The Zhu family was quite generous and reserved a whole table for the helpers.
Pei Xia held a plate, picked some of each dish, lifted his robe and squatted down. He brought the plate to Qi Jiao's mouth and said softly, "You've become quite well - known today. Just now, many people asked the Zhu family about you. I'm sure you'll be busy from now on."
Qi Jiao smiled sweetly. She took two pairs of chopsticks and motioned for him to eat too.
"Busy is fine as long as I can earn silver."
This was the time for primitive accumulation. Apart from her cooking skills, she had no other capital.
Pei Xia paused for a moment and said frankly, "Actually, you don't have to work so hard. The money I earn, after giving some to Mother, the rest is yours."
As he said this, he put the three hundred - cash wage into Qi Jiao's hand.
Qi Jiao felt a heavy weight in her palm. It was a solid and beautiful silver ingot, probably the money Pei Xia earned from selling seafood in the past two days.
She was surprised for a moment, then shook her head with a smile. "If I asked you to give up going out to sea, would you be willing?"
Going out to sea was not only a means of livelihood but also his beloved career.
The sea would never betray him.
Racing on the boundless blue sea, it seemed that all troubles would disappear.
What Jiao Niang said was a gentle way of telling him that cooking was as important to her as going out to sea was to him. She would never give it up.
Pei Xia was silent for a while. He looked straight into Qi Jiao's eyes. "I understand. As long as it's what you like and love, no matter what it is, I'll help you."
Qi Jiao lowered her eyes, and her fair and pink face blushed slightly.
After a long time, she gave a soft hum and picked up a chopstick of candied sweet potatoes for Pei Xia.
After they ate something and tidied up, they carried the meat and vegetables given by Mrs. Zhu and rushed home before it got dark.
After this day, Qi Jiao's reputation as a good cook spread.
Throughout the neighboring villages, who didn't know that the newly - wedded bride who took the place of another in the Pei family was a smart and capable woman?
For a while, some people envied the Pei family.
There were even more who were jealous and resentful of the Pei family, especially the Qi family.
It was said that after Mrs. Qian's sister - in - law was taught a lesson by Pei Xia that day, she turned around and went to the Qi family to complain. She also exaggerated and distorted the facts outside.
Naturally, there were those who couldn't tell right from wrong. They all asserted that Qi Jiao had bad morals and was not a good person.
Mrs. Qian and Qi Laoda deeply regretted letting Qi Jiao go.
Such a big money - making machine had become part of the Pei family! Mrs. Qian was so angry that she couldn't even eat that day. She lay in bed, groaning about a heartache.
Qi Jiao didn't hear the outside rumors, nor did she care.
After taking a day off at home, Qi Jiao and Pei Xia went to the county town.
She now had a total of seventeen taels of silver in hand. Five taels and three hundred cash of it were given by Pei Xia, which was just enough to buy ducklings.
Pei Xia knew a chicken peddler. The two of them went straight there to look at the goods.
The chicken peddler rarely met someone who wanted to buy ducks. Seeing that they wanted a large quantity, he readily reduced the price by ten percent. Three hundred red - headed ducklings cost four taels and five hundred cash.
Qi Jiao also bought forty male and forty female ducks that were three months old. They would be able to hatch new ducklings next spring.
Pei Xia carefully asked about the precautions for taking care of the ducklings, and the chicken peddler quickly packed the ducks into baskets.
Since they bought so many ducks this time, an ordinary cart simply couldn't hold them all.
Pei Xia asked Ye Erlang, Ye Yun, who worked at the carriage and horse shop in the county town, for help.
Ye Yun was Mrs. Ye's son.
When the chicken peddler had finished loading all the ducks, Ye Yun came driving a carriage from the alley.
There were five or six mules harnessed in front of the carriage, and there was a huge carriage body at the back. The wheels creaked.
Ye Yun worked at the carriage and horse shop, specializing in helping people transport large - sized goods. He was in his early twenties, lean and strong, with smart eyes.
Ye Yun jumped off the carriage. First, he saw Pei Xia and patted him on the shoulder with a smile. "I just finished delivering the last batch of goods. Didn't I miss the time?"
