The Farm Life Of a "Fool"

Chapter 41

The wound on Liu Tong's forehead started to develop a scab on the 10th day of the first lunar month, and the villagers began to get busy at the same time. Apart from the imperial examination, Xu Ran's plan for this year was to create a new house and buy a piece of land on the mountain to grow fruit trees.

His most pressing issue at the moment was a lack of money. His silver savings were enough to buy a plot of land on the top of a mountain, but there weren't many fruit trees on the mountains here, so he'd have to go somewhere else to get them, which could be expensive. As a result, they were unable to build a new home at this time.

Xu Ran was a little upset. He wondered how he could make more money?

In spring, there were mushrooms and bamboo shoots in the mountains, which could be sold for money. In addition, there were wild ferns. However, it seemed that not many people bought them, but if dried, they were worth more.

What else could be planted if mountains were not purchased? With his chin cupped in his hands, Xu Ran sat at the door, lost in thought. The wind was blowing and he was shivering from the cold. Xu Ran was sitting at the door when Liu Tong came out of the house. "Ran, why are you sitting at the door? Aren't you cold" he inquired. 

"Tongtong, I'm thinking about how to make money!" Xu Ran shivered and stood up to hold Liu Tong in his arms. You can see that I'll be taking the imperial examination this year, and we'll be building a new home. And maybe you're following in your family's footsteps. We'll have to invite someone to look after our baby, but I won't be able to do that if I don't have any money."

Xu Ran felt quite down, which made Liu Tong feel sad and started to blame himself for being useless.

Seeing that Liu Tong was silent, Xu Ran realized that he had said something improper. He then changed the topic and asked, "Tongtong, what fruit do you like to eat the most?"

"Fruit?" Liu Tong was confused.

"It's something like cherries, strawberries and pears. They are called fruits."

"Cherry and strawberry," Liu Tong replied after a brief pause. They're a bright red color. "You'll get hungry just looking at them." Strawberry! Xu Ran's eyes glowed brightly. Strawberry was a simple plant to grow, and he didn't need to buy mountains to do so. They could be grown right in the field.

He recalled seeing vast strawberry plants in other people's fields in modern times, which he found enticing, not to mention the fact that the fruit could help solve the problem of eating and drinking while still making money by selling it.

There was no specific season limit for planting strawberries, as long as there was plenty of sunlight and water in the soil. Xu Ran considered buying a few acres of fields to plant strawberries. He estimated that if the seedlings were planted this year, they would bear fruits this same year.

Xu Ran happily shared his thoughts with Liu Tong. Of course, Liu Tong supported Xu Ran in any way he did. He said smilingly, "Ran, go ahead. I support you no matter what."

"Hmm, Tongtong, then we don't build a new house first. You keep 100 taels of silver first and with the rest of the money, I'll go and buy fields and strawberry seedlings."

"Okay." Liu Tong nodded and then both of them entered the house together.

All of their family's deposits were cash silvers, and there were also a number of copper coins, in addition to the two hundred taels of silver notes paid by Mr. Chen previously. As a result, they were simple to use. Liu Tong had a hundred taels silver note in his pocket, and after a second thought, he took out ten taels of copper coins. The remainder of the money was then given to Xu Ran.