A few days later under the grape trellis
Ed was overjoyed to see the grapes growing so well. Adelaide had always taken care of these grapes, and no matter when they started growing, he felt that soon he would be able to rest and cool off under them.
"Adelaide, these grapes are growing very well! We can enjoy tea and cool off here this summer."
Ed's words pleased Adelaide as well; the grapes were indeed growing well. "Master, Carly and I took care of them together."
Upon hearing this, Carly proudly raised her head, looking like a triumphant general.
Ed looked at her, almost laughing. "Carly, well done. You can buy two bars of soap now."
"Hehe, that's a bit little. I've lost a lot of time doing other things because of taking care of the grapes."
"Oh, really? Well then! I have some walnuts here that your father brought last time. I'd like to plant them next to this grape trellis. If you plant one, you can buy an extra bar of soap, how about that?"
Ed didn't plan to eat all the walnuts that Ma Si Ke brought. He planned to take some out and see if they could be planted, just like these grapes.
"You said it yourself, bring them all, let me count how many there are." Carly has some experience growing this stuff; all she has to do is dig a hole and throw them in—it couldn't be easier.
Ed handed half a bag of walnuts to Carly. As for the chestnut tree, Ed didn't plan to plant it there; he didn't want a chestnut ball to hit him on the head while he was relaxing in the shade.
Carly took the bag and happily shouldered the hoe to dig and plant walnuts.
"Master, is this walnut delicious? Is the seed that Carly took to plant? Is it like a grape?" Adelaide was also full of curiosity about this strange thing called walnut.
Ed didn't explain, but took out a walnut and cracked it open with a hoe. However, this walnut was really hard to crack, and it took him a lot of effort.
"It's so bitter! Master, didn't I overpay for this walnut?" Adelaide thought the walnut was not very tasty; its flavor didn't justify its expensive price.
Ed, standing nearby, agreed; raw walnuts are indeed very bitter, and roasting them would probably make them much tastier. However, the chances of a raw walnut vine sprouting are quite high.
"Adelaide, once Carly finishes planting, I have a way to make these walnuts taste better."
"Okay." Adelaide was still not very interested; clearly, she didn't have high hopes that the walnuts would taste good.
While Carly was digging holes to plant walnuts, all she could think about was how many she had planted and how many bars of soap she could buy.
She felt that the soap Lord Eddard was making now was much better than the one her father had brought over; the one her father had brought over had no fragrance and wasn't pretty.
Although Lord Ed's soap isn't finished yet, she participated in the process. It smells wonderful and looks beautiful; in every way, it's much better than the one her father brought.
Now that she's planted so many walnuts, she should be able to sell them for twenty or thirty bars of soap. How about we have Dad take some over there to sell?
Hmm, she needs to keep some for herself too. She doesn't know if Lord Ed will still be making it in the future. This soap should be great for washing clothes.
Carly was happily thinking about what would happen after she bought the soap.
A moment later
"Lord Edd, I've finished planting them. There are twenty-eight in total. Don't forget to plant them after you finish making the soap."
Carly clapped her hands and put the hoe aside.
"Okay, Carly, I'll give you a third of the soap once it's finished. No need to be so precise."
Ed didn't intend to sell this batch of soap at all; he planned to let everyone try it for free first.
He had already planned to give one to each of the three people who made it, and then the three of them would distribute it to other people in the territory to try it out. Ed was just teasing Carly about the soap purchase limit.
"Then all the walnuts I planted were for nothing?" Carly felt completely lost. Planting walnuts was so tiring, and no one was helping her.
"It's not a waste of your time. I'll treat you to some delicious walnuts later." That was all Ed could say to comfort her.