Han Yiyi took another closer look at the details copied by Yun Xiao and then discovered that Aunt Zhang's family was going to plant four mu of chili peppers. This meant that almost all of their fields were being used to grow chili peppers.
Han Yiyi couldn't help but look at Aunt Zhang in the crowd, and saw Aunt Zhang's bright eyes. It turned out that Han Yiyi had mentioned to Aunt Zhang before that she wanted to plant chili peppers for the New Year.
Although Aunt Zhang was happy at the time, she didn't say anything. Unexpectedly, she secretly cleared out all the fields in her yard just to plant these chili peppers now.
Secondly, there's the village chief's two and a half mu, and then Aunt Wang's two mu. So, those three families alone have more than eight mu of land. The remaining families have either one mu or half a mu between two families.
After carefully reviewing the details, Han Yiyi signed a contract with them and explained the planting methods.
After the contract was signed, someone asked out of curiosity.
"Hey! Does this chili pepper yield two hundred jin per mu...?"
In their view, if the chili peppers could yield 200 jin per mu, and Han Yiyi bought them at 25 wen per jin, they would have an income of 5,000 wen, or 5 taels of silver, which was much better than growing grain.
Upon hearing this question, the others looked at Han Yiyi expectantly, waiting for his answer.
Before starting, Han Yiyi would buy at 20 wen per jin, thinking that this price was more expensive than meat, so planting some would definitely not be a loss. Besides, apart from Aunt Zhang, the village chief and a few other families, most of the rest were using reclaimed land and some scraps, so she would forget to ask how much the yield was per mu.
Hearing this question and seeing everyone looking at her expectantly, Han Yiyi didn't keep them in suspense and spoke directly.
"If everyone follows the method I just taught you to plant, I think you can get about a thousand catties per acre..."
Actually, based on Han Yiyi's previous experience, whether it's Erjingtiao peppers or millet peppers, there would be at least 1,500 jin per mu. The reason for saying 1,000 jin is because I was worried that if I said too much, there might be some mishaps and everyone would be disappointed.
However, even though Han Yiyi had already lowered the figure, a thousand jin was still enough to shock these villagers.
Sure enough, upon hearing Han Yiyi's words, everyone couldn't help but gasp. One thousand catties per mu—what kind of concept is that?
You have to understand, the grain they used to grow was considered good if they could get 500 jin per mu, and that was in a year with good weather. If they encountered a natural disaster, they would be grateful to get 300 jin.
"Yi-yi, are you telling the truth? Can a mu (unit of land area) of chili peppers really yield a thousand jin (unit of weight)?"
This time, even the village chief couldn't help but ask.
"Uncle Chen, of course it's true. Why would I lie to you?"
Han Yiyi said, "However, this is just a rough estimate based on the amount I planted before. The exact number will depend on whether everyone will plant it seriously."
Upon hearing that a single acre could yield over a thousand catties, the hands holding the chili seeds seemed to tremble slightly as everyone exclaimed in amazement.
"If we could really get a thousand catties, we'd be rich."
"Yes, yes, if we could really get a thousand catties, even if this year's grain harvest is bad, we won't go hungry."
Seeing everyone's excitement, Han Yiyi was also very happy. She knew that these people were all poor and had spent their whole lives struggling to make ends meet. If she could help them stop going hungry, she would consider it a good deed.
However, at this moment, those families who had bought half an acre or a acre of chili seeds together began to regret their decision. Just as they were about to ask Han Yiyi to sell them some more seeds, they heard Han Yiyi speak up.
"Now that everyone has taken the seeds, go home and start cultivating seedlings. If you want to plant more later, wait until April or May. At that time, you can plant another season of chili peppers. During this time, when you have some free time, you can also clear some land so that you can plant more..."
Hearing Han Yiyi say this, everyone had no choice but to give up. The key issue was that they didn't have any extra land, and if they started clearing land again, they were afraid of delaying the seedling cultivation time.
Seeing everyone leave, the village chief turned to look at Han Yiyi, and seemed somewhat worried, so he asked.
“Girl, if it’s really as you say, that one mu of chili peppers can yield a thousand jin, I just did a rough calculation, and if the whole village adds it all up, it would be about nineteen thousand jin. Such big chili peppers…”
The village chief didn't finish his sentence, but Han Yiyi understood what he meant.
This is because she is worried that if the chili pepper production is too high, she won't be able to "eat" it all, which will cause dissatisfaction among everyone. After all, they have been given such high hopes.
Just as Han Yiyi was about to speak to comfort him, she heard Yun Xiao speak up from the side.
"Uncle, you don't need to worry about that. Let alone 19,000 catties, even 190,000 catties, my Yun family can handle it..."
Only then did the village chief realize that he had completely forgotten about this person, and he quickly nodded in response.
"Okay, okay, okay, I'm relieved now..." she said, and hurriedly told her family to start preparing for the seedlings.
In the Yun family mansion in Kyoto, Old Madam Yun, her face full of anger, looked at the person kneeling on the ground in front of her and shouted in a low voice.
"Still not telling the truth? Do you really want me to carry you out and break your legs before you'll talk...?"
When Steward Liu saw that Old Madam Yun had lost her temper so badly, his kneeling body trembled involuntarily.
There was no way around it. Although Old Madam Yun usually seemed kind and rarely got angry, she was a decisive and ruthless woman in her youth, and now it concerned her most beloved grandson.
Manager Liu could imagine that if he had concealed even the slightest thing, not only would he have lost his leg, but he might not even have been able to save his life.
It turned out that Yun Xiao's failure to return to his home in the capital for the New Year had aroused the suspicion of Old Madam Yun. Later, with the matter of Manager Wang, Old Madam Yun felt even more suspicious.
Now that so much time has passed, and he still refuses to return to the capital, Madam Yun suspects that Yun Xiao must have been bewitched by some lowly vixen in Ping'an Town. That's why she summoned Steward Liu for questioning.
However, upon hearing Madam Yun's questioning, Steward Liu found it difficult to answer. After all, in his opinion, Madam Han had not seduced him to become the young master.
On the contrary, it was the young master himself who insisted on staying at Madam Han's house and refused to come back.
Moreover, in Steward Liu's opinion, even if the Yun family agreed to let Han Yiyi become their young mistress, given her personality, she might not necessarily be willing to enter such a high-class family with so many rules...
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