frightfiction Chapter 122 The First New Year on Qiongzhou Island
Chapter 122 The First New Year on Qiongzhou Island
Originally, after Xiao Yi finished his work in the military camp, he came to the Su family to arrest Qing'er, preparing to send him, the King of Lingnan, back to Panyu City.
Because the Lingnan Palace was almost completed and with Qiongzhou Island as the front protection, Panyu City was also safer than Qiongzhou Island.
But Qing'er was unwilling to leave, and after repeated arguments, they finally gave in. After Qing'er spent the New Year at the Su family, they would return to the Lingnan Palace.
The New Year has arrived quietly.
Dad Su finally finished dealing with the things he was responsible for after the war, and after more than a month, he finally returned home.
This year during the Chinese New Year, there was one more person in the family, so Su Ma prepared even more things.
Originally, Su's mother asked Su's father to invite Xiao Yi to the Su family to celebrate the New Year, but Su's father said that as the commander-in-chief, Xiao Yi had to stay in the barracks to celebrate the New Year with the soldiers.
Helplessly, Su's mother could only prepare some food and asked Su's father to arrange someone to deliver it to Xiao Yi in the military camp.
Although they celebrated the New Year in the south, the Su family had always followed the local custom of making dumplings during the New Year when they lived in the valleys and border towns, and most of the servants in the family were from the north.
After eating the New Year’s Eve dinner, everyone prepares to make dumplings while staying up late, waiting for the arrival of the new year.
After the New Year's Eve dinner, the servants were no longer needed to serve them. Su Ma asked the housekeeper to prepare ingredients for making dumplings, as well as melon seeds and some snacks, so that the servants could have fun on their own.
The family made dumplings in the living room.
"Brother Qing'er, you are so stupid. The dumpling filling is exposed." Ningning couldn't help but complain when she saw Qing'er making dumplings clumsily.
Qing'er looked at the dumpling with the stuffing exposed in her hand, and then looked at the dumpling in Ningning's hand that was not exposed but also looked bad, "How dare you say that to me? Your dumpling is not exposed, but look at it, does it still look like a dumpling? I think it's more like a bun."
"Brother Qing'er, how old am I and how old are you?"
Qing'er was speechless after being rebuked by Ningning's sharp words.
An An and A Wen, who were standing by, looked at the two childish ghosts in front of them and didn't want to get involved in their war. They just silently wrapped the dumplings in their hands, occasionally looking at each other and laughing secretly.
An An looked at the perfect dumplings in her hands and felt secretly happy, thinking that she was better than her sister and brother Qing'er.
"Okay, stop bullying your brother Qing'er. You're only good at talking." Mother Su interrupted their quarrel at the right time.
Father Su, who was rolling out the dumpling wrappers, looked at the heartwarming scene and couldn't help but joked, "Whoever makes the ugliest dumplings will get to eat them all."
"Daddy!"
"Uncle Su!"
The two childish ghosts suddenly united.
In such a lively atmosphere, everyone welcomed the new year. Just after midnight, firecrackers were set off everywhere outside.
At this moment, everyone is watching the fireworks in the Su family yard. This is the arrangement of Su's father and Xiao Yi. Tonight, fireworks will be set off in four directions in Qiongzhou City to ensure that everyone in the city can see them.
After the development of explosives, Su's father also taught the craftsmen how to make fireworks, and the craftsmen developed fireworks to present to the new emperor.
After watching the fireworks, everyone cooked and ate the dumplings they had made.
Before going back to bed, Su's father and mother gave red envelopes to each child.
The next day, it was time for the Su family’s annual glutinous rice cake making project.
The soft, glutinous and chewy glutinous rice cake, dipped in syrup with sesame and peanut crumbs, or rolled in a crispy and spicy starter and then coated with soybean powder, has a unique flavor.
If Su Ma hadn't supervised them, the children would have eaten another one. But Su Ma was afraid that they would have food stagnation, so she only allowed each person to eat a certain amount.
During the Chinese New Year, many people came to the Su family to pay New Year's greetings, and Su's mother also went to other families to pay New Year's greetings.
Su Weixi didn't want to go out, so Su's mother took the three little ones, An'an, Ningning and Qing'er, out to pay New Year's greetings.