Pei Xia and Ye Yun grew up together, so they got along very casually.
Pei Xia glanced at him casually. "I know you're a busy man. Hurry up and meet Jiao Niang."
Ye Yun had already heard about his mother adopting a god - daughter. He stepped forward and said to Qi Jiao with a big smile, "So this is Sister Jiao Niang."
It was also the first time he had seen Qi Jiao. He thought that seeing was indeed better than hearing a hundred times.
Such a delicate and talented person had become his sister. It was really good luck for his family.
Qi Jiao also returned the greeting. She slightly bent her eyes and called him Second Brother. "I've heard from God - Mother that Second Brother is busy with work in the county town. I've never had the chance to meet you. It's a coincidence that we meet today."
Ye Yun rummaged through his whole body and found a plum - shaped silver ingot to give to Qi Jiao. "I met my sister in a hurry and didn't bring a gift. This was rewarded by the mistress of the master's family yesterday. Sister, don't dislike it."
Silver ingots were usually less than one tael of silver. They were exquisitely shaped and could be used for gifting and playing.
Ye Yun was now Qi Jiao's second brother. Although it was a god - related family relationship, it was much stronger than a real - blood relationship.
Qi Jiao accepted his kindness with a smile. After declining twice, she took it. Ye Yun grinned and went to carry the ducks with Pei Xia.
How to place several hundred ducks was a problem.
Pei Xia had already built a temporary duck shed in the backyard with wooden boards and stones two days ago.
It had been fumigated with atractylodes and realgar. There were neatly arranged water troughs and food troughs inside, clean and brand - new.
The ducks would rest in the shed at night and be let out to forage on the seashore mudflats during the day.
But so many ducks couldn't stay in the house for long after all. There were also chickens raised in the backyard.
If one duck got a plague, all the ducks would be doomed.
So he and Qi Jiao planned to build a small duck farm on the eight - mu paddy field. In this way, they wouldn't have to drive the ducks around every day.
They were both action - oriented people. They decided to do it as soon as they made the plan.
Since they bought the ducklings, Pei Li and Pei Jin seemed to have found the joy of raising them. They even went out to play less.
Red - headed ducks, as the name suggests, had a tuft of brownish - red hair on their heads, gray wings, and white bodies.
Every day after dinner, Pei Li would hold a thin bamboo pole and drive the ducks to the seaside.
The fluffy little ducklings waddled out of the door. They weren't afraid of water. They followed the big ducks to swim and gradually learned to eat small fish and shrimps.
Pei Jin was responsible for feeding the ducks. She was very careful. The feed made of grain was mixed with shrimp and snail meat. The little ducklings were getting rounder and cuter day by day.
There were many villagers, and building a house was always very fast.
Pei Xia and the young and strong men in Baiyun Village were busy for half a month. They enclosed a two - mu mudflat and finally built the duck farm.
As soon as one entered the main gate, the duck - raising shed was on the left, and there were five stone - built workshops on the right.
One was specially for people to live in. Once the duck farm was completed, someone had to guard it here.
One was used as an incubation greenhouse.
One was used as an isolation room. If a duck got sick, it had to be moved out for treatment.
There was also the largest one, which was currently empty and reserved for a production workshop.
The design of the duck farm was worked out by Pei Xia and Qi Jiao together. It couldn't compare with an automated duck farm, but it was enough to meet the current needs.
Most of the materials for building the duck farm were owned by the Pei family.
There were wood and stones on the Pei family's firewood mountain.
Then there were the materials for building the shed, such as bricks, tiles, mud, and ash. Pei Xia went to the town and the county to buy them all.
And there was the wage for hiring people to build the house. All in all, it cost a total of nine taels of silver.
Actually, this was already quite economical. Just the wage alone was much less than they had expected.
Pei Xia and Tang Guiniang's mother - son had always been very popular. As soon as the villagers heard that their family was going to build a factory building, many of the young and strong men in the village were eager to help. They didn't ask for much wage, only two meals a day.