Chapter 257

Fortunately, there were still mushrooms, which they could add from time to time. The house was built, and they had sufficient stockpiled supplies, ensuring the family’s basic needs were met.

Additionally, they had last year’s savings of a million plus a chest of gold leaves from Bai Manshan, along with the earned silver, so there was no need to worry.

Though they had lost the income from calligraphy brushes and rice wine, He Shouwu would be ready for harvest after August, bringing in revenue again.

They also had two new sources of income: yams and selling rabbits.

Next, they planned to develop more physical enterprises—planting sugarcane for sugar production, cultivating medicinal herbs, and expanding livestock.

This would create an ecological farming and planting model, forming a positive cycle.

That way, even if the market left her one day, it wouldn’t affect their livelihood.

Shuiqing was quite satisfied with the current situation.

Success wouldn’t come overnight. She had no power, no influence, and no wealth, and the outside world was unstable with the court busy dealing with regional lords. It was better to quietly develop and grow stronger.

After tallying the household assets, she took a few ingots of silver, put them in a cloth bag, and handed it to Fan Jin.

A cow cost more than ten taels of silver, while a donkey was cheaper but still at least seven or eight taels.

Who knew if prices had gone up?

They didn’t have many able-bodied workers in the family, but they had plenty of land. Previously, they had managed to plant potatoes by working during off-peak times and hiring village men when necessary. This time, everyone was planting potatoes, and plowing and sowing had to be prioritized for their own fields.

Fortunately, Bai Manshan had sent a group of people, twenty-three in total, all in their prime and skilled in farming.

But they couldn’t work people to the bone. Using animals for plowing would make the work less tiring for the men and more efficient. The animals would also be useful during harvest.

“With one person leading and another guiding the plow, eleven animals should suffice. We already have one cow and one donkey, so we need to buy nine more donkeys.”

Fan Jin accepted the bag, feeling the weight of the silver. “Nine donkeys will cause quite a stir in the village.”

A person’s value was always less than that of a cow. While donkeys weren’t as valuable as cows, they were worth more than children, especially girls.

If the elder brother had any thoughts of selling Zhaodi, he would target Fan Jin.

Shuiqing understood what Fan Jin was thinking.

They wanted to help Zhaodi, but they couldn’t be proactive. Otherwise, the elder brother’s family would become a bottomless pit, never satisfied.

They needed Fan Qian to come up with the idea himself, thinking he was gaining an advantage.

“Yes, the sooner the better. Delay brings trouble.”

·

The next day

Fan Jin set out before dawn with eighteen men.

They traveled light, without a cart, carrying only long knives, and moved quickly.

The man on the night watch yawned as he opened and closed the gate, watching them leave and waiting for his replacement.

Soon, the sky lightened, and sounds emerged from houses one by one in the village.

White smoke curled from chimneys.

Usually, they only had breakfast during busy farming periods, but today they were heading to the distant barren hill to dig soil for the fields, a task no less strenuous than farming. So, every household prepared breakfast, both porridge and dry food.

Sun Jinhua also gritted her teeth and made breakfast.

But it was just plain porridge, not both types. Their family didn’t plant potatoes but winter wheat—after stealing and eating the second brother’s potatoes last time, they had a psychological aversion to them.

Anyway, whoever liked potatoes could plant them. Their family neither ate nor planted them!

Winter wheat demands more fertile soil, so they needed to carefully choose the best soil. Although the yield of winter wheat might not be as high as potatoes, it fetched a better price.

If they managed their crops well, they could still make a good profit.

Other families in the village also took soil selection seriously.

They planted some winter wheat too.

Potatoes were mainly for their own consumption, while winter wheat was grown to be sold for money.

Wang Guifen started the day by making a pot of millet porridge, steaming a dozen large potatoes, and frying two kinds of pickled vegetables. She also scooped out a bowl of pickled chili sauce.

The warm millet porridge paired with the pickled vegetables filled their stomachs, and the large potatoes, smeared with spicy chili sauce, were delicious and appetizing.

After a simple yet satisfying breakfast, the whole family grabbed their tools for soil picking and headed out.

Many people had already gathered on the village road, setting out together.

The barren hill was quite a distance from Shanshui Village. With their small population, the nearby hills provided enough firewood for cooking and heating, so no one ventured further back, leaving that area unclaimed.

The farther they went, the thicker the weeds grew, making the path harder to traverse.

Apart from Fan Jin’s family, which had two carts, only the village elder’s family had two carts as well.

Li Wen and Li Wu, the two brothers, pulled the carts, stopping where the carts could no longer go. They then unloaded the carrying poles, bamboo baskets, backpacks, and hoes, continuing on foot.

Other families did the same.

Wang Guifen handed each person a piece of soft, thick cloth to pad their shoulders—carrying soil would be less painful this way.

Without the padding, the poles’ weight and movement could cause shoulder bruises and abrasions within half a day.

“Sister-in-law, when did you make these? And such soft cloth too!” Zhao Lan exclaimed with delight, holding the cloth, which was two fingers wide.

Zhang Hui kept touching her piece, delighted, and asked, “Where did you get such soft cloth?”

The eldest sister-in-law was truly generous, giving each of them a piece.

“Remember when Shuiqing asked me to make clothes for her family? These are the leftover fabric scraps. I offered them to her, but she didn’t want them, so I saved them to make shoe uppers. It just so happened that we could use them now,” Wang Guifen explained cheerfully.

There was nothing to hide; the cloth wasn’t something she had kept for herself.

The other women walking with them looked on with envy.

Sun Jinhua felt a pang of jealousy.

Such good fabric could have been used to make shoe uppers. Hu Shuiqing was so wasteful to give it away to Wang Guifen.

Fan Erzhu and his brothers, carrying their poles, followed with lowered heads.

They had no carts or wheelbarrows, so the long journey meant carrying soil on their shoulders. By the time they returned home tonight, their shoulders would be terribly sore.

Fan Erzhu recalled the cooked flour that others had eaten while they had raw flour, and complained to Sun Jinhua, “Mother, others know how to make these things, why don’t you?”

Sun Jinhua wanted to retort that it wasn’t that she didn’t know how, but that they didn’t have the fabric.

Then she remembered that Zhaodi had brought back several sets of good clothes from Hu Shuiqing’s house. They could be used.

She smiled ingratiatingly, “Alright, alright, when we get back, I’ll make some for you! Zhaodi has a few good pieces of fabric from her new clothes.”

The fields were important, and her sons were working hard, so borrowing a few clothes from Zhaodi was justified.

Fan Erzhu and his brothers were satisfied.

They didn’t have good clothes to wear, so why should Zhaodi?

This way, it was fair.

Sun Jinhua glanced at her husband, who, for once, did not object.