Only Uncle Huo was at home. Several villagers who were interested in growing medicinal herbs with him were sitting and chatting with Uncle Huo.
"Father, have you all had lunch yet?" Gu Fengyan asked, putting down the change of clothes he was holding for Ye Bao.
Several villagers smiled and agreed.
Ye Bao immediately threw herself into Huo Adie's arms and softly called him Uncle.
"I've already eaten, and I was just talking to you aunties... Why did you bring this little one here? Is your aunt done with her business?" Father Huo affectionately pinched Ye Bao's cheek.
Gu Fengyan poured more tea for the villagers and said, "My aunt and the others haven't had time to look after Xiaobao these past few days, so they asked Huo Duan and me to help take care of him for a few days..."
Father Huo had always liked Ye Bao, and he wanted to teach them how to take care of children so that he could be more comfortable when he had one later. So he nodded, "By the way..."
He looked at the villagers and said, "You aunties said you want to join us in planting medicinal herbs, but I know nothing about it. Can you tell me?"
Gu Fengyan nodded, "Aunties, please have a seat. I'll be right there after I put Xiaobao's clothes away."
After pouring out the water, he took Ye Bao's few changes of clothes and went inside.
Ye Bao was clinging to his uncle, and several villagers were also teasing Ye Bao. Seeing this, Huo Duan made an excuse to go inside and get the medicinal herb seeds, and followed Gu Fengyan inside.
Ye Bao was only staying for a day or two, so she only brought one change of clothes. Gu Fengyan folded the clothes and put them away. Just as she was about to go out, she saw Huo Duan walk in.
Huo Duan looked at him with a wronged expression.
Gu Fengyan asked knowingly, "What's wrong, Mr. Huo? Who upset you?"
He took the medicinal herb seeds and ledgers out, and Huo Duan, in a fit of pique, refused to help, just watching without saying a word.
Having just thrown a tantrum last night, Gu Fengyan knew exactly what he was doing, but he ignored it... There were several large bags of medicinal herb seeds, and he couldn't even carry one of them, so he just dragged them out.
Huo Duan stared at it for a long time, trying to hold back, but finally couldn't take it anymore. He snatched the medicinal herb seeds away and said fiercely, "You did this on purpose!"
He easily picked up the huge bag with one hand, walked a few steps to the door, and turned back to Gu Fengyan, saying, "I'll deal with you tonight."
"He's just like a child," Gu Fengyan chuckled, taking the ledger with him as he followed.
Several more villagers came into the courtyard and were talking to Uncle Huo and the others. When they saw him and Huo Duan carrying things out, they quickly helped put the things away and gathered around.
"Oh, are these all medicinal herb seeds?" A villager asked in surprise when he saw what was in the bag while helping to receive the goods.
Gu Fengyan put the ledger on the table and smiled, "This is just one of them. There are a few more bags in the house. I'll have to trouble you uncles to help Huo Duan take them out."
The group of people naturally did not refuse and followed Huo Duan into the house to carry out several large bags.
An auntie from the same village, who looked familiar, couldn't contain herself and immediately asked Gu Fengyan, "Could it be that all of these are going to be allocated to us for planting? I'd like to ask if we can plant on those few acres of land on the riverbank?"
Gu Fengyan had seen this villager before; she had come when he hired people to collect medicinal herbs last time, but unfortunately, he had already recruited enough people at that time.
Seeing that the herb gatherers were making a lot of money, she had always wanted to join them, but hadn't had the chance. Yesterday, when she heard that the Huo family was looking for people to cultivate medicinal herbs, she came without hesitation.
The remaining villagers who arrived early also chimed in with their questions.
Seeing this, Huo Duan smiled and said, "Aunties, don't rush to agree. Let's explain things to everyone first, and then you can decide whether to plant it or not. This will prevent any unpleasantness later and ensure that you don't suffer any losses."
The villagers, hearing the sincerity in his words, quieted down and asked the two of them to explain.
Gu Fengyan took out several kinds of medicinal herb seeds to show them, saying, "These are all medicinal herbs that can be grown in the village, and they are easy to plant. Just scatter them on the ground, so you uncles and aunts don't need to worry about planting them..."
The villagers were relieved to hear that it wasn't difficult to grow, but then someone asked, "But what if you don't want the medicinal herbs after the harvest?"
Upon hearing this, everyone found it quite reasonable and joined in the agreement.
