dtnovels Chapter 138 Buying a Mountain and Building a Workshop
Chapter 138 Buying a Mountain and Building a Workshop
It seems we still need to buy a new foundation. I wonder if it would be possible to build the workshop on the mountain.
Without hesitation, Song Jiaojiao went straight to the village chief to ask him.
I went to the village chief's house but didn't see him. It's the time of year when sweet potatoes are harvested, so the village chief must be in the field.
Song Jiaojiao walked into the fields again, asking questions along the way. The fields in Qingshui Village were basically all together, but the plots of land were scattered here and there. It was only because Song Jiaojiao was out more often these days that she could find the village chief's land.
When they arrived at the field, they indeed saw the village chief busy at work. Song Jiaojiao went to the village chief's side and helped him pick sweet potatoes.
The village chief suddenly felt a dark patch next to him, and when he looked up, he saw that it was Song Jiaojiao.
"Jiaojiao, what brings you here?"
Song Jiaojiao squatted down to work with the village chief and said, "Uncle Wang, did you see anyone when I went to check? I guessed you were in the field. Luckily, I met some villagers on the way, otherwise I really wouldn't have been able to find you."
When the village chief saw Song Jiaojiao working, he quickly stopped her, saying, "Alright, stop working. You'll get your hands all covered in sweet potato slurry that you won't be able to wash off. By the way, what did you want to see me about?"
"I want to ask if Qingshui Mountain belongs to our village?" Song Jiaojiao ignored what the village chief had said earlier. Song Jiaojiao had done a lot of this kind of work in her previous life, but she had never done it again after her grandmother passed away.
"Qingshui Mountain is quite large, encompassing several villages. Our Qingshui Village mainly consists of this surrounding mountain range, with three peaks to the left. Why are you suddenly asking this?"
The village chief was somewhat puzzled. Did Song Jiaojiao want to buy Qingshui Mountain?
"Oh, I see. So, does the Qingshui Mountain behind my house belong to our village?"
"Of course, Jiaojiao, you don't mean you want to buy Qingshui Mountain, do you?" the village chief asked, voicing his doubts.
"If possible, we do plan to do so. There are more and more things to do in the workshop now, and there is really no room left."
As Song Jiaojiao spoke, she thought that at least two more workshops needed to be built, and she also wanted to try to cultivate white fungus artificially on Qingshui Mountain.
The village chief stared in shock, his eyes wide. He knew that Song Jiaojiao's family already had five workshops, and it still wasn't enough.
But thinking about it again, Song Jiaojiao's family is currently making mung bean flour, sweet potato candy, rice candy, and recently developed dried bean curd and tofu skin. Plus, they're about to start digging for he shou wu (Polygonum multiflorum), so it does seem a bit small now.
"There's no one buying Qingshui Mountain behind you right now. I reckon no one else wants to buy it except you." After all, everything on the mountain is unclaimed; whoever needs it can take it.
"Can we build workshops on that mountain?" Song Jiaojiao bought the mountain mainly to build workshops.
"There's no explicit rule about whether it's allowed or not, but many wealthy families build estates after buying them," the village chief thought, noting that he hadn't seen any laws explicitly prohibiting it.
That's fine then, Song Jiaojiao thought. "Would you like to take a look and measure it for me when you have time? I'll still need to trouble you to help me repair the workshop later."
“Okay, I’ll go after the sweet potatoes are harvested. But we need to choose a good location to build a workshop in the mountains, and it will definitely take a lot of time. You know how uneven the mountains are, it will take a lot of time just to level them.”
The village chief thought that there weren't many flat areas on the mountain, so progress might not be so fast.
"I understand that. It's okay, take your time. If we don't have enough manpower, we can call more people."
The village chief said he was aware of the situation, and that Song Jiaojiao had helped him with some work before leaving.
Having not done farm work for so long, Song Jiaojiao felt as if her waist didn't belong to her anymore after just half an hour.
Thinking back to the large quantity of chestnuts I harvested last time, raw chestnuts can be stored for three to four months as long as the surface moisture is dried and they are placed in a cool, ventilated place.
I happen to have nothing to do right now, so I can go home and make roasted chestnuts.
The lotus root starch I made last time was ready a long time ago. Song Jiaojiao also taught Mu Qing how to make lotus root soup. Yesterday, Mu Qing took Bai Shuqin and Meng An to the county and took all the remaining lotus root starch with them, leaving only a small amount at home.
Back home, Song Jiaojiao first cleaned the pebbles, about the size of a fingernail, that Meng Qi had picked up last time, then cleaned the chestnuts and set them aside to drain.
While the pebbles are heating, pour them into the pot and heat them slowly. While the pebbles are heating, make a small slit in each chestnut. Chestnuts that are not slit will burst open during the roasting process.
When the pot starts to smoke, add two spoonfuls of sweet potato syrup, stir well, then add the chestnuts. This process takes about half an hour, adding sweet potato syrup every twenty minutes.
After roasting chestnuts for half an hour, Song Jiaojiao just wanted to rest. Her arms were so sore that she couldn't even lift them. This job was really inhuman. In her past life, she always thought that people who sold roasted chestnuts were ruthless and overpriced. Now that she thought about it, it was all for their hard work.
Finally, it was over. Song Jiaojiao looked at the chestnuts in front of her that had split open, revealing their yellow flesh. She took one out, gently squeezed it, and the shell broke, and the thin membrane inside the chestnut was gone.
She tried one, and the sweet, soft, and pink chestnuts were exactly what Song Jiaojiao wanted.
Song Jiaojiao scooped out all the remaining chestnuts, took a portion, brewed a pot of tea, and ate them in the yard, sipping the chestnuts and tea.
In just a few days, all the sweet potatoes had been dug up, and the villagers began to deliver them to Song Jiaojiao's house.
That day, the village chief brought the measured dimensions to Song Jiaojiao.
"Jiaojiao, I've measured the area on the mountain behind us. It's twice the size of the barren mountain, 200 mu. Do you think we still need it?"
Song Jiaojiao hadn't expected it to be so wide. "Yes, it's fine. I can plant more fruit trees later. We didn't sell enough apricots last time."
"Alright, let's calculate it based on the price of barren mountains, which is exactly 160 taels. With taxes, it will be around 162 taels. Shall we go to town together tomorrow?" The village chief said, seeing that Song Jiaojiao still needed it.
“Okay, I’ll go tomorrow. I’ll take the dried bean curd with me and ask Sifanglou if they need any.” Song Jiaojiao had accumulated about 100 jin of dried bean curd over this period of time, all of which she had wrapped in oil paper.
“That works too. When I was taking measurements just now, I saw a few flat areas that are closer to the foot of the mountain. Although they are not connected, it would save a lot of time if we built the workshop there.”
The village chief thought that the few slightly flat areas he had just seen could be leveled out with just a little filling.
"Uncle Wang, you can decide this. You're the expert in this field, and I don't know anything about it," Song Jiaojiao said jokingly.
"Okay, then I'll do it my way. We can finalize the brick and tile order tomorrow. Do we still need to build a fence this time?"
"Yes, we should. It's in the mountains, so it's safer to fence it off. Although animals don't usually come down from the mountains this season, Uncle Wang, I think we should fence it off first before starting to build the workshop. Everyone's safety is more important."