They've all separated, so what does it matter to me if they get poorer and poorer?

Chapter 26 Four coins a pound

Xu Zhichun smiled and said, "We have already discussed it, so please let the village headman speak to us."

"well!"

Xu Zhichun then smiled and mentioned the matter of buying land.

Liang Lizheng was taken aback and couldn't help but glance at her, saying, "Have you made up your mind? If you have, then buy it. It's two taels of silver per mu of wasteland. You must cultivate the wasteland within a year of buying it, otherwise it will be taken back. Starting next year, you will have to pay taxes, which will be twenty wen per mu or ten jin of dried soybeans."

"Just soybeans, is anything else okay?"

"This is a government regulation; all you need is dried soybeans or money."

Xu Zhichun smiled and said, "Then I'll buy it. I'll trouble the village head to help me measure it."

Liang Lizheng readily agreed: "Alright, aren't you going to dig konjac this afternoon? I'll go measure it and take a look around. I'll go to the back of your house this evening, and we can go into town tomorrow to get the land deed for you."

Xu Zhichun couldn't wait to get it done: "Thank you, Village Head."

Liang Lizheng waved his hand: "Don't be so polite!"

Over there, Aunt Liang couldn't contain herself any longer and pulled her youngest son and daughter-in-law aside to quietly ask, "How much did you earn today?"

Hearing them whisper a number, Aunt Liang let out a soft "ouch" and clutched her chest. She couldn't take it anymore; her heart was pounding like a drum.

She smiled broadly: "You all go ahead and do your work, you don't need to worry about anything at home, okay?"

Liang Mingliang grinned and said, "Okay, Mom!"

Zeng Xiaoyan was a little puzzled: Mother, I don't quite understand what you mean. When have we ever worried about things at home?
Liang Lizheng banged the gong loudly, and soon the villagers, familiar with the place, gathered under the big locust tree.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know, I haven't heard anything about it."

"Hey, why don't you go to the big locust tree and find out? The village head wouldn't just be banging the gong for fun."

"makes sense."

Seeing that almost everyone had arrived, Liang, the village head, stood on a high spot, raised his gong, and struck it three times with a loud "Clang! Clang! Clang!" The chattering villagers below consciously stopped talking and looked up at Liang, one by one.

Liang Lizheng smiled and said, "Quiet down, everyone. Now that you're all quiet, I'll get down to business. It's good news. Minglang's wife, Xu, Qitian's wife, and our third son's wife are doing a little business to earn some hard-earned money. They came to me today saying they're too busy. You all know about the lantern fruit on the mountain, right? They need the seeds inside. If you have some free time, you can go up the mountain and pick them to sell to them. Just the seeds are fine. When you sell them, make sure they're clean and don't mix in any weeds or mud. We collect them every evening. They're four coins per pound."

what?
The villagers started chattering away.

"Lycoris radiata? Is that the lycoris radiata I know? Isn't that something kids play with? Can it really be sold for money?"

"The village head said it's definitely possible, four coins a pound, that's quite a lot."

"Village head, village head, is it really four coins a pound? I'll pick them!"

"Haha, I know a place that nobody else knows about, there's a huge field of lantern fruits, I'm going to go pick some later!"

Shh—you kid, keep your voice down.

Upon hearing that lantern fruit could be sold for money, at four coins a pound, four coins! An egg only sells for one coin, yet wild things from the mountains can sell for four coins a pound.

If you're diligent and lucky, picking three or four pounds a day would be a lot of money, right? It's like raising a lot of laying hens.

The more they talked, the more excited they became.

Liang Lizheng said loudly, "Of course it's true. We'll take as much as you can. If we stop taking, we'll definitely let you know a day in advance. Don't worry."

"Alright, alright, with the village head saying that, what do we have to worry about?"

"Yes, yes!" The impatient and clever villagers had already stopped being excited and quietly left the crowd to go home and get baskets, hampers, and small sacks. They took their mischievous but capable-to-climb children with them and put their plans into action.

In half a day, with a bit of luck, you could earn ten or eight coins, or even more than ten coins.

There are also some people who are reincarnated gossips, and they shamelessly ask a barrage of questions, regardless of whether it's appropriate or not.

"Village head, village head, what are the Xu family doing with these lantern fruits? Are they cooking them with those devil's taro?"

"Yes, how can you eat this? Should we stir-fry it or make porridge? Tell us!"

"That's right, we don't know how to make it either. We just want to figure out how it works. What if we accidentally create something poisonous that harms people and implicates us?"

"Well, to be honest, now that you mention it, I'm actually a little nervous."

"Ha, I knew it. Money isn't that easy to make. I'm not going to make this money. It's not worth getting involved in any trouble."

Liang Lizheng was very experienced in dealing with those eccentric, unconventional old foxes and shameless cowards in the village.

Liang Lizheng ignored all the nonsense and said only, "It's all voluntary. If you're willing to do it, then do it; if you're not, then don't. Alright, everyone disperse."

As was the case with Liang Lizheng, those few people who hadn't gotten any information from him were disappointed but helpless.

Regardless of what they say or what they think, there are plenty of people picking lantern fruits, so their numbers don't matter.

Xu Zhichun and Aunt Zhu'er originally planned to pick lantern fruit in the afternoon, but then countless villagers suddenly appeared in the mountains to pick lantern fruit. The two of them decided to go dig konjac instead, and let the villagers pick the lantern fruit.

They can afford four coins a pound.

With all four of them digging for konjac, it became much easier and more efficient. They decided to dig up the portion they would need the day after tomorrow as well.

Liang Lizheng came over in the afternoon to measure the land. Xu Zhichun now had a total of fifty-three taels of silver and more than two hundred coins. The wasteland was worth two taels of silver per mu, and she decided to spend all fifty-three taels of silver.

The village head measured the area, made a detailed demarcation, and recorded it as twelve mu, but it was actually about fifteen mu, which meant that she was given three mu more than she should have.

Wasteland is worthless, so they usually give more than they should when measuring it.

Later that afternoon, the slope behind the yard was measured, which was actually about fifteen mu, but Liang Lizheng recorded it as fourteen mu.

It cost a total of fifty-two taels of silver. The land deed and the bribes to the clerks in the government office amounted to about four qian. So, the fifty-three taels of silver were almost completely spent, leaving less than one tael.

But Xu Zhichun was very happy, as he had actually acquired thirty mu of land, which was a great deal.

What does it matter if I don't have cash on me today? I'll have it tomorrow.

That evening, villagers who had picked lantern fruits came one after another to sell them for money.

Zeng Xiaoyan, Aunt Zhu'er, and Liang Mingliang stayed behind to help with the inspection, weighing, and payment. It was a bit chaotic at first, but it quickly became orderly.

Everyone was very enthusiastic about making money. In one afternoon, if three or four people from the family went out, they could pick four or five pounds and earn twenty coins in one go.

Even the smallest ones weigh half a pound, and you get two coins for them.

With the heavy, slightly cool copper coins in their hands, the villagers finally felt a sense of reality that they had actually earned money, and their faces beamed with joy.

The child jumped for joy: "I made money! Haha! I really made money!" "Me too, me too, I made money too! My mom said she'll give me eggs tonight!" "Then I want eggs tonight too!"

Those few families who came to watch the spectacle even though they hadn't made any money inevitably felt a little envious and curled their lips in disdain.

The village's notorious gossip, Granny Hua, pouted like a catfish and raised her voice: "What do you need so many lantern fruits for? Why is it a secret and I can't even tell you? Are you really trying to harm us?!"

(End of this chapter)