Chapter 9

Chapter 9

When Wang Ying returned from the front courtyard, Chen Qingyan was already awake, his face dark. "Did Second Uncle and his family come to borrow money again?"

"Yes. It’s so late—you’re still awake?"

"The noise woke me up."

Seeing Chen Qingyan lying flat and uncomfortable, Wang Ying reached out to place a pillow behind his back.

"Th-Thank you." As they drew closer, Chen Qingyan’s cheeks flushed slightly. Fortunately, the candlelight in the room was dim, or else Wang Ying would surely have teased him.

Wang Ying said, "That second uncle of yours is utterly shameless. As soon as he arrived, he demanded five hundred taels of silver. When I spoke up, he pulled rank and threatened to have your father discipline me."

"How dare he!" Chen Qingyan angrily slapped the bed.

"He dares plenty. He even said that after you die, he’d sell me into a brothel so I’d never have a chance to rise again. If we hadn’t threatened to report him to the authorities, who knows what chaos he might have caused today."

Chen Qingyan’s chest rose and fell with anger. He had always known his second uncle was unreliable, but he never imagined it had come to this. He immediately tried to get up and confront him.

Wang Ying quickly held him down. "You can’t even walk properly. Rest now."

"Cough—cough—Push me in the wheelchair. I want to go to his house and ask him face to face—cough—cough—How could an elder—cough—cough—say such things? It’s utterly shameless!"

Wang Ying hurriedly brought water and helped him drink to suppress the coughing.

"He dares to act so arrogantly only because you’re seriously ill and bedridden, and the family has no one reliable to depend on—the old and the young are vulnerable."

"If you truly care about your family, focus on recovering your health. I suspect that since we didn’t lend him money this time, he’ll bear a grudge against us. Who knows what trouble he might stir up in the future."

After calming down for a moment, Chen Qingyan said, "You’re right. In the past, I was too narrow-minded, thinking that without the imperial exams, there was no hope left. I never considered my family’s situation. Wang Ying, thank you."

He spoke so solemnly that Wang Ying felt a little embarrassed and scratched his head. "It’s good that you can see it that way. It’s late—get some rest."

Wang Ying was still thinking about the wheat in the experimental field. It should be ready for harvest today.

Recently, he'd noticed a pattern: time seemed to flow differently in the experimental field compared to the outside world.

At first, he didn’t pay much attention, but during recent visits, he found that the wheat, which should have taken another month to mature, had already entered its ripening stage ahead of schedule.

This excited him. Did it mean that wheat, which typically yielded two harvests a year outside, could be harvested three, four, or even more times a year inside the test field?

Or perhaps he could bring in vegetable seeds and grow them all year round?

After blowing out the candle, Wang Ying lay in bed, ready to enter the experimental field, when Chen Qingyan’s voice sounded again.

"Do you want to know why I can’t take the imperial exams anymore?"

"Tell me if you want to. If not, that’s fine too." Whatever had caused such a drastic change in his temperament couldn’t have been good. Though curious, Wang Ying didn’t want to reopen old wounds.

Chen Qingyan paused and sighed softly. "Let’s sleep."

*

Early the next morning, as soon as Wang Ying woke up, his mother-in-law called him to the front courtyard.

In the main room, Li Shi handed him the account books from previous years.

"Ying’er, can you read these?"

Wang Ying nodded. "I know some characters. I can understand them."

He skimmed through the records of past years. The accounts were basically balanced, with a little surplus each year. However, from March of last year onward, there were no more entries—around the time Chen Qingyan failed the imperial exams.

"Why are there no records after this?"

Li Shi explained quietly, "At that time, Yan’er was critically ill. How could I have the mind to manage these things? I simply stopped keeping records…"

Chen Qingyun had never learned bookkeeping either, so mother and daughter had muddled through managing the large household.

Wang Ying set aside the account books and counted the household’s silver. Excluding what Second Uncle Chen had borrowed, the family now had only six strings of cash at most.

"Is this all?"

Li Shi and Qing Yun nodded.

Wang Ying felt a headache forming.

Qing Yun whispered, "There are still many things in the storeroom. If money is tight, we can pawn them off."

"Let’s go take a look at the storeroom first." Wang Ying took the keys and went with Li Shi and Second Sister to the Chen family storeroom.

The so-called storeroom was just an empty room no one lived in, containing seven or eight chests.

"These chests hold fabric. When we’re short on money, we take them to the pawnshop in West Gate to pawn." Chen Qingyun explained, as if she had done this more than once.

Wang Ying crouched down and counted: six bolts of coarse cloth, thirteen bolts of fine cloth, three bolts of silk, and one bolt of brocade.

Having learned a bit about prices in this dynasty, he knew that an ordinary bolt of coarse cloth cost about three hundred cash. A bolt was forty chi long—over thirteen meters—enough to make several sets of clothes.

