Exiled to Lingnan, the Crown Prince's wife raises children, cultivates the land, and leads the

As he spoke, Marquis Zhongyong handed over the costs they had calculated. Apart from sugarcane and labor, the most expensive part was transportation. With so much sugar, they had to hire escorts, which would cost a lot of money for the round trip.

"Moreover, this batch of goods is quite large, so it will be delivered in two batches, earning only 250 taels in profit per shipment!"

Marquis Zhongyong added a sentence.

"Two hundred and fifty taels is a lot. We can finish this batch of goods in two months."

Someone in the crowd replied.

Everyone agrees on this.

Cheng Qiqi said, "What happens after we finish the two-month work? All the sugarcane in the fields and in the neighboring village will be used up. We won't have any sugarcane left to make sugar."

"So, this five hundred taels, though it seems like a lot, is almost all the money we've earned in the last six months."

Cheng Qiqi's words gradually calmed everyone's heated minds.

Yes, the sugarcane in the fields is almost all harvested. If we want more sugarcane, we'll have to wait until the autumn harvest.

If you calculate it this way, this amount of silver is almost half a year's worth of money, so... it's not that much.

"If we finish delivering these two batches of goods in the first half of the year, and then plant more sugarcane in the spring, we can try to extract more sugar in the second half of the year, next spring, right?"

The village head's eyes flickered slightly as he said, "The sugarcane we signed contracts with the villagers next door for wasn't enough. There are several other places nearby that grow sugarcane, and we'll buy them all!"

Now that they've confirmed the sugar mill can make a lot of money, what are they waiting for?

If we don't order the sugarcane sooner, what will happen when everyone sees them making money and then we stop selling them sugarcane?

That definitely won't work!

Even if it's only 500 taels of silver every six months, their village can still get a lot of silver.

"Yes, buy them all."

The villagers were so excited they wanted to go to the neighboring village that very night.

Previously, some people disagreed, fearing that if all the sugarcane was harvested, it wouldn't be able to be sold.

Now, everyone wishes they could plant sugarcane all over the mountains.

Zhao Hei had already begun to consider whether he should send the exiled prisoners to clear land and plant sugarcane.

The sugarcane grown can be sold for money, and when the sugarcane is delivered to the sugar mill, the profits can be shared.

While everyone was in high spirits, the village head announced another piece of good news.

Oyster sauce.

The villagers didn't know what oyster sauce was; they only knew that the oysters that nobody wanted on the beach could be turned into oyster sauce and sold for money!

So everyone started asking questions again.

The village head has reached an agreement with Marquis Zhongyong. The village head will be responsible for collecting oysters and opening them. In return, the Jin family will split the profits three-thirds among them.

After Zhuang Lizheng explained things clearly, the villagers who had been huddled together just moments before scattered in a flash!

No one said a word, and they ran as fast as they could.

Can oysters be sold for money?

What are we waiting for?

The area in front of the Jin family was instantly emptied, with the remaining people grabbing at the village head and the Jin family members, asking them how they made money by making oyster sauce from oysters!

"All you need to know is that if you bring oysters, our village will buy them all, and we'll get a share of the profits from selling the oyster sauce. That's all!"

The village head didn't go into too much detail, but instead took out the contract he had signed with Marquis Zhongyong: "The Jin family will help us all make money, so everyone should keep that in mind."

Zhuang Lizheng knew very well that making oyster sauce was a family secret recipe, although he didn't know why the people of Kyoto knew it, while the villagers who lived by the sea all year round didn't.

But after trying the oyster sauce, Zhuang Lizheng realized that this oyster sauce was definitely a money-making opportunity!

The Jin family is willing to offer 30% of the profits, which means they definitely want the villagers to protect them.

As a result, the Jin family encountered more friendly villagers.

Send them some salted fish, dried shrimp, seaweed, kelp, dried cuttlefish, etc. that they've sun-dried at home...

The Jin family fell silent when they saw so much dried seafood.

……

From then on, the Jin family's treatment in the village improved significantly.

In the sugar shop, Cheng Qiqi was called "Cheng Niangzi" by everyone.

At the sugar mill, we've added new staff. Once this batch of goods is finished, we'll add a few more pots and stoves before autumn, hoping to produce more sugar in the second half of the year!

With Granny Leng watching, Cheng Qiqi only needed to go to the sugar shop once a day; her focus began to shift to oyster sauce!

Making oyster sauce is no easy task; it can take seven or eight hours.

Opening the shells to extract the meat and watching the fire to simmer oyster sauce—these all require specialized training.

Master Jin is in the sugar shop.

Jin Lizhi and Jin Yanzhi are making a fortune selling sauerkraut!

Marquis Zhongyong and Zhao Hei worked and hunted together every day.

The heavy responsibility of making oyster sauce fell on Master Jin. Master Jin was usually quiet and didn't have much of a presence, but he was calm and meticulous when he worked.

After Cheng Qiqi taught him twice, Master Jin had already become quite proficient!

In the still chilly weather of early spring, the first batch of goods from the sugar mill had already been escorted by Chongshan and delivered along the way!

Besides sugar, Chongshan also brought dozens of kilograms of oyster sauce.

These days, everyone has worked together to harvest almost all the oysters on the beach and also made dozens of kilograms of oyster sauce!

"Hopefully, these oyster sauces can also make money."

As Cheng Qiqi watched Chongshan's departing figure in the dim light, her heart was filled with anticipation.

"Definitely."

Liu Suyi comforted her, saying, "Stir-fried cabbage with oyster sauce, adding a little bit to any dish makes it especially delicious."

"If this batch of oyster sauce sells well, next year, in addition to sugarcane, we can also make oyster sauce."

Liu Suyi's voice was tinged with excitement as she said, "Qiqi, you don't know, I've thought before that even if we get to the place of exile, we might not be able to adapt to the climate of Lingnan. Maybe our bodies won't be able to handle it, maybe there will be endless work..."

"But now, things are completely different from what I expected."

Liu Suyi now spends her days embroidering and cooking; she has never done any manual labor.

She didn't live the pampered life of a noble family, but it was still much better than she had imagined.

"Mother, as long as the family is together and safe and sound, we can live a good life anywhere."

As soon as Cheng Qiqi finished speaking, Jin Sui'an's clear voice rang out: "Mom, you said you'd take me to collect seashells!"

"They're here!"

Cheng Qiqi responded and said goodbye to Liu Suyi. Then she saw a little girl in the courtyard carrying the small wooden bucket that Marquis Zhongyong had specially made for her and wearing the straw hat that Heitu had given her. The little girl was incredibly cute!

"Let's go!"

Cheng Qiqi took the little girl's hand and led her to Ancuo Village to collect seashells. Although it wasn't a major low tide, it was still easy to take a child to collect seashells!

Worried that the little girl would get sunburned, Cheng Qiqi secretly applied sunscreen to An'an. After a happy day of playing, before they even got home, Liu Suyi rushed over: "Qiqi, quick, quickly change your clothes and come with me to pound rice!"

"what?"

Cheng Qiqi was stunned for a moment, then her hands kept moving as she picked up the patched clothes from Liu Suyi's hands and put them on. Only then did Cheng Qiqi realize that someone was inquiring about their situation in the exile.