Chapter 183

Fan Jin really didn’t expect that what he planted were not orange trees!

Shanshui Village’s mountains were not high, one small hill after another, with no precious timber trees; mostly miscellaneous and common trees, few fruit trees and not very tasty.

Shuiqing wanted to eat fruit, and she wanted to eat all kinds of different fruits. It just so happened that he gradually replaced the miscellaneous trees on the back hill with fruit trees, which were more practical.

However, planting fruit trees was bound to be known to the villagers, and it was impossible to do it secretly.

During that time, he bought good orange trees in the prefectural city—Guangning Prefecture was famous for oranges, so there were plenty of orange trees. After loading them onto his return trip, he arranged to have her buy good varieties of peaches, pears, bayberries, grapes, etc., from the market.

After planting peaches, pears, bayberries, grapes, etc., these orange trees naturally couldn’t be neglected. All fruit trees were probably not much different, so they were all planted together.

He never thought they were actually not orange trees!

“It’s not an orange tree, then what is it? And Uncle Ding, look, they’re all growing little oranges.”

Although they were still green now, unlike the yellow when ripe, their shape was already similar, just like small oranges.

“Moreover, the person who sold the orange trees to me said these were large oranges with thin skin and sweet fruit. There were too many planted on their mountain, and cutting them down for firewood would be a pity, so they could only reluctantly sell the fruit trees;

He also said these orange trees were a few years old, and after planting, they would bear fruit in the following year, and sure enough, they bore fruit this year.”

Ding Heli looked at the heavily fruit-laden ‘orange trees’ in front of him, which had dropped a lot of small fruits after the previous heavy rain, actually equivalent to thinning the fruit, and the remaining fruits were growing extremely well.

He just didn’t know whether to sympathize with Fan Jin for being deceived into buying false orange trees, or to envy him for having such great luck!

“These are not orange trees, they are similar to orange trees, and the fruits also look very similar. These are called ‘tea branch mandarins’. You probably don’t understand and might not have heard of them;

The fruits they bear have thick skin and sour taste, not very tasty. But as long as you know that the dried peel of these fruits is called aged tangerine peel, it’s a medicinal herb, and the longer it’s stored, the more valuable it becomes.”

Fan Jin really didn’t expect that even orange peels could be medicinal herbs.

Oh right, now they’re not orange trees, they’re called tea branch mandarins, and the fruits they bear aren’t orange peels but aged tangerine peels.

Ding Heli felt a roller coaster of emotions after going up the mountain.

First, there was the Polygonum multiflorum, and now, they were deceived into buying tea branch mandarins instead of orange trees. It was really… indescribable.

When the two came down the mountain, they met Shuiqing and Qin Yilin who were coming out of the teahouse after chatting.

Qin Yilin excitedly mentioned about the mountain yam in the back of Shuiqing and agreed to cooperate with both families.

Ding Heli : … just Polygonum multiflorum, just tea branch mandarins, how can there still be mountain yam!

Wait a minute, “Did you say our family is responsible for processing?”

Qin Yilin nodded vigorously.

Ding Heli were speechless.

His silly wife, oh, you promised too early!

You only knew that processing mountain yam wasn’t tiring, but did you know that there was Polygonum multiflorum on their back mountain?

That was so complicated and so tiring!

Looking at her husband who seemed like he was about to cry, Qin Yilin asked uncertainly, “Master of the house, are you excited?”

They could allocate the labor of washing and brushing, which was not difficult but very labor-intensive, just like they used to do in Jinling.

Shuiqing would carry the title, and they would quietly control the critical points behind the scenes.

Ding Heli clenched their teeth, their eyes full of sorrow and pity as they looked at Yilin. They really wanted to ask her where she saw that he was excited?

He spoke of the discovery of Polygonum multiflorum on Fan Jin’s back mountain, and saw his previously cheerful daughter-in-law’s smile fade, darker and more gloomy than the rainy days of the past few days.

Qin Yilin pursed her lips, feeling like crying a little too.

Her comfortable and happy days were gone!

And it was all because of her own doing!

Ding Heli energetically recounted everything: “There’s also tea branch mandarins, but those aren’t tiring. We can have the village women do that. We just need to focus on handling the preservation work in the background.”

Qin Yilin took a deep breath. What did handling preservation work mean?

It meant endless worries!

This time, she really couldn’t even cry—save energy for working.

The Ding couple came back cheerfully, but returned dejectedly.

Ding Jiajia was puzzled. Her parents didn’t seem to be dissatisfied with Sister Shuiqing and them at all. They even said they would come often in the future, so why were their faces so unhappy?

Hu Wenhua was very nervous.

She was afraid that Ding Jiajia’s parents would not have a pleasant time at her sister’s house and would not come again in the future.

She followed them for a long distance and moved the Ding and Qin families, who were deeply moved.

This child is really enthusiastic!

Butcher Hu and Mother Hu were also a bit worried. They were fine before, so why were the couple’s backs bent when they were about to leave?

Just as they were puzzled, Shuiqing clapped her hands and gathered everyone for a meeting.

It was just everyone gathering to discuss and assign tasks; her daughter called this a meeting.

It was probably a grandiose term she learned from her son-in-law’s scholarly books.

Inside the teahouse, the tea and pastries were all ready.

After everyone was seated, Fan Jin spoke first: “Uncle Ding just discovered Polygonum multiflorum on our back mountain, which can fetch quite a bit of silver. Now we need to propagate the vines of Polygonum multiflorum as much as possible;

This matter cannot be known to the villagers for now, so we can only do this work ourselves. It’s a bit tiring. Can you handle it?”

Butcher Hu and Mother Hu had rested for more than ten days and felt uncomfortable all over.

Upon hearing that they could help with such an important task, how could they not agree?

They immediately responded, “We can! But son-in-law, what if we don’t do well?”

They had heard of Polygonum multiflorum and knew it was an extremely valuable medicinal herb. If they accidentally failed to plant it properly, they would surely be heartbroken.

Fan Jin replied gently, “It’s okay. Uncle Ding just taught me carefully earlier. I’ll teach Dad and Mom later.”

Upon hearing this, both of them felt relieved.

They suddenly realized that Ding Heli were truly honest people!

As a doctor who gathered medicinal herbs, if he didn’t tell his son-in-law and secretly came to dig them, no one would have known. Not only did he tell his son-in-law, but he also took the effort to teach him how to plant them.

His character was so good that there was nothing to say.

Shuiqing also mentioned her cooperation with Qin Yilin.

Hu Wenhua’s suspended heart finally settled.

Butcher Hu and Mother Hu also breathed a sigh of relief.

They thought of Ding Jiajia, who was not only good-looking but also gentle and considerate.

If only… stop, stop. In the past, they thought their own son was perfect in every way, but at this moment, they had to admit that their son was not worthy of Jiajia.

Their appearances were too different. Standing together was like flowers and cow dung, uh, flowers and a rough cow.

Wait a minute, didn’t Shuiqing just say there were other medicinal herbs on the back mountain?!

Everyone in the room looked up in shock at Shuiqing, their eyes filled with amazement.

Fan Jin stood by, smiling gently.