Ch 140: Welcoming Han Shi
“What nonsense! This is sugarcane I grew myself and processed. Want some brown sugar in water?” Su Tai enticed, like a wolf grandmother.
Shen Yi decisively took some, licked it with his tongue, and nodded gravely, “Sweet! Very, very sweet! Sweeter than malt sugar!”
Su Tai smiled with narrowed eyes, “Replacing the malt sugar in our pot helmets with brown sugar will be more fragrant, don’t you think?”
“I believe it! My wife is like a goddess, I definitely believe it!” Shen Yi still looked amazed.
While talking, the couple heard a noise.
“Someone’s here!” Shen Yi turned and walked out.
Su Tai quickly closed the box and locked the storehouse door before following him out.
Seeing that the visitors were Ke Dasong’s family, Su Tai was somewhat surprised and hurriedly invited them into the house, “Uncle, Cousin, Cousin’s wife, you…”
Ke Dasong stared at the level ground, gazing intently, and said happily, “Your father bought six sheep for you, and we’re going back, so we brought them over.”
Su Tai was very grateful and immediately went to the kitchen to prepare food for them.
There was still some dough and filling at home; baking some pot helmets for them as dry food for the road would work.
While Su Tai was busy in the kitchen, Shen Yi kept them company in the main hall, chatting with Ke Dasong and the others about the outside situation.
Ke Dasong saw the exquisite cleanliness of the Shen family’s home, his eyes full of envy, “It’s still better here. Although the town on the ice plains also has many houses, they are small and short, not as comfortable as yours.”
Shen Yi was puzzled, “Can’t they be built larger?”
Ke Zhengping shook his head, “The ice plains have strong winds and snow, it’s cold and freezing. Houses built smaller and tighter will be warmer. Too large houses are easily collapsed by heavy snow and are not warm enough; it won’t work.”
“This time we also want to ask our cousin’s husband if he can help us buy some more quilts and cotton-padded jackets. Those clothes are comfortable to wear at home, and we won’t be afraid of waking up cold from the sleep.”
Shen Yi immediately agreed, went to the storehouse, and carried out four twenty-catty large quilts, then ran again and brought eight sets of large cotton-padded jackets.
“Do you think these are enough? If not, I’ll get you some more in a few days.”
The Ke family’s eyes lit up when they saw the things.
Ke Dasong nodded repeatedly, “Enough, enough, enough! There are only six people in our family, three quilts are enough. We’ll keep the remaining one carefully; it will come in handy later. The cotton-padded jackets and trousers too, the more the merrier!”
Su Tai, carrying in the pot helmets, said to Shen Yi, “There’s still some thick cotton cloth in the storehouse. Let’s prepare some for Uncle and them. It’s excellent for making baby clothes and diapers later.”
After she said this, Ke Zhengliang’s brothers didn’t stand on ceremony and asked Shen Yi for more.
Of course, the silver was indispensable.
Shen Yi couldn’t refuse and had to accept it.
Originally, Shen Yi wanted to keep them for a while, but Ke Dasong was anxious to go back, so he had to give up.
Before leaving, Su Tai also packed twenty catties of brown sugar and gave it to Ye Chunhua sisters.
“Cousin’s wife, this is brown sugar, it’s extremely good for women. If you are in confinement, you can use brown sugar to cook sweet soup to replenish your body. Take this back and try it. If you want more, just tell me.”
“Thank you, cousin!” Ye Chunhua sisters thanked sincerely, carefully tied the things to the cart, and then left with Ke Dasong and his sons.
Over the next eight days, Su Tai went to the Space-Time Gate to work as soon as she woke up. She spent three thousand virtual coins renting a sugar-making machine to process all the sugarcane into brown sugar, totaling seven thousand five hundred catties.
Then she rented a sugar-making machine again and processed fifteen hundred catties of brown sugar into eight hundred catties of white sugar.
So much brown sugar and white sugar was enough for them to consume until the next sugarcane harvest. They could also give some away as gifts or use it for business at the end of the year, many benefits.
After this busy period, Su Tai settled the gopher’s employment fee. For a short time, she wouldn’t have to go to the Earth Spacetime again.
But not having to go to the Earth Spacetime didn’t mean she could rest.
After the autumn harvest of their more than thirty mu of land, it still needed to be tidied. Huang Xinghua and her group had already burned the wheat straw, dry grass, and wild grass clean. To ensure that the fields had enough fertility next year, they were now beginning to fertilize the fields, so they could save a lot of trouble next year.
The sheep dung, chicken dung, and cow dung saved at home were not many. After sprinkling some in the grape field, there wasn’t much left. She still had to fetch it from the lake in Water Spacetime.
Now that her belly was big, she couldn’t work as quickly, so she had to use medium tools, and Shen Yi had to do all the hard work.
When all the fields were fertilized, it was already mid-October. Calculating the days, Su Tai was about to give birth.
Shen Yi’s eyelids had been twitching these days, and he always felt uneasy.
Unable to sit still, he simply asked Shen Xiang to stay home with Su Tai for half a day, and he rushed to Dongmen Village by donkey cart to invite Han Shi.
Han Shi happened to meet Xu Shi when she entered the village and secretly complained to her, “Su Tai’s due date is still more than ten days away, but Shen Yi can’t wait. He insists that I come early to watch over her. This family can’t do without an elder.”
Xu Shi agreed, “That’s the truth! If our family’s farm work wasn’t too busy, I would definitely go over to keep an eye on those two young people.”
“What? Your family’s farm work isn’t finished yet? It’s almost going to snow in a few days. You must hurry!” Han Shi looked at the sky full of dark clouds and thought it would change tonight, no wonder Shen Yi was so anxious.
Xu Shi sighed repeatedly, “There’s no way. The business is too big, only four people, and we simply can’t manage it. We are not as willing to spend money as A Yi and the others, so we have to do everything ourselves, so it’s slow!”
The two chatted for a while before separating.
The donkey cart was getting closer and closer to the high courtyard wall, and Han Shi saw something was wrong and couldn’t help but say, “Son-in-law, your house doesn’t look the same as when I last came!”
Shen Yi smiled, his expression calm, “It’s a little different. I’m often away, and Su Tai is alone at home, so I’m not at ease. I specially built the courtyard wall high and also raised three dogs.”
“Huh? That’s not right! The land next to your house has been bought? And it’s right next to yours!” Han Shi saw the structure of the courtyard clearly, and her eyes widened.
Shen Yi chuckled, “No, I bought it. Su Tai likes quiet, and there are always people coming and going at home making pot helmets, it’s especially noisy. It will be even more chaotic with a child later. For their sake, I specially bought the neighboring land. Father-in-law and the others came to help me raise the ridgepole, and they were dealing with the rooms inside.”
Han Shi clicked her tongue, “Your father-in-law did mention this. I only thought you expanded the courtyard, but I didn’t expect you to build a bigger one. Wow, you guys are really capable! Such a large house is enough for several generations!”
Shen Yi smiled foolishly and scratched his head, “Mother-in-law, you’re joking. The courtyard can only accommodate one family. When the children grow up, they will have to buy land and build houses separately.”
Han Shi’s mind was racing, she didn’t know what to say.
When she entered the courtyard, she found two gates in Shen’s house and exclaimed again. When she saw the main hall floor, she stopped talking completely.
People have the leisure to do this to their house, so building a large courtyard is nothing to be surprised about.
“Su Tai, where does Mother live?” Han Shi shifted her gaze from the house to Su Tai, looked at her belly for a while before asking about the main issue.
