Chapter 108 I'll Buy the Fruit on Credit

Wen Zhenyi turned to look at him and asked, "You don't sell any of the fruit in your orchard?"

"My orchard isn't big. The fruits in it are just for me to try when I want to. I never really sell them."

"You gave it to me, what do you eat?"

"We can't eat much normally, most of it rots in the fields."

Wen Zhenyi suddenly realized that the world of the rich was truly squandering and wasteful.

Master Cheng looked puzzled by her gaze: "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'll buy these fruits on credit for now. I'll pay you back when I make money."

Master Cheng waved his hand and said, "No, no, it's rotten in the ground anyway. If you have any use for it, just take it. But you have to give me a copy of what you make."

"Are you waiting here?"

"You have to understand the heart of a gourmet." Mr. Cheng said this without blushing or breathing heavily.

Wen Zhenyi rolled his eyes. "Even if I make something with fruit, I'm afraid only people with affluent lives can afford it, unless the price of fruit can be lowered."

"That might be difficult. Growing fruit in large tracts isn't easy. The orchard owners I know here have all put in a lot of effort."

“Is all the fruit shipped out?”

"Yes, they will be delivered to surrounding towns."

Mr. Cheng actually took her to see the shop. There were already craftsmen looking at the blueprints, preparing to turn it into a market.

Although the project looks huge, it actually just involves demolishing the partition walls of the previous house and rebuilding them into stalls.

Wen Zhenyi saw that there were houses behind these shops. If all the shops on this street became a market, then the houses behind them would not be of much use.

"Master Cheng, what are you going to do with these mansions behind you?"

"This is also a headache for me. Originally, there was a backyard behind every shop, but now it's not in use, and I don't know what to do with it."

"Why don't you keep one or two of the larger mansions to use as water for the market and management rooms, and seal up the others. You can rent them out or sell them."

"Your little brain is quite quick at thinking. Why didn't I think of that? I'll just do as you say."

Mr. Cheng turned around and went to find the master craftsman. The two discussed for a long time. The master craftsman looked at the drawings and nodded in agreement.

Wen Zhenyi looked at the shops on this street. The area in front and back was the same, but they were originally divided into shops of different sizes.

Now as long as the pillars do not fall down, there will not be any big problems in demolishing these walls.

Wen Zhen saw that there was nothing for him to do, so he said hello to Mr. Cheng and walked towards the shop.

She looked at the people selling things in the market. Their faces were all sunburned, their foreheads and faces were covered with sweat, and their clothes were soaked with sweat.

In such hot weather, I am a little worried about making breakfast. I don’t know what kind of food should I make to cool down.

There are mung beans and sea bass for sale in the market, so she might as well make mung bean porridge and sea bass porridge tomorrow.

She walked towards the store with things in her hands, and when she returned to the store, her clothes were soaked with sweat.

Ma Yinghe and the others sat under the shade of a tree, each holding a palm-leaf fan, fanning themselves intermittently: "This weather is too hot."

Wen Chengwen is now wearing a short gown: "It doesn't get any cooler even though it's raining."

Zhu Tao also had his head drooping, looking listless.

"Dad, Mom."

"Yi Yi is back." Wen Chengwen looked at her carrying things and quickly got up to take them from her.

Wen Zhenyi took the mung beans to the kitchen, soaked them in clean water, and prepared to cook some mung bean soup for everyone to cool down.

Ma Yinghe asked Wen Zhenyi to sit down and rest for a while, and fanned her and Zhu Tao with a fan: "Has the construction of Master Cheng's shop started yet?"

“Construction should start tomorrow, but I don’t know when it will be completed.”

"Don't worry about that. Mr. Cheng doesn't need that little money, and it can be done quickly."

"That's true."

"Yi Yi, we have something to discuss with you." Wen Chengwen thought for a moment and said.

"What's up?"

"We asked Mayor Meng before. All the sick pigs in the county have been slaughtered. For the sake of the people's livelihood, the county magistrate plans to purchase some pigs from the neighboring county. I discussed it with your mother and we also want to start our old business again."

"Dad, are they still doing the same thing as the previous Xie the Butcher?"

"They're out of money. They didn't report the pig disease and were fined a lot of money. Plus, they bought too many pigs. Now they don't have that much money even if they want to. Mayor Meng still hopes we can continue selling pork."

"Since you and mother have made up your mind, then go ahead and do it. However, we don't have enough money at home right now, so we may have to wait a little longer."

"That's okay. We're just discussing it with the neighboring county, and we haven't determined a specific time yet."

Wen Zhenyi knew that if they didn't do this, the townspeople would have a hard time eating pork in the future. "That's fine, we can make a little more money during this period, so we can have enough money to buy pigs."

"I'm afraid the price of pigs this time will not be cheap." Ma Yinghe was a little worried. After all, they were transported from another county.

"The transportation costs are borne by the government, and we only need to pay the price of purchasing the pigs." Wen Chengwen dispelled her worries.

Wen Zhenyi thought of what he had considered before: "Dad, I told you to buy piglets to raise before, would you like to consider it?"

"You can buy a pig this time, but you may not be able to buy a pig next time."

"I'll find time to go back and discuss it with your grandparents. I'll also go to the town government office and ask if I can buy some piglets."

"Well, this is the best. After all, pig diseases cannot be solved in a short time. Buying pigs from the next county is not a long-term solution."

Ma Yinghe patted her head and said, "If your father and I go to kill the pig, you and Xiao Taozi will be too busy to run the shop."

Wen Zhenyi smiled and said, "Mom, we can hire someone! When you return to the village, you can look around among the families you know to see if there are any willing to work for me. We'll pay one or two taels of silver a month, and provide food and accommodation."

A monthly wage of one or two taels of silver is not a small amount of money in the village. It is equivalent to more than thirty cents a day, which is enough to buy two kilograms of pork.

"Okay, I'll go back and ask. But I'll be here for a whole day, and I can't take care of her at home. I don't know if anyone is willing to come."

"Let's ask around. If there's no one, I'll put up a notice at the door and I should be able to find someone to help."

"That's fine too. Your father and I will take some time to go back to the village tomorrow and ask about it."

Wen Zhenyi looked at Zhu Tao. She considered giving some things to Zhu Tao and letting her be responsible for breakfast in the future so that she could free up her hands to do other things.