Dark Immortal Cultivation

Chapter 107 Picking Peaches

"The water's rising!"

Accompanied by the hoarse roar of Village Chief Fan, the two strongest men in Shiqiao Village simultaneously stepped on the pedals.

A waterwheel set up on the riverbank creaked and started to operate, and the clear river water was quickly transported up and flowed into the ditch with a splash.

Then came the second, the third —

Five brand-new water pumps continuously inject life and vitality into the dried-up ditches!

The villagers who had gathered on the riverbank cheered loudly.

Their cheers even startled the farmers working in the rice paddies on the opposite bank, who rushed over to see what was happening.

When the villagers from the neighboring villages saw these waterwheels, they all stared wide-eyed.

Although most of the farmers were illiterate, they had plenty of life and farming experience, so how could they not see the advantages of the waterwheel?

As expected, news of Shiqiao Village's novel creation spread like wildfire throughout the surrounding area.

It attracted many people who traveled dozens of miles to visit.

"People from Shangxiu, Shanghe Village, Changtian Village, and Muxi Village all want to buy our waterwheels!"

Village Chief Fan excitedly reported some good news to Zhang Qing.

In recent days, the waterwheel has received a great deal of attention, which has given the village chief a bit of the excitement and madness of an old man suddenly feeling young again.

Previously, he had been skeptical of Zhang Qing's request to make one hundred waterwheels and to draw on the strength of the village to assist Chen the carpenter.

However, due to Zhang Qing's status as a resident cultivator, they dared not disobey in any way.

Now that Zhang Qing's plan has really succeeded, how could Village Chief Fan not be happy?

He was even ashamed of his previous doubts.

Zhang Qing nodded: "They must have bought them to make counterfeits."

There are no patents in this world, and even if there were, they wouldn't have the ability to combat piracy and counterfeiting.

Village Chief Fan's smiling face instantly turned into a bitter expression: "Then what should we do?"

The old monk, struck by a sudden inspiration, gritted his teeth and said, "How about we don't sell any, and make each family buy at least three!"

Zhang Qing smiled.

Old ginger is spicier, and Old Village Chief Fan is quite shrewd.

But not many.

"It's no use. If that's the case, they can just agree to buy three sets each and then distribute them to the other families, right?"

Village Chief Fan's face fell as he listened: "Sigh!"

"It's fine."

Zhang Qing reassured the other party, "Let's hurry up and sell our inventory to make our first profit. If there are still customers after we sell out, we can simply build a small workshop in the village to specialize in making waterwheels."

Compared to the inevitable imitators, Shiqiao Village's advantage lies in its reputation and skilled craftsmen as the inventors of the waterwheel.

Selling to external customers in this way will definitely give us a significant advantage.

Of course, once the number of imitators increases and they also try to seize this small market, this advantage will soon disappear.

In fact, Zhang Qing only wanted to make a quick buck and didn't consider the future at all.

He won't stay in Shiqiao Village for long.

And the situation developed exactly as Zhang Qing had predicted. The waterwheels sold very well. People from other villages were almost all tempted after seeing them. Some bought one, while others bought three or four at once.

One hundred waterwheels were completely cleared out in just seven days!

This result was beyond Zhang Qing's expectations.

He knew that the autumn harvest was just around the corner, and the farmland's need for water was far less than during the grouting period. He thought that Shiqiao Village could only make money from this one wave of harvest.

Unexpectedly, there were new orders.

But these were minor matters. Zhang Qing simply let Old Village Chief Fan take over all the business and immediately set up a workshop in the village headed by Carpenter Chen, so that they could make waterwheels in the evenings.

In this way, additional income can be generated without interfering with agricultural work.

As for whether they are tired or not, the villagers who make money will not complain about being tired. On the contrary, they will be grateful to Zhang Qing for taking half of their profits!

While Shiqiao Village was busy developing sideline businesses, the rice in the fields was ripening.

The weather was beautiful that day, with sunlight shining through gaps in the clouds.

Hundreds of villagers from Shiqiao Village turned out in full force, with almost everyone except for infants and the elderly who were unable to move, all of whom devoted themselves to the most important task of the year: the autumn harvest.

Watching the farmers diligently harvesting rice in the fields, Zhang Qing suddenly felt inspired and grabbed a sickle.

He joined in as well.

This left the villagers speechless.

To them, the garrisoned cultivators were like high-ranking officials, even more powerful than the village chief.

Has anyone ever seen a wealthy man working in the fields?

But Zhang Qing was different from other cultivators. He rolled up his sleeves, wielded a sickle, and personally harvested the ripe rice.

At the beginning, Zhang Qing's technique was very unskilled, and his efficiency was nowhere near that of the villagers next to him.

After harvesting some, he increased his speed significantly, sweeping his sickle across and easily felling a large swathe of rice.

They came from behind and crushed the most skilled farmer!

This is Zhang Qing's powerful learning and control ability, which is a result of his high [physical] and [spiritual] attributes.

His physical strength was also far superior to that of the villagers!

With the cultivator Zhang Qing personally setting an example, none of the villagers in Shiqiao Village dared to slack off or be lazy. As a result, this grand autumn harvest was completed two days ahead of schedule.

When all the rice was stored in the granary, everyone's face was filled with joyful smiles.

This year has been better!

Everyone sincerely hopes that Zhang Qing can continue to serve as the resident monk in Shiqiao Village.

Therefore, the villagers all knew very well that a monk as kind-hearted and compassionate as him was extremely rare, and it was truly a stroke of luck for Shiqiao Village to have encountered one.

However, things in this world are often contrary to expectations.

Three days after the autumn harvest ended, two cultivators from the Xuanming Lower Academy arrived at Shiqiao Village.

One of them was a steward of the commoners' quarters.

The other one is Zhang Qing's successor!

In other words, Zhang Qing will be transferred back to the lower courtyard less than two months after arriving in Shiqiao Village.

Everyone knows they're here to reap the benefits!

"Your disciple obeys!"

Zhang Qing responded very readily to this.

His decisiveness surprised even the stewards of the common hall, who felt that Zhang Qing was not at all like a teenager.

The question is, what opinions does Zhang Qing have?

He had seen this kind of behavior of picking peaches far too many times in his previous life when he was a beast of burden.

In fact, Zhang Qing was already mentally prepared for this when he came up with the water-powered cart.

Anyway, the first wave of profits has already been pocketed, and Shutang has also given him compensation—considering that he has passed the assessment and has been directly promoted to a formal disciple.

If Zhang Qing is dissatisfied and makes sarcastic remarks or protests against the injustice, wouldn't he be giving others an opportunity to cause trouble?

He won't do it!