novelraw Chapter 269 The person disappeared? What's it to me!
Chapter 269 The person disappeared? What's it to me!
Chapter 269 The person disappeared? What's it to me!
"How can it not be worth so much silver and stuff?!" Gu Tang retorted.
“He inherited the entire family business! His life is very valuable! Just think, if I didn’t save him, he would have been sleeping outside for half a day in the dead of winter, and with poison in his body, he would have kicked his legs and died!”
"If he really dies, wouldn't all those family assets just fall into the hands of his poisoning relatives?"
If that's the case... then it seems to make sense!
Third Uncle subconsciously looked at Gu Lianshan: "Tang girl saved the person, and Gu Sanlang thanked Tang girl. We really can't make this decision."
“That makes sense.” Gu Lianshan nodded, then looked at Gu Tang: “You mean to stay?”
"Stay! I'll take charge of this!" This silver was originally hers!
"Alright! Then it's your way. Leave everything and the silver behind!"
Gu Tang breathed a sigh of relief, put the silver away, and began to distribute the items.
First, there were the fine silks and satins. The colors that weren't suitable for her were picked out and given to her father, who was to keep them safe and use them to make clothes for the old man and Gu Ping'an in the future.
Secondly, there were the fur coats. Ah Gou had already divided them up in advance, giving each coat to its rightful owner, so there was no confusion at all.
Finally, there's the food: chicken, fish, citrus fruits, salt, sugar, and pastries.
Chickens and fish are placed in a tank, and a stone slab is placed on top of the tank opening to prevent rats and weasels from stealing them.
Citrus fruits should be stored separately and properly. We can't finish so many at once, so we can't let them freeze.
Salt, sugar, and pastries are all put in the cupboard. These things attract mice and weasels, so they can't be left lying around like that.
Fortunately, she remembered the basket today; if she had forgotten about it for a few more days, the house would probably have been infested with rats.
After sorting the items, Gu Tang then instructed her father and Gu Ping'an to classify the items placed in the east wing one by one.
All the grain was piled up against the north wall, and all the meat was piled up against the south wall, all in jars to prevent rats from eating it.
We'll put all the cabbage and radish in the cellar in the backyard. They'll be our only source of vegetables all winter long, so we can't let them freeze.
After tidying up the east wing, the west wing also needs to be tidied up. The items inside should be categorized so that it will save a lot of trouble when looking for things in the future.
Uncle San used the west wing as a granary. In addition to storing grain, it also contained many meat and pickling jars.
Following the arrangement on the east side, Gu Tang piled all the grain against the west wall, put the meat in jars, and placed them against the east wall along with the pickling jars, leaving a passageway in the middle for easy access to things.
After sorting everything into categories, I ended up finding a bag of radishes.
Gu Tang had no recollection of when she left it there.
Go out and call Gu Pingan in, asking him to help carry it to the backyard.
This bag of radishes will last us a long time. We carried it to the vegetable cellar in the backyard, picked out the good ones, and stored them there.
Gu Lianshan was still busy in the cellar. They had bought too many cabbages and radishes from Beian City this time, and they needed to arrange them neatly to avoid them being too messy and taking up too much space.
The third uncle was helping to pass vegetables into the cellar when he saw the siblings carrying a bag of things over, and he didn't understand what they were doing.
"What are you two carrying?"
"Sir, these are radishes in here. I found them in the west wing. When did you put them in?"
The siblings placed the bag at the entrance of the cellar, untied the bag, and poured out the radishes inside.
"Found it in the west wing?" Third Uncle was stunned for a moment, and it took him a while to remember. "Look at my memory! I bought it in the village before."
Pointing to the north, he said, "There are a few families in the north who are struggling to make ends meet. Every year they grow radishes and cabbages, hoping to exchange them for money in the winter to survive."
Seeing their hardship, the clan chief mentioned the situation to the entire clan, saying that if anyone wanted to buy radishes and cabbages, they should go there to buy them, hoping to at least lend a hand.
"Where did you buy this bag of radishes?"
"That's right. I saw that we had a lot of cabbage at home, so I didn't buy cabbage, I only bought radishes."
Third Uncle squatted down and helped Gu Tang examine the radishes on the ground. Those that were intact were handed to Gu Lianshan in the cellar, while those that were broken or damaged were thrown aside and not put in.
Gu Lianshan took the radish, weighed it in his hand, and nodded in satisfaction: "This vegetable is well-grown and has a good weight, which means it's not dry inside."
He arranged the radishes, and as he got up to get more vegetables, he asked, "Dad, is our land still there? Let's grow some vegetables next year, not to sell, just for our own consumption."
