Chapter 590 - 362: Who Doesn’t Know?

Chapter 590: Chapter 362: Who Doesn’t Know?

The banquet definitely had to be held, but the most important thing right now was still the County Magistrate’s invitation.

Since there was no one from the Jiang family around, and Uncle Liu and the steward hadn’t come over either, the Xie Fuya family next door had also happened to go back these last few days.

So the night before going to the county office, Jiang Hu went to look for Qixi.

Ever since Qixi and his mother, Aunt Yang, were freed from slave status, they had built a small one-courtyard house not far from the Jiang family, and even bought ten mu of land.

Maybe because they’d stayed with the Jiang family so long, the mother and son were full of hope for their days; they wouldn’t squeeze themselves too hard in the name of being overly frugal.

For example, during the busy farming season, when there was too much work in the fields and they couldn’t manage on their own, they’d hire people to work for a day or two.

If you hire people, you have to pay wages—that’s letting the villagers earn some money—and since the two of them were kind and talkative by nature, their popularity in Xiangmu Village was very good.

Jiang Hu went to Qixi and Aunt Liu also because they’d always been on good terms. Even though the mother and son had moved out last year, they still brought things over to the Jiang family every festival.

Besides Qixi, Jiang Hu also went to find Zhang Yuan, and two other aunties in the village who often helped people prepare banquets.

Even though Xiaomi generously said she’d pay for a hundred tables of flowing banquet for her two brothers, Jiang Hu, as an elder, would never touch a child’s money.

Besides, he could now confidently and boldly declare that he wasn’t short of that bit of money at all!

But that didn’t mean they were going to be extravagant and wasteful.

At a village banquet, there was no need for rare delicacies; having wine and meat was already the best.

They had fish at home, but they’d bought a batch of big fish before the New Year and now didn’t have enough. So they placed an order with Zhang Yuan’s brother-in-law: he’d specially catch a hundred fish for them tomorrow and deliver them early the next morning.

Such a big order—of course Zhang Yuan thanked his brother-in-law on and on.

They had chickens and rabbits at home and didn’t need to buy any; this time they were really being generous for once, directly sharing them with the villagers to eat.

With a hundred tables, even if each table only had half a bird, they still needed fifty.

Fortunately, after two years of development, the Jiang family’s livestock business had expanded quite a bit; fifty was nothing, a small matter.

They also needed to slaughter a pig specially. Since they were doing it, they had to do it as well as conditions allowed.

As for the rest, they’d let the two aunties who often handled banquets for others decide.

The Silver was given to Qixi, Zhang Yuan would handle driving the cart, and the other two aunties would be in charge of the menu.

The second wife also found a few aunties to help cook. For vegetables they already had at home, they’d just go to the fields and pick them. Aunt Yang knew best what they had at home, so this job was entrusted to her.

When the others came back with the groceries, everyone still had to prep the dishes for the next day together, like slaughtering chickens and rabbits and such.

Fish spoiled easily and had to be killed fresh that very day.

Fortunately, the weather was still cool right now, which made things much easier.

Everyone cheerfully agreed. Even though they were helping, who didn’t know that the Jiang couple were benevolent and wouldn’t let them work for nothing?

Besides, being able to prepare a banquet for a Scholar—that was something to be proud of!

With things arranged like this, the Jiang family didn’t have much left to worry about. All they had to do was go attend the County Magistrate’s dinner tomorrow, then in the afternoon buy some sunflower seeds, peanuts, candies, and such in town—that would be enough.

Don’t look at how they’d only taken a trip to the village; by the time they got home, the couple both looked completely worn out.

"Sigh, I didn’t expect just one trip to be this tiring." The second wife pounded her legs; they were still sore.

"Ma, we just got back and haven’t even rested yet, and then you went to look for people and explain things again. How could you not be tired?"

Xiaomi brought over two bowls of little sweet dumplings. "Second Sister cooked these. You and Dad should pad your stomachs first, dinner’s not ready yet. Oh, right, where’s Dad?"

She glanced around a few times and realized her father wasn’t there.

"Your dad went to the pigsty. After all, we were away for several months this time. Now we’re back and have been busy nonstop; he only just had a moment free."

The second wife picked up a bowl of little dumplings. Some fermented rice had been cooked in, sweet with a faint whiff of alcohol.

"I see, then I’ll go take a look too."

Xiaomi set the dumplings aside and headed out.

During the months they’d been away, Qixi had been helping look after the household, with Steward Wang assisting.

Still, even when you trust someone, being away from home for months makes you want to go check on things.

When Xiaomi got to the pigsty, her father was no longer there. He’d probably gone somewhere else; Yang Chunhua and Zhang Yingchun, mother and daughter, were both busy outside.

Xiaomi took the chance to go along each pen, giving the pigs Spiritual Spring water.

The pigs hadn’t drunk Spiritual Spring water in months, and there were even a few new litters of piglets. Now they were slurping away like crazy.

Leaving the pigsty, she went to the chicken coop to feed Spiritual Spring water; when she came out, she happened to run into Jiang Hu coming back from the duck and goose sheds.

Xiaomi quickly told him to go back first and eat his dumplings, then she headed toward the fish pond herself.

The ducks and geese were in the water every day, especially now that spring was warm and flowers were blooming, so there was no need to go over to the duck shed at all.

She pretended to fuss with the lotus leaves that had just sprouted, while secretly pouring Spiritual Spring water into the pond.

Jiang Hu knew she’d always liked playing around, so he just told her to come home early and went back first.

When the fish pond had been dug last year, Xiaomi had scattered lotus seeds. Even though the water was deep, they’d still managed to bloom and bear seed pods.

After this autumn, she could harvest the lotus pods. As for how to pick them with the water that deep, she’d think about it when the time came.

She had thought about hiring someone who could swim to pick them, but in practice that might not work. Once you stirred the water it turned muddy, and with ducks and geese churning around in there, probably no one would dare swim in it.

It might be better to find a spot and dig a channel to drain the water when the time came. Anyway, all the surrounding land was theirs; they could pick an easy place and drain the water into their own fields.

Besides, the water was full of nutrients. After all, all that Spiritual Spring water hadn’t been poured in for nothing. If they used it to irrigate the fields, it might just lead to a bumper harvest.

After turning these thoughts over, Xiaomi couldn’t help letting out a long sigh.

"Sure enough, once you’re back home, there’s never truly a free moment."

"Then what would count as being free? Besides, if you were made to sit idle at home, could you even stand it?"

"Big Brother? When did you get here? How did I not notice?"

Xiaomi stood up in surprise. Fortunately she’d only been playing with water just now; Big Brother definitely hadn’t seen anything.

Wei Ziang withdrew his gaze. Just now, when Xiaomi was playing with the water, large schools of fish had crowded around her fingertips, as if scrambling for something.

But he didn’t ask; he just smiled faintly. "Uncle said you were playing with water. It’s already cooling down now, so I was worried you’d catch a chill and came to call you back."

Sure enough, he was still holding a handkerchief for drying hands.

Only then did Xiaomi notice that her fingers were icy cold. She really had been playing in the water too long, and quickly hopped up onto the bank.

"Thank you, Big Brother. I was thinking about something just now and completely forgot. Oh, right, Big Brother, we’re going to the County Magistrate’s house tomorrow. Are you excited?"

Wei Ziang smiled. "It’s not like I’ve never seen him. What’s there to be excited about?"

"Huh? You’ve met him too?"

"Heh, Xiaomi, you didn’t think you were the only one who knew, did you?"

So, who else knew, exactly?