Chapter 76: Missing the Perfect Moment
Zheng San, who had returned to Jigong Mountain, was startled to see Zhao Daya opening the door. He then grabbed the person next to him and pushed her into the courtyard, afraid that she would run away. He hurriedly said, "Da Ya, what is my sister Chen doing? Quickly let her come out and talk to this scholar about how to do that thing."
"What is it?" Zhao Daya asked back.
"It's the thing that was sent to the yamen." Zheng San realized he couldn't explain it clearly either. He walked into the courtyard and closed the gate behind him. Since he couldn't explain it clearly, he decided to change the subject. "Da Ya, this is Feng... Scholar."
Zhao Daya recognized the scholar and exclaimed in surprise, "Scholar, we meet again! We met last time when we snatched the money pouch on the street."
Feng Yuanzhou endured the words and actions of the man beside him, because he was short of money and if he missed this year's scientific expedition, he probably wouldn't have the strength to go. He came eagerly when he heard there was work to do, but he didn't expect that the journey from the county town to here was completely different from what he had said.
He relied on his martial arts skills, which he had learned over several years; otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to come along so easily.
I never expected to meet this girl.
“I remember,” Feng Yuanzhou replied.
"It's someone I know, that makes things much easier!" Zheng San rubbed his hands together with delight.
Shen Zhiyi also walked over from the foot of the mountain. Seeing them standing at the courtyard gate talking, and recognizing Feng Yuanzhou, she was about to speak when Zheng San excitedly said, "Sister, quickly tell this scholar how to prepare that potted plant, such as a crane, a long life, or an old man."
She hadn't expected Zheng San to bring in a scholar, especially one who was practically an acquaintance.
"Come in first and we'll talk," Shen Zhiyi said, leading them to the lobby. There was no tea or snacks, only an untrimmed tomato plant. Of course, the tomatoes had already been harvested, and now all that was left was a patch of green.
At the time, Shen Zhiyi's imagination was limited. She had already put in a lot of effort to make a sample pot. She let the rest grow as they pleased. However, the potted tomatoes were not as big as those grown in the wasteland. In the end, they were made into canned tomatoes for her own use.
I thought it would take a while to finish eating, but I didn't expect to eat almost all of it as soon as it was ready.
So when she returned from Shunshui Village, she immediately started cultivating seedlings with the new seeds she had received. Demand exceeded supply, and it was a good time to make money from tomatoes, which she was unwilling to miss.
Furthermore, Zheng San sold all the tomatoes, but before he could even give the money back to Shunshui Village, he was targeted for his tomato potted plants. Shen Zhiyi couldn't find the time to go there right away.
This time, someone took over the bonsai styling. Shen Zhiyi explained the key points she knew in detail and patiently. Seeing that Feng Yuanzhou was listening attentively, she encouraged him, "Try it out with this one first?"
"This is..." Zheng San hadn't finished saying "ten taels" when he was startled by Feng Yuanzhou's imposing manner with the scissors. He became so serious that it made him seem petty.
Feng Yuanzhou's trimming movements were careful and cautious. After the general shape was finalized, the style became bold and orderly, just like his personality: bold yet meticulous, and always logical.
The potted plant wasn't very big to begin with, and after a few snips of the pruning shears, it took shape, and a graceful crane appeared before us. Zheng San clicked his tongue in admiration at its general appearance: "Not bad, Feng Shusheng! You said you could do this, but I didn't expect you to do it so well!"
The shapes of the cranes vary slightly from person to person, but they are all much better than the one Shen Zhiyi cultivated on her own; at least the species is uniform.
“Feng Shusheng, you’ve done a great job,” Shen Zhiyi said earnestly. “But the earliest batch won’t be available for another month and a half. I’ll need to trouble you to take the fruit-making part into account and prune it according to Third Brother’s requirements.”
"I'll give you one and a half taels of silver after I finish repairing one pot, is that alright?" Shen Zhiyi set the price, ignoring Zheng San's pained expression.
“I am honored that you have taken a liking to me, Miss, but…” Feng Yuanzhou’s speech suddenly quickened, “I urgently need money. If it is feasible, could you please grant me some funds in advance?”
After saying that, he looked at Shen Zhiyi with a serious expression, as if he hadn't been the one who said those words before.
“Okay.” Shen Zhiyi calculated the money from the tomato sales. “Is an advance of ten taels of silver enough? But we need to make it clear beforehand that this needs to be written down. It will be deducted when the money is calculated, and the document will be destroyed.”
“No problem,” Feng Yuanzhou agreed without hesitation.
There was no pen, ink, paper, or inkstone here, so Shen Zhiyi took a charcoal pencil and wrote down the reason and the amount of money on scrap paper. She then read it aloud to Feng Yuanzhou and said, "No one can imitate this document."
Since Shen Zhiyi had made such a self-deprecating remark, Feng Yuanzhou, who wasn't one to flatter, replied, "That's true."
Once the matter was settled, Zheng San enthusiastically saw Feng Yuanzhou off, having transformed from a "scholar" into a "brother," and adding even more warmth to his demeanor.
When Zheng San returned, he couldn't help but say, "Sister, you have no idea how many pots we ordered! A full sixty pots! At ten taels of silver per pot, that's six hundred taels!"
"How can there be so many?" Shen Zhiyi exclaimed in surprise, while Zhao Daya, standing beside her, was so shocked that she stood rooted to the spot.
