The Spirited Daughter-in-law and the Mountain Man

“Alright!” Ding Er laughed and said, ‘Wife of the Xiao Family, you’re quite polite, even addressing me as ‘you’.”

Su Qingyue smiled, and several people felt that weighing individual baskets was more or less fair. Those who wanted to weigh their own baskets before deducting the weight, waited patiently.

At this time, Wang Cuihua also came back with a large stack of banana leaves. Without waiting for Qingyue to speak, she took the initiative to spread them on the floor of the storage room.

Ding Er and others who had already weighed their goods started pouring their ferns in.

“Wife of the Xiao Family, what’s in the jars in the corner of your storage room?” Qian Zhang’s wife leaned in to have a look.

“Just empty jars.” She didn’t want to mention the fermenting bayberry wine. Fortunately, it had only been fermenting for one or two days, so there was no strong aroma. She didn’t want people to find out about it.

Qian Zhang’s wife obviously didn’t believe her, “Let me have a look inside…”

Su Qingyue spoke coldly, “There’s nothing worth seeing. The floor is clean, and the leaves have been laid. If you go in now and dirty them, will you pick more leaves to help me lay them?”

“Never mind.” Qian Zhang’s wife was lazy.

Su Qingyue gradually weighed the ferns for the remaining people. While doing so, she also told everyone, “The great landlord also said that he would buy wild bayberries from the mountain, but only ripe ones, at one cent for four jin. If you have any to sell, I can help collect them.”

“Collect bayberries at this time of year?” Qian Zhang’s wife said, “Bayberries are out of season now…”

“If the ‘great landlord’ wants to buy them at this time, just sell them if you have any. I’ll weigh them and give you the money. Even if they are out of season, you can probably still find some.”

Wang Cuihua said, “I remember where there are two bayberry trees, over two mountains, with bayberries still on them…”

Zhang Shun’s wife also came over to watch, and hurriedly said, “Cuihua, don’t be silly, why did you say that? Go and pick them quietly…”

Cuihua asked Su Qingyue, ‘Qingyue, are you really collecting bayberries, four jin for one cent?”

“Yes.” She nodded, “Money and goods will be settled at once, and accounts won’t be denied.”

The reason for bayberries to be sold at four jin for one cent was that once they were discovered, there would be a lot of fruits on a single tree. Villagers didn’t like the sour taste of wild bayberries, so they rarely ate them.

Those who found wild bayberries would usually pick an entire tree, yielding as little as a few dozen jin or as much as several hundred jin, and would definitely sell them. Unlike ferns, which were harder to find in large quantities.

Quite a few people knew where to find wild bayberries, and seeing that Su Qingyue would pay immediately, they all went to pick bayberries after selling their ferns.

As the news of Su Qingyue collecting wild bayberries and fresh ferns spread, she also asked others to help spread the word.

In the afternoon, until evening, people brought ferns to sell, and Su Qingyue bought all the unsold ferns in the village.

The storage room was almost full of ferns.

In the evening, people kept coming with their ferns.

Su Qingyue took a break and went into the master bedroom, “Fourth brother,

I’m too busy to cook dinner. Would you cook for us?”

“Wife, just let me do it.” Xiao Yuchuan offered enthusiastically.

Su Qingyue looked at him, “Third brother, you’re weak and would have trouble even picking up firewood, so just rest for now….”