The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 182 Announcement

Chen Cui's family specially prepared a lot of saltpeter in order to make ice water in the summer to cool down food.

Canned fruits that have been chilled have a unique flavor, and canned lychees are the best among them, being cool, refreshing and delicious.

However, because canned fruit contains too much sugar, Chen Cui doesn't dare to eat too much. After being chilled, it is relatively cold, so she can't eat too much.

Two cans of chilled food were shared by the whole family at a time. Chen Cui's family of five shared one jar, and Xu Dagui's family and the Mai mother and daughter shared one jar.

This kind of ice drink was drunk in specially bought small bowls, and each person was given only a small bowl, so they ate it very cherishingly. Xu Dagui and his wife and Mrs. Mai were reluctant to eat any of it, and saved their portions for the children.

Suisui finished his own bowl very quickly, and even drank up the sugar water at the bottom of the bowl, looking at the empty bowl with some regret.

Suddenly, she rolled her eyes and said to Chen Cui, "Mom, Mr. Zou's canned food is almost finished. How about I send her some tomorrow?"

Chen Cui looked at the girl who was pretending to be serious, but she knew clearly in her heart: She didn't want to give it to Mr. Zou at all, she obviously wanted to eat more!

Canned fruits are only sold in Beijing and Jiangnan because they are too expensive. Locally, Zhang Ruomei adheres to the principle of giving them away instead of selling them, and they are only used as gifts.

This resulted in some of the upper class people in Longnan knowing about canned fruit, but if they wanted to eat it, they had nowhere to buy it and could only rely on Mrs. Zhang.

Especially for those who have elderly and children at home, they are obsessed with these delicious canned fruits.

Ms. Zou is a little older and pays more attention to health preservation. She is not very interested in some heavy-tasting foods, but canned fruit is very much to her taste. She has loved it since she ate the first jar during the Chinese New Year.

However, she used to teach female students in Jiangnan, all of whom were from wealthy families. Naturally, she had some experience and knew how difficult it was to have such fresh fruits in the winter, and the price must be high.

Later, she secretly asked her servants to inquire, but found that there was no one selling canned fruit in Longnan. She realized even more how precious this thing was.

However, the clever little Sui Sui did notice her husband's love for canned food and came back to tell Chen Cui about it.

This thing is rare for others, but it is common for Chen Cui's family. Later, she sent a few jars to Mr. Zou's home every once in a while.

As the recipient of Chen Cui's gift, Mr. Zou became more concerned about Sui Sui's studies and paid close attention to her homework. This was unexpected for Sui Sui, but Chen Cui was very satisfied with it.

Suisui is a clever kid, but a little free and undisciplined. If he is not properly disciplined, it is hard to predict what his future personality will be like.

Chen Cui hopes that she can live freely in the future, but not without restraint. Given the social environment, it will be difficult for her to gain a foothold if she is too rebellious.

When Sui Sui went to Mr. Zou's house for classes, she would have lunch with Mr. Zou, and Mr. Zou would always give her a share of any delicious food.

Because Chen Cui restricted the amount of canned fruit she could eat at home, the child wanted to find a way to save the situation in a roundabout way and asked Chen Cui to send canned fruit to Mr. Zou so that she could eat it at Mr. Zou's house.

Chen Cui saw through Sui Sui's little trick at a glance, but still cooperated and said, "Well, send four jars to Mr. Zou tomorrow and put them on the carriage when you go to school."

Seeing a happy smile immediately appear on the little girl's face, Chen Cui couldn't help but smile.

When disciplining children, you cannot always be strict. You should also let them off a leash occasionally to allow them to feel the pleasure of having succeeded in their plan.

Half a month later, the prefectural government and the county offices under its jurisdiction posted notices one after another: the oak nuts of the iron oak tree are edible, and the processing methods were also posted.

At the same time, each county government sent people to the countryside with drums and gongs to publicize the matter of soaking and changing the water for oak nuts, so as to prevent people from eating oak nuts that had not been detoxified out of impatience.

When the news came out, the people of Longnan Prefecture were in an uproar, especially the farmers in the countryside.

The village chiefs of each village rushed into the town to find the mayor to confirm the authenticity of the news. After confirming that it was a notice issued by the government and that the news was correct, they hurried back to tell the people in their own village.

Next, everyone went out of their homes with sacks and baskets to look for oak nuts.

In addition to receiving news from the government, people in Liujiaping and Chenjiagou also received a letter from Chen Cui, which described in more detail how to process and preserve the oak nuts, as well as how to eat the finished product.

In two days, all the oak nuts on the ground had been picked up, and the sound of knocking oak shells could be heard in every household.

To be honest, the oak nuts are not big, and it is very troublesome to remove the shells. Then they need to be soaked in water, ground, and filtered multiple times. The whole process is quite complicated.

But the farmers don't mind. As long as this thing is really edible and can fill their stomachs, the trouble doesn't matter. Anyway, the crops have been planted now and people are free anyway. If they can add something to fill their families' stomachs, they are willing to work hard.

The harvests have been poor in the past two years, so all the men in the family who can work outside have gone out to work. Even if they are only paid a few cents a day, it is better than sitting idle at home.

Chen Cui finally felt relieved. With these oak nuts, people's lives would not be too difficult this year. This was a little comfort to her.

However, although this matter has been announced to the public, there is no trace of the reward for Changping that Lord Ma mentioned.

Changping was not in a hurry either, because he knew in his heart that the so-called commendation might be just empty words in the end, which could be seen from a series of actions by Lord Ma.

In the past, he thought that all officials were like Lord Wang, with upright character and caring about the people. But later he gradually realized that people like Lord Wang might be a minority, and most of the officials he met were not like that at all.

If he were a farmer and knew the true faces of the officials and the intentions behind them, he would probably curse: Damn corrupt officials!

Then he picked up the hoe and farmed as usual. This did not affect him at all. When he met the lowest-level yamen runners, he would nod and bow to them and flatter them. This was also a common practice among ordinary people.

But now he is a scholar, a scholar with official titles, and he may become an official in the future. Seeing this phenomenon, he can't help but think deeply: Is this really the officialdom he wants to step into in the future?

No, absolutely not!

His original purpose of studying was for his family. He wanted to provide a better life for his relatives, to be able to hold his head high and make those who had looked down on them in the past bow down to him.

But as he read more books, he saw another side of the world, and his thoughts gradually changed.

His purpose of studying was still to become an official, but the purpose of becoming an official was no longer just for his family, but for more people.

He wanted to be an official like Lord Wang, or even a higher position than him, to benefit the people and change the world in the future!