Chapter 37

Chapter 37

The Shen family didn't have any more land to plant vegetables on.

Originally, the Shens hadn't planned on making the vegetable-selling business bigger.

Their main focus was still just farming.

The vegetable plot was handed over to Shen Song, mainly because the field work was just too heavy. Shen Song had even passed out from exhaustion during spring plowing, so the summer harvest was out of the question for him. Plus, the vegetable plot needed tending, and the veggies needed selling. Before, the family would squeeze in time to handle it, but now that it was all on Shen Song, everyone else had it easier.

Clearing the wasteland behind the house up against the mountain was already more than the Shens had ever imagined. Who would've thought such a big plot of wasteland still wouldn't be enough?

The two old folks didn't say anything for now, just pulled out the beat-up money box to count what was in it.

They wanted to see how much they'd made selling vegetables over this stretch.

The summer harvest was brutal. You'd come in from the fields, eat a meal, sharpen the sickle, and that was it—no energy left for anything else.

Shen Song handed over what he made each day to Liu Chunxia to hold onto. Liu Chunxia had never really counted how much it added up to. Later, once she got busy, she just told Shen Song to toss it straight into the money box without even touching it herself.

When the money box came out, Liu Chunxia froze mid-motion.

It was heavy. Really heavy.

When she opened it, it was packed to the brim with copper coins, spilling right over.

Shen Song said there was more in the big chest—the box couldn't fit it all, so he'd stuffed the rest in there.

Shen Dashu went to get the family's one and only big wooden chest. Shen Song had just piled them all in one spot, and Shen Dashu had to make several trips, each time carrying armfuls of copper coins.

Xu Hongmei and Zhou Gu pitched in to help the old couple count too. They had to count a few times before they could confirm that Shen Song had made nearly four taels of silver selling vegetables in this time.

Little piles of copper coins sat stacked on the bed boards, and the whole family stared at Shen Song in shock.

Four taels of silver—in the past, the family couldn't save that much in a whole year. After taxes and everyday expenses, just staying out of debt was already a win. They wouldn't even dare dream of saving.

But this year, just from their vegetables, they'd actually made this much?

This money was different from what they'd gotten selling the snake or from the stuff that noble person had given them.

This was money the family could actually earn for themselves.

It wasn't a one-time stroke of luck—it was a real, steady way to make a living.

Shen Song also told the family what Manager Xu had asked him.

The Shens' vegetable business really needed some careful planning.

After the summer harvest, the Shens held another family meeting about the vegetable business.

Shen Song knew the vegetable business better than anyone and laid it all out in detail.

The Shens didn't know anything about travel journals, but they were sure their vegetables were top-notch—better than anyone's.

They couldn't figure out why. This year, not just the vegetable plot, but even the grain in the fields was crazy good.

Since they couldn't figure it out, they just chalked it up to the Shens finally catching a lucky break and their land coming through for them.

Even if it was luck, the family still put in just as much work as always—not a bit less.

But the harvest was seriously impressive.

Once they saw how much money the vegetables brought in, nobody in the Shen family wanted to give up the vegetable business.

The family had actually managed to save money because of it!

What Manager Xu in town had asked was also a key point. After talking it over for a while, the Shens decided to ride the momentum and really grow this business.

They might not be able to make it huge, but at least they could make it bigger than it was now.

Chi Jiu sat next to Shen Song too, listening carefully.

Once they decided to expand the vegetable business, they had to figure out the land situation.

The family had no extra land, and they couldn't touch the farmland, so they'd have to buy more.

In Shenjiagou, wasteland went for three taels a mu, lower-grade fields seven taels a mu, medium-grade fifteen, and upper-grade twenty-five.

Wasteland was the easiest to buy—there was plenty of it. But it was also a mess, all weeds and rocks. Clearing even one mu would take the whole family.

On top of that, the harvest would be poor for the first few years, so it was bound to be a loss.

The land would need a few years of working before it slowly got fertile.

Lower-grade fields were also pretty easy to buy, but finding plots that were all connected was tough—they were mostly scattered around.

Medium-grade fields were harder to get, and upper-grade went without saying. Those were either held by landlords or big-shot officials. Regular folks didn't own upper-grade fields.

The prices existed, but regular people couldn't buy them.

Shen Dashu said, "We're not touching the pawn money unless we absolutely have to. Besides that, we've got about thirteen taels we can use. If we sell the wheat, adding that to the thirteen, we could probably buy four mu of lower-grade fields."

After the old man spoke, everyone nodded. Then, after a pause, Shen Chong said, "This year's wheat harvest is good, but taxes take a big bite. And once we're done planting the rice, two of us have to go do corvée labor, so we lose two strong workers and can't go out and earn money doing odd jobs. If we buy four mu of lower-grade fields, I'm worried we'll be stretched thin by the end of the year."

Shen Song listened, totally confused. "What's corvée labor?"

Shen Chong explained to his little brother that it meant working for the government—they gave you food and a place to sleep, but no pay. "Usually it's building bridges, roads, or city walls. Sometimes it's digging canals or hauling stone from the mountains. It's different every year."