Fine cloth cost one tael of silver per bolt. As for silk, it was even more expensive and scarce—it couldn’t even be bought in town. These few bolts of silk were likely left over from better times.

Pawn prices for fabric were lower: a bolt of coarse cloth could be pawned for at most two hundred cash, fine cloth for seven hundred cash. They would take quite a loss pawning these.

The other chests contained two large sets of porcelain dishes and bowls, used only for important family events, such as Chen Qingyan’s wedding some days ago.

Though the porcelain was valuable, it couldn’t be pawned—it was the family’s pride and couldn’t be easily disposed of.

Another chest specifically held writing brushes, inkstones, and inksticks. Li Shi explained, "These were sent back every year by Fourth Uncle, who holds an official post outside. Yan’er and Song’er need them for studying and must not be touched."

In this era, writing supplies were even more expensive, beyond the means of ordinary people. This chest contained the most valuable items in the entire storeroom.

After taking stock, Wang Ying had a better understanding. Currently, the Chen family’s fixed assets were worth around one hundred taels of silver. He had no intention of touching the items in the storeroom for now. The usable money on hand was only those six strings of cash.

"How many people are in our household?" Wang Ying took out brush and ink to begin registering.

"Besides Mother and we three siblings, there are eight servants."

Chen Qingyun counted on her fingers: "Uncle Chen, who attends to Big Brother; Tian Mama, who takes care of Mother; Xiao Cui who serves me; Qiu An, who looks after Third Brother; Aunt Chen in the kitchen; Liu Zi, who does the shopping; Old Man Tian, who tends the livestock; and Lin Zai, the gatekeeper."

These servants also received wages, totaling about over one string of cash monthly. The biggest expenses were food and drink costs—even frugally, it cost five strings of cash a month. Chen Qingyan’s medical expenses and medicine came to another three strings, not to mention social obligations and gifts for others.

Not managing the household, one wouldn’t know—now that he was in charge, Wang Ying realized the family was already at the point of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Li Shi noticed his difficulty and said, "In another month, the tenant farmers on our land will pay their rent. That grain can be sold for seventy or eighty strings of cash."

It was now mid-June, past the wheat harvest season. Every year, the tenants paid government taxes first after the harvest, then gave grain to the landowners. What was left for themselves was often just enough to last them the year.

"What crops are grown on our estate?"

Li Shi paused. "Mostly millet, wheat, and sorghum, among others."

"And what is the annual yield?"

"In the past, these matters were all managed by the master..."

Wang Ying massaged his temples, frustrated by the lack of useful information. "I'll go to the manor tomorrow."

"I want to go too!" Chen Qingyun's eyes lit up.

"Alright, it's good to go together and see for ourselves, so we won’t be deceived by the workers."

Wang Ying wanted to visit the manor not only to investigate the crops on their land but also to find a plot to test whether the seeds he brought could be planted. If successful, the wheat yield could increase significantly.

It was important to know that the wheat seeds in this dynasty had not yet undergone artificial cultivation. Common people used the most primitive water-floating method for seed selection, resulting in frighteningly low yields per acre.

Take the original Wang family, for example: they had eight acres of prime farmland and six acres of poor-quality land. Prime farmland referred to flat and relatively rich soil, but even then, each acre could only yield three shi of grain per year.

And that was in years with favorable weather. In times of drought or flood, harvesting one shi per acre was considered very good, and it was not uncommon to have total crop failure.

As for the poor-quality land, it was mostly remote hilly slopes that couldn’t retain moisture, resulting in even lower yields. They mostly grew beans for their own consumption. Wang Ying assumed the Chen family’s manor was likely in a similar situation.

*

The next day, Wang Ying got up early and changed into durable dark-colored clothes. Since he would be walking around the fields today, wearing nice clothes risked tearing them.

Chen Qingyan also woke up early. After changing, he sat in his wheelchair and had Uncle Chen push him to the outhouse.

When he returned a short while later, he asked, "I heard you’re going to the manor?"

"Yes, to check on the family’s land."

"I apologize for the inconvenience…"

"It’s no trouble, but I’m not sure what the people at the manor are like or how cooperative they’ll be."

Chen Qingyan said, "When I was young, I went to the manor a few times with Father. The Manor Head is quite trustworthy—his surname is Chen, and he’s a distant cousin. During the drought years earlier, his family fled the famine from Li County. Grandfather took them in out of pity and gave them a place on the manor."

"Over the past few years, after Father passed away, I’ve been busy with the imperial examinations and haven’t had time to go. It’s been three or four years since my last visit. If not for my poor health, I should have gone with you today."

"Don't worry. Qingyun and Tian Mama are going with me."

"Be safe on the road, and return before dark."

"Alright. You should eat more at home too—make sure you don’t faint again."

Chen Qingyan awkwardly turned his head away. This guy really knew how to poke at a sensitive subject.

Author's note:

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