Chapter 620: Imperial Examination Family-Raising System (29)

After selecting the horses, she went to choose a low-key carriage with green curtains, hitched it to the frame, and headed home.

After consuming black beans containing Spirit Spring, the big black horse became more spirited; though it had not reached the level of sapience, it was much smarter than ordinary horses.

Xie Yang sat on the carriage shaft; there was no need for her to flick the whip, not even a single empty crack was needed, and the big black horse ran swiftly. Except for needing Xie Yang to provide direction at forks in the road, it ran fast and steady the rest of the time.

Song Yanqing refused to enter the carriage alone, so he sat on the shaft as well, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with his wife. He tucked her cloak in for her, then took her slightly cool hand: "Wife, teach me."

He wanted to learn how to drive the carriage so that his wife would not have to sit outside blowing in the cold wind.

Xie Yang said with a smile: "Look at how smart our Yefeng is, why would it need driving? Just point out the direction at the forks, and it will run on its own the rest of the time."

"Neigh—"

The big black horse let out an excited and loud cry, clearly agreeing with Xie Yang's words: it was a smart horse! It could run fast and steady without its master's supervision.

Xie Yang: "..."

Has this horse really become a spirit?

Song Yanqing raised an eyebrow: "Since that is the case, Wife, you go into the carriage, and I will try to see if it is truly as smart as you say."

Upon hearing this, the big black horse became even more high-spirited, vowing to show this human its performance, and immediately spread its four hooves to run even more steadily and quickly.

Xie Yang: "..."

So easily provoked? It seems this horse is at most a half-spirit.

The carriage clattered into Qinghe Village, drawing a crowd of half-grown children:

"Wow! A big black horse!"

"The big black horse is running so fast!"

"I recognize the one driving the carriage! It's the scholar from the end of the village!"

"I recognize him too! His house is not far from mine!"

Perhaps having heard the commotion, people living near the village road opened their doors one after another to look.

They were quite startled at the sight:

"Isn't this Er Lang of the Song family? Why is he driving the carriage? Could it be that this carriage was bought by his family?"

"A carriage set must cost at least fifteen Silver, right?"

"This horse is sleek and shiny and runs so fast, fifteen Silver might not be enough."

"Hah! The Song family third branch has struck it rich!"

"Needless to say! If they hadn't struck it rich, how could they afford a carriage."

The news of the Song family third branch buying a carriage soon spread throughout the village.

Wang Shi could not sit still again.

Lao San still said he had no money, so how could he afford to buy a carriage if he had no money?

"This might not necessarily have been bought by Lao San." Song Zhikang returned from outside and muttered, "I saw the carriage drive straight into the Farm that was part of Yanqing's wife's dowry; it is ten-to-nine that she paid the Silver to buy it."

"..."

The Farm had a ready-made stable, as well as hay and feed stored in advance.

Xie Yang unhitched the carriage, tied the big black horse to the stable, fed it plenty of hay, gave it diluted Spirit Spring Water, and smoothed its fur: "This will be your home from now on, and I will come to see you often. Your performance today was great! Now have a good rest; I will need you to make a trip to the County tomorrow!"

"Neigh!"

Yefeng let out an excited cry, then snorted, trotted around the stable, and seemed very satisfied with this new home.

Xie Yang left with Song Yanqing, feeling at ease.

"Mistress!"

As she came out of the stable and was about to go to the sheep pen to check on the ewe that provided the family with endless milk and the three increasingly robust lambs, she ran into the farm manager who had come specifically to find her:

"You've finally returned! The crab cages set last night were pulled up this morning, and they were full of crabs, every one of them very fat. Should we catch them all, or put some back?"

Xie Yang had almost forgotten about this!

After digging the artificial lake, she had stocked it with many small Fish, Shrimp, and Crabs lured from Yingyue Lake using the Spirit Spring, and periodically threw in some homemade fish feed. Later, as things piled up, she gradually forgot about it.

It wasn't until she wandered onto the Farm a few days ago and saw the faint shadows of lake crabs in the water weeds that she suddenly remembered it was almost winter; the lake crabs must be very fat by now, right?

So, taking advantage of the two days Song Yanqing was home on leave, she had the farm manager set some crab cages to catch some crabs and prepare a lake crab feast for him to taste.

Since every one of them was very fat, why put them back?

"Catch them all! You all keep a few each to have a taste, and put the rest in baskets; I will take them away in a moment."

"Yes!"

It wasn't until she saw the baskets filled with lake crabs that Xie Yang understood why the farm manager had asked that—because there were really a lot!

One crab cage had been set, and it caught five full baskets of large lake crabs! And every single one was plump and full!

Xie Yang kept one basket to send to her maiden home tomorrow, and seeing the village head's little grandson running past her door, she called him over and had him take a string of crabs home.

The rest were cooked and eaten that very evening.

Steamed Crab!

Spicy Crab!

Lake Crab, Mushroom, and Tofu Stew!

She also pickled a jar of Drunken Crab and simmered two small jars of Crab Roe Paste.

Crab meat is cold in nature, so that evening, the family also warmed a pot of Yellow Wine.

This wine was brought back when they passed a winery while taking Song Yanqing to report to the County School last time.

Buying a whole jar was much more cost-effective than buying it in small quantities. Lin Shi thought that, firstly, it was needed for the New Year's ancestral rites, and secondly, her son was now a scholar and would need it to entertain guests in the future, so she gritted her teeth and bought a five-jin small jar.

It was precisely because there was Yellow Wine at home that Xie Yang thought of pickling Drunken Crab.

Otherwise, even if she had top-quality Nu'er Hong in her stockpile, she wouldn't have been able to take it out to use.

She added a drop of Spirit Spring when pickling the Drunken Crab to make up for the blandness of the wine.

She also took the opportunity to mix some diluted Spirit Spring into the warm Yellow Wine, and the whole family drank until they were tipsy.

"I didn't expect the wine from that distillery to taste so good!"

Song Zhisheng smacked his lips, puzzled: "When I tasted a sip back then, it wasn't this fragrant."

Lin Shi guessed: "Perhaps the sample was from a jar that had been open for several days, so the fragrance had dissipated. This was just unsealed and scooped out of the jar, so naturally it's fragrant!"

Song Zhisheng took another sip, shaking his head in satisfaction: "Then when I take our son to the County School this time, should I bring back another jar?"

Lin Shi hesitated.

The wine was good wine, and buying a whole jar was more cost-effective than buying it loose in town, but the family's money still needed to be saved to pay back the in-laws; if they kept spending like this, when would they ever pay off their debts?

Xie Yang saw her mother-in-law's hesitation and said: "Doesn't our family have a carriage? When taking my husband to the County School, we can pick up a few jars of wine on the way back, saving a wasted trip. If we buy more, we can even negotiate the price with the distillery owner. I will provide the capital to buy the wine, and after it's brought back, you and Father can be responsible for selling it in the village. As the end of the year approaches, there will surely be many people in the village wanting to buy wine for sacrifices; since they can buy it without running to town, I think many people will come to buy it. Whatever you sell, the price difference belongs to you. It doesn't matter if it doesn't sell out; there are so many Crabs and Fish in the lake, I can make them into Drunken Crab and Drunken Fish Jerky, and take them to my maiden family's shop to sell on consignment at the year-end market, so there's no fear of them going to waste."

The more Lin Shi listened, the brighter her eyes became; her daughter-in-law's words seemed to have opened a door to a new world for her...