Han Yiyi nodded in agreement with Yun Xiao’s words. Using sand would definitely be much cheaper than using ice, since there was no ice-making machine here.

Seeing that everyone had left, he went home with Yun Xiao and prepared lunch before starting to harvest the chili peppers.

Han Yiyi originally planned to have everyone deliver the chili peppers to the village chief's house and then calculate the money for everyone together, since the village chief's house was in the village, making it more convenient for everyone to deliver them.

Considering the quantity of chilies, the village chief's house probably couldn't hold them all, so they had no choice but to trouble everyone to deliver them directly to their homes.

Han Yiyi and Yun Xiao had just finished lunch and hadn't even had time to clear the table when someone knocked on the door. When they opened it, they saw Aunt Wang with a smile on her face, followed by two boys. All of them were carrying baskets on their backs, filled with chili peppers.

Upon seeing this, Han Yiyi quickly invited the person in and then asked Yun Xiao to bring over the scale and loose silver that had been prepared in advance.

The two boys, who were about half-grown, were Aunt Wang's two grandsons. It was their first time visiting Han Yi's family. Seeing that Han Yi had such a large courtyard, they couldn't help but whisper to Aunt Zhang.

"Grandma, this yard is so beautiful. Let's build a big house after we sell the chili peppers..."

"Yes, Grandma, our house is too small..."

Aunt Wang has a son and a daughter. Her daughter married into the next village, so now it's just the two of them, along with their son and daughter-in-law, two grandsons and one granddaughter, living together. As their grandchildren grow up, the three thatched houses are becoming too small for them.

Actually, the reason why Aunt Wang planted so many chili peppers with Han Yi this time was precisely because of this plan.

She wanted to sell the house and, like Aunt Zhang's family, build a few large brick and tile houses. She knew that Aunt Zhang's family had only been able to build such a big house so quickly because they had always followed Han Yiyi.

Therefore, upon hearing his two grandsons say this, he couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth. However, looking at the two mischievous boys, he spoke up.

"If you want to live in a big house, put down your basket and hurry up and go pick chili peppers..."

"Okay..."

Hearing their grandmother say this, the two exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with joy, and hurriedly ran off in agreement...

The three of them carried three baskets of chili peppers on their backs. Han Yi weighed them and found that there were still 45 jin (22.5 kg) left after removing the baskets.

According to the previous agreement, long chili peppers cost 25 coins per pound, so the total would be 1,125 coins, which is a little over one tael of silver.

"Auntie, should I give you this money now, or should you bring all your chili peppers over and we'll calculate it all at once...?"

Hearing Han Yiyi's calculation, that the three baskets were worth just over one tael of silver, Aunt Wang couldn't help but swallow hard.

You know, her family planted a full two acres of chili peppers, and these three baskets weren't even finished harvesting them all. So, when you calculate it like this...

Thinking of this, Aunt Wang couldn't help but gasp. She knew that growing these chilies with Han Yi would definitely make money, but she never expected it to be this much. Not to mention building a big house, it would be more than enough to get her two grandsons married and give her granddaughter a dowry.

"Auntie, should I give you this money now, or should I give it to you all at once after we've calculated it all..." Han Yiyi said, seeing that Aunt Wang was somewhat lost in thought.

At this moment, Aunt Wang seemed to come to her senses and hurriedly spoke.

"It's okay, it's okay, we'll give it to you all at once, Han girl, once you've calculated it all..."

Seeing Aunt Wang's excited expression, Han Yiyi's eyes were also full of smiles. After a moment of contemplation, she spoke.

"How about this, Auntie, I remember you have two acres of land, and you probably can't finish harvesting today. I'll settle the bill for what you brought today, and we can settle it for tomorrow or the day after that. What do you think?"

Han Yiyi knew exactly what this silver meant to the villager; if he had that silver, he probably wouldn't have been able to sleep all night.

Unbeknownst to Han Yiyi, some people were so excited about receiving the silver that they couldn't sleep all night.

Hearing Han Yiyi say this, Aunt Wang naturally agreed.

Before Han Yiyi could say anything more, the person quickly picked up the basket and left. Watching the person walk so swiftly, Han Yiyi couldn't help but smile.

As soon as Aunt Wang left, other villagers came to her door carrying chili peppers.

Han Yiyi had previously told them that the chili harvest would be about 1,200 catties per mu (unit of land area), which surprised them greatly. However, they were surprised to find that the actual yield was more than 1,500 catties.

Except for Fan Ting's family and Old Lady Huang's family, everyone else in the village planted some.

Even the smallest family would have two households jointly cultivate half an acre of land, which is about two or three fen per household. So, even the smallest household would have harvested two or three hundred jin of chili peppers, which would amount to seven thousand five wen, or more than seven taels of silver.

Let alone seven taels of silver, in previous years, if a family lived frugally, it would be quite good if they could save two or three catties of silver a year.

As a result, several families were so excited after receiving the silver that they burst into tears. One of the women in the village, who had been struggling financially, even knelt down before Han Yiyi.

Han Yi was startled when she saw this and quickly helped the person up.

"Auntie, get up, get up! What are you doing? These were all grown through your hard work, and you deserve them all..."

When Yun Xiao saw Han Yiyi being surrounded by a group of aunties and grandmas thanking her, his expression changed. He thought to himself that he had never been this close to Yiyi before, so he quickly stepped forward and pulled her out.

Han Yi was surrounded and felt his face was stiff from smiling. Now that Yun Xiao had pulled him out, he breathed a sigh of relief.

In just one afternoon, they harvested more than 7,000 jin of chili peppers. Since most people used to grow long chili peppers, only Aunt Zhang, the village chief, and Aunt Wang grew small chili peppers. Perhaps because small chili peppers are difficult to pick, none of the three families brought any over today.

Looking at the pile of baskets and crates in front of him, Han Yiyi was a little worried. His family only had one mule cart, and if he relied on one mule cart to haul them to town, he was afraid that he wouldn't finish hauling them all by tomorrow morning.

However, when talking about this mule cart, we have to mention the dramatic scene from before. After Han Yiyi was kidnapped by Fan Ting, he stopped feeding it.

Perhaps because it was so hungry, it actually bit through the rope and ran to Aunt Zhang's house. It secretly ate all the food that Aunt Zhang had prepared to feed the chickens, making Aunt Zhang think that a lynx had entered her house. It was also at that time that Aunt Zhang learned that Han Yiyi and the two children were missing.