"20 coins?! Why don't you just rob someone?!"

"Village head! You've gone too far! It's one thing to use your position to siphon off benefits for yourself, but now you're openly taking our money!"

"That fern powder comes from the back mountain, which belongs to everyone in the village. What right do you have to charge money for it? What right do you have to charge money for it!"

Upon hearing that money would be charged, the villagers changed their previously humble attitude and became agitated.

Li Dagen didn't care at all; a proud smile was on his face.

"The back mountain is indeed everyone's back mountain, but the method of extraction was discovered by my great-grandson himself!"

"If you want to get food, you need my great-grandson to teach you. My great-grandson is a scholar. Do you know how precious a scholar's time is?"

"He's wasted so much of his precious time teaching you, so it's not unreasonable for you to pay him some money, is it?"

What a load of rubbish!

Working in the county town, one could only earn 20 coins a day. Liang Yaozu just opened his mouth to teach them a way to extract the money and asked for 20 coins. This was almost no different from outright robbery!

This is only 20 coins per family. There are more than 80 households in the village. If every household wants to learn, that would be 1600 coins, or one tael and six mace!

Even if scholars value their time, it shouldn't be valued like this!

The village head and the second branch of the Liang family clearly intended to use this opportunity to extort a large sum of money from the villagers.

Everyone was angry inside, but they were helpless.

After all, they were all illiterate and couldn't read a single character. They didn't know any ancient books and didn't know how to turn tree roots into food.

To obtain food and have enough to eat, one must exchange it for money.

Actually, exchanging twenty coins for over a hundred catties of grain is not a bad deal.

After all, rice is now selling for 20 coins a pound.

However, the drought has lasted too long and disasters have continued. Many families in the village have survived until now only because of their remaining food. They don't know when they spent all their money. They can't even come up with a single coin, let alone twenty.

There is food in the back mountain, which belongs to all of them, but they have to go hungry or even starve to death because they don't have money to give to Liang Yaozu!

Many families who couldn't afford it cried in despair.

Overwhelmed with grief, Aunt Wu sat down on the ground and burst into tears.

"Oh... my son, my son who died young! With a village head like this, your old mother really can't go on living! Rather than let me starve to death, you should come back and take me away! At least I can suffer less, sob sob sob..."

Clan Chief Wang could no longer stand it, so he strode over and pulled Aunt Wu up.

"Aunt Wu, don't worry, you won't starve! Fu Gui's family has also found new food on the mountain! They have tens of thousands of catties!"

The eldest son of the royal family was tall and strong, with a large stature and a loud voice.

These words immediately attracted the attention of all the villagers in the drying yard.

"What?! Even the wealthy wife found food?!"

"Tens of thousands of kilograms?! What incredible luck did our Qingshui Village have?!"

"Rich wife, is this for real?! Food is no laughing matter!"

In an instant, all eyes were on Wan Shu.

Wan Shu was not intimidated at all. Facing the crowd, he remained calm and spoke indifferently: "It is true. We did find tens of thousands of catties of grain on the mountain. It was located near the dense forest. We don't need any extraction methods. We can just dig it out and cook it to eat."

Aunt Wu asked cautiously, "Do I need to pay for it?"

Wan Shu: "No need. The mountain belongs to everyone, and the food belongs to everyone. There's no reason for me to charge you. If you want to dig, bring your tools and follow Dazhu and Chief Wang up the mountain to dig."

Upon hearing this, everyone present cheered with joy.

"Great! Great! I can fill my stomach without spending any money!"

"You're such a good person, my dear wife!"

"The wealthy wife has a strong sense of justice. I didn't believe she had changed for the better before, but now I truly believe it!"

"Stop dawdling, everyone! We have food! Go home, grab your gear, and head up the mountain!"

"Yes, yes, I'll go get it right now!"

Whether they were rich or poor, or even villagers who had already rushed to the front and paid Liang Yaozu, they quickly snatched the money from Liang Yaozu's hands, preparing to go home, grab their tools, and go up the mountain to dig for grain!

After all, people aren't stupid; if something is free, who would pay for it?

Li Dagen and Liang Yaozu, who had been so smug and arrogant just moments before, were instantly dumbfounded.

Liang Youqian rushed out from the crowd: "Father-in-law, Yaozu, what are we going to do! If everyone runs off with that little bitch Wan Shu, how are we going to make money this time!"

"Damn it, how can we let the duck that's already in our hands fly away!" Li Dagen gritted his teeth, led Liang Yaozu, Liang Youqian, and a large group of Li family members, and quickly stepped forward to block Wan Shu from leaving.

"Rich and noble wife, wait!"

"What do you mean? I'm the village head! You found the grain, so why did you tell Wang Shuisheng?! Where exactly is the grain?!"

Before Wan Shu could answer, the villagers started cursing.

“Brother Shuisheng always thinks of us first and never takes our things. What’s wrong with telling Brother Shuisheng?”

"If Fu Gui's wife tells you, won't you try to extort money from us using this grain again!"

"You rich wife, you absolutely mustn't tell Li Dagen!"

Having his intentions exposed by the villagers, even the thick-skinned Li Dagen was too embarrassed to press them any further. He had no choice but to change his approach and put on an act of doing what was best for everyone.

"What are you all saying? Since this thing was found by the wealthy wife, I won't steal the credit from her."

"I just wanted to ask what kind of food you found. Many mushrooms and grasses on the mountain are poisonous. I was worried that you might get poisoned, so I wanted to help you identify it."

This reminder has caused some villagers to become worried.

"A wealthy woman never goes to the fields or does any housework; don't mistake her for someone else."

"Rich lady, what kind of grain is it? Why don't you take it out and show it to us first?"

Wan Shu knew that bringing out the potatoes now would definitely cause controversy, but this matter couldn't be kept secret, and she never intended to hide it.

She turned sideways and took out a few potatoes that they had just dug up from the mountain from Dazhu's basket.

"This thing is called a potato. Everyone should have seen it. It is the root of a poisonous plant. The leaves and buds of the poisonous plant are poisonous, but the root can be eaten as long as it is cooked."

"Cooked potatoes are very filling; two potatoes can make up a meal. Moreover, potatoes taste great; they can be fried, stir-fried, boiled, baked, or roasted to create different delicious dishes."