mtlumby2d Chapter 115 The Anxious Village Chief
Chapter 115 The Anxious Village Chief
"Village chief, village chief, are you home?" A young villager outside the courtyard shouted loudly for the village chief, panting heavily.
The village chief, who had just finished lunch and was about to take a nap, was so startled that he was instantly wide awake.
"Who is it? What happened?" The village chief, who had just gotten dressed, opened the courtyard gate.
The villagers, who were about to leave thinking no one was home, quickly turned back. "Village chief, several large horse-drawn carriages have arrived in the village. Everyone in the village says they are your precious daughter. You should go and see her."
The village chief thought he had misheard. What? Baozhu is back?
The village chief, regaining his senses, was overjoyed. His face crinkled with laughter. He was about to close the door and go out to check when he remembered something. "Hey, go tell your aunt to come back quickly."
The village chief said to the young man in front of him.
After thinking it over, the village chief decided not to go out. What if Baozhu really had returned, and there was no one home, not even a cup of hot water?
Thinking of this, the village chief, who rarely goes into the kitchen, first boils water, and then stands at the door watching from afar.
Wang Baozhu drove straight to the village chief's house. When she saw the familiar scene before her, Wang Baozhu was excited and her eyes filled with tears. She hadn't seen it for two years, but nothing had changed.
Seeing the familiar figure in the distant fields, which looked different from before, Wang Baozhu knew that the changes in the villagers were all brought about by Song Jiaojiao. On the way, Song Jiaojiao talked about her workshop in the past six months.
As they got closer to the village chief's house, Wang Baozhu became increasingly restless. Even her just-woke-up child could clearly sense the tense atmosphere in the air, staring wide-eyed without crying or making a fuss.
On the other side, Wang Fugui heard the news while working in the field. He dropped his sickle and hurried home, just as he bumped into Aunt Li who was returning from the workshop. The two looked at each other and, like the village chief, stood at the gate of their courtyard, gazing at the main road leading to their house.
The carriage slowly approached from afar and stopped in front of the village chief's house.
Wang Baozhu jumped out of the car, ran to the village chief, and suddenly knelt down, "Father, Mother, your unfilial daughter Baozhu is back."
The two men looked at their daughter kneeling before them, their eyes reddening. They quickly pulled Wang Baozhu up, murmuring, "It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back."
Aunt Li held the woman in front of her tightly. For two years, no one knew the worries in her heart.
The mother and daughter embraced tightly, both silently shedding tears.
The village chief secretly wiped away his tears and said, "Alright, old woman, Baozhu has come all the way back. Let's go inside and talk."
Aunt Li let go of Wang Baozhu and led her home. The group of people, including Granny Zhang carrying a child, were completely ignored. Wang Baozhu's son, realizing his mother had forgotten him, burst into tears.
Only then did the village chief's family notice the crowd standing outside the gate. Wang Baozhu quickly stepped forward and hugged her youngest son.
"Mom, this is my son Yu'er. Yu'er, this is Grandma. Come on, say hello to Grandma." How could a child who is not even a year old say hello? Tang Yu stopped crying when he saw that he was finally being valued, and even gave Aunt Li a big smile.
When Aunt Li saw Tang Yu standing before her, who looked remarkably like Wang Baozhu as a child—the same chubby and adorable girl she had been—she immediately hugged him, calling out to him repeatedly.
"Oh my, my dear grandson, he's grown so big." The village chief and Wang Fugui could only watch longingly from the sidelines.
With Tang Yu's mediation, the village chief's family was no longer in tears. Tang's servants began carrying the things Wang Baozhu had bought in the county town, so many that they even had to set up a room to store them.
Seeing that there was nothing for them to do, Song Jiaojiao took Mu Qing and Mu Xue home. Before going home, she went to the workshop to release Sun Meihua. When the villagers came to inform her, she also wanted to leave, but she thought that Song Jiaojiao was not at home. If something happened to the workshop after she and her mother left, it would be bad if there was no one in charge.
Song Jiaojiao knew what Sun Meihua was thinking, so the first thing she did when she got home was to give her a holiday.
Back home, Song Jiaojiao called Xu Da and Wang Shui and asked them to take the peach trees they brought back to the barren mountain to plant. She also called Xu Fang and Bai Shuqin and told them to prepare to go to the county early the day after tomorrow, where they would be staying for a long time.
Xu Da was temporarily in charge of household affairs. Song Jiaojiao was still debating whether to hire people or buy them. The most important thing for a beverage shop was the recipe. After the recipe leak incident last time, Song Jiaojiao was really hesitant to trust the people she hired. In the end, she decided to buy two people first, and then hire more if necessary.
The next day, Song Jiaojiao took Mu Xue and Xu Da to town. First, they went to Sifanglou to tell Manager Wang that they were no longer producing sweet potato starch. Then they went to Fengtang to buy two servants, a man and a woman. The man was around twenty years old, and the woman was two years older than Mu Qing.
Upon arriving at the entrance of Huichuntang, Song Jiaojiao, carrying a basket on her back, led Mu Xue inside and asked Xu Da to take the two of them to buy clothes.
Upon entering, they didn't see Manager Liu, but an apprentice greeted Song Jiaojiao as she came in.
"Madam Song, are you looking for the shopkeeper? The shopkeeper is out. If you're not in a hurry, you can wait a while."
"Thank you for letting me know. I'll wait here for a while then." Song Jiaojiao thought that since she was already here, she might as well wait a bit.
The apprentice took Song Jiaojiao to the backyard, served her tea, and then went out to attend to other matters. Manager Liu had already given instructions that whenever Madam Song came, she should be treated with courtesy, and if he was not in the shop, she should be taken to the backyard to sit for a while.
After waiting for half an hour, Manager Liu finally returned, and to his surprise, Liu Xuewen was standing in front of him.
"Madam Song, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting," Liu Xuewen said with a smile, his hands clasped in a fist salute.
"Mr. Liu, you're too kind."
"I wonder what brings Madam Song here today?" Liu Xuewen thought about the jam and dried fruit that Song Jiaojiao had given him last time, which had made him a fortune in the capital. He wondered what kind of surprise Song Jiaojiao would give him this time.
"Well, some of the medicinal herbs that I asked Uncle Liu to bring me last time have sprouted, but I don't know what kind of herbs they are, so I wanted to ask Uncle Liu."
Upon hearing that someone had come to see him, Manager Liu stepped forward and spoke.
"Madam Song, you actually managed to grow it!!!" He hadn't expected that it would actually grow, especially since it contained several rare medicinal herbs.
"Some have sprouted in the basket. Uncle Liu, could you please take a look and tell me what kind of medicinal herbs they are? Can we cultivate them in large quantities here?" Song Jiaojiao only brought some medicinal herbs that she didn't recognize. Some of the ones she did recognize were quite rare and had a long growing period. How could she possibly grow them in just a few months? Bringing them out might cause trouble.
Manager Liu looked through the medicinal herbs in the basket. He didn't see any of the expensive herbs he had bought, but there was one that was quite precious.
Manager Liu took out a medicinal herb that looked like a sweet potato but was much smaller, and said, "This is asparagus. This herb is quite rare here. We buy processed asparagus at 200 wen per catty. Judging from the growth of this plant, it should be suitable for cultivation here. Does Madam Song know how to process it?"