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“How much did the Homestead cost?” Wang Jingyu couldn’t help but ask Yuan Lin as they strolled around and chatted.
“Over two thousand taels.”
Wang Jingyu looked at Yuan Lin in astonishment, “Did I hear wrong, or did you say it wrong? Such a large estate, with so many fruits, shouldn’t it be sold for seven or eight thousand taels? You’re telling me it was just over two thousand taels, and it’s now ours?”
It seemed too unbelievable.
“Well, the other party seems to have a liking for the Young Madam.” Yuan Lin pondered for a moment before continuing, “In addition to buying the estate, they also threw in more than ten acres of land with sweet potatoes, peanuts, and sandy soil.”
Wang Jingyu turned to Yuan Lin with a serious look, “Is the other party really without any ulterior motives, not carrying any hidden agenda?”
For such a good place, with over ten acres of sandy soil and the crops in the field thrown in for free, it seemed implausible that there were no hidden motives.
“…” Yuan Lin was momentarily at a loss for words.
“No ulterior motives. However, the Young Madam asked the Young Master to get the other party’s address, and in the future, during holidays and festivals, we might send some gifts over there.” Yuan Lin didn’t find Wang Jingyu’s concern surprising. Anyone would likely have a similar reaction to such a situation, so he considered it quite normal.
“At that time, the Young Master was also present. If there were any hidden motives, the Young Master would have stopped the Young Madam from making the purchase. You can rest assured about that,” Yuan Lin explained once again.
Upon hearing Yuan Lin’s reassurance, Wang Jingyu felt completely at ease. “That’s good, I was just worried that they might have some hidden agenda.”
After a stroll, Wang Jingyu planned to invite some friends to come over and play. They would then return home for dinner, as it wasn’t too far from their current location.
“Xiao He, I’m planning to go play with some friends the day after tomorrow. We’ll come back home for dinner, and you can cook something delicious for us, alright?” In Wang Jingyu’s view, the food cooked by his sister was still better than anything available outside.
“Sure, contact your friends first, confirm the number, and then let me know,” Wang Jinhe considered and replied.
If there were many people, they could have a barbecue.
“I had someone make a barbecue table earlier. If there are many of you, just grill some meat yourselves. It’s more fun, and those rich kids probably haven’t done it before. It wouldn’t hurt to give it a try,” Wang Jinhe suggested.
“That sounds good.”
That afternoon, Wang Jingyu went to meet his friends, and when he returned, he brought an additional person with him.
“Brother, who’s this?” Wang Jinhe looked at the person who came back with Wang Jingyu and asked curiously.
Wang Jingyu awkwardly touched his nose and said, “Xiao He, Luo Su’s family has a lot of paddy fields. Although they’ve hired some laborers, it still takes about two months to harvest the rice every autumn. There are also losses during rainy days. I heard that our family has a threshing machine, so I thought of renting it. What do you think?”
“Sure, what’s not okay about it? My family has five, how many do you want to rent, and for how long?” Wang Jinhe looked at Luo Su and asked.
“I have over 900 acres of rice fields at home, Xiao He, how long do you think it will take to harvest?” Luo Su asked Wang Jinhe.
“Oh, I see. My dad said it’s 50 wen per acre. You can stick to that price. Just don’t damage my threshing machine. Since I spent over ten taels of silver making each, I’d like you to pay a deposit of 50 taels of silver. If the threshing machine is still intact after use, we’ll refund it to you,” Wang Jinhe considered for a moment and laid out his terms.
Luo Su was startled when he heard it was only 50 wen per acre, “Isn’t that too cheap?”
“You’re a friend of my big brother, and if people you know want to use it after your family, the price won’t be the same. If someone asks, just say it’s 100 wen per acre,” Wang Jinhe said bluntly. This price seemed reasonable.
For 100 wen per acre, anyone would quickly agree to harvest the rice, especially large landowners like Luo Su’s family.
“But after your family finishes, others probably won’t need it,” Wang Jingyu speculated.
“You’ve got that wrong. My dad’s good friend has 3,000 acres of rice fields. Because they can’t finish harvesting, they lose around a thousand taels of silver every year. We’ll let them use the threshing machine, and you can surely earn some money. Forget about 100 wen, just say it’s 300 wen per acre. They’ll definitely agree. If you have time, make more of these. You’ll earn even more money,” he suggested.
Wang Jinhe looked at Luo Su with a strange expression, “Are you helping me make money? Isn’t 300 like ripping them off?”
“How can you call that ripping them off? 300 wen per acre, how much money is that? It saved them quite a bit,” Luo Su said unapologetically.
Wang Jinhe twitched at the corner of his mouth, looking at Luo Su. You don’t consider this ripping them off? Then what would be considered as such?
“No need for that much, 100 wen per acre is just right. It wouldn’t be appropriate to charge more,” Wang Jinhe shook his head. “According to what you said, with 3,000 acres, I can still make 300 taels, right?”
“Alright, if you say so, what else can I say?”
“Okay, you go and bring people to operate the threshing machine. I have one more here, and the rest are on the estate,” Wang Jinhe said. “You can have the laborers from my estate go to your place to teach your people how to use it. It’s simple, they’ll catch on quickly.”
“Sure, Jingyu, come with me.”
Luo Su returned home with the threshing machine. His father was worrying about the autumn harvest. Last year, nearly a hundred acres of their rice fields were flooded, and they weren’t sure how much they could harvest this year.
“What’s Dad worried about?”
“The autumn harvest has begun. What do you think I’m worried about?” The head of the Luo family replied irritably.
“Dad, I’m here to solve your problem, you know? This is Jingyu, you know him, right?”
“Know, isn’t he your good friend from school? You even brought melons from his house before.” The head of the Luo family was aware of his son’s school friend, often hearing about how well Wang Jingyu took care of him at the academy and how he brought them delicious food from home.
“Jingyu’s family recently bought 70 acres of land, the ones from Landlord Zhang. They finished harvesting in just two and a half days.”
“Are you joking with me? Do you think I’m easy to fool?” The head of the Luo family glared at his son and said impatiently.
“Really, his sister developed a threshing machine. After hearing from Jingyu, I went to their house and rented all the threshing machines. With these, we can harvest our fields in just about a month. Not only that, they will also send one of Jingyu’s homestead workers to come over and teach our workers how to use them. Dad, what do you think? Am I not very foresighted? Taking the initiative is key.”
“That’s really great, son. Take me to see.”
Luo Su took his father to see the threshing machines, and when they arrived, the skepticism was still evident in his eyes. Could this thing really work?