"You don't need to worry about that," Huo Duan smiled, took out the document he had prepared in advance and showed it to the villagers. "This is a document that Yan Ge'er and I prepared in advance. It clearly states that we will buy all the medicinal herbs after they are grown. You don't need to worry, uncles and aunts... Besides, medicinal herbs are needed everywhere, so we are not afraid of not being able to sell them."
After discussing it for a while, the villagers cautiously found a literate young man to help them verify the documents. Seeing that there was nothing wrong with them, they all gathered around Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan to receive the medicinal herb seeds.
Before he could finish speaking, Gu Fengyan felt a headache coming on.
Huo Duan hurriedly slapped the table twice and said, "Uncles and aunts, please don't rush. There's something else we need to tell you in advance... These medicinal herb seeds are expensive, so we need to charge a few coins to avoid losing money later. If you can accept this, then come and line up to pick them up."
Sure enough, the villagers fell silent as soon as they heard that the medicinal herb seeds would cost money.
"I thought it was free. If it were charging money, I'm afraid we wouldn't have any spare land to grow this..." Some villagers had already given up and complained.
Some villagers were still hesitant.
Huo Duan and Gu Fengyan were not surprised, nor did they suddenly change their minds and say they didn't want the money... After all, these medicinal herb seeds had indeed cost a lot of money. If they were to give them away for free, these villagers certainly wouldn't put much effort into planting them. If the quality of the herbs was poor and they couldn't recoup their costs, they would have nowhere to turn for help.
Why not just charge them a little money and make them pay more attention?
"Uncles and aunts, please consider it carefully. It's okay if you don't accept it," Gu Fengyan said.
The villagers said that to see if they would give away the medicinal herb seeds for free if they stopped planting them, but they didn't expect Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan to make no response.
For a moment, they didn't know what to do.
After a while, some of the bolder villagers were the first to take out the money, receive the corresponding medicinal seeds and documents, and pay a few coins as a token gesture. Others, unwilling to pay, left unhappily.
With the first person doing it, the remaining hesitant villagers became bolder and each took a lot of medicinal herb seeds... Gu Fengyan explained to them in detail the things that needed to be carefully done when planting the medicinal herbs. The two of them worked until the afternoon, and most of the medicinal herb seeds were distributed. They kept some that were suitable for growing on the back mountain and waited to plant them the next day.
As it was getting dark, Ye Shan finished his work and arrived. Gu Fengyan and the others gave him a brief explanation of the matter. Ye Shan then chatted with Liu Jingyu for a while before returning to the Ye family early... He was going to take Liu Jingyu back to her parents' home the next day.
I dare not stay up too late.
Ye Bao, that little thing, is like a winter melon on the roof, rolling around wherever the wind blows, never settling down... When Liu Jingyu called him when we were leaving, he actually wanted to go back with us.
Fortunately, Ye Shan picked him up and put him in Gu Fengyan's arms. He also said that Brother Jing was not in good health and that he would take him to play in a few days. After much persuasion, Ye Bao reluctantly agreed to stay.
Ye Shan grabbed Liu Jingyu and ran back, afraid that Ye Bao would change his mind and want to go back with him... In a flash, they were gone.
Ye Bao pouted and looked sullen after seeing her handsome older brother leave.
"How about I ask your brother Erdan to take you to take a bath?" Gu Fengyan picked him up and coaxed him, then looked at Huo Duan.
Ye Bao glanced at Huo Duan, whose face was gloomy and who was gritting his teeth, then hugged Gu Fengyan's neck and shrank back, "No, I want Brother Yan to wash me."
Ye Bao is a boy, and Gu Fengyan is a young man; how could they possibly bathe Ye Bao?
He hesitated for a moment, then looked at Ye Bao's aggrieved expression and felt extremely sorry for her.
Huo's father chimed in at the opportune moment, "Don't be so particular about that. You and Huo Duan can just give him a quick wash."
Gu Fengyan agreed... The water was heated in the afternoon, so he put Ye Bao down and led him into the house to get a change of clothes.
After helping Father Huo back to his room to rest, Huo Duan quickly returned to his room as well. Ye Bao was sitting on a stool playing, and Gu Fengyan was looking for clothes for him. Seeing Huo Duan come in, he asked, "Father, are you resting?"
