The Wealthy Eldest Sister Rules Supreme

[So the host is safe to use.]

So it was.

Then she can carry out the tasks boldly and without concern. As for the first

object of the task…

Zhuang Qingning looked at Mrs. He.

Mrs. He and Zhuang Yonghe trust her greatly. A little bit of persuasion and…

Zhuang Qingning blinked her eyes: “Aunt, how many beans does your family plan to plant this year?”

“I was just talking to your uncle about this yesterday. We plan to plant more. Mrs. He laughed. “On one hand, with your tofu workshop here, more villagers will surely plant beans this year. On the other hand, if your tofu workshop ever runs short of beans, we can supply you in an emergency.”

As expected, Mrs. He and Zhuang Yonghe always had her in mind in all their dealings.

Zhuang Qingning felt a warm feeling in her heart. She asked again, “Have you prepared the bean seeds for planting?”

“It’s almost ready,” Mrs. He said, “We hadn’t planned to plant so many beans originally, so we didn’t prepare so many seeds. Your uncle said he would collect some seeds from villagers whose beans are good. He did bring back some yesterday. Hopefully, it should be sufficient.”

“But if some fail to germinate, we will have to replenish them. We will see when the time comes. If all else fails, we can plant some cotton and use it to make new quilts for you and Qingsui next winter to keep warm.”

“If not, then let’s do this.”

Zhuang Qingning said, “I happen to have some bean seeds here, which are said to be better than the usual ones. They sprout faster, grow stronger, and produce more beans. Aunt, would you like to try my seeds?

“That certainly sounds good.”

Mrs. He laughed. “Your uncle and I were considering buying some bean seeds from the town. It’s fortunate that you have some good seeds. We’ll take yours and we will buy however much we’re short of.”

“Aunt, I mean this,” Zhuang Qingning said. “If this seed is good, don’t use the seeds we have at home, just use mine.”

“Alright.” Mrs. He readily agreed. “If your seeds are good, then we will use them.”

“Okay, then I’ll bring the seeds over to you tomorrow.”

The task was getting off to a good start. Zhuang Qingning stood up with a smile on her face. “Alright, I need to go home now, we haven’t cooked yet.”

“If it’s too much trouble, don’t bother about cooking. You can come over to my house with Qingsui and eat,” Mrs. He laughed. “I’m making scallion pancakes today.”

Although life had traditionally been a bit tight in Mrs. He’s home, most meals consisted of cornmeal and sweet potato flour. Even steamed cornbread made with a mix of cornmeal and flour was seldom eaten. However, over the past few months, they have made quite a lot of money selling tofu with Zhuang Qingning, and Zhuang Mingliang’s wages were also quite good, so life has become much more comfortable.

Remembering that the busy farming season had just ended and all the wheat had been gathered into the storehouse. Mrs. He asked Zhuang Yonghe to mill a sack of flour from the new wheat. Wanting to treat everyone, Mrs. He decided to make some pure white flour scallion pancakes, as a way to reward everyone for their hard work over this period.

“No, thank you. Qingsui is cooking at home, and the food for the two of us is almost ready,” Zhuang Qingning politely declined.

“Okay then, I won’t keep you. When you cook dinner tonight, you don’t need to make the pancakes. My stove is fast. After I finish baking the pancakes, I’ll send some over to you.”

“Alright. Thank you, aunt. You don’t need to see me out. Please go on with your work.”

“Alright.”

Although Mrs. He said this, she still saw Zhuang Qingning to the door. Only then did she returned to put away the herbal medicine that Zhuang Qingning had brought over, and measure the piece of cloth to estimate how many medicine packs it could make.

While she was busy with this, Zhuang Yonghe came into the yard.

“You’re back.” Mrs. He stood up and hurriedly got a dipper. “Look at you, sweating all over. Go and wash yourself quickly.

“Don’t fuss over me, I’ll do it myself.” Zhuang Yonghe took a step ahead, took the dipper, and went to draw water. “Where are Minghao and the others?

“I just sent Minghao with the two little ones to pick some vegetables. They should be back soon,” Mrs. He laughed, “I’m going to make the dough now.

We’ll have scallion pancakes for dinner.”

“Alright.” Zhuang Yonghe nodded, saw the new piece of cloth in Mrs. He s hand, and chuckled. “Has Qingning been here?”

“Yes.” Mrs. He neatly folded the cloth in her hands. “She said that she has a prescription for repelling mosquitoes. She asked me to help her make some medicine packs and keep some for us. She wants us to help her test whether the prescription is effective. I was thinking of cutting it out and making a pattern out of it.”

“Yes, just go by your own judgement. There won’t be much work in the fields these days. Minghao and I can manage. You just focus on making these.”

“As for Qingning…” Zhuang Yonghe couldn’t help laughing. “She really has a lot of ideas. Mosquitoes are the most troublesome in summer. If the prescription works, even if it doesn’t sell well in the town, it would sell well in the county town.”

“Yes, people in the county town are generally better off, so they should be willing to spend money on this.”

Mrs. He frowned slightly. “Speaking of which, when Qingning came over today, she mentioned something else.”

“She said she has some good seeds and asked whether we had enough.

“Isn’t that perfect? We don’t have enough seeds. We will take whatever we need from Qingning. We’ll pay whatever it costs.” Zhuang Yonghe briefly washed himself to cool down. He left the water droplets on his face and sat down to drink the cooled tea, which he had poured into a coarse porcelain bowl.

“I was thinking along the same lines at first. The things we lack, Qingning has brought. But then Qingning said, if the seeds are good, better than those we saved for ourselves, then we shouldn’t plant our seeds at all. Just plant the ones she gave us.”

Mrs. He looked at Zhuang Yonghe. “What do you think about this?”

Zhuang Yonghe thought for a while and said, “Qingning would not try to swindle us just to sell a few seeds, and the seeds are not that valuable anyway. She doesn’t lack them. If she said so, she must have her reasons.”

“I was thinking that since Qingning said this, no matter what the reason, we just listen and do as she says. We shouldn’t ask too many questions. Qingning is not an ordinary girl; she wouldn’t take advantage of us.

“Even if there really is something wrong with these seeds, at worst it’s just one season’s harvest we lose. We can handle that. Compared to the help Qingning has given our family, this would be nothing.”

“So, don’t worry too much about this matter. Just agree to what Qingning says.”

“That’s what I thought too.” Mrs. He smiled, helplessly. “I didn’t hesitate at all when Qingning told me about this. I agreed right away. I thought I’d tell you as soon as you came back.”