Chapter 275 Harvesting Persimmons
As November approached, the wind and waves at sea became more severe. For safety reasons, Zhong Jing planned to suspend shipping with Hangzhou City in the south of the Yangtze River.
It would be better to stock up on goods first and wait until the weather is calm and favorable for sailing before setting sail. By then, when there is enough goods, we can continue to travel back and forth, and the goods can be transported quickly to Jiangnan.
Besides, there are not many local goods in winter.
However, Xiao Yuyang asked Zhong Jing for permission to take a boat and continue along this route. He wanted to personally find out the conditions along this route in winter.
Just because there's not much cargo now doesn't mean there won't be much in the future. Besides, if shipping is safe and unobstructed, it's better to keep the ship moving than to stop—you can't miss out on making money during the winter.
Zhong Jing was a little hesitant, but Xiao Yuyang insisted and pleaded again and again, so Zhong Jing finally relented and admired him. "In that case, you can find someone yourself. Anyone who is willing to go on the ship with you can go. Including you, everyone's salary will be tripled for the next two months."
They're worth the money.
Xiao Yuyang's current monthly salary is twenty taels of silver, which is three times sixty taels, enough for his family to live comfortably for several years.
For him, this was just his job, and the general was really too polite.
This also shows that he did not follow the wrong person.
Xiao Yuyang was filled with confidence and fighting spirit: What was a mere coastal route? He wasn't afraid of even the strongest waves. He was destined for a long voyage!
There will always be brave men when there is a big reward. Xiao Yuyang quickly gathered enough people and continued to load cargo back and forth on the sea.
When Zhao Liya and her friends returned home from the provincial capital, Uncle Hu was particularly happy when they talked about their gains from this trip. He smiled and said that he would go to the provincial capital again before the New Year and would also go to see the land.
Zhao Liya thought about it and decided to tell her father privately about how she saved the young master of the prefectural government on the road.
Zhao Xiang didn't know this Prefect Min at first, but after arriving here, he asked Zhong Jing and Zhou Hansheng about him and learned that this man had a good reputation as an official. He had three sons. The eldest son was a county magistrate in the north, the second son was studying in the county school in his hometown and had obtained the title of scholar, and the third son who was with him now was a child born in his old age.
My daughter is so lucky, no one else can compare to her.
"This is a good thing. No matter what I do in the provincial capital from now on, I'll be much safer!" Zhao Xiang smiled with relief. He no longer had to worry about something like what happened to Mao Dexing.
He was somewhat worried and concerned about his daughter and adopted son going to the provincial capital, but with this favor, he could finally feel at ease.
After the Frost Descent, the persimmons in Baijia Village gradually entered the ripening period. After Zhao Liya and others went to check it out, the persimmon cake workshop could be cleaned up and prepared to start work.
It's time to make dried persimmon cakes.
Everyone in Baijia Village was filled with joy. This was the first year, and everyone was excited and excited!
"I've been waiting and looking forward to this day!"
"Yes, yes, I've watched our persimmons grow every day this year!"
"I feel the same way. I feel uncomfortable if I don't check it for a day!"
"Haha, our persimmons are growing really well this year. We fertilized them in the spring, and now the trees are all golden and beautiful!"
"Miss Zhao said it will be ready for picking in a few days. I wonder what the price will be!"
"Miss Zhao will definitely not let us suffer a loss. No matter what the price is, it's better than having no one want it and having to eat it ourselves, and then the leftovers will fall and rot on the ground. At least it can help supplement the family income."
"Ah, that's true!"
"Of course not."
You have to know that at this time of year in previous years, the village was the busiest time to organize groups of hunters to go into the mountains to hunt. Sometimes they would be gone for seven or eight days. Even in the Lingnan region, it was not so easy to stay in the deep forest in winter.
It was hard work, but prey was generally found, and on a lucky day, the harvest was quite plentiful. However, everyone knew that Baijia Village caught the most prey at this time of year, so the prices were naturally kept to a minimum.
You can't actually save much money every year by selling prey.
I can't not sell it. Although the prey can be made into cured meat, I can't just eat cured meat without eating rice!
Often, even though we know the price is low, we still have to sell it.
This year, they still organized teams of hunters to go into the mountains to hunt, but it was much more relaxed and the atmosphere was not as tense as in previous years.
Even if you don't hunt much, you won't starve.
Every household has a persimmon tree. Many of those planted this year have not yet borne fruit, but there were quite a few in the past.
Finally, the day for the workshop to open arrived, and the village was filled with laughter and joy as baskets of freshly picked persimmons were delivered to the workshop. Zhao Liya, Qu Yutao, Shu Yan, Widow Qu, Aunt Hu, and others all took to the field, demonstrating to the hired laborers from Baijia Village how to peel, dry, and prepare the persimmons.
There are a lot of persimmons picked every day, so we have to hurry and process them all.
There is no need to worry about the manpower issue, but it takes time and energy to train novices into skilled workers.
Zhao Liya and others were so busy that they hardly even had time to drink water. After three or four days, things were finally back on track and everyone could finally take a break.
The people in Baijia Village are still full of enthusiasm and immersed in the joy of harvest and earning money through work. This is new to most of the people in the village. They could earn money to supplement their family income right at their doorstep. They never dared to think about it before!
Zhao Liya had previously asked Zhong Jing to ask someone to help find out the price of persimmon cakes in the Jiangnan market, and also asked someone to buy some to taste.
She had an idea in her mind and knew that the price offered to Baijia Village was not low.
Typically, four pounds of persimmons yield one pound of dried persimmon cakes, which sell well in the Jiangnan market, fetching around thirty coins per pound. Their soft, glutinous, and sweet flavor is especially popular in winter, making them a delicious treat whether eaten plain or used in various pastries.
But this is the terminal market price. They sell it as middlemen, and the price per pound is about twenty-four or twenty-five cents.
The purchase price of persimmons offered by Zhao Liya was one cent per catty. The villagers hired to make persimmon cakes in the workshop were paid thirty cents a day. After deducting various costs such as transportation, labor, and losses, the persimmon cakes could make a net profit of about eight to ten cents per catty after being sold to Jiangnan.
The greater the quantity, the greater the profit.
This year, the persimmon production in Baijia Village is estimated to be less than 1,000 acres, but a lot of persimmons have been planted and grafted, and next year the area with fruit will reach nearly 2,000 acres, and there will be more in the future.
The freshly picked persimmons were weighed. Baijia Village is particularly suitable for the growth of persimmon trees. Every household has planted a lot of them. Many families in the village have very tall old persimmon trees with lush branches and leaves. Some trees can produce three to five hundred kilograms of fruit, and the most a tree can produce is about eight hundred kilograms.
Even if it's only one cent per pound, the income is still considerable.
(End of this chapter)
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