Chapter 79
Ye Jia immediately tried the scented soap. While it smelled unpleasant, it was practically the same for washing hands or clothes. Perhaps the ingredients in the formula were slightly different, but this scented soap was a bit more effective at cleaning than the one made in the Zhou family workshop. Whether it was Ye Jia's imagination or the truth, the scented soap left a tingling sensation on her skin after use.
"Why do I feel it's not very moist?" Ye Jia rubbed his hands. The feeling was not very obvious.
Yu also tried it and felt a bit astringent but not quite. But she was certain it had no lingering fragrance, just a strange mixture of bath beans and the fishy smell of pig pancreas.
Even someone as particular as Yu frowned after smelling it: "You can only tell whether it's moisturizing after using it for a long time, but the smell is really unpleasant."
Regardless of whether it smelled bad or not, the price of four or five qian of silver was shockingly cheap. Now that the Zhou family had accumulated some savings, four or five qian of silver didn't seem like much, but for ordinary people, four or five qian of silver was enough for a family's food needs for more than half a month. For even poorer families, that amount was enough to keep them fed for two months. When the Zhou family was at its poorest, Yu Shi only had eight or nine qian of silver in her hands.
"Have you ever found out where these fragrant soaps come from?" Ye Jia happened to have been to Libei Town recently. The round trip took two days, and he stayed in the town for another three days. This delayed him for five days in total, and he had no idea what was going on in the town.
Yu shook her head. She realized that this matter had only happened in the past two days and no one had been sent to inquire about it.
In reality, Yu Shi had subconsciously felt it wasn't good, but she had bought a piece specifically to try, and immediately realized it was different from Zhou's. By comparison, this one was significantly inferior to Zhou's, so she felt somewhat reassured. After visiting several rouge shops, she found the same pattern. Because Linglong Rouge Shop was the only one that sold Zhou's products, the other shops had a separate source of perfume, selling products from a workshop in Luntai. She hadn't been panicking at first, but now, seeing Ye Jia's expression change, she began to panic.
"Is this serious?" Yu Shi was not sensitive to business matters. Unlike Ye Jia, a modern person accustomed to various economic models, she was considered to have a strong understanding of Ye Jia's thinking.
It was serious, of course. The Zhou family's quick escape from financial hardship was largely due to the fragrant soap. The breakfast stall and the Xishi shop only made a pittance.
The northwest region is vastly different from the prosperous Central Plains. Wealthy families are few, and the majority are poor. In Ye Jia's words, scented soap is considered a luxury item, unaffordable for most. In other words, the local market is small. In the past, with only Ye Jia as the supplier, the price was high, and people naturally bought. Now, with cheaper options, the consequences are self-evident.
This is how we seize the market by offering low prices.
Ye Jia's straightforward analysis made Yu's heart clench. "I'll send someone to investigate immediately."
Yu was a little restless, so she turned around and went to the tile market again.
Ye Jia waited at home all day, and it was almost evening when someone knocked on the door. Ling Ling went to open the door, and the person who came was, as expected, someone from the Wu family, Wu Min, the eldest son of the Wu family.
This was Wu Min's first visit to the Zhou household. It had only been less than three months since Zhou Jingchen's promotion to captain. He hadn't even hosted a banquet for the Dongxiang Township gentry and landlords upon his promotion. Aside from those who had come to offer congratulatory gifts, the Wu family, uninvited, naturally didn't attend. Upon entering, Wu Min quickly scanned the humble courtyard. There were five low, large rooms, two more in the backyard, and chickens and sheep in the spacious yard.
Honestly, if Wu Min hadn't actually seen Ye Jia when she opened the door, she would have thought she'd been in a farmer's yard. But whatever Wu Min was thinking, she didn't dare show it on her face. The station was right next door, and the person before her was the real captain's wife.
"Come in and sit down, come in and sit down." Ye Jia was thinking about the seedlings and politely invited the person into the house to talk.
Wu Min naturally didn't dare to refuse, so he sat down in the main room as soon as he entered the house.