"Of course our stuff is better!" Zheng San said excitedly. "A small portion of it is from people trying to curry favor with Lord Lu. You know, Lord Lu comes from the Lu family in the south, the kind that's very powerful."
Mentioning Lord Lu, Shen Zhiyi couldn't help but frown and said seriously, "No matter what the reason, we must ensure the quality of our products. We cannot ruin the reputation of our village with inferior goods."
"Of course! I've been keeping a close eye on it! And those chilies grown in other villages, no matter who grew them, if the quality isn't good, we absolutely cannot accept them," Zheng San said solemnly.
"Shouldn't we try to increase the amount of tomatoes?" Zheng San asked.
"Third Brother, don't worry. This time when we go to Shunshui Village, as long as we hand over the money to Village Chief Chen, it will surely inspire the whole village to plant tomatoes," Shen Zhiyi said gently. This is the path that Chili has taken.
"Wow! I'm sure I can chat with Village Chief Chen until we become sworn brothers," Zheng San said eagerly, wishing he could pack up and head over right now.
“I’m at ease leaving it to Third Brother. Before I leave, I have something to tell him: if anyone in Shunshui Village wants to buy tomato seedlings, please ask them to buy them here.” Shen Zhiyi said with a serious face. This was also the opportunity for her “vegetable shop” to open up new opportunities.
“No problem!” Zheng San immediately agreed.
Although Zheng San was handling things in Shunshui Village, Shen Zhiyi was still waiting to harvest the beans in Shangyan Village.
After agreeing on their destinations, Shen Zhiyi didn't linger any longer and left Jigong Mountain with Zhao Daya, leaving only the yellow dog to guard the house.
Shen Zhiyi was completely unaware that the so-called "auspicious time" depended on how urgent the other party was.
The road to Shangyan Village remained unchanged, but this time Shen Zhiyi and Zhao Daya had experience and easily found the way up the mountain. Their timing was perfect, as some people were already carrying baskets as they emerged from the wasteland.
"Da Ya!" Wu Pang Ya called out, running as if walking on flat ground while carrying her basket on her back.
"Fatty!" Zhao Daya responded cheerfully, perhaps using a bit too much force, which caused the oxen on their way to moo.
Wu Pangya quickly ran over and stopped beside the oxcart, unable to believe it.
"Come here! Put your basket on, let's talk more." Zhao Daya had already jumped off the oxcart and took the initiative to pull the basket on Wu Pangya's back and put it on the cart behind her.
This time, Shen Zhiyi sat in the cart and deliberately looked at the various sacks at her feet, which were filled with copper coins that she had specially exchanged.
"It seems we arrived at just the right time. Are all these beans ripe?" Shen Zhiyi couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, they're ripe. Our family is in the last batch, so we're collecting them today," Wu Pangya replied cautiously.
When they first came, they were dressed casually, but now they are wearing brand-new cotton clothes. This is something that Wu Pangya, a country girl dressed in coarse cloth, can not possibly get close to, which is why she feels inferior.
Shen Zhiyi saw through this and took the initiative to say to Wu Pangya, "I came here to collect the beans first. The price will be set at the price you sell to the grain store for now, three coins per pound."
"No, no, we sell them to the grain store for one coin per pound," Wu Pangya said honestly.
"This is just a temporary price. We need to reassure you first so that we can harvest the next batch of beans," Shen Zhiyi said calmly.
"Don't worry, Fatty, we've brought enough money this time! And Zhiyi will definitely find a way to sell these beans, and sell them well. We'll make even more money than we do now!" Zhao Daya had seen this kind of thing too many times, so she was particularly confident.
“Da Ya is right. This time we’re here to harvest beans, and next time we’ll come to help the villagers pay their taxes,” Shen Zhiyi said with a smile.
With their casual conversation as a foundation, Wu Pangya honestly let slip the conversation. Before Village Chief Zheng could even gather everyone together to speak, the villagers came carrying sacks, almost filling the village chief's yard with them, as if afraid that if they came late, they wouldn't be able to collect them.
When Village Chief Zheng saw this scene, he couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat; they were all terrified of poverty.
He glanced cautiously at Shen Zhiyi out of the corner of his eye, and seeing that she didn't show any impatience or anger, he smiled ingratiatingly and asked, "Miss, how do you harvest these beans? Do you have any procedures?"
“As long as the beans are good after inspection, we will weigh them and pay you. However, we need to record the weight and which family grew them so that we can make up for it later,” Shen Zhiyi said loudly. “As you all know, I said before that these beans were intended for research on bean products. The selling price of your village's beans would be 90% of the price of the bean products sold. If you want to buy the bean product recipes, you will have to pay 50% of the selling price. However, I was worried that you would be hoarding so many beans, so I decided to buy them at three coins per pound first.”
"Don't rush, everyone. Let's go one family at a time," Shen Zhiyi said, but people were still crowding in.
Seeing this, Zhao Daya grabbed a fire poker she'd somehow found and slammed it on the ground, shouting outside, "Don't push! If you keep pushing, we won't be able to weigh you!"
These words were extremely intimidating, and the crowd instantly became obedient, while the weighing and recording process went very smoothly.
However, the registration process still took three days, and they became "celebrities" in Shangyan Village because of it, with people greeting them wherever they went.
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