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How Much Resentment Does He Hold Against These Five Jin of Grain?
“How’s the yield? Seven hundred with just a five-jin difference, more than usual by over two hundred jin. Why does it seem like the Lord is not pleased?”
Wang Jinhe suppressed a smile and said, “The yield on my side is nine hundred and ninety-five per mu.”
Xie Kui was startled by the number nine hundred and ninety-five. “Little He, is the yield so high on your side?”
“Yes, Uncle. Next year, you can use the seeds from my place, and the yield should be similar,” Wang Jinhe said.
“Really? Then you have to save me some seeds,” Xie Kui quickly requested.
“Sure, I will release as many seeds as the village needs at that time. The rest should be handed over to the emperor for distribution. He shouldn’t be short of money,” Wang Jinhe said.
Xie Kui was surprised for a moment, then nodded in agreement. “You’re right. Such grains indeed need to be sent as seeds so that everyone can grow high-yielding crops and avoid hunger.”
The Governor simply couldn’t believe that the difference was just five jin. He spent nearly half a month in Xie Family Village, and when the yield per mu was finally reported, it nearly made him faint with frustration.
One family had a yield of six hundred and ninety-nine jin per mu, some within five jin, and others within ten jin, but not a single family had a yield exceeding seven hundred.
The Governor stood in Xie Kang’s house, thoroughly exasperated. “What are you people doing? Why can’t you get even a single jin more from these fields? At least achieve a yield of seven hundred per mu.”
Indeed, the family with a yield of six hundred and ninety-nine jin per mu was Xie Kang’s family.
Wang Jinhe was on the verge of laughter at the Governor’s exasperation. He would come every time they finished collecting from a family.
The resentment was truly overwhelming.
Especially when he looked at Xie Kang’s innocent expression.
Xie Kang was truly bewildered. How the rice grows is beyond his knowledge.
He couldn’t do anything about being one jin short.
The Governor turned to Wang Jinhe. “Do you have another twenty mu of land nearby?”
“Yes.”
“Go and harvest the crops there. I refuse to believe there isn’t a single field that surpasses a thousand,” the Governor said with a stern face.
Wang Jinhe cleared her throat and took the Governor to harvest the crops.
Before entering the fields, the Governor, with a stern expression, examined the rice in front of him. Finally, he instructed the laborers, “Be careful, don’t miss anything.”
“Yes.”
It took five days for the final yield per mu to be determined at Wang Jinhe’s home.
The yield was short by two liang per mu.
The Governor, upon seeing this yield, was infuriated to the point of rolling his eyes.
Summoning Wang Jinhe’s steward, the Governor sternly said, “Go to the fields and pick up every grain that has fallen. Not a single one should be left behind.”
Wang Jinhe was directly amused by the Governor’s words.
“Is this really necessary, sir?”
“It is very necessary. I refuse to believe it can’t surpass a thousand jin.” The Governor’s recent resentment was indeed significant, especially with the rice fields near Wang Jinhe’s home, which were only short by two liang.
He just couldn’t accept that they couldn’t find four jin of grains in twenty mu of land.
With the magistrate leading, the laborers could only carry baskets to pick up the fallen rice.
After the magistrate left, Su Yu laughed so hard that he pounded the table.
Even Su Xi and the others couldn’t stop laughing. This Governor was truly taking things too seriously.
“After spending time with him a few times, I never thought the Governor would be so amusing,” Wang Jinhe chuckled.
Su Yu wholeheartedly agreed, nodding, “Xiao He is right; the Governor is indeed quite amusing.”
“Let’s go and take a look too. We can’t have the governor working while we do nothing, right?”
Wang Jinhe led the way to the fields, and as they approached, they heard the governors’s resentful voice, “Look, there are still rice ears here.”
After two days of picking, they finally collected all the rice from twenty mu of land, and surprisingly, they picked quite a bit.
After drying and weighing, it turned out to be more than fifty jin.
The governor was very satisfied with this result. “See, isn’t this a yield of a thousand jin per mu?”
Finally, he didn’t have to be so troubled.
Wang Jinhe cleared her throat and looked at the governor. “Sir, shouldn’t you go back to report to the emperor?”
“Yes, the autumn harvest has taken up a lot of time. I need to go back,” the magistrate hurriedly left. This matter had to be reported to the emperor.
As the governor left, the family burst into laughter.
“Su Yu, do you think the governor will lose sleep if, after picking the grains, it’s still less than a thousand jin?” looking at the governor’s satisfied expression.
“He will.” But the Governor here is quite good, just like the county magistrate.
“After we go to the capital, we can mention the governor and the county magistrate to the emperor. These two officials are indeed dedicated to serving the people,” Su Yu said.
Wang Jinhe agreed wholeheartedly, “Indeed.”
With the autumn harvest concluded, Wang Jinhe and his group began preparing for their journey to the capital.
Su Yu also started instructing Yuan Bao to find people to pick watermelons.
The next day, Wang Jingyu and the others returned, looking somewhat helpless.
“Big brother, what are you guys up to? Why does it feel like big brother is about to be annoyed to death?”
“A Lang and the others heard that our yield per mu is close to a thousand jin. No matter what, they insisted on coming with me to ask you how you cultivate,” Wang Jingyu also felt helpless, even though he was quite surprised when he received the news.
“Oh, we improved the planting methods a bit, and there’s my special cultivation method. If you want, I can leave you some seeds. If you use the rice from my side as seeds, the yield per mu won’t be less than nine hundred jin. However, you’ll have to allocate some of these seeds to the emperor. I estimate we can only spare ten thousand jin of seeds for you,” Wang Jinhe had already discussed this with Su Yu. They had to reserve one hundred and fifty thousand jin of seeds for the emperor, and at least ten thousand jin of grain seeds for themselves and their laborers. The seeds available for distribution were only from those two hundred mu of land. Meanwhile, the Governor had already reserved thirty thousand jin of seeds for the people in the county.
“Over ten thousand jin is not enough.”
“I only have one hundred and ninety-nine thousand jin here. The emperor reserved one hundred and fifty thousand jin, and the Governor reserved thirty thousand jin. That leaves only nineteen thousand jin. I can allocate one thousand jin for you from my side. Moreover, with my cultivation method, the amount of seeds needed is very small, so it should be enough for you,” Wang Jinhe looked at them and said.
As soon as they heard that it was reserved by the emperor and the government, they didn’t have the courage to compete.
“Why don’t you cultivate more?”
“I would like to, but the problem is I don’t have that much land. I only have two hundred mu of paddy fields for grain seeds, and Su Yu is trying to find a way to help me buy more land,” Wang Jinhe is now also helpless. If possible, she would like to get more, but the problem is there isn’t enough land, and the conditions do not allow it.
“I’ll go back and discuss with my father and several uncles to see if they can allocate two hundred mu of land for you each. It would be best if they allocate more land in their hands,” Luo Su said.
“If they can allocate some land for me, that would be even better. In the future, I should be able to supply all the grain seeds for Xuan Country. If I have enough land, I can produce more grain seeds,” she has already considered it. All the land Su Yu helped her buy will be used to cultivate hybrid rice, and by then, there should be more grain seeds available.