As soon as Jiang Zhi finished speaking, the Huo family members were stunned.

They're already willing to take 10% of the profits as dividends, but others are still thinking about the entire Huo family.

The Huo family is not just a pharmacy, but a clan that owns clinics, pharmacies, and drug workshops, and even a caravan led by the second young lady of the Huo family.

Jiang Zhi wasn't simply after money; as an outsider, she wanted decision-making power and a voice in the Huo family's pharmacy.

The group of white-haired old men whispered among themselves, their faces darkening. "Madam Jiang, can you really produce a new medicine every year? Don't try to fool us!"

It is difficult to come up with new drugs. The Huo family has been spending a lot of money to purchase various medicine formulas and secret recipes, but they still have few things to offer.

I often encounter people who claim to have a family secret recipe, but they're all scammers.

Jiang Zhi said earnestly, "I can't guarantee that we'll release new drugs like fever reducers every year, but we can release something like mosquito coils or mosquito repellent every year!"

You should know how profitable the mosquito coil workshop in Xujia Village is now; the Huo family's pharmacy will also be able to produce them in the future.

Manager Huo and his colleagues naturally knew the sales volume of the Xu Family Village workshop.

Moreover, they are reselling Jiangzhi's Tibetan incense and mosquito repellent, so they are well aware of the profits involved.

You can't release a new drug every year. If you could release a new product every year, the profits would be considerable. You could open a large workshop just by making mosquito coils.

The group whispered amongst themselves again. The white-haired old man said, "This matter is of great importance. We need to discuss it within the clan and give Madam Jiang an answer in a few days."

Jiang Zhi wasn't in a hurry and agreed with a smile.

After leaving the Huo family, she went straight to the county government office and told Magistrate Zhang about her intention to sign a contract with the Huo family.

There was no need to hide this matter. Qingquan Pharmacy was established with the support of Magistrate Zhang, and it also benefited from the prescriptions offered and the rewards from Prince Zhou.

Whether it's government benefits or social reputation, the differences between the various pharmacies are significant. Any changes on one's side require reporting to the county magistrate.

Moreover, the contract needs to be filed in the county government office, and Magistrate Zhang will find out sooner or later. Speaking it out now might get us some good advice.

As expected, when Magistrate Zhang heard that Jiang Zhi wanted to invest in the Huo family's pharmacy, he nodded in agreement: "The Huo family opens a pharmacy and shares profits with the new army. With the Tianpeng Army around, it's only right that you invest in good medicine. Let's see how the Huo family discusses it; they will make their own decision."

He didn't spell it out clearly, but Jiang Zhi already understood.

The Huo family's investment was exactly what I had in mind, and it was indeed related to Nie Fantian.

Since his medicine was sold to Ba County by the Huo family, Nie Fantian would naturally protect him. From now on, they would all be in the same boat.

Xiang Dejin also received the news, and he naturally supported it.

Nowadays, Aunt Jiang is no longer in a situation where she can exchange a few herbs for grain, but it is a fact that Jiang Zhi is weak and has a shallow foundation.

Even if Nie Fantian has some connections, the distance is so great that there's not much he can help with. If he could get close to a big bank manager, it would be much more beneficial for his own development.

Aunt Jiang's side is not weak either.

Whenever Magistrate Zhang mentioned the people in front of other towns and villages, he would always praise Xu Family Village and Aunt Jiang, saying that their reputation was the best and that it was only right for them to ask for more shares.

Jiang Zhi confirmed her suspicions with Magistrate Zhang and Xiang Dejin, which reassured her. She stayed in the city for another night and returned to the village the next day.

Unexpectedly, just after getting off the bus, they received good news: Pi had given birth.

Wang Xiaoju said happily, "Auntie, you don't know, when Chunhua gave birth to her son, Gengsheng cried. He said he would never be afraid of people saying he had no descendants again."

Jiang Zhi immediately knew that during the ten days or so that Xu Changshou returned to the village for the funeral, he said a lot of discouraging things to Xu Gensheng's parents and even instigated Pi Shi to drink sow urine. No matter how carefree Xu Gensheng and Pi Shi were, they still felt the pressure.

Now that Pi has given birth, regardless of whether it's a boy or a girl, Xu Gensheng is the happiest. All he needs to do is prove that he has an heir.

Pi finally gave birth to her child, and there was one person who could finally rest easy: Xia's mother.

The scholar's wife gave birth to a daughter three months ago, while Pi Shi gave birth only now, well past her due date by half a month, which made Xia's mother extremely worried.

Unfortunately, Ms. Pi was carefree and had irregular periods, so she couldn't remember exactly how long she had been pregnant.

In the days before gynecological examination equipment, we could only wait day by day, and finally the day came when the time was right.

A few slaps made the silent child cry, so Xia's mother gave him the nickname "Xian Ge" (meaning "leisurely brother"). He was born slowly, his birth was slow, and even his crying was slow. He was leisurely and carefree his whole life and could never be in a hurry.

Good things are happening all over Xujia Village. The mosquito coil workshop has already sold out, the wheat harvest in the village has ended, and even rice seedlings have been planted in the fields.

Selling tender corn this time was also very easy.

Last year, the merchants selling green grains had already asked about the approximate time and estimated that they would arrive by then, but they still waited at the post station for five days.

And those interns did come again, since it was also the busy farming season in other places, and the number of people was only half.

These twenty-odd people helped Xujia Village break off the green corn cobs, collect the silage stalks, plant the second crop of corn seedlings that had been raised in advance, and water them thoroughly with fertilizer and water.

Their trip wasn't in vain; they also brought back the merchants who bought green grain to the village and sold their own tender corn.

Jiang Zhi was unaware that selling green grains had become a common practice in Xujia Village, and that it had immediately caused a great uproar in other villages.

Just like in her first year when she was about to sell grain, Xu Genyou and Tian Gui concealed the truth from her, almost causing a disaster.

I was initially happy to learn how to cultivate seedlings and keep them warm, so I could plant and harvest them early. But when I saw the corn grow, the elderly people in the village immediately became reluctant to part with it.

Upon hearing that they were going to sell tender corn, the old man was about to throw his fist on the ground and turn the place upside down.

The elderly, taking advantage of their age and seniority, caused quite a few troubles. Some sat on the ground cursing, some chased after people with their canes, and some blocked merchants' carriages from leaving.

Fifty-two villages came to learn the techniques, thirty villages planted early corn, and only ten villages successfully sold their green grains and saw their first income, so they planted a second crop of corn in the fields.

Other villages could only watch helplessly as the early-season corn grew old, forcing the second crop of late-season corn to be delayed by another month.

The corn seedlings that were cultivated in advance took root in the seedbed for too long and could not be transplanted, resulting in losses.

This is something Jiang Zhi cannot solve.

If you want to squeeze out an extra season's harvest, then time is of the essence; you should delay it by as much as possible.

Next, only a dozen or so trainees came to teach the cotton planting techniques of "pruning" and "breaking off the buds".

Others were stopped by the village elders: they were not allowed to learn useless things, and they should honestly follow the methods passed down from their ancestors to farm, and not mess around.

Some people find it troublesome, feeling that they haven't learned anything from the trip and are just doing work for others for free.

However, there were also a dozen or so people who followed Xujia Village and learned step by step. As long as they followed the families who grew early grains, each household could sell several hundred coins.

For ordinary farmers, this is no small amount; at least this year's grain tax is secured.

Although it's tiring and involves several rounds of work during the rush to harvest and plant, the grain harvested in the fall is ours, which means we get an extra bushel of wheat compared to previous years.