Chapter 378 Conditional (Thanks to the tip from book friend "Gail")
Yang Heshu pondered for a moment, recalling some precedents. He smiled and said, "I remember a precedent where the imperial court lent money to the people. The monthly interest on one tael of silver ranged from twelve to thirty-six wen, depending on how it was used. Since you're borrowing for farming, how about I set a minimum of twelve wen?"
Manbao started to calculate in her mind. One liang was twelve wen, so three liang was thirty-six wen. At the latest, there would be a harvest in autumn. At that time, they would share the profits equally. She would still be able to come up with 3,216 wen.
Manbao nodded immediately, "Okay, I want to buy one."
Bai Shanbao immediately said, "We need to buy one too. We have a lot of land, and just three cows are not enough."
With such a cheap interest rate, it would be really tempting not to take advantage of it.
Yang Heshu, however, smiled and said, "Your situation does not match. These cattle are only sold on credit to poor households."
He looked at Manbao suspiciously, "Your family is poor, right?"
Manbao nodded affirmatively, "Of course, my family is so poor."
“Can girls from poor families also go to school?”
Manbao immediately said, "I don't need money to study. The teacher saw that I was smart and clever, so he accepted me as his apprentice. Not only did he not ask for tuition, but he also copied my books for me. He also gave me the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone in the beginning."
Yang Heshu was even more suspicious, "Is your husband so nice?"
Manbao nodded, "Hello, sir. Of course, it's also because I'm very smart. I used to be the smartest kid within a hundred miles."
Yang Heshu couldn't help but burst into laughter when he heard this, and asked happily, "It was true before, but it's not true now, is it?"
Manbao glanced at Bai Shanbao and said, "It will be like that soon."
Bai Shanbao puffed out his chest.
Yang Heshu was so happy that he almost cried. He said, "Okay, then take me to talk to the villagers. Don't tell them who I am yet. If it's really like you said, I will agree to register you and give you the first cow on credit. But you have to agree to one condition: can you be the head of the family?"
"There are conditions, what are they?" Manbao said, "I can basically make the decision on anything that doesn't involve money."
This condition...
Yang Heshu couldn't help but say, "Then it's like you have no say in the matter. You owed the cow on credit, can you pay it back later?"
"Don't worry, I can definitely pay it back!"
Even if the crops in the fields are not good or there is a disaster, there is still the income from ginger.
Thinking of this, Manbao whispered to Bai Shanbao, "How about we plant some more ginger in the fields, dry it, and sell it to the pharmacy?"
Bai Shanbao also felt that ginger was very profitable, more than grain, and nodded.
Yang Heshu couldn't hear the two children's whispers and looked at Manbao with a smile.
After receiving Bai Shanbao's approval, Manbao said, "Tell me, what are the conditions?"
"I want your family to free up at least three acres of land to grow mulberry leaves and raise silkworms next year. Can you do it?" The reason why I chose Manbao's family was, first, because she was educated, which showed that her family was more open-minded and she could absorb knowledge faster; second, from what she said just now, she had at least five older brothers, which meant that their family was large.
Looking at the situation on the fields, these farmers probably don't have time to rest all year round because of all this work, so how can they find time to raise silkworms?
Unless he could show them the huge profits from raising silkworms, they probably wouldn't be very dedicated even if he ordered them to plant mulberry trees and raise silkworms.
Manbao said in confusion, "But I don't have any mulberry trees at home."
"The government office is sending you this."
"No money."
Yang Heshu: “For free!”
Manbao's eyes lit up, "What about the silkworm seeds?"
Yang Heshu thought for a moment and said, "It's free, but the brocade weave will be sold to the county government."
Manbao was stunned. "My family doesn't know how to weave brocade."
Now Yang Heshu was stunned. He asked anxiously, "Men farm and women weave. Don't most women know how to weave?"
"There are people who are born with this talent? Then they are even better than me."
Bai Shanbao laughed heartily and said happily, "You are the reincarnation of a fairy, so they are the reincarnations of immortals."
Bai Erlang also started to laugh, and Manbao himself was happy too.
Yang and Shu obviously couldn't understand their joke, so they watched quietly.
But he soon understood why they said that, because the villagers he asked seemed to believe that Manbao was the reincarnation of the fairy under the master Tianzun.
Yang Heshu was confused at first and didn't know who Tianzun Laoye was. After asking three children, he found out that Tianzun Laoye was Taishang Laojun. It's just that when people recite the Taoist name, they always say "Wulian Tianzun". So the villagers especially like to call him Tianzun Laoye, as if they think calling him Laoye can shorten the distance between the two and make both sides seem closer.
Qian's health has improved now. Although she is not as good as Xiao Qian and others who are in their prime, her condition seems to be better than those of her peers.
Everyone in the village knew that Qian rarely went out at that time, and even the prescription had not changed. How could it suddenly become so good? Was it the blessing of God or something else?
In addition, she had been talking about it for half a year, and the villagers all believed it.
The main thing is that she also found a lot of supporting evidence, such as their Zhou family was on the verge of ruin because of the fourth son's gambling, but inexplicably their lives became better.
Yes, things like Ligustrum lucidum and Poria cocos are known to Lao Zhou’s family, but outsiders don’t know. However, they do know that Lao Zhou’s ginger blocks sell for a lot of money.
But it is said that it was Manbao who wanted to plant the ginger in the first place, and even the wasteland that Zhou Silang reclaimed was proposed by Manbao.
This further proves that Manbao is the reincarnation of a blessed fairy.
Although the Zhou family refused to let them worship Manbao for fear of taking away her blessings, the villagers still liked to talk to Manbao.
What if Lord Tianzun happened to look down from the sky and saw them talking to Manbao, remembered them, and gave them some blessings?
So when they saw Manbao leading people to the edge of the field, many villagers in the field stopped what they were doing and raised their hands to greet Manbao.
Of course, we also have to say hello to the two young masters of the Bai family, who are the richest people in their village.
Manbao invited them over to talk and introduced Yang Heshu to them, saying, "He is a very talented scholar and he came to talk to you."
The man pulling the plow was so tired that he simply stopped, sat down on the ridge, and asked, "What are you talking about?"
Yang Heshu squatted on the edge of the field and asked him, "How many people are there in your family?"
"Except for my mother at home, everyone else is here."
Yang Heshu looked at his wife and four children behind him, the oldest of whom was eight or nine years old, and the youngest was about three years old, all in silence. After a long pause, he asked, "How many acres of land can be cultivated?"
"My family only has 40 mu of land now, most of which is planted with wheat and soybeans, and the rest of the land is used to grow rice."
“Can you finish planting?”
"It's okay. Plant the good land first, carefully. The poor land can be plowed and the beans can be sown. At least we can harvest the seeds, right?"
(End of this chapter)
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