“The land has been leased to the clansmen. Before, I lived alone and didn’t need much food or supplies. The rent was enough for me to live on. Now that you are here, it’s time to take it back.”
“It’s time to take it back. Now that you have a son, I can take care of those lands by myself.”
"Okay, I'll talk to him about it later."
As they spoke, all the reeds on the ground had been sorted out. The ones without broken skin were placed in the cellar by Gu Lianshan, while the ones with broken skin were piled up on the other side of the ground.
Of the radishes poured out of the bag, not many were broken; the radishes transported back from Bei'an City had the most broken skin.
There's no way around it; the bumpy ride and the constant carrying around mean that any bumps will inevitably cause some scratches.
Gu Lianshan climbed the ladder out of the cellar, glanced at the radishes he had picked out, and frowned: "There are too many. We need to eat these quickly, because it's cold and they won't keep if they break open."
As he spoke, he took out the ladder and began sealing the entrance to the vegetable cellar.
"How are we supposed to eat all this? There's so much, easily over a hundred pounds! Are we going to have to eat radishes for every meal from now on?"
Gu Tang's face scrunched up; the radishes here weren't the same radishes from her past life that had undergone countless improvements.
These are all primitive species, small and thin, and they don't taste good.
Especially when eaten alone, Gu Tang couldn't describe the taste, but it just wasn't good!
Unless you stir-fry it with oil and meat, it's okay to eat it that way, as it can barely suppress the smell.
"There are indeed too many. Why don't we pick some and give them away?"
Third Uncle was also worried. He didn't really like eating this stuff either. In fact, there was no one in the world who liked eating this stuff!
"No need to give them away. There are still quite a few jars left from when the girl pickled vegetables last time. I'll go find them, cut these radishes into strips, and pickle them all!"
Gu Lianshan had already sealed the entrance to the vegetable cellar, and as he spoke, he put the radishes on the ground into bags.
Are they really planning to pickle it?
Gu Tang's vision went completely black!
At first, she ate Feng's pickled vegetables, which were fishy, salty, and bitter!
She thought it was because Ms. Feng's cooking skills were not good enough, so she asked her father to buy a lot of jars for pickling vegetables and pickled them herself.
A dozen days later, she opened the jar and tasted it. She found that only the salt given by the system could make the pickled vegetables taste okay, barely edible, but still not as good as the pickled vegetables from her previous life.
The pickled vegetables made with salt bought from Beian City tasted exactly the same as those made by the Feng family!
It's fishy, salty, and bitter!
So, it's not that the cooking skills are bad, it's that the salt and the vegetables are both bad!
Gu Tang has now refused to pickle vegetables. Although the system rewarded her with a lot of salt, pickling vegetables uses too much salt! She can't bear to waste that salt.
If you want to change the taste of salt, you can try to remove impurities and purify it. But that's not something they can do, at least not given their current status.
If this gets out, their whole family will probably die!
"Dad! Give them away! We already have more than ten vats of pickled vegetables in the west wing of our house! If you pickle a few more, we'll be eating them forever!"
Gu Tang was a little upset. She didn't want to eat pickled vegetables, nor did she want to smell them.
"You don't understand. Right now, these radishes with broken skin aren't worth much, but if you make them into pickles, you can give a bowl to each relative during the New Year, and they'll be very happy!"
Even if pickled vegetables don't taste good, they are still made with real salt, which is a rare treat for families who can't afford salt.
These words relieved Gu Tang. So, he was planning to give them away after pickling them?
That's good. As long as it's not for her to eat, she won't mind how much is marinated!
After the bag was full, there were still quite a few radishes left on the ground. Gu Lianshan picked up the bag and asked Gu Pingan to find a basket to collect the radishes and carry them to the front.
With nothing more to do with Third Uncle and Gu Tang, the grandfather and granddaughter strolled back leisurely.
Gu Tang told the old man about the return gift: "I've thought about it again and again, and now I have an idea. We can afford it, and I don't think they'll care about it."
I've heard that wealthy families love refined pursuits. I was thinking of making some incense to give as gifts. What do you think?
Upon hearing about incense making, the third uncle recalled the infamous backflow incense and subconsciously added, "Backflow incense cannot be given away."
"It's not backflow incense, but some incense powder, incense beads, incense sticks, incense paste, and the like. Since I have nothing to do in the winter and can't go up the mountain, I might as well make incense at home."
I prepared the incense recipe, ground it into powder, and taught my father how to make incense. It was almost Chinese New Year, and every household would be burning incense, so we could take advantage of this holiday season to earn some money.”
Third Uncle was not the kind of pedantic person who believed that if someone in the family was studying, they shouldn't be doing business.
He was very interested in Gu Tang's suggestion. Incense making was a craft monopolized by large merchants and families, and very few people in the general public knew how to do it.
