”We grow rice, wheat, millet, and some peanuts and beans. The paddy fields are fertile. If there is enough rain throughout the year, the harvest will be good. Each mu of land will yield 1.5 dan. Ten mu of paddy fields will yield 15 dan…”

　　Li Zhouzhou said that the crops were harvested quickly.

　　Gu Zhao was still a little slow to react because of the different units of measurement. He had to convert them in his mind. One shi was equal to ten dou, one dou of rice was equal to ten liters, and one liter was equal to two jin, which meant that one shi of rice was two hundred jin.

　　Fortunately, the tax rate in Dali is not high, only 5%.

　　If an acre of land is well cared for and free from natural disasters, it can produce about 300 catties of rice in a year. If my family has 10 acres of paddy fields, that would be 3,000 catties, 150 catties of rice would be taxed, and 2,850 catties would be left.

　　The official price of rice and wheat was the same, about eight coins per catty, and it was sold to grain merchants at ten coins per catty. According to the grain merchants, if ten mu of land was sold in full, it would only cost two taels of silver, eight strings of silver and fifty coins, less than three taels.

　　He charged one tael of silver for a handwritten book.

　　”The harvest from dry land is less, with the better ones yielding one dan per mu, and sometimes even less than one dan. At this time, we have to eat peanuts, sweet potatoes, millet and other grains from the fields to avoid going hungry.”

　　The price that grain merchants charge for millet, beans, and peanuts is even lower, about five or six cents per pound, so most farmers sell rice and wheat, and keep the miscellaneous grains for their own consumption. It is rare to see refined rice and white flour in the pot throughout the year.

　　”My husband, you said that this place doesn’t grow millet, and wheat is also rarely grown. Does that mean we can only eat white rice and refined flour all year round? If we only eat it ourselves and don’t sell it for money, how can we afford the daily expenses of salt, vinegar, cloth, and cotton for making cotton clothes in winter?”

　　Gu Zhao: “They grow hemp and raise silkworms, and make money from these two things. The silkworms they raise produce silk, which is then reeled and woven into satin. A piece of high-quality satin can be sold for ten taels of silver.”

　　Li Zhouzhou’s eyes widened. So much money?

　　Their family had ten acres of paddy fields, but they only earned three taels of silver a year.

　　”Not all silk can be sold for ten taels. It takes a lot of effort to do it.”

　　Li Zhouzhou was envious, but not jealous. “Of course. My father and I carefully watched the rice in the fields, and there was nothing wrong with it. We also pounded the rice very cleanly. Three taels of silver is good enough. Those who can sell for ten taels of silver must have spent more effort.”

　　Gu Zhao is proud of his son Zhou Zhou. When he was in school, there was a roommate in the dormitory who played games. One time he said he made 1800 yuan. Another person asked how come he made so much money, and he saw that he only played games and did nothing every day, and he easily made 1800 yuan. He asked him to treat him to a meal.

　　But in fact, that roommate worked hard for a week, made a guide, read tutorials on online forums, and finally got a rare item with a lot of hard work and luck, and sold it at a high price.

　　In the same way, his Zhou Zhou always thinks of others first.

　　”Yes, most of them are still growing hemp, and weaving it into linen cloth. The rough ones are like the linen bags we use to store rice and flour. This is cheaper. The better ones are the linen clothes we wear, and a piece of them is only thirty or fifty coins.”

　　Life was not easy for ordinary people in ancient times.

　　The Li family could earn four taels of silver a year from their better farmland. Before, the father and son had been frugal in spending, so they could save three taels of silver a year, assuming one tael of silver a year.

　　In ancient times, people did not easily mention the division of the family. The more people there were, the more prosperous it was. There was more land, more people, and more harvests. However, in Gu Zhao’s opinion, the food and drink expenses were the same. It was better than a small family with only one family, but there were also more things to do. It would be fine if the family was united. However, when a family is established and has children, they will eventually have to be divided when the children grow up.

　　”Our family is fine.” Li Zhouzhou saw his husband’s expression and was afraid that he would think that studying was a waste of money, so he said comfortably: “Dad can castrate and butcher pigs, and I also raise pigs and chickens to save eggs, which are all income. The snow fell so early this year, and next year will definitely be a good year with plenty of rain. After deducting the daily expenses, I can save seven or eight taels of silver.”

　　Gu Zhao thought that next year’s expenses would be high, including his pens, ink, paper and inkstone, as well as buying books.

　　It would be great if the yield could be increased. A yield of more than 200 kilograms per mu of land is too little. Is it because the seeds in ancient times were not cultivated and optimized?

　　The two chatted for a while, and then Gu Zhao went to read a book. Li Zhouzhou sat on the kang without eating melon seeds, for fear of making noise and disturbing his husband’s reading. As a result, the kang was warm and the room was quiet, so he fell into a drowsy sleep for a while.

　　When I woke up, my husband was still reading.