After being jilted, the entire neighboring village was filled with deep regret.

Chapter 62 Dongmen Village Has Prospered
The villagers watched helplessly as Sang Yong fled, convinced that he was no good person. They went to the village chief's house to tell everyone the whole story.

Enraged, Liang Shiqiu slammed his fist on the table and stood up. "You, Sang Yong, how dare you play tricks right under my nose! Guards! Take Sang Yong to the county office and give him thirty strokes of the cane!"

Su Changxi and Su Chunlin exchanged a glance, feeling relieved, and their smiles deepened.

Liang Shiqiu suppressed his anger, put on a gentle demeanor, and said, "Village Chief Su, now have someone calculate the grain amount for each household. I need the most accurate figures."

Su Changxi's expression turned serious, and he said, "Don't worry, sir, I will take people to do it right away."

Every household was already prepared, and as soon as they saw Su Changxi leading his men over, they immediately sprang into action, some loading grain, others carrying scales.

In those days, each village only had one or two scales, which had to be sent to the county government every year to check for shortchanging. If shortchanging was discovered, the punishment was severe. So no one doubted the accuracy of the scales.

The weighing process was quick; in just half a day, the total amount of grain from the entire village had been tallied and presented to the county magistrate.

This time, Liang Shiqiu was completely unsettled. Holding the booklet, he looked intently at Su Changxi and said, "Village Chief Su, I have decided to buy your village's wheat as seed to exchange with the people. What do you say?"

"This..." Su Changxi and Su Changfu exchanged a glance, then asked ingratiatingly, "Sir, may I inquire about the price, and also, how would the exchange work if we were to exchange grain?"

Liang Shiqiu expressed his understanding and said seriously, "Last year, I bought a batch of grain seeds, peanuts and soybeans from Su Chunlin's family in your village. All those crops were planted on trial in the county government's public fields, and they did have a bumper harvest this year. Unfortunately, the quantity is still too small. It is not enough for me to promote the program. It just so happens that your village also had a bumper harvest."

With the crops from the county government as a comparison, I have no doubts. As long as you are willing to sell your grain to the county government, I can still buy it at the same price as last year. If you want grain, you can exchange one jin for two jin. How about that?

The village elders of Dongmen Village looked at each other, trying their best not to show too much excitement.

Su Changxi stepped forward without hesitation, bowed respectfully, and said, "Your Excellency loves the people like your own children. How could I, a humble citizen, dare to delay such a matter that benefits the people? I will go to the village to inform every household to sell their grain."

Liang Shiqiu nodded in satisfaction and instructed the constables who had come with him to help.

Seeing that everyone had left, Su Chunlin hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Your Excellency, to be honest, my wife's family and my prospective son-in-law's family also planted the same wheat. Their yield should be about the same as ours. One is in Zhongmen Village and the other is in Shenjiazhuang. Would you like to send someone to harvest it as well?"

Liang Shiqiu smiled happily, "That's wonderful!"

Su Chunlin was delighted and added, "And then there are the soybeans and peanuts."

When soybeans and peanuts were mentioned, Liang Shiqiu was obviously very excited. “I was just about to tell you about this. It’s not that no one in our area has ever grown these two crops before. Perhaps the seeds were wrong, because they were not easy to grow. Even if they survived, they wouldn’t produce many peanuts or soybeans. After a year of hard work, it was all for nothing. So, over time, no one grew them anymore.”

It is also because we really can't grow other crops here, and we have gradually become poorer and poorer. Officials don't like to come here anymore. Now that we have finally discovered soybeans and peanuts that can adapt to our conditions, I am determined to promote them.

Unfortunately, the harvest from the county government's public fields wasn't enough. How much did your family plant this year?

Su Chunlin hurriedly said, "I planted ten mu of soybeans and harvested five thousand jin of beans. I planted six mu of peanuts and harvested four thousand eight hundred jin. I was just wondering if I could use them to pay taxes." He had asked this question last year, but at that time the county government came and bought all his crops without giving him a definite answer.

“Of course!” Liang Shiqiu responded loudly, explaining in detail, “Both soybeans and peanuts can be pressed for oil, but our Langya Kingdom’s output is not high, so we dare not waste them like this. If every household in our Zhaohua County could grow soybeans and peanuts, we could press our own oil in the future, and the lives of the people would surely improve.”

"Su Chunlin, if the people of Ruozhao County truly live a good life, I will certainly remember your great contribution."

"Thank you, Your Excellency!" Su Chunlin knelt down and prostrated himself in gratitude.

The villagers never expected their wheat to be so valuable. They were all stunned, as if they had been hit by a windfall. Each family had received an average of about 70 jin of wheat seeds, and the rest were used to grow ordinary wheat. This created a stark contrast.

This time, they kept enough high-yield wheat seeds for their own planting, and sold the rest to the county government. On average, each household received about 140 taels of silver. The Su Chunlin, Su Changxi, and Su Changfu families received the most, since they all planted high-yield wheat seeds.

Su Changxi earned about five hundred taels of silver, while Su Changfu had more land, conservatively estimated at six hundred taels.

Although Su Chunlin's fields were not as large as those of the two families, he still had peanuts and soybeans. He kept enough for his own use and sold the rest, earning 625 taels of silver.

Besides them, there were also several families who fled to Dongmen Village last year. Because they had lost all their relatives and were penniless, they didn't even have the money to return home. In addition, they were rescued by Dongmen Village, so they developed a sense of dependence on Dongmen Village and all settled down in the village.

Su Changxi felt sorry for them and gave each of them three mu of wasteland. He also asked Su Chunlin for help and secretly got some high-yield grain seeds to distribute to them. Wasteland is not as good as fertile land, but fortunately these people are diligent and work hard to cultivate the fertile land. Although the yield per mu is not as high as that of fertile land, it is still about 800 jin.

For Magistrate Liang Shiqiu, this was definitely an important reference, and he personally commended these people.

Every household in the village made a fortune. Even though everyone knew that a few families had earned more, no one was envious or gossiped. Instead, they became even more united and worked together as one.

With money, the first thing everyone wanted to solve was marriage.

The villages outside also knew that the people of Dongmen Village had become rich, but no one knew exactly how much they had earned.

Those who wanted to inquire were met with vague answers from the villagers.

After all, every family has a few poor relatives, let alone a family like theirs, which is almost entirely composed of poor relatives. When one family gets rich, everyone flocks over like cats smelling fish, borrowing a little from this family and a little from that family. Even a mountain of gold and silver can't withstand such exploitation.

Some clever ones announced early on that they wanted to buy land and build houses, not only complaining that they had no money, but also borrowing money from all over the place.

Even relatives wouldn't dare to inquire, for fear of actually being asked to lend money.

Under these circumstances, Su Chunlin also followed suit and bought four mu of fertile land. As a result, the Su family's land had truly reached its limit, and they could not take care of any more.

Some people are happy but others are sad.