did she? Are mother and child safe?" Old Madam Pei threw away the scissors in her hand, stepped forward and impatiently took the letter from Old Marquis Pei.

"Jin'er said that Lei'er suffered a lot, and it took six or seven hours for the baby to come out. But fortunately, both mother and child are safe, and Judge Li was in charge personally.

Oh, that's great. Come on, Butler Pei, prepare a generous gift and I'll send it to Li Yuanpan's house. "Old Marquis Pei happily instructed Butler Pei who was following behind him.

"Really? That's great. As long as everything is fine and normal, I can finally put my worries to rest." Mrs. Pei looked at the letter and was delighted. After a pause, she asked, "By the way, have you delivered the letter to your in-laws?"

"Jin'er also wrote a letter. I have asked someone to deliver it. My two in-laws must have known about it." Old Marquis Pei nodded.

"That's good, that's good. By the way, Nanny Chen, please send the things I prepared for Lei'er and the child to Lei'er as soon as possible.

Don't be afraid of having too much. Supplies in Mobei are not abundant. Don't let Lei'er lack anything. It's better to waste it than let Lei'er suffer any inconvenience.

Also, ask the third daughter-in-law to prepare red eggs and brown sugar to send to neighbors and relatives. Although the child is not in the capital, the etiquette should not be forgotten. "Mrs. Pei also instructed Nanny Chen behind her.

“Also, everyone in the mansion will receive an extra month’s salary. Those who go to Mobei will receive an extra two months. Those who follow Lei’er will receive an extra three months.” Madam Pei waved her hand and gave another generous order.

Nanny Chen and several maids went downstairs happily to work.

"By the way, Jin'er said that he and Lei'er wanted to name their child Jinnian, and asked me what I thought. I think it's a great name. Jinnian, Jinnian, auspicious days always come, and golden years are embraced year after year. This has a great meaning."

Old Marquis Pei laughed heartily again, "Hahahaha... Jinnian, Jinnian, my great-grandson is called Pei Jinnian."

Mrs. Pei also nodded happily.

The Zhenbei Marquis Mansion was filled with jubilation from top to bottom, which formed a sharp contrast with the low-key Mobei. At the same time, more than a dozen carts of supplies were sent to Mobei at full speed.

At the same time, in Yuanying Village, a ship loaded with cargo was sailing smoothly towards Mobei.

While Hualei was in confinement, the corn and rapeseed planted by the Ministry of Households had already matured and were ready for harvest. However, due to the lack of wasteland and fertilizer, the yield per mu was not as high as that in the capital.

However, Minister Zhang was still quite satisfied, especially with corn, whose yield per mu was much higher than that of ordinary rice and wheat.

The key is that there are many more corn seeds. Next year, these corn seeds will be promoted. Next, the Ministry of Revenue will start planting winter wheat in full swing.

However, the two rabbit-raising villages in Mobei County, Dongming and Donghe, have seen a significant increase in output from their fields compared to previous years thanks to the rabbit manure.

Now, every household has more than ten or twenty rabbits, and some families even have thirty or forty. Not counting the income from rabbit fur, the rabbit feces alone have greatly increased the output of their own fields, making the villagers very grateful to Hualei.

In the past six months, Hualei Rabbit Farm has gained a lot of breeding rabbits, plus the breeding rabbits and rabbits that have returned from Dongmingdonghe Village, so the number of breeding rabbits is already quite large.

Of course, in order to have more breeding rabbits, Hualei has slightly controlled the number and gender of rabbits supplied to Baiweilou in the past few months.

Seeing that the number of breeding rabbits was sufficient, Hua Lei rented the breeding rabbits to the villagers of Xishan and Xifeng villages for free in accordance with the agreement made with the two village chiefs.

Because they had listened to Hualei's advice, the villagers of the two villages scattered alfalfa in every corner of the barren mountain, and the alfalfa in front of and behind their houses had grown very lush. Now it was just right for rabbit fodder, and the excess was stored.

Moreover, the two village chiefs had already made plans that the alfalfa planted in front of and behind their houses would belong to them.

Those planted on barren hills, like black beans, are also considered public, and everyone will receive alfalfa according to their own labor ratio.

The black beans they planted on the barren hills will soon be harvested. In addition to the black bean seeds and 20% of the buds, each household will also receive several dozen kilograms of black beans.

In addition to saving seeds for next year, they also harvested a lot of black beans. Moreover, they can expand the area for planting black beans next year.

Hualei's method of borrowing chickens to lay eggs can be said to have benefited every household in the village. Of course, Hualei herself did not suffer any loss at all, whether it was the breeding rabbits or black beans that she borrowed, they were returned to her in multiples.

Looking at the account book, Hualei was very happy. In the past six months, because of her pregnancy and childbirth, Hualei slowed down many things.

However, money still flowed in. The joy of money making money is real joy.

In her own farm, the rapeseed, corn and rice had all been harvested. When there was a shortage of manpower, many villages took the initiative to transfer some manpower to Hualei's farm to help with the harvest, which made Hualei, who was still in confinement, feel deeply moved.

By the time Hualei was out of confinement, it was already late October, and only the beets were left in the fields. So Hualei found another group of people to help harvest the beets.

Beetroot looks similar to carrots, and its round fruit is slightly larger than a fist. It is the main source of sugar.

After washing the beetroots, remove the tops of the beets with a kitchen knife, cut into thin slices, and then grate them into a fine paste. Put the grated beetroots into a clean cloth bag and squeeze out the juice.

The juice is then filtered to remove solid particles and impurities. The filtered beetroot juice is then concentrated in a pot by heating to evaporate the water.

When heating, stir the pot constantly with a spoon. As the water in the pot continues to evaporate, the syrup water in the pot will gradually thicken and the color will gradually deepen.

When the syrup water turns into a viscous dark brown color, the syrup is ready. The concentrated juice contains a higher sugar content.

You can just scoop a spoonful and add warm water to make sugar water. Of course, you can also make it into dry sugar cubes and store it.

The concentrated beetroot juice is cooled and the sugars begin to crystallize.

The crystallized sugar will settle to the bottom. Collect it and spread it out to dry, allowing its water to evaporate again, and you can get dried beet sugar.