Even if they did produce it, the incense they made was extremely coarse, with almost no fragrance, only pungent smoke.
"Can I learn from you? I promise I won't tell anyone!"
"You can learn it! Of course you can learn it. This skill can earn you money and it's fun too. Let Ping An learn it as well!"
The most important thing about incense is the recipe. As long as the recipe is not passed on, the incense-making skills can be passed on freely, since she is only a half-baked amateur anyway.
"What do you think of what I just said? Shall we return the favor with incense?"
“That’s fine! Gu Sanlang is a scholar, so sending him incense would certainly be a respectable return gift.”
"Then it's settled!"
Back in the front yard, she saw her father pouring cold water into a basin, with a bag of radishes next to him. It was clear that he was going to wash the radishes.
Washing vegetables with cold water on a cold winter's day?
Crazy?
"Dad, wait a moment. Let Ping An boil some water for you, dilute it with warm water, and then wash the vegetables!"
"No need, no need. Dad always washes vegetables with cold water."
“What happened in previous years is in previous years! Starting this year, you are not allowed to use cold water anymore.” Gu Tang ignored him and ordered Gu Ping’an to boil water.
Gu Lianshan couldn't argue with Gu Tang, so he had no choice but to give in to her.
The third uncle watched the father and daughter bickering with a smile. Once they reached an agreement, he wanted to talk to Gu Lianshan about making incense.
Just then, the courtyard gate was suddenly pounded on—bang! bang! bang!
Three consecutive, deafening sounds.
It was less like knocking and more like banging on the door.
Gu Tang was startled by the sudden sound and immediately turned pale!
She stormed down the corridor toward the courtyard gate, her fierce and menacing aura making Uncle San and Gu Lianshan's eyelids twitch, and they quickly followed her.
Behind the courtyard gate was a stick that Gu Lianshan had whittled before. He intended to use it as a handle for a hoe, but later found it was a bit short, so he just left it there.
Gu Tang grabbed it and held it in her hand. Instead of opening the door, she shouted towards the door, "Where did these bandits come from! Get out of here!"
Does anyone knock on a door like that?!
Fortunately, the gate was thick enough; if it had been any thinner, it probably would have cracked!
The person outside the door clearly did not expect Gu Tang to call him a bandit. A very familiar curse sounded against the door.
"You blind little beast! I'm your grandpa!"
Hmm? Old Master Gu?
Gu Tang paused for a moment. What a rare guest! It's been a long time since we've seen Old Master Gu visit.
She opened the courtyard gate, and sure enough, it was Old Master Gu standing outside.
"Oh! Judging from the way you were banging on the door, I thought it was bandits! I didn't expect it to be you. No wonder the banging was so loud."
"What do you mean by that?!" Old Master Gu's gaze was sinister, making his already loose and droopy face look even more terrifying.
"Can't you understand human language? My daughter says you're worse than a bandit!" Gu Lianshan pulled Gu Tang behind him to prevent her from hitting the old man on the head with a stick in her anger.
"You beast!" Gu Tang was blocked, and Old Master Gu could only glare fiercely at Gu Lianshan, repeatedly slamming his cane on the ground.
"Stop calling me an animal. If I'm an animal, then what are you? Are you a human being?"
These words left Old Master Gu speechless and breathless.
Gu Lianshan didn't want to waste time arguing with him, so he didn't ask him to come inside. Instead, he blocked the doorway and asked him what he was doing there.
"Why are you here instead of living a good life? Have you no shame? My whole family has been adopted. If you have any problems, go find your son!"
"Bullshit!" Old Master Gu's eyes were bloodshot, and his expression was somewhat ferocious. "So what if you're adopted? Your mother and I aren't dead yet! Even if you're adopted, you still have to support us!"
This person is just being unreasonable and making trouble!
"You came all this way just to tell me this?" Gu Lianshan sneered and was about to close the courtyard gate.
Old Master Gu's expression changed instantly. He blocked the courtyard door and asked anxiously, "Has Madam Wei returned?!"
When he said this, Old Master Gu spoke in a very low voice, as if afraid that outsiders would hear.
Gu Lianshan remained calm and asked in return, "Who told you this? What does it have to do with me whether Wei comes back or not?"
She stole my daughter's money, I wish she would never come back! And you come to ask me? What do you want to say?
"Keep your voice down!" Old Master Gu was both angry and anxious, and he scolded him in a low voice, not believing his words.
He looked at Gu Lianshan with suspicion, trying to find some clues on his face: "Qing'er is missing!"
"Qing'er is missing?" Gu Lianshan was speechless. "What does this have to do with me? Gu Liansheng's daughter is missing, what does that have to do with me?"