Chapter 71: Plans

Chapter 71: Plans

Qin Xiaoyao looked at Li Danni with a smile.

"Let's do some business."

"Business?" Li Danni was puzzled.

"Mm-hmm." Qin Xiaoyao nodded.

He then looked at the cart he was pushing.

"We'll use this cart."

Li Danni remained confused.

Qin Xiaoyao explained, "Just like what I'm doing in the village now, buy low and sell high in town after marking up the price a bit."

"Also, we can bring in some goods from town and do peddling on the side."

"Of course, forget about our Xiashui Village. With the cart, we can travel further, along the official road to other villages."

"This—" Li Danni began to understand but was somewhat worried, fearing she couldn't handle it.

Qin Xiaoyao smiled at Li Danni again.

"In the beginning, we'll personally collect the goods ourselves, just to see how it goes."

"If this business works out, we can have your Big Ox come back to help."

Li Danni was taken aback.

Then her eyes lit up with joy.

"You've been complaining all along that Big Ox working in town couldn't be with you every day. If he comes back to help us, at least you two can see each other every day."

"Deal!" Li Danni agreed immediately.

Then, Qin Xiaoyao discussed the upcoming arrangements with Li Danni.

It was more of her talking while Li Danni listened attentively.

Learning that Qin Xiaoyao had made so many plans, Li Danni felt reassured.

She realized that even if they couldn't find yams in the mountains or when the business with the fragrant spring shoots was over, she could still earn money following her Third Sister Ya.

As they approached Xiashui Village, she heard that Qin Xiaoyao had already finished weaving the fishing net and that they could set it this afternoon, which filled Li Danni with joy once again.

"I'll find you after lunch, and we'll go to the Huanshui River together to give it a try!" Li Danni said excitedly.

"Great!" Qin Xiaoyao was also somewhat anticipatory.

Back at the Song residence.

Madam Liu had already prepared lunch.

At the dining table, before Qin Xiaoyao could speak, Madam Liu informed him about her egg collection in the village that day.

Upon learning that she only collected thirty eggs, Qin Xiaoyao wasn't surprised.

"It's alright; we'll take whatever we can get. Besides, the low quantity might just be because everyone isn't aware yet that our family has started collecting eggs."

"There's no need to specifically spread this around. When people come to sell vegetables or mountain goods, you can simply tell them. News travels fast in our village; they'll all know soon enough," said Qin Xiaoyao.

"Mm-hmm." Madam Liu agreed.

Qin Xiaoyao paused, remembering something, and asked Madam Liu, "By the way, were there many people who came to make vegetable-selling appointments at our house this morning? Regarding yesterday's incident with the Wangs—"

"It didn't have any impact," Madam Liu replied with a smile.

"In fact, more people came today than before. They even comforted me, telling me not to take the Wangs' mother-daughter duo seriously."

To think of it, this was the first time the villagers showed such concern for her, speaking to her in such a manner.

Although she knew that their words were merely to sell more vegetables to their family, she still felt a sense of comfort upon hearing them.

Seeing his mother-in-law's joyful smile, Qin Xiaoyao felt reassured.

"That's good. In the future, when interacting with the villagers, we should spend more time with those who are kind. If anyone causes trouble, just let me know, and we won't buy from them or associate with them anymore."

"Mm-hmm!" Madam Liu responded with a smile.

Previously, she felt that she couldn't easily offend the villagers, but her daughter-in-law's actions yesterday and the villagers' reactions today gave her a different perspective.

Endless avoidance and weakness weren't necessarily beneficial.

With her daughter-in-law around, the Song family was different from before.

"Oh, by the way, the villagers have been reflecting that our limit of one hundred pounds of vegetables every two days is too little. They're asking if we can collect more," Madam Liu suddenly asked Qin Xiaoyao.

There were quite a few households in the village selling vegetables. To attract more sellers to their home, she established a rule.

Each household could only sell twenty pounds of vegetables at a time, and they could only sell once every four days.

Despite this, over twenty households had already registered to queue up to sell vegetables.

Qin Xiaoyao was taken aback.

"Then let's increase it by another fifty pounds," he suggested.

Lady Liu's expression brightened instantly.

"Deal! I'll have Ye'er go later to inform two more families."

Qin Xiaoyao glanced at his mother-in-law. "Actually, Lai Fulu gave me word that if I can deliver vegetables into the city every day, they can give me a quota of one hundred and fifty pounds of vegetables per day."

Lady Liu was taken aback.

"So much?!" she exclaimed in surprise.

Qin Xiaoyao nodded.

"The vegetables we send into the city are all prepared the evening or night before, ensuring they're delivered early the next morning for freshness."

"Lai Fulu sending people to the vegetable market to buy from us doesn't make much difference. In fact, buying from us is more cost-effective and less troublesome."

"Primarily because there's Uncle Zhao, this business really isn't hard for our family to take on."

Lady Liu's eyes flickered.

"We can gather one hundred and fifty pounds of vegetables from each household in our village every day," she said promptly.

At the current unit price, they could earn five cash per pound, which would be seventy-five cash for one hundred and fifty pounds.

In addition to the wild goods collected and the occasional poultry sold by the villagers, even without the yam and fragrant toon shoots, it wouldn't be difficult to earn over one hundred cash for a single trip.

Over one hundred cash – even a strong laborer might not earn that much.

At this moment, Lady Liu wished she could personally join in and help deliver vegetables to the town.

Mainly because this wasn't a one-off deal; it was something that could be done long-term.

But she knew she couldn't do it herself.

She could only lament in her heart that her eldest son's leg injury hadn't healed yet, otherwise he could have helped his wife.

Sigh, it was just that their family had too few able-bodied workers.

She was useless, and her eldest son was injured.

Her daughter and youngest son were too young to rely on.

Otherwise, with her daughter-in-law's capabilities, why would they need to hire outsiders to work for them?

Yes, in Lady Liu's view, her daughter-in-law hiring Li Danni and previously Liu Daniu to work was all due to the lack of manpower at home.

Of course, the reality was indeed like that.

Qin Xiaoyao pondered for a moment.

"The situation in the mountains, it's hard to say what will happen next. But I've already talked things over with Dabiu, we need to thoroughly search the surrounding mountains of the deep wilderness, just to see."

"If we don't find anything valuable, we'll have to look for other means of making a living."

Qin Xiaoyao looked at Lady Liu.

"We have a cart at home. When the time comes, we can push the cart around the neighboring villages, buying and selling goods; we should be able to make some money that way."

"When that happens, Dabiu and I might not even have enough hands between the two of us."

"But Dabiu has agreed that if the business takes off, she can have her husband, Daniu, come back to help."

"My plan is this: when the time comes, either Dabiu and Daniu or just Daniu alone can go to the countryside to buy and sell goods. As for me, or me with Dabiu, we can go to the town every day to sell our wares."