Cui Hongyu was flustered by his sudden move, her face flushed.
"Husband, what are you doing?" she cried shyly, "Quickly put me down."
Chen Qiao'er, standing beside them, clapped her hands gleefully, "Hug, lift high, and kiss too."
Chen Xiaobei had intended to spin her around a few more times, but Cui Hongyu struggled desperately, forcing him to put her down.
Chen Xiaobei leaned in for a kiss, but Cui Hongyu turned her head away. "Husband, Qiao'er, Qiao'er."
Chen Xiaobei snapped back to reality. Right, Chen Qiao'er was watching.
He sheepishly ran a hand through the back of his head.
"Ah, my apologies. I just got too happy, too happy."
Cui Hongyu looked at him in surprise, "Husband, what exactly happened?"
"Hongyu, do you know, those ginseng roots, we sold them for a total of five taels of silver."
This was apparently within Cui Hongyu's expectations. But seeing Chen Xiaobei's excitement, her face also broke into a smile. After all, this was a very substantial income, worth celebrating.
After speaking, Chen Xiaobei reached into his chest and pulled out the five strings of cash, handing them to Cui Hongyu.
Cui Hongyu looked at Chen Xiaobei, utterly bewildered, "Husband, what do you mean?"
Chen Xiaobei's smile faded. He gently placed the bag of money into her hands and said with a touch of emotion, "Hongyu, from now on, you will manage our finances. I will only focus on making money, alright?"
Cui Hongyu repeatedly waved her hands, "That's not proper, not proper. Husband, what kind of logic is there for a woman to manage the household? You keep it."
Chen Xiaobei placed his hands on Cui Hongyu's shoulders, looking into her eyes, and said seriously, word by word, "If I say yes, it's yes. This matter is settled."
"But, Husband this..."
Chen Xiaobei feigned nonchalance, waving his hand, "Oh, managing money is too troublesome. I don't want to worry about it."
"Besides, if the money is in my hands, it'll be gone in a few days."
After speaking, he turned to look at Chen Qiao'er.
"Qiao'er, did you help sister-in-law with work today?"
Chen Qiao'er's face lit up when her elder brother finally spoke to her. "Brother, Qiao'er and sister-in-law watered the vegetable patch out back, and, and also made rice porridge."
Cui Hongyu also stepped forward, affectionately stroking Chen Qiao'er's head, "Qiao'er is so good."
"Husband, you must be tired. Rest a bit. We'll eat soon."
Watching Cui Hongyu busy herself in the kitchen, with Chen Qiao'er skipping behind her, Chen Xiaobei suddenly felt a warmth spread through his heart. This scene was so heartwarming. How he wished such days could last forever.
Lunch was still rice porridge. While eating, Cui Hongyu spoke again, "Husband, now that we have some extra money, we should definitely get some things for the house."
Hearing this, Chen Xiaobei felt deeply moved. Yes, their home was bare, it was time to get some decent furnishings.
"Alright, I'll listen to you. Tell me, what should we get first?"
Cui Hongyu frowned in thought, "Let's tidy up these rooms first. I see the back walls of the rooms have been severely washed away by the rain, and the roof needs repair as well. Otherwise, we might not get through this summer."
"Also, the courtyard wall needs to be raised higher. We can't have people jumping over so easily."
Cui Hongyu's words resonated deeply with Chen Xiaobei. Thinking about it, it was true, Chen Ermao and the others had easily climbed over the wall that day.
"Alright, if you think we have enough money now, I'll find a craftsman tomorrow."
He put off the matter until tomorrow because he wanted to go into the mountains this afternoon.
There were two things he wanted to do in the mountains: one was to search around the mountain god temple for any new discoveries, and the other was to go to the place where he remembered pheasants taking flight to see if he could find any traces of them. Su Dan Fiction Network.
After finishing lunch, Chen Xiaobei rested briefly before heading into the mountains. Cui Hongyu still wanted to go with him, but he dissuaded her with the same reason.
Cui Hongyu looked at him helplessly, "Husband, I recognize all the medicinal herbs on the mountain. If I go with you, maybe we'll find even more."
Chen Xiaobei nodded, his tone still firm, "You're right, but the mountain is too dangerous. You cannot go."
"How about this, when I go up the mountain, I'll collect more wild herbs and fruits. You can see which ones can be sold, and I'll go back to collect more.
"So, for now, you stay home and rest."
Seeing that she couldn't persuade him, Cui Hongyu could only nod in agreement.
But a trace of sweetness welled up in her heart.
Chen Xiaobei reached the foot of the mountain and, following his memory, started searching for traces of pheasants in the general area.
However, finding pheasant tracks was not easy. After searching around, he found nothing. Chen Xiaobei was somewhat disappointed. As he turned to go back, his foot slipped, and he almost fell.
What the hell is this?
Chen Xiaobei muttered to himself.
Looking down, he saw a large pile of droppings.
"Pheasant droppings," Chen Xiaobei's eyes immediately lit up.
Walking further and finding a few more scattered piles of droppings, he finally found a clue, and his excitement grew.
It seemed this was a new habitat for a flock of pheasants.
Besides this, looking at the droppings, another thought occurred to Chen Xiaobei.
He remembered seeing Chen Qiao'er digging a hole to bury droppings in the vegetable patch on his way back.
The pheasant habitat he had discovered earlier also had a lot of chicken manure.
If he brought back that chicken manure, it would be enough for his small vegetable patch, let alone a few acres of land.
He couldn't help but get excited at this thought. Why hadn't he considered this before?
Fueled by his excitement, Chen Xiaobei quickly turned and ran towards the mountain god temple.
There's a saying, "Birds die for wealth, and men die for food." With a goal in life, Chen Xiaobei's courage grew. Upon reaching the mountain god temple, he wasn't satisfied and continued further up.
Until he discovered a dead sheep. Apart from some remnants of fur and bones that roughly indicated it was a sheep, most of it had been gnawed clean.
This made him shiver. It seemed there were indeed ferocious beasts on this mountain.
He approached and examined it closely, finding that the bones had weathered and crumbled at the slightest touch, indicating it had died a very, very long time ago.
He felt a little more at ease knowing it wasn't a recent death, but he didn't dare to venture further.
As for the roadside forest, he dared not go too deep, only venturing a short distance in to search.
Fortunately, his luck was good today. He found two ginseng roots from the forest. These two roots were significantly larger than the thirty-year-old one he found yesterday, suggesting they were also quite old.
He also saw several unfamiliar plants, whose names he didn't know. He picked them, marking the locations where he found them, and then Chen Xiaobei hurried down the mountain.
As he walked, he pondered the matter of searching for herbs, catching pheasants, and fishing. Although he seemed busy all day with these tasks, they all had to be taken to the county town, and transportation was a major issue.