As for the part about working from dawn to dusk, getting pushed around by petty officials, and some people never coming back—dying out there—Shen Chong didn't say any of that to Shen Song.

Even though his big brother didn't say those scary things to frighten him, Shen Song could tell from the worried, fearful looks on everyone's faces that "corvée labor" was something terrifying.

"Can't we just not go?" Shen Song asked.

Shen Chong said, "If we don't go, we have to pay instead. Seven taels a person. Not worth it."

Shen Song didn't say anything else, thinking that if they made enough selling vegetables by then, they could pay their way out. If not, they could use the pawn money.

"What Old Fifth said makes sense too. So should we buy one less mu of lower-grade fields?" Liu Chunxia asked.

To Shen Song, wasteland or upper, middle, or lower-grade fields—it was all the same.

With his ability, he could make even the worst land turn fertile.

"Why don't we just buy all wasteland? We can get connected plots, more land for the money, and it's easier to manage," Shen Song suggested.

With what three mu of lower-grade fields would cost, they could buy seven mu of wasteland—a pretty big chunk of land.

Add that to what they already had, and it'd be over eight mu total. Not enough to grow grain to feed the family, but plenty for vegetables for now.

If we go all in on wasteland, we won't have to spend much of the wheat money at home, so we'll be in a much better spot come the end of the year.

"But wasteland is poor—what if the vegetables don't taste good?" Zhou Gu fretted.

He knew the only reason their veggies sold so well was the taste.

If the taste weren't as good, those folks wouldn't be so dead set on buying only from them. So wouldn't that kill any chance of expanding? Hell, they might even take a loss.

Shen Song couldn't exactly tell his family about his superpower, and the frustration had him sweating bullets.

Zhou Gu's words left the whole Shen family deep in thought.

Finally, Shen Chong spoke: "Doing business is always full of uncertainty and big upfront costs. You win some, you lose some—there's no guaranteeing a steady profit. But if you don't even try, you're guaranteed to earn nothing. And right now, we at least have a way to sell, unlike before when we had nothing.

Even if the taste isn't as good as what we grow now, if we keep the quality up, that shows the Shen family's good faith. I don't know much about business, but I do know heaven doesn't shortchange folks who deal honestly and sincerely.

Playing it too safe and burning yourself out—now that's the real killer."

"Fifth brother's got a few years of schooling, so he gets it better than us." Zhou Gu rubbed his chin, mulling over Shen Chong's words. "If that's the case, I'm with Xiao Ba too—let's buy all wasteland. This year we'll break ground and plant veggies. Even if sales tank, we'll have enriched the soil for a year. Next year, even if we switch to grain, soybeans, sweet potatoes, or spuds, even if the yield is low, we already got crops from our current fields—whatever the wasteland gives us is pure profit. It'll just mean more sweat and toil."

Liu Chunxia nodded too. "Right, we already got fields, so we're not scared of breaking new ground. Even if the veggie business flops, after two or three years of working it, we'll have eight more mu of lower-grade land."

The family talked it over and finally decided that after selling the wheat, they'd buy seven mu of contiguous wasteland.

Shen Song breathed a sigh of relief that he didn't have to come up with some excuse for his superpower.

The next day was sunny.

The ground was still a mess, so the folks in Shen Family Gully couldn't dry their wheat and had to wait.

Curious about how much wheat the Shens had brought in this year, and having heard they'd borrowed an oxcart from the village chief's family, they figured the Shens would sell grain today. So the bored and curious all gathered at the village entrance to wait.

The village chief's third daughter-in-law came out for a stroll and heard them say they'd wait for the Shens to pass by to see how much grain they'd harvested this year. She told them the Shens had borrowed the cart last night and probably left before dawn to sell the grain.

Sure enough, to avoid prying eyes, the Shens had set out before dawn.

Every man in the family pitched in, loading the oxcart to the brim. It wasn't just the ox doing the work—they had to push hard too.

Otherwise, with mud caking the wheels, the ox couldn't budge, and the wheels would just spin.

Shen Song, who had veggies to deliver, tossed his basket on the cart and helped push too.

Shen Zhun walked up front, not riding so he wouldn't add to the ox's load, holding a homemade whip to guide the ox.

After yesterday's rain, the road was rough, so it took nearly half again as long to reach town as it would on a good day.

The Shens first asked the town grain shop what they'd pay for wheat.

The clerk said unshelled wheat would fetch 230 wen per shi. If well-shelled, it could go for 270 wen per shi.

The Shens thought that was too low—last year, even at peak season, unshelled wheat had gone for 280 wen.

Shen Chong, seeing the price way below last year's, asked another question. The clerk's face fell and he snapped grumpily, "Last year's wheat crop was bad, so prices were naturally higher. The price now is already decent—it's only gonna drop. You selling or not? If not, get lost."

Shen Jue, ticked off by the clerk's tone, shot back, "What's wrong with asking a question? In business, who doesn't ask about prices and shop around? Are you so high and mighty we can't even ask?"

Shen Lie, as always, backed up whatever his sixth brother said, and this time was no different.

