Please cast your vote for recommendations, I'm begging on my knees, asking in abundance.————
With this, Luo Honglan's burden was lightened by a lot, and she couldn't help but admire Fang Pingying, thinking she was simply divine.
In her eyes, her mother Zhou Yunmei and second sister-in-law Fang Xiu were the most difficult people to deal with in this world, but Fang Pingying always had a way to handle them, and she always came out on top in the end.
When Fang Pingying said she would take her for a walk around the village, she was delighted, washed her face, and ran out with Fang Pingying, no longer worried about being scolded by Zhou Yunmei for not working.
The two chatted as they walked, getting along very well, laughing and talking all the way.
When they reached the small river in the village, they ran into Fenfang, a playmate of Luo Honglan, washing things by the river.
Luo Honglan flashed Fang Pingying a smile, asking her to tread softly, then tiptoed up behind Fenfang and gave her a hard slap, "Miss Fang, what are you washing?"
Fenfang jumped in surprise, looked up and saw it was Luo Honglan, and playfully hit her back.
Seeing Fang Pingying behind Luo Honglan, she smiled shyly and greeted, "Sister-in-law, you're here too."
Fang Pingying remembered her; this girl was very decent by nature, and got along extremely well with Luo Honglan.
She smiled and replied, "Yes, I thought there was nothing to do this morning, so I came out to walk with Honglan. Don't want this girl hanging around the stove all day."
Fenfang, having nothing to do, would hang out with Luo Honglan and naturally knew Luo Honglan's situation in the Luo Family. Hearing Fang Pingying's words, she couldn't help but speak with a hint of complaint, "That's true, Honglan works so hard at home every day. We call her out to play but she's never free."
"It's fine, from now on when you go out to play, count her in, she'll have some free time later," Fang Pingying affectionately ruffled Luo Honglan's hair, smiling.
Luo Honglan didn't speak, just leaned on Fang Pingying's shoulder with a silly grin.
Seeing how well the two sister-in-laws got along, Fenfang said with a face full of envy, "Honglan, your sister-in-law treats you so well, not like my sister-in-law who woke me up from bed with a racket this morning and told me to go up the mountain to pick fresh hawthorn for her to eat, acting all high and mighty just because she's pregnant."
"Fenfang, your sister-in-law is pregnant and she still wants to eat hawthorn?" Fang Pingying was surprised, as anyone with a bit of common sense knows that pregnant women shouldn't eat hawthorn as it can cause contractions leading to miscarriage.
Fenfang nodded, "Yes, my sister-in-law said she's been feeling bland and wanted something sour."
Fang Pingying hurriedly waved her hand at her, "That's not good, pregnant women can't eat that, it's dangerous for the baby."
"Really?" Fenfang got scared, her face turning pale, "Luckily I haven't picked them yet, we didn't know any of this."
"I also read it in a book, it should be right, better not let your sister-in-law eat it. If she wants something sour, have your brother go to the town and buy her some sour plums or something," Fang Pingying said.
"Sigh, my sister-in-law just doesn't want to spend money, that's why she sent me to the mountain to get these hawthorns," Fenfang said, and then added regretfully, "If pregnant women can't eat it, all the hawthorn on the mountain will go to waste. My sister-in-law was planning to pick more to store in the cellar, so she could eat them until she gives birth. We normal folks don't like it much either; it's too sour."
"Do you have a lot of hawthorns on the mountain behind your house?" Fang Pingying suddenly thought of the many hawthorn products she had enjoyed in her previous life, thinking if there really were that many fresh hawthorns, it might be worth trying to make some.
Fenfang nodded, "Yes, they're growing very well, a huge patch of them, it's just that they're too sour for most of us to eat."
"Take me to see them," Fang Pingying urged Fenfang, eager to check if there was any chance of utilizing them.
"Alright." Fenfang, a straightforward person, put the washed hawthorns into a basin and called Fang Pingying and Luo Honglan to head towards the hawthorns on the hill behind her house.
Fenfang was right; there really was a large patch of hawthorn in her backyard with strong growth. It was the season when hawthorns ripen, and the clusters of bright red fruits were delightful to behold.
Moreover, Fang Pingying was pleasantly surprised to find that the deeper into the mountains they went, the more numerous the hawthorn trees were. The mountaintop was vast, and in recent years, the village seemed to have organized and planted quite a variety of fruit trees.
However, it seemed that at the time, the villagers planted the trees as if they were simply completing a task, without regularly tending to them, so many of the less hardy fruit trees weren't faring well.
Fang Pingying looked around; the terrain of this mountain was excellent, with the village river at the base, providing easy access to water.
At the forefront, because a household was living there with many domestic animals, the soil in this part of the mountain was relatively fertile.
If this mountain belonged to her own family, it would truly be a significant fortune.
Setting other things aside, just the unwanted fruit trees on the mountain were an asset. If the fruits weren't tasty, Fang Pingying could process them into jams or candied fruits and sell them in the city, where they would be a rare commodity at the time, and the price would surely not be low.
In her previous life, after leaving Luo Zhiyong, Fang Pingying had worked for a while in a jam processing workshop in the city, so she was extremely familiar with the jam-making process and was not afraid of failing to produce it.
Unfortunately, at the moment, the mountain had been allocated to individual households, with each family getting a small plot of land. In other words, the whole mountain belonged to Luojia Village, and the fruit trees were likely planted collectively by the villagers.
If it was just the villagers going up the mountain to pick fruits for consumption, no one would object. But once someone started using these trees for business, things would definitely not be so simple.
What Fang Pingying most wanted to do was to lease the entire mountain, then prune and manage the fruit trees properly; at the appropriate time, grafting those that needed it, fertilizing those that required it. Good quality fruit could be sold fresh, and the lesser ones wouldn't go to waste either, as there would always be a way to make money.
But this was a big project that would require a considerable amount of capital, which Fang Pingying did not currently have on hand, so she could only think about it for now.
However, big business aside, there was still small business to do.
She borrowed Fenfang's basket, and together with Luo Honglan, they picked a basket of hawthorns to take back, planning to buy some rock sugar and regular sugar from the village's grocery store later and make hawthorn jam at home.
When the two returned home with the hawthorns, Fang Xiu and Luo Cuilan had already prepared breakfast.
Both were incredibly lazy. Usually, Fang Pingying and Luo Honglan alternated cooking breakfast, always cooking something delicious for the family—congee one day, buns the next. But when it was their turn, they opted for simplicity, just mixing some flour and casually frying it into a few cakes.
Seeing Fang Pingying return, Fang Xiu deliberately nagged, "Oh, not even making breakfast and heading out early in the morning. Thought there was something important to do, but it turns out to be just a snack run."
Fang Pingying never liked to quarrel with Fang Xiu, knowing well that Fang Xiu had an argumentative tongue. No matter how unreasonable an issue, she could twist it to seem justified.
That's why Fang Pingying aimed for her Achilles' heel, "Fang Xiu, if you say one more word, we'll divide the chores evenly in the house from now on—one day's work for each person."