The courtyard was so small, I couldn't imagine it even had a flower hall for receiving guests. Wu Min sat on an ordinary wooden bench, sipping tea that even his respectable servants wouldn't drink, smiling modestly. "Madam, the rice seedling issue is truly unfortunate. If you had come to the Wu family two or three days earlier to ask, we might have been able to spare a good supply for your urgent needs. But you happened to arrive during the final days of spring plowing, and many of the best seedlings have already been selected and planted. There are some left now, but they're not as good after the selection..."
Wu Min observed Ye Jia's expression as she spoke. Her attitude was humble enough, but her words were not so pleasant. "If Madam doesn't mind, we can give them to you. I'm just worried that these less-than-high-quality seedlings will have a low yield in the future, and Madam will blame us, which would be unpleasant."
After he finished speaking, he put down the teacup in his hand and stared at Ye Jia's face without blinking.
Ye Jia lowered his eyes and said nothing.
Ye Jia originally wanted to buy it, but the Wu family wanted to give it to her as a gift. Paying for it and receiving it for free were two completely different things. The initiative lay with Ye Jia, while the Wu family held sway.
While Wu Min's words were unpleasant to hear, they were understandable. It was indeed the end of the spring plowing season. In just six or seven days, April would arrive, and local farmers with fields would have already planted their crops. They wouldn't be available on the market. Even if the Wu family had any leftovers, it was common sense that they were just leftovers.
But she had such good, prime land, deep in the valley, with perfect soil moisture and even a water source... It was hard not to use the good seedlings. She also blamed herself for not being vigilant, wasting time. Now that there were no more seedlings to replace them, she could only accept it: "What seedlings do you have left? How many types of crops do you have?"
"We have wheat seedlings, corn seedlings, and sorghum seedlings." Wu Min glanced at Ye Jia, "and some white sorghum seedlings."
"Bai Diezi?" Ye Jia was stunned for a moment.
"The white cocoon has a cocoon-like fruit and the silk inside the cocoon is like fine thread. It is the cotton wool mixed into clothes in winter." Wu Min was also stunned by Ye Jia's question, but fortunately he understood the meaning and explained it to Ye Jia.
Ye Jia understood that Baidizi was cotton. She just nodded and didn't ask for his batch of seedlings.
After all, if the seedlings weren't of good quality, there was no guarantee of a good harvest. She'd gone through so much trouble, wasted manpower on planting and maintenance, only to end up with expenses exceeding her income and owe the Wu family such a huge favor for nothing. No matter how she calculated it, it wasn't worth it.
"Well, I don't know much about planting, so I'll have to discuss it with my husband. I'll go to the Wu residence tomorrow when I have time."
After Ye Jia said this, the smile on Wu Min's face became much stiffer.
He sat across from Ye Jia and sipped his tea, wanting to say something but not knowing how. Seeing that Ye Jia had no intention of talking, he stood up angrily and said, "Though the remaining seedlings aren't the best, they're not too bad either. If they were too bad, I wouldn't want to come all the way to the Zhou family... Madam, why don't you take a look first?"
This is the truth. Indeed, people who do favors cannot be too bad. If they are too bad, it is not a good thing but a deliberate attempt to offend others.
Ye Jia had just given it some thought. Many crops are raised in advance to ensure crop yields. After all, if seeds are sown directly, there's a 50% chance they won't germinate. Only by raising seedlings in advance can each one be guaranteed to be strong, ensuring a good yield in the future. However, some seedlings don't produce fruit, so the rush to raise them is to ensure optimal conditions for their survival. If there were a way to create the right conditions for raising them and accelerate their ripening, could that also be achieved?
Of course, these were just Ye Jia's random guesses based on her superficial knowledge of planting. She would have to ask Old Man Zhang to see if they were feasible.
"It's too late today, let's talk about it tomorrow. Please go."
"No trouble, no trouble."
Ye Jia had said this, and Wu Min didn't know what to say. He was vaguely aware that something was amiss, but the rice seedling raising issue wasn't a deliberate attempt to irritate Ye Jia. After all, his Wu family's main branch was in Dongxiang Town, as was the Zhou family's in Dongxiang Town, and the entire Kashgar was in Zhou Jingchen's hands. Even if they were completely idiotic, they wouldn't give the Zhou family a hard time if they came knocking.