The clerk was the shop owner's brother-in-law, hired a month ago, and thanks to that family tie, everyone in the shop kowtowed to him except the owner and the bookkeeper.

Even though they were all servants in a big clan, the gap between servants was huge.

The shop owner was in good with the main family, and if he wanted to boost his brother-in-law, who was gonna object?

Used to being kowtowed to, the clerk, stung by the twins' scolding, stewed with resentment and immediately kicked them out, declaring, "I won't accept your grain anymore!"

Shen Jue was livid. "You never meant to do honest business anyway—fine, we won't sell to you!"

With those words, any chance of dealing was gone.

The family pushed the cart onward. Shen Chong sighed and lectured his two younger brothers, "You're both eighteen—why so impatient? Song Geer is younger than you two, and he stays calm."

Shen Song, singled out, was momentarily startled, clearly confused and not understanding why the argument had erupted.

Shen Jue was amused by Shen Song's bewildered look. "Little Eight hasn't caught on yet."

Shen Chong glanced at Shen Song, saw his puzzled expression, and chuckled lightly. "But that fellow truly wasn't sincere about business. Our wheat is good, and we're selling early—selling at such a low price would be too much of a loss."

"Where to now?" Shen Zhun asked in a low voice.

Shen Chong thought for a moment, then said, "Our harvest came early this year, and we don't need to sell the rest today. Let's go straight to the county grain shop—they'll offer better prices than the town. And since we haven't seen eldest brother in a while, we can visit him while we're in the county."

No one objected to his suggestion.

They stopped at a spot, waited for Shen Song to finish his vegetable deliveries, then set off again.

The road to the county was equally muddy, and at one point the cart wheel got stuck in a mud pit. After much effort, the Shens finally reached the county with their grain, their already shabby clothes now caked with dirt, faces and hair splattered with yellow mud.

Xie Zhiyu sat on the second floor of a teahouse by the city gate, casually glancing down and spotting the even filthier Shen Song.

The frail boy seemed to have endless energy, earnestly pushing the grain-laden oxcart.

Xie Zhiyu sipped his tea nonchalantly, watching the Shen family work together to push the cart, slowly moving out of his sight.

"What are you looking at?" Qi Yuanjing across from him asked curiously.

"A dirty cat," Xie Zhiyu replied flatly.

The county grain shop indeed offered more than the town's, with reasonable prices.

Unshelled wheat went for 300 wen per shi, shelled for 340 wen.

The Shens had always shelled their wheat before selling—more work, but more money.

This year, having decided to buy wasteland and clear it for vegetables, they lacked the time and energy to shell it.

Their grain was high quality. The shop's inspector used an iron spike to pierce the sacks, and when he pulled it out, the groove held plump, round wheat kernels.

Rubbing the kernels in his palm, he caught the rich wheat aroma—excellent grain!

Learning the Shens had more grain not yet delivered, he immediately offered to send the shop's oxcarts to fetch it all at once.

With the other side genuinely wanting to do business and the Shens truly wanting to sell, and no need for the family to haul it over multiple days, they quickly reached an agreement.

Shen Song stayed silent, carefully observing how the county grain shop conducted business, quietly learning on his own.

Around midday, the villagers of Shen Family Gully saw oxcarts returning.

Three of them.

The Shen family was leading the way.

They were eager to inquire, but seeing how busy the Shens looked, they held back, not wanting to be a bother or make it awkward to talk later.

After a while, the three oxcarts loaded with grain pulled out of Shen Family Gully.

Although the carts weren't piled high, the total was still pretty impressive, especially since the Shens had already shipped some out earlier.

The villagers knew the Shens had a bumper harvest this year, but not the exact extent. Now, though they still lacked precise numbers, they got a good idea from those three oxcarts of grain.

For a moment, everyone's wheels started turning.

The Shens were in a hurry to sell their grain this year, not only to buy wasteland for reclamation but also because the harvest was so good that they were worried about something going wrong—having all that grain at home felt risky, so they rushed to sell it.

This year, aside from setting aside seeds, they unusually kept five *shi* (a unit of volume) for their own household consumption, to eat daily.

All the wheat sold totaled one hundred and ten shi, earning them 33 silver taels.

With the money in hand, the Shens' first task was to find the village head to discuss buying land and returning the oxcarts.

They wanted to buy seven acres of wasteland in one go. Village Head Shen looked at Shen Dashu and Shen Chong, father and son, thinking to himself, "The Shens really hit the jackpot."

Even though wasteland was cheap, seven acres would still cost twenty-one taels of silver—a ton of money for regular folks like them.

The Shens had been so poor in the past that while every other household ate meat, they ate nothing but husks and veggies.

Now, they could actually afford twenty-one taels to buy wasteland.

Village Head Shen's gaze swept back and forth between Shen Dashu and Shen Chong. Their clothes were still as tattered and worn as before—really making bank without saying a word.

No matter how much Village Head Shen tried to calm himself, he couldn't hold back and blurted out, "Dashu, what did you use on your wheat this year? How did it grow so well?"

The poorest family in the village could suddenly afford to buy land.