Bai Shan happily followed Qin Yao to the melon field.

Qin Yao raised her hand and drew a circle, "You can take all of these."

Bai Shan was surprised and asked her if she had missed something, so she allocated one acre of melons to him, and there was still another acre left.

Qin Yao shook her fingers and said, "I want to keep these for myself."

Bai Shan looked at her suspiciously, "Madam Qin, you don't look like someone who needs a bite of food right now."

"No, you read it wrong. I just need this bite of food." Qin Yao corrected very seriously.

Bai Shan was helpless, "Then I'll ask someone to come and take away these melons tomorrow morning, and we'll weigh them right away."

Qin Yao responded readily: "Sure."

Then he shouted behind him: "Awang!"

"Madam." Awang appeared and handed over a pencil case produced in a stationery factory with both hands.

Qin Yao saw Bai Shan looking at her subconsciously, and immediately praised him for knowing what he was doing. She forced the pencil case into his arms, letting him experience the exquisiteness of the pencil case.

"Boss Bai, take a look at this box. It has a unique and elegant shape, and the layout inside is also very particular. It is designed according to the Taoist spirit of inaction, and the main theme is freedom. You can put the pens and ink wherever you want. Once the buckle is on, no matter how you shake it, when you open it again, the items in the box will still be the same as before."

Bai Shan fiddled with this small wooden box called a pencil case, and gradually became interested as he listened to Qin Yao's introduction.

But even though he was tempted, he still subconsciously bargained, "It's a novel thing, but I don't know if scholars like it."

"It's okay!" Qin Yao generously pressed the pencil case into his arms, "Manager Bai, you can try a batch of goods first. With our friendship, I can make the decision and let you sell first and settle the bill later!"

"Really?" Bai Shan asked in surprise.

Qin Yao immediately asked him to go to the factory with her and write the contract for him!

"I trust you, why are you still not confident in me?" Qin Yao blew the ink that had not yet dried on the paper and winked at Bai Shanyou who was flattered.

"Anyway, if you can't sell it, just return it to me. If you sell it, then everyone will be happy."

Bai Shan took the contract she handed over tremblingly, and when he went to the warehouse to pick up the goods, he couldn't help but ask again:

"If I don't help you sell this pencil case, will you not sell me the bitter melon?"

Qin Yao laughed, "How is that possible!"

Inwardly: I really need to consider our friendship.

Bai Shan stroked his chest and said, "That's good, that's good."

Qin Yao suddenly remembered an important thing: "By the way, do you know how to transport bitter melons? I won't compensate you if the melons break on the way."

Bai Shan gave her a look that told her not to worry. He came here just for the bitter melon and had already found out all the details.

"You are well-informed." Qin Yao said with a smile.

Bai Shan did not hide it from her. "I happened to pass by Jinshi Town yesterday evening and heard the news about the bitter melon. This morning, when I just woke up, I saw someone delivering bitter melons to the students at the gate of the county academy. When I asked, I found out that it was such a coincidence. It was your lady Qin again."

They arrived at the warehouse. Qin Yao smiled slightly and pushed the door open. A mountain of pencil cases appeared in front of Bai Shan and the others.

Bai Shan swallowed unconsciously. This was too much!

Qin Yao thought to herself, I didn't expect that Carpenter Liu and the previous workers had quietly made so many pencil cases.

Of course, most of these were made by workers during training.

Qin Yao pretended to be relaxed, "It's not that many, just five or six hundred pencil cases. With your ability, Shopkeeper Bai, there's no pressure at all."

"No, I'm under pressure, a lot of pressure." Bai Shanji said seriously. His expression and tone were exactly the same as when Qin Yao said she needed watermelon just now.

But if he sells first and settles later, he can give it a try.

"I didn't bring any help today, so I can't put many in the car. Please load fifty for me first."

Qin Yao patted his shoulder gratefully, went out and asked Awang to call Bai Shan's driver in, and went into the warehouse herself to select fifty pencil cases.

There are ten each with patterns of the Four Gentlemen: plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum, and ten with landscapes.

These patterns were all drawn by Carpenter Liu himself, and then made into rubbing boards, painted on them, and printed directly onto the box surface.

There is no strong artistic style, but the author has also put a lot of thought into catering to the readers' preferences.

After packing the pencil case, Bai Shan asked the driver to speed up and leave Liujia Village as if he was escaping.

Awang stood behind Qin Yao and told the truth, "Madam, why don't you just put the knife to his neck and let him take all these accumulated pencil cases away."

Qin Yao's mouth twitched slightly. She turned around and looked at the clear stupidity in Awang's eyes, and taught him:

"Business is not as simple as killing people. Learn it well. It's very complicated!"

Awang said "oh" and scratched his head. He didn't understand but tried to understand.

Bai Shan said he would come early the next morning, but the door of Qin Yao's house was knocked in the early hours of the morning.

The children who were going to school were not awake yet. Awang got up and opened the door, his expressionless face unable to hold back.

Bai Shan rubbed his eyes. He didn't know if it was because he was too sleepy or what, but he actually saw murderous intent in the eyes of this servant of Qin Yao's family.

He didn't want to go so early, but fruit had to be fresh, so the price would be different if he went half a day earlier or half a day later.

Qin Yao understood that it was not easy for everyone to do business, so she asked Awang to wake up the children and get ready to go to school, and then take their sickles and go to the melon field.

Bai Shan had counted the approximate number of melons yesterday, and called three carriages, with more than twenty melons in each carriage, just enough to load them all.

A lot of straw had been brought over in the car, and each melon was placed under a layer of straw.

Qin Yao didn't have a big scale at home, so she had to go to the old house to borrow a scale for weighing.

This action attracted the people from the old house who had just woken up, and a few early-rising villagers joined on the way. Before they knew it, the melon field around Qin Yao's house was already full of people.

The total weight is 856 catties, 30 wen per catty, a total of 25 liang and 5 qian.

Bai Shan handed the silver to Qin Yao on the spot. The surrounding villagers were amazed and envious. They didn't expect that bitter melon was so valuable.

After Bai Shan and his group left, they all came around and asked Qin Yao if she wanted to sell melon seeds, as they also wanted to grow bitter melons.

Qin Yao glanced at the half acre of watermelons behind her and thought it was enough for seeds. She asked the villagers to come back to her in the spring of next year. If there were any extra ones, she could share some among them.

The villagers hurriedly expressed their gratitude and then dispersed contentedly.

Qin Yao picked two melons and handed them to He and Qiu who followed, asking them to take them home and eat.

Before, she didn't know that the melon was expensive, so she just ate it. But today, after knowing the price of bitter melon, He felt embarrassed and declined it, saying that the adults didn't like to eat it anyway. If the children were greedy, she could just let them come to Qin Yao's house to have a bite.

Qin Yao looked at He's awkward look, who clearly wanted to accept it but was too embarrassed to do so, and said with a smile:

"Why do you think I kept this half acre of land? It's just to let our family have a good meal. Take it! Remember to save the seeds so that we can plant them next year."

The two sisters-in-law then took the two large watermelons and went home with smiles on their faces. After a while, they would clean up and go back to work. (End of this chapter)