However, the Wu family also needs these seedlings. The Wu family has nearly 400 acres of land. Those good seedlings will definitely be used by themselves first.
Having said that, Wu Min didn't stay at the Zhou residence for long. Seeing Ye Jia frowning, seemingly lost in thought, Wu Min could only take her leave. Ling Ling came out and escorted them to the courtyard gate. Wu Min glanced back at the Zhou residence's door lintel, then got into the car with a frown on her face.
After he left, Ye Jia no longer had the heart to stay in the house and went straight to Yu's house.
Yu waited in Wa City during the day and did not return until the evening.
Today, Yu was not paying attention to the seedlings and was also upset by the matter of the fragrant soap. After returning, she sat in the house in a bad mood.
"Mom, what seeds did you buy in town? Show them to me?" Ye Jia had heard her mention it earlier, but at the time, he was preoccupied with the Wu family's arrival and hadn't asked in detail. Putting aside the matter of raising seedlings, Ye Jia naturally became concerned about the seeds.
Yu opened her mouth, seeming to want to say something but stopped herself.
She had heard everything the Wu family had said, and she felt a little unhappy. Since the Wu family was willing to share some seedlings, why not make them more beautiful, sharing the good and the bad? But then she thought, they were asking for something, and from the tone of the Wu family, they didn't intend to charge. It was not right to take advantage of someone in a government position to demand the best for something so free.
"They are all here." Yu swallowed the words that were about to come out of her mouth, turned around and took the seeds she had bought from the tile market.
It's undeniable that Ye Jia was a bit of a bargain hunter. Last time, she'd been wandering around Wa City buying seeds, and had luckily managed to snag chili and winter squash seeds—a lucky find. This time, Ye Jia opened the paper package and saw only common seeds: grape seeds, some fruit and vegetable seeds. But Yu had bought a lot, leaving the pile a jumble. As Ye Jia was rummaging through the paper, she stumbled upon a familiar seed.
Ye Jia pinched a handful of tiny black seeds, no bigger than a grain of rice, and placed them in his palm, confirming that they were rapeseed. It probably wouldn't be called that nowadays, but it was definitely rapeseed.
"What's wrong, Jianiang?" Yu was already upset, but when she saw Ye Jia staring at something, she immediately came over.
She didn't recognize rapeseed, but she trusted Ye Jia. Seeing Ye Jia's serious expression, Yu Shi also stared at the black seed. In fact, most people consumed rapeseed oil these days, so it wasn't a rare commodity. Ye Jia had known about rapeseed oil for a long time, and figured that if she couldn't grow grain, a large field of rapeseed would be a good option. If she could squeeze the oil into oil and sell it on the market, the results would be astonishing.
Among the daily necessities such as firewood, rice, oil and salt, oil is essential for human life.
"Mom, do you think this is the seed of rapeseed?" Ye Jia didn't know what rapeseed was called nowadays, so he could only use the name used in later generations.
How would Yu know? After a long pause, she remained unsure: "Maybe? Why not wait until Mr. Zhang comes back and ask?"
Ye Jia nodded and rewrapped the small packet of seeds. She continued to look through the seeds. There were peanuts and sesame seeds. She didn't know how many Yu Shi had bought, but she hadn't found a duplicate yet. As she continued to browse, she came across a strange seed. It was about the size of an adult's finger joint, dark brown, with a smooth, hairless surface, remarkably like a pebble.
"What is this..." Ye Jia regretted not studying agronomy. If she had known she would be transported back to ancient times, she would have chosen a major related to agronomy. Nowadays, she couldn't even recognize some things when she touched them.
Yu also took a look. Ye Jia didn't recognize it, and she was even less sure: "I don't know. I heard it was a fruit from a foreign country."
When Ye Jia heard that he was from a foreign country, he felt a little itchy.
