Chapter 87 Grain for Radishes
Fruit radishes, the smaller ones weigh two pounds, and the larger ones weigh four or five pounds, are all common.
Is Chief Secretary Li really capable of managing so much silver?
Don't make a boast now, only to find your master will skin you alive when you turn around and ask for instructions.
Yuan Hongqu smiled.
"Chief Secretary Li, there are plenty of radishes. The shop plans to reopen sales around the winter solstice..."
“It’s only Minor Snow now, and there’s still almost a month until the Winter Solstice…” Chief Secretary Li couldn’t wait any longer. “In my opinion, Mr. Yuan doesn’t need to go through all that trouble. Our Prince’s Mansion can just go to the estate and pick it up. We’ll take care of whatever it is.”
"It's hard to say exactly how much, but for now, it'll probably be around 50,000 jin," Yuan Hongqu said conservatively.
The yield of radishes in her village is about 5,000 catties per mu, so 50,000 catties is only the yield of 10 mu of land.
This is still a conservative estimate, after all, the yield of radishes per mu is now over 7,000 jin.
She used radish seeds from her spatial storage, and even though there were no fertilizers to increase yield in the ancient fields, the yield per acre was incomparable to that of ordinary radishes.
Even if Li Changshi lacked common sense, he knew what a yield of 5,000 catties per mu meant, and that it was 50,000 catties temporarily, which meant that in reality it was only more than that.
Even if a radish weighs five pounds, that's still ten thousand taels of silver.
He doesn't have that much power to use so much money.
But this opportunity is fleeting. If he doesn't make a decision and the Prince Xian's mansion gets wind of it and tries to steal it, the prince will surely not let him off easily this time.
But if they don't buy them all, then it won't be the only one available...
Li Changshi hesitated for a long time but still couldn't make up his mind.
Yuan Hongqu never expected to make a lot of money with these things, nor did she want to offend Prince Zhongshun's mansion because of radishes; that would be a real loss!
“Li Changshi, no matter how you look at it, radishes are not a rare commodity and are not worth a tael of silver each. If this price gets out, I'm afraid it will be difficult to sell radishes if my estate grows them in the future.”
"The price will still be the same as before at the shop, which isn't exactly a low price. After Li Changshi has made the arrangements, go to the shop to find Wu Tian, and he will take you to the estate to pick up radishes."
Li Changshi was overjoyed to hear this. The price of fruit radishes was five copper coins per catty. Fifty thousand catties would only amount to a little over two hundred taels of silver, which was far less than ten thousand taels!
“Mr. Yuan, my master’s idea is that we should take as many as we have. But this might mean you’ll earn less money. It would be better to double the price and not sell to anyone else.”
Since fruit radishes cost five copper coins a pound, even if the price doubles, it's still not worth as much as one of their prince's antique teapots. They're underestimating the Prince Zhongshun's Mansion!
Since some people are eager to raise prices, it's not impossible.
“Alright.” Yuan Hongqu readily agreed and cleared out all the radishes. It only cost about a thousand taels of silver, which was less than the price of two jackfruits. It wasn’t really considered a rip-off by the Prince Zhongshun’s mansion.
“However, Chief Secretary Li, I will trouble you to exchange all the silver for grain, both coarse and fine grains are fine. Exchange the grain for radishes.” Yuan Hongqu thought for a moment. There were dozens of households on her estate. Although they had already been given winter grain, it was only enough to fill their stomachs and prevent them from starving to death.
If we divide it in half again, it should be enough to give them a good winter.
She had to keep the other half. Her estate didn't grow much grain, so storing more grain at all times was never a bad thing.
Here, people mostly depend on the weather for their livelihood. If the weather turns bad and they can't get enough to eat, these grains can be a lifesaver.
During the off-season, she had Wu Tian lead the villagers to dig many cellars and build several warehouses in the village.
Her hoarding habit is something she can't change no matter where she goes.
Chief Secretary Li readily agreed. As for why Yuan Hongqu wanted grain instead of silver, that was not his concern.
Mr. Yuan was straightforward in his dealings, and he couldn't be timid either; if he needed food, he would get food.
After agreeing on the time and place for the handover, Chief Secretary Li left with a beaming smile.
Having successfully completed his mission, he was finally relieved of his worries.
Jia Zheng, the "tool man," sat with him for half a day. He had thought that the Prince Zhongshun's mansion was just a place for Mr. Qingyuan to visit, but it turned out to be a business deal involving fruit and radishes. He felt quite bored. If it weren't for the favor he owed Rongyue Courtyard, he would have left long ago.
It was truly remarkable that Jia Zheng could endure until this point, until he heard that Yuan Hongqu didn't want silver but wanted grain.
After seeing off Chief Secretary Li, he finally couldn't help but ask Yuan Hongqu,
"Mr. Yuan, why do you want food instead of money?"
"Second Master, the people on my estate don't grow much grain, and they can't get enough to eat just radishes. If we feed them well and take good care of them, they'll be less sick and can work more." Yuan Hongqu looked down on Jia Zheng's hypocritical manner, so her reply was somewhat perfunctory.
Upon hearing this, Jia Zheng suddenly wondered if his own estate could also follow this method.
Just as I was about to ask Yuan Hongqu more questions, she had already left.
"Second Master, Miss Lin will be leaving school soon, so I'll take my leave now."
Jia Zheng seemed to be deep in thought.
Transporting tens of thousands of kilograms of radishes at a time involves quite a bit of noise and disruption.
Yuan Hongqu had previously hidden the estate to avoid trouble and prevent it from being exploited by those with ulterior motives. Now that the Prince Zhongshun's manor is keeping an eye on it, the estate will be exposed sooner or later.
It would be better to just show it off openly, since when broccoli became a tribute item, it was already noted that it was a specialty of the Yuan family in E'er Village on the outskirts of Beijing, and it was registered there.
From now on, only radishes, cabbages, broccoli, and other vegetables will be grown in the village, and at most tomatoes and cucumbers will be added.
A small village like Yuan Hongqu is like a chicken rib—tasteless to eat but a pity to throw away.
True nobles and dignitaries wouldn't care about such things, while ordinary people would be afraid of getting into trouble if they offended them.
This is one of the reasons why Yuan Hongqu later sent broccoli to Jia Lian everywhere.
As for why Jia Lian was chosen, it's because it's easier to get things done when you know someone!
Although she had no interest in changing the fate of the Rongguo Mansion, she promised Wang Xifeng that she wouldn't end up wrapped in a straw mat and dying. Even though she had gone down a wrong path, it might save her life.
Jia Lian had already won the Emperor's praise because of a cherry tomato. Although there were others who wanted to follow the same path, firstly, new varieties were hard to find, and secondly, they were not as good as Jia Lian of the Rongguo Mansion.
The Rongguo Mansion has already declined, and Jia Lian has no other choice but to find another way to gain the Emperor's favor. This time it can be considered a desperate gamble, but they don't need to do it.
Although the Jia family is still a noble family, they are now considered to be among the lowest ranks.
If the Jia family had remained content with their lot and focused on farming and studying, perhaps when the Emperor settled accounts with the Four Princes and Eight Dukes in the future, he would have shown them leniency...
Yuan Hongqu thought about it all the way and finally confirmed that selling tens of thousands of catties of radishes to Prince Zhongshun's Mansion would not cause any big uproar.
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