By December, the Zhang family was ready to leave for the capital at any time.
Zhao Guoliang's family had a happy event in December. Zhao Cheng's wife gave birth to a boy.
Zhao Guoliang, Zhou and Zhao Cheng went to Zhang Hulan's house and thanked Zhang Hulan solemnly.
It wasn’t because Zhang Hulan lent money to Zhao Cheng that he would not have this child now.
Even if the three of them earned money together, it would take at least one or two years for them to save enough money to go to the provincial capital to see a doctor.
Even if the disease is cured and you can get pregnant, it won’t necessarily be a boy.
When the baby was one month old, Zhang Hulan and her family were not at home, so Zhang Hulan sent gifts in advance.
During this period, some villagers came to Zhang Hulan and asked if the lotus roots could be dug up. They also asked whether Zhang Hulan would really buy them for one cent per two kilograms.
Regarding this matter, Zhang Hulan thought it would be better to call all the people who grew lotus roots together to discuss it.
Zhao Guoliang called everyone to Zhang Hulan, and then Zhang Hulan said to them: "I will go to the capital in a while, and will not be back until after the New Year. I will probably be back at the end of the month.
You can wait until after the Chinese New Year to dig up the lotus roots. Regarding the purchase of lotus roots, I have a suggestion. Let me see what you think. "
So everyone just listened and no one asked any questions.
Zhang Hulan continued, "I think everyone knows that lotus root can be made into vermicelli, so my suggestion is that everyone should make vermicelli and sell it, so that the income will be higher.
About five or six pounds of lotus root can produce one pound of vermicelli, and currently one pound of vermicelli can be sold for ten cents on the market.
However, as more vermicelli is produced, the price may drop.
Besides, it is impossible to sell all of them by myself, so I will probably sell them wholesale to merchants, and the price may be around six cents per pound.
But even so, it is still more profitable than selling dry lotus roots, six pounds of which can only be sold for three cents.
The price difference is only one cup, and it only takes a little longer to make vermicelli. What do you think? "
The villagers began to discuss, and someone asked, "Hu Lan, can you help us calculate, if we make vermicelli, how much silver can we get for one acre of lotus root?"
Zhang Hulan said: "I will calculate based on 3,000 catties per mu of land. 3,000 catties of lotus root can produce 500 catties of vermicelli. If one catty is worth six coins, that's three taels of silver.
If you sell the lotus roots directly, you can only get one and a half taels of silver per mu of land."
Some people began to get excited when they realized they could earn three taels of silver per acre of land.
However, some people who don't know how to calculate asked, "Hu Lan, didn't you say before that one mu of land could be sold for two taels of silver? Why can it only be sold for one and a half taels now?"
"I calculated it based on 4,000 catties per mu, but I just calculated it based on 3,000 catties. Regardless of whether it is 4,000 catties or 3,000 catties, the profit from making vermicelli from it is twice as much as selling the lotus root directly. In other words, if the lotus root is sold for 2 taels, it can be sold for 4 taels of silver if it is made into vermicelli."
Someone else asked, "But we don't know how to make vermicelli?"
Zhang Hulan said, "I will teach you how to do it then."
"How much money should we give you then?"
Zhang Hulan smiled and said, "I don't want your money. I will teach you for free. We are all from the same village, and I hope you can earn more money. I hope that every household in our village will be well-off in the future."
Ma asked somewhat embarrassedly: "Hulan, what does it mean to be well-off?"
Zhang Hulan smiled and said, "To achieve moderate prosperity means that every household will live in a big house and have a horse-drawn carriage to travel. We can't say that we can have meat every meal, but at least we can have meat every day."
"It would be nice if we could really live the life that Hu Lan described."
The villagers were all smiling, and they all believed what Zhang Hulan said.
Their lives this year are much better than in previous years. They don't have to worry about having enough food in the winter.
They all earned some money this year and planned to buy new clothes for their children during the New Year.
They were excited to think that they could earn three or four taels of silver per mu of land, so if they planted ten or eight mu of land, they would earn thirty or forty taels of silver a year.
Zhang Hulan finally said: "I have already told you the situation. You can make vermicelli to sell or sell the lotus roots to me."
If they can earn twice as much money, only a fool would not sell vermicelli. They are uneducated, but not stupid.
Ma said again: "Hulan, you are teaching us for free, how embarrassing, how about we make vermicelli and sell it, and give you some of the money? How about giving you one penny for every pound of vermicelli?"
Ma is different now than before, and she is grateful to Zhang Hulan from the bottom of her heart.
Now Liu Yonggui no longer works at Zhang Hulan's village, but she still helps Zhang Hulan feed the pigs and earns a few hundred coins every month. Life at home is really getting better day by day.
Zhang Hulan asked with a smile: "Sister Ma, are you really willing to give me a penny for every kilogram of vermicelli?"
Ma said, "It's just a penny, why would you be reluctant to give it up?"
Zhang Hulan said, "Have you ever calculated that one mu of land can produce 500 kilograms of vermicelli, so you have to give me 500 coins."
"Five hundred coins? That's so much?"
Seeing Ma's surprised and painful expression, Zhang Hulan couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Some villagers also laughed.
"Okay, Sister Ma, I don't want your money, you should keep it for yourself."
Zhang Hulan looked at everyone and said, "I don't want any compensation from you. To be honest, I don't need this little money right now. Let's all work hard together and live a good life."
Speaking of this, Zhang Hulan thought of a problem. Making vermicelli is a strenuous job. The most important thing is that when beating the vermicelli, the lotus root must be crushed completely before the starch inside can be filtered out.
If the powder is ground manually, the efficiency will be too low and it will be very tiring. We have to find a blacksmith or carpenter to make a semi-automatic powdering machine.
But Zhang Hulan didn’t know whether it could be done here. She could only come up with an idea, but she didn’t know how to do it specifically.
Moreover, making this thing is probably not cheap. I wonder if these villagers are willing to pay for it.
If they don't want to, we can only let them make it by hand.
After all the villagers left, Zhang Hulan took some lotus roots and went to the county town.
But when she showed the lotus root to the blacksmith and asked him if he could make something that could quickly crush the lotus root and separate the pulp from the lotus root residue, the blacksmith looked confused and couldn't understand what Zhang Hulan wanted to make.
Zhang Hulan sighed. The blacksmiths here basically made farm tools and cooking utensils. It was a bit difficult for them to make something complicated.
Finally, Zhang Hulan had no choice but to ask Ye Hongyun if she knew a blacksmith with good skills and extensive knowledge who could make complex things.
Ye Hongyun told Zhang Hulan that when he arrived in the capital, he could ask the craftsmen from the Ministry of Works of the imperial court.
The best craftsmen in the world are basically in the Ministry of Works.
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