Just as the two were looking at the seeds in the house, they heard the sound of a mule cart outside the yard. Old Man Sun finally returned from the fields with Zhang Changli in his car. Old Man Zhang was filthy, perhaps because he had rolled around in the fields or something. His clothes and hair were covered in grass and dirt. He brushed the dirt off himself as he walked, "Yun'an's family, have you warmed up the wine for me?"
Upon hearing this voice, Ye Jia immediately wrapped up the seeds and hurried out to greet them: "It's already warmed up. How about going to the fields to check it out, old man?"
Old Man Zhang glanced at Ye Jia and tutted his words. "The land is indeed good. That large area is completely fertile. As long as the seedlings are good and we take good care of them, the yield will definitely be good."
After a day of depression, what Old Man Zhang said was a rare piece of good news. Ye Jia smiled when she heard this. Fourth Sister Ye and Xilai and the others had been busy in the kitchen for a long time, preparing the ingredients for tomorrow's Xishi shop. She had now officially taken over the stall business and was busy as hell. Seeing Old Man Zhang come back, she wiped her hands and asked Ye Jia, "Sister, are we going to have dinner?"
Ye Jia immediately smiled and said, "Let's eat!"
Qiuyue hurriedly brought the food to the table, and Zhang Changli went back to wash up and come back later.
After dinner was over, Xilai had just cleared the table, and Ye Jia told Old Man Zhang about what had happened. Zhang Changli's face darkened when he heard about this. He wasn't blaming anyone, nor did he say that Ye Jia and Zhou Jingchen had coaxed him here and didn't deliver on their promise. He simply felt that the Wu family had such a big reputation: "It seems Yun'an hasn't found his footing here yet..."
If he had established himself, wouldn't these merchants and landlords have rushed to offer him tribute? He asked for a few rice seedlings, but he was so reluctant, giving him only the inferior goods instead of the good ones. Who are they treating like beggars?
Zhang Changli sighed, "I think you shouldn't go there tomorrow. An official should act like one, and you, as his wife, are so arrogant! Yun'an worked so hard in Libei Town to build a fortress, set up defenses, and maintain peace in this area. Now that we're here, what's there to compromise for? These fattened landlords and gentry have no sense of self-awareness at all. You've made so many trips here, it's embarrassing!"
...I didn't mean to lose face. Isn't this just asking for something? Asking for something while being polite is a bit overbearing. Besides, an official can't just ask for tributes. Zhou Jingchen is a lieutenant, not a local tyrant.
Although what Old Man Zhang said was exaggerated, Ye Jia understood what he meant.
Ultimately, Ye Jia wasn't from a feudal official family, so her perspective was different. While Zhang Changli's words were harsh, they were also telling. She was a modern person, and didn't hold the view that officials were superior to the people, as was the case in ancient times. The Wu family's actions clearly showed they were not taking them seriously.
"This wheat seedling is indeed late, but the others are not too late."
Zhang Changli had spent his entire life worrying about these matters, so he was naturally well aware. "Sorghum seedlings can be grown until June. Corn seedlings can be grown until early April, so a few days later won't matter. White radish seedlings can be grown in about the same timeframe, and they can survive until mid-April. Rice, on the other hand, germinates best during the warmer months of April and May. The Zhou family's fields have a great location. It's very humid down there in the valley, and they're close to a water source. The soil is fertile and moist. I think we should plow up the fields below and plant rice."
Zhang Changli spoke slowly, stroking his beard and glancing at Ye Jia. "You must plant wheat, but it needs to be grown in semi-arid land. The soil in the valley floor is much wetter than the fields on the slopes."
"Teacher, are you all set?" Ye Jia's words suddenly became clear. "If we can grow rice, then we don't need to grow wheat. The main reason for all this trouble is for food."
Zhang Changli naturally understood that Zhou Jingchen wanted food now.
"Why are you going to the Wu family when you're farming rice?" Zhang Changli had such a bad temper that most people couldn't stand it. "Send a servant to tell them as soon as possible that you shouldn't go to the Wu family tomorrow."
Ye Jia listened and smiled: "Teacher is right."
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