Huazhou is the state of melons and fruits, dried and fresh melons and fruits are endless in the city all year round, and dried fruits such as raisins and walnuts are marketed in Dazheng Prefecture. From July to September every year, it is the time when Huazhou melons and fruits are intensively marketed, white apricots, peaches, fragrant pears, red dates, honeydew melons, grapes, and the sweet fragrance of fruits is diffused throughout Huiye Mansion.

In the streets and alleys, there are vendors pushing carts, small ladies straddle bamboo baskets, and the crisp voice is selling along the street, "Refreshing grapes, tempting peaches, fragrant crisp pears, sweet melons, bite a bite and sweeten your teeth." Xinfei and Siyu had no resistance to the fruit, so they stopped the vendor and bought it back in large baskets. The fruit is sweet but not easy to hide for a long time, and you have to throw away the melons and fruits that rot every day if you can't win.

Jiang Anyi was born in poverty, and he couldn't help but feel heartache after seeing too much, and complained: "You can buy as much as you can eat, wouldn't it be a pity to throw it away like this." ”

Siyu said indifferently: "Uncle, this big basket is only three hundred wen, and it is not worth much." Besides, if we don't buy it, won't those farmers who grow melons and fruits be even more rotten, and they will really have heartache. ”

Jiang Anyi was speechless, indeed, compared to the farmers who grow melons and fruits, it is better to throw them away than to throw them away.

The next day, Jiang Anyi took the time to walk around the Huiye Mansion, and there were vendors selling fruits everywhere, and the sound of selling fruits was everywhere. Jiang Anyi stopped in front of a peasant woman's stall, and when she saw the business coming to her door, the woman with a dark face asked earnestly: "This son, what fruit do you want?" Honeydew melon is three pennies, grapes are two pennies a catty, and fresh apricots and peaches are a penny a catty. ”

Jiang Anyi picked up a honeydew melon and asked, "Are these melons and fruits grown by you?" ”

"Not all, there are still some sold from the village", the woman quickly took the melon from Jiang Anyi's hand, and said with a smile: "This grape belongs to my family, but it's sweet, son, come two bunches?" ”

Seeing that Jiang Anyi was silent, the woman quickly picked two bunches of grapes and said, "The grapes are four catties and three taels, even if you have four catties, eight cents, plus this honeydew melon, you will be charged a total of eleven wen." Childe, put it up for you. ”

The woman took the straw bag from the side of the stall and put the fruit in it. Jiang Anyi touched his pocket, embarrassed, he didn't bring any money, but he was carrying a silver ticket in his arms, and it was estimated that he couldn't find a small business. Stubbornly took out a silver ticket of five taels from her arms, and the woman smiled bitterly: "Childe, don't find the little woman happy, these more than ten dollars still use silver tickets, and you can buy the melons and fruits on this stall without one or two silver." ”

"I came in a hurry, and I was busy with scattered change, otherwise, I want all the melons and fruits in this stall, you send them to me." Jiang Anyi said.

The woman didn't look like a joke when she saw Jiang Anyi, and immediately smiled, and thanked: "Thank you, Master, you are a bodhisattva who saves suffering, and these melons and fruits are good for you for 800 yuan." ”

Jiang Anyi learned that the farmers in Huazhou will grow melons and fruits more or less, and the terroir in various places is different, the grain yield in Huazhou is not high, but the melons and fruits are high-yielding, and they are sweeter than those in other places, but unfortunately the fresh fruits cannot be preserved, so they can only be sold nearby, and the price cannot be raised.

One or two pieces of silver sent away the peasant woman who sold fruits, and asked people to bring the melons and fruits they bought to the yamen and distribute them to the officials and officials, Jiang Anyi paced in the garden of the back ya, as the governor of a state, the people's livelihood and the livelihood of the people, which is the foundation of the official. If you can sell the melons and fruits of Huazhou to the states like the Qingwu tea in Fuluo County, then your own thorny history will definitely be supported by the people.

When Huai En left, Jiang Anyi gave him two carts of melons and fruits, which were sealed and packed with ceramic jars in the way of transporting tribute, and I don't know if he could eat them all the way to Beijing. Huai En ate a full meal of melons and fruits this time, and his private pocket was also full, this father-in-law was considered to have a relationship with Jiang Anyi, and every time he brought him good news, intentionally or unintentionally, Huai En revealed his good words to the Son of Heaven.

Officialdom has been mixed for many years, Jiang Anyi is no longer a stunned person who has just entered the officialdom, and naturally knows what Grandpa Huaien likes and how to repay it. The weight of the fluttering silver ticket, coupled with a few pieces of mutton fat jade produced in Zitian, Huazhou, made Father-in-law Huaien's eyes almost narrow.

When the melons and fruits are fragrant, it is also the time for Huazhou to pay tribute to fruits, according to the practice of previous years, carefully selected melons and fruits are packed into the ceramic jar, and they are transported to Kyoto three times a month, and the melons and fruits that enter the palace do not know how much can be saved, these are not what Jiang Anyi is concerned about, what he is worried about is how to keep the melons and fruits in the fields for the people of Huazhou.

The tea and rice were not fragrant for several days, Xin Fei couldn't see it, and persuaded: "Anyi, no one has solved this problem of melons and fruits that are easy to rot for more than a thousand years, how can you come up with a way for a while, I know that you are anxious to change the people of the state, but you can't be in a hurry to do things, don't hold back a good thing." ”

"Grapes can be collected to make wine, or it is good to make raisins, but do you think other fruits can be made into wine or dried? Dried peaches, dried honeydew melons, peach wine, apricot wine? Jiang Anyi is immersed in the problem of melons and fruits and can't extricate himself, and there are many ideas these days, which have been tried by predecessors, but the results are not great, and they can't solve the problem fundamentally.