Huo Duan, with his hands folded, squeezed to the side and intentionally or unintentionally rubbed against Gu Fengyan's arm. "Well, I've already prepared the water. You can take a bath first."
"Give the little one a bath first." Gu Fengyan seemed not to understand, and pulled his elbow back, calling to Ye Bao, who was playing nearby, "Little Bao, come with your brother to take a bath."
Upon hearing this, Ye Bao happily ran over and hugged Gu Fengyan tightly.
He had completely forgotten that there was such a large light bulb here.
Huo Duan coughed in disappointment, "You've had a long day, you should rest. I'll take care of this little thing."
Then he said to Ye Bao, "How about big brother takes you there?"
Ye Bao was drowsy. She opened her sleepy eyes and looked at Huo Duan, then at Gu Fengyan. She pouted, kicked her legs, and tried to get down. "I don't want to! Brother always gets water in my ears."
Gu Fengyan chuckled and reached out to take Ye Bao's hand, "Let me do it."
Huo Duan is good at other things, but taking care of children is a different story. Last time he was giving Ye Bao a bath, he accidentally splashed water on her and Ye Bao immediately started crying.
She developed a phobia of him.
Huo Duan clicked his tongue and lightly pinched Ye Bao's arm, "Why are you, a man, so delicate?"
"Ouch! Brother pinched me too hard..." Ye Bao cried out dramatically, clutching her arm and looking at Gu Fengyan with pleading eyes.
Judging from his eyes, he'd probably burst into tears if Huo Duan held him for a little longer.
Huo Duan nearly choked with anger, and pinched Ye Bao's chubby cheeks with renewed vigor, "What are you yelling about? Your brother didn't even use any force..."
"Ouch!" Ye Bao's eyes were brimming with tears as she looked at Gu Fengyan with a wronged expression. "Big brother, he bullied me. He pinched me. It hurts so much."
Gu Fengyan was both amused and exasperated. He immediately picked up Ye Bao and coaxed her, "Don't cry, brother will take you to take a bath..."
"Big brother is a jerk, let's ignore him." He smiled at Huo Duan, then picked up Ye Bao and went out.
Ye Bao is a young boy, but he's already mastered the art of being a green tea master.
I don't know who I learned it from.
"How did I become a jerk?" Huo Duan looked at Gu Fengyan's retreating figure, spinning around in frustration...
A note from the author:
Thank you to JiuAi@, Lulalalu, and emmm, my little angels, for the nutrient solution. (Sticky)
Chapter 56
Gu Fengyan washed Ye Bao, changed her into clean clothes, and carried her back to her room. Huo Duan was silently calculating accounts under the lamp.
It was past nine o'clock at night. Ye Bao, groggily rubbing her eyes while hugging Gu Fengyan's neck, said, "Brother, I'm sleepy."
"Little Bao, go to sleep first. I'll cover you with the blanket." Gu Fengyan placed Ye Bao against the wall, carefully covered him with the blanket, and coaxed him for a long time before finally getting him to sleep.
Finally having a moment of free time, Gu Fengyan took out some clothes from the closet, thought for a moment, then put them back and changed into a snow-white nightgown.
This material is very lightweight, perfect for this kind of occasion.
"All done?" He walked over with the clothes in his arms, his gaze passing over Huo Duan's shoulder, and said with a smile in his voice, "I just put that little guy to sleep, don't wake him up... otherwise we won't be able to get anything done tonight."
Huo Duan closed the ledger, glanced up and saw that Gu Fengyan's collar was a little damp. He had unbuttoned it, and his snow-white collarbone was like a piece of jade, ready to be picked.
It's as if you can do anything about it.
He heard Ye Bao's deep breathing as she slept, and stared at Gu Fengyan's neck as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down... He forcibly looked away.
She stood up. "Ah Yan still recognizes me? I thought you'd forgotten who I am."
She's throwing a tantrum at him again.
Gu Fengyan sighed helplessly, "How could I not recognize him... Why are you getting angry with a child? He doesn't live with us every day."
He wanted to go over and hug Huo Duan to comfort him, but Huo Duan dodged him immediately.
It wasn't that he was really angry with Gu Fengyan... The two of them hadn't been close for so many days, how could he possibly tolerate Gu Fengyan getting close?
But it's really inconvenient at times like this.
"Why would I be angry... I'll go get you ready to sleep. You've had a long day, get ready and go to bed early." After saying that, he hurried out the door.