Originally, Su Ma was still worried whether it would be inappropriate to bring Qing'er with her, after all, he was the younger brother of the new emperor and the current King of Lingnan. Although Qiongzhou was remote, there were many people who had served as officials in the capital or whose families were in the capital.
But Qing'er said that he rarely appeared in front of people in the capital, and many people had seen him, but those who could see him would not appear here. Just let Su Ma introduce him as her nephew, and don't worry too much.
So, Qing'er went out with Su Ma and others to pay New Year's greetings every day in a dignified manner, and received a lot of red envelopes.
When the three little guys came back, they would share the red envelopes they got with Su Weixi. Su Weixi naturally didn't want to bully the kids and was unwilling to share their red envelopes, but he couldn't resist the determination of the three little guys and accepted them.
After the New Year, Qing'er followed the agreement he had made with Xiao Yi, left the Su family, and returned to his Lingnan Palace.
Before leaving, Qing'er was reluctant to leave, so Su Ma and Su Weixi prepared a lot of delicious food for her. They also promised him that they would send him food every month, and he could write to her if he wanted to eat something.
Qing'er also made an appointment with everyone that once his palace was repaired, he would invite everyone to visit his palace.
After Qing'er left, Su Ma began to force An'an and Ningning to review their homework at home.
Su Ma herself started to start up the two workshops herself. Because Su Weixi and the others had encountered an accident before, Su Ma did not allow Su Weixi to go out, and it was not convenient for her to go out either. So she arranged for Butler Sun to be responsible for anything that required going out.
The first thing to do is to find someone to clean the place and recruit workers.
The first choice for recruiting people is the village near the workshop. Su Weixi also specifically instructed Su Ma and Butler Sun to give priority to suitable candidates from the Chen Cun family.
Su Weixi was in charge of the products to be made in the seafood processing workshop. Considering Su's father's current status, Su's mother as the head of the family, and Su Weixi as an unmarried girl, it was not appropriate for her to teach the workers.
So the two of them selected some people to train at home first, and then let them teach the workers in the workshop.
Su Weixi chose Qiao'er's mother to be in charge of the seafood processing workshop, and left the preparation of squid shreds, sea urchin sauce, dried fish, etc. to Qiao'er's mother.
Because Qiao'er's mother has learned many new dishes under the guidance of Su Weixi and Su's mother over the years, it was easy for her to get the hang of it.
Su Ma's skin care products processing workshop was run by Aunt Liu, who was sent by Xiao Yi before. Since she had some knowledge of medicine, Su Ma taught her how to make skin care products with added traditional Chinese medicine.
Since Liu Ma's main responsibility was to protect Su Ma's safety, she was only sent out temporarily. She would come back to Su Ma after she found a suitable person to take over.
If Su Ma wants to go out recently, Furong will accompany her.
A lot of materials are needed to start the two workshops, such as seafood products and coconuts, which are purchased from surrounding villages.
Since the purchase quantity was relatively large, Su Ma arranged for housekeeper Sun to send people to many surrounding villages to promote the product.
As a result, except for Chenjia Village, many people in other villages did not believe it. Steward Sun could only bring up the identity of Su Ma as the wife of a fifth-rank general to make some people believe it.
Finally, it was Su Weixi who gave Butler Sun an idea. He asked Butler Sun to go to the county government to find the county magistrate, who would send runners to notify each village and help Butler Sun select a person in charge from each village. Only then could the purchase of raw materials proceed smoothly.
As for the county magistrate, he naturally agreed after knowing this. He didn't need to give him any expensive gifts, because the two workshops would have to pay taxes. It could also solve some employment problems, purchase seafood and coconuts, and boost the local economy.
And all of this is beneficial to his political achievements.
The county magistrate would naturally not disagree. Even if it didn't matter how much political achievements it could bring him, he would help just for Su's father's sake.
According to housekeeper Sun, Magistrate Ma also called all the village heads under his jurisdiction to the county government office and personally told them to manage the villagers in their own villages well. Those who can work in workshops should not be cunning and those who sell goods to workshops should not pass off inferior goods as good ones.
Therefore, after the New Year, the two workshops were busily prepared.
The Su family's reputation was also well-known in Qiongzhou City. From the high-ranking officials in the city to the fishermen in the villages, almost everyone knew the Su family.
Of course, there were those who watched the show and those who were happy. However, the Su family didn't care and only focused on preparing for the opening of the workshop.