Jiang Anyong is very confident in his brother, when the family was so poor that he couldn't open the pot, it was his brother who came up with a rope sleeve to hunt beasts, and later made bamboo utensils and sold bamboo fans, making crisp white bi step by step, making wine, and making perfumes.

"Brother, I believe in you." Jiang Anyong cheered for his brother and said: "You must be able to come up with a way, didn't you say that the rope sleeve method of hunting beasts was seen from the book?" Is there a way to store fruit in the book? ”

Jiang Anyi's whimsical ideas continued, and he couldn't tell people that the demon master came from his brain, so he had to deduce that it was from an ancient book, Jiang Anyong's words reminded Jiang Anyi, and he looked in his head to see what good way the demon master had. In the world where the demon master lives, there are strange things to transport goods, and it seems that the distance from Huazhou to Jingshi is only two or three hours, so there is no need to worry about it at all.

Siyu didn't know much about Jiang Anyi's past, so he pulled Jiang Anyong to tell her a story, Jiang Anyong spoke energetically, and even Xinfei and Shi listened to it. When they heard Jiang Anyi boiling bamboo in the pot and adding salt and peppercorns, everyone laughed, and the stone said: "Bamboo can also be eaten, the master is really good, such hard things can be made into dishes, I have eaten bamboo shoots, bamboo has really never tasted, master, when are you free to make some bamboo to taste." ”

"I know that bamboo is not for eating," Jiang explained: "My brother dried bamboo in the shade and used it to carve pen holders, make tea sets, and wind chimes. ”

"I know the wind chimes, I bought them in the Pingshan bamboo art shop, hung under the eaves, the wind blew, the sound was good, it turned out that this was made by the uncle." Siyu recalled, looking at Jiang Anyi with more reverence.

Boiled, Jiang Anyi's mind flashed, and he remembered a thing in the memory of the demon master, which was contained in a transparent glass bottle, the fruit was soaked in water, and the bottle mouth was covered with a lid, which was difficult to open, and it should be sealed, and such a fruit seemed to be able to keep it for a long time.

Clapping his hands excitedly, Jiang Anyi smiled and said: "An Yong's reminder is good, I remember that there seems to be a method in that ancient book, and I will go buy fruit tomorrow to try." ”

Everyone was full of curiosity about Jiang Anyi's idea, and the next day everyone gathered in the back house, according to the pre-prepared clay pot into boiling water to boil, the demon master's memory told him that this step is very important, whether the fruit can be preserved depends on whether it can be cooked thoroughly.

When the pot was boiling, Jiang Anyi instructed everyone to wash all the fruits they bought, peel them, remove the cores, cut them into pieces, and put them aside to prepare.

Siyu asked: "Uncle, why do the grapes peel the skin, aren't they rotten all of a sudden?" ”

Jiang Anyi was bottomless in his heart, and said: "Do whatever you want, ask so much for what." ”

Siyu leaned into Xin Fei's ear and whispered, "I see that my brother-in-law clearly doesn't know himself, so give himself courage." ”

In the coquettish laughter of the two women, Jiang Anyi took out the boiled clay pot, carefully put the fruit into the clay pot after cooling, poured honey, and added water to cover the fruit.

Siyu couldn't help but ask again: "The fruit is already sweet enough, wouldn't it be sweet if you add honey?" ”

Jiang Anyi pretended not to hear it, and asked everyone to put the clay pot in the steamer of steamed buns, cover it with a piece of oiled paper, and tie it with a rope. The fire was steamed, steamed for a quarter of an hour, and then annealed and waited for the pot to cool.

"Uncle, are you done? It's almost cold, is it ready to eat? ”

Jiang Anyi waved his hand weakly and said, "There are fresh fruits on the table, and the ones in this jar will be eaten in a few days?" ”

"In a few days, it won't be mud, it stinks, and I won't eat it." Siyu said with a disgusted face.

Jiang Anyi didn't bother to pay attention to him, and carefully applied the pre-adjusted glue to the oil paper. The glue is bought, mixed with fish oil, glutinous rice juice and plant juice, and is very viscous. Jiang Anyi wrapped a layer of fine linen on the glue juice, then sealed it with clay, and the whole clay pot became airtight.

Let An Yong and Shi carefully hold the clay pot to the shade of the west chamber and place it in the shade, Jiang Anyi pasted the paper prepared in advance on the body of the can, indicating the type of fruit. After doing all this, Jiang Anyi took the door and said to the curious people behind him: "What should I do, what should I do, let's come back in five days." ”

Waiting is always anxious, especially for people like Siyu, who have to find an excuse to go around this room every time they go home and see what has happened to those clay pots.

Finally, the fifth day came, and the fresh fruit bought at the same time had already entered the stomach or been thrown into the garbage, and everyone was full of wonder about the steamed fruit in the clay pot. There is no need to think about the rain, Xin Fei is also curious, and said: "It's been five days, and the fruit in that jar doesn't know how, it's time to take a look." ”

Jiang Anyi was apprehensive in his heart, and went out under the pull of Xinfei, and there were three people standing outside the door, Siyu, An Yong and Shishi, everyone was looking forward to the arrival of the Kaifeng moment.