Li Yan thanked him gratefully, and then followed the old servant of the Wang family to the fields.
The old servant of the Wang family stood at the edge of the field, pointing to the hundreds of acres of medicinal fields in front of them and said to Li Yan: "Miss, if you like anything, you can ask me if you have any questions!"
Because Dr. Zhou said there were licorice seedlings at home, Li Yan only asked about isatis root, astragalus, and honeysuckle!
The old servant of the Wang family then took Li Yan to the place where the isatis root and honeysuckle were planted. He pointed at the seedlings in front of him and said to Li Yan, "Miss, look at these!"
Li Yan pointed at the honeysuckle seedlings of different sizes and asked, "Uncle, are the prices of these two types of honeysuckle different?"
The old servant smiled and nodded. "Pointing to a patch of smaller seedlings, they say those are one-year-old honeysuckle trees, priced at one cent a tree. The ones in the middle are two-year-old seedlings, priced at three cents a tree, and the largest ones are three-year-old seedlings, priced at six cents a tree!"
Li Yan asked, "How many honeysuckle trees should be planted on this acre of land?"
The old man smiled and pointed to a large, somewhat old honeysuckle field in the distance and said to Li Yan, "Girl, look over there. You only need to plant 400 honeysuckle plants per acre. Too dense a plant would be bad!"
Li Yan nodded to show that she understood, and pointed to the astragalus and isatis root seedlings beside her: "What are the prices of these two herbs?"
"This Isatis root has a short growth period, so the seedlings are naturally cheap. One penny costs two hundred seedlings. Generally, one acre of land requires about 20,000 seedlings, which works out to about one penny per acre!"
Then he pointed at the astragalus and said to Li Yan, "This astragalus will grow for a year. You can grow it for another two years after you go back and harvest it. One mu of land will need about 100 catties of this astragalus seedling. One catty of astragalus costs 30 wen, so one mu of land will cost about 3 taels of silver!"
Listening to the old servant's introduction, Li Yan calculated the silver and money needed in her mind. These medicinal herbs have different growth periods. The energy and cultivation costs required to plant one acre of land are different, and the prices are also different.
Li Yan calculated in her mind and then said to the old servant, "Old man, I want five mu of astragalus seedlings, ten mu of isatis root seedlings, three mu of three-year-old honeysuckle seedlings, two mu of two-year-old seedlings, and four mu of one-year-old seedlings! Is that a total of twenty-seven taels and two qian of silver?"
Perhaps it was because Li Yan asked for so many seedlings at once that the old servant couldn't figure it out for a moment, so he stood at the edge of the field, frowning and counting.
Li Yan squatted down, picked up a branch from the ground nearby, and wrote the calculation process on the soft soil. Then she said to the old servant, "Old man, look at the five mu of astragalus seedlings. Three taels of silver per mu, so it will cost fifteen taels of silver!"
He pointed to a number and said, "Three-year-old honeysuckle is six cents a plant. One mu of land requires four hundred seedlings, so one mu of land will cost two taels and four cents of silver. I want three mu of medicinal seedlings, which will cost seven taels and two cents of silver! Two-year-old honeysuckle seedlings are three cents a plant. One mu of land requires four hundred seedlings, so two mu of land will cost two taels and four cents of silver. One-year-old honeysuckle seedlings are one cent a plant, so four mu of land will cost one tael and six cents of silver. All together, I'm going to pay eleven taels and two cents of silver!"
"The last ten mu of Isatis root cost one liang of silver, the five mu of Astragalus root cost fifteen liang of silver, plus the gold and silver cost eleven liang and two qian of silver, does that make twenty-seven liang and two qian of silver?"
After Li Yan's analysis, the old servant suddenly understood and looked at the little girl in front of him in amazement: "You are really good at arithmetic!" He had been doing the medicinal materials business with the master for most of his life, but he was not as accurate and quick as the little girl in front of him!
Li Yan felt a little embarrassed by the old man's surprised look. After nine years of education, these simple arithmetic calculations are basically fluent for most children today.
But for people of this era, such blurting out is simply astonishing. Many people who have not been educated for most of their lives may only be able to count the numbers within ten fingers, and larger numbers are beyond their cognition!
The old servant was now even more respectful to Li Yan: "Miss, let's go back. We can't get all the herbs in a short time. Let's go home and have some tea first. When we're done, we'll send someone to deliver them to you!"
Li Yan was originally worried about whether she could bring the medicinal seedlings back safely today. Now there was no need to worry anymore. She followed the old servant to the Wang family.
When Li Yan returned, Old Lady Wang was talking to Zhou Xun. When she saw Li Yan coming back, she immediately ordered the maid to serve the meal!
"How's it going? Did you find the seedlings you wanted?"
The old servant immediately stepped forward and reported the matter of selecting seedlings truthfully.
Madam Wang glanced at Li Yan and praised her, "Your selection is quite good, child. These herbs are most suitable for cultivation in our northwest. You requested too many herbs today. Tomorrow I'll send the seedlings home. If there's anything you're unsure of after you return, please let me know!"
Li Yan respectfully thanked Madam Wang, saying that door-to-door delivery could really save her a lot of trouble!
Soon, the maids outside came in one after another carrying bowls and dishes. There was stewed mutton, steamed fish, a few simple stir-fries and a bowl of hot soup, and the staple food was mixed flour pancakes.
After finishing her meal, Li Yan stood up and said goodbye to Old Lady Wang. If she delayed any longer, it would probably be dark by the time she got home!
Old Lady Wang got along very well with the two children. Seeing that they were about to leave, she asked the little maid to pack some snacks for the two children to eat on the way!
When the three of them arrived in Rongcheng, it was already sunset.
Li Yan asked Zhou Xun, who was sitting next to her, "Are you going back to the pharmacy, or going straight home?"
It was getting late, and Grandpa should have gone home by now. Thinking of this, Zhou Xun said, "Let's go straight home! You can also come with me to check out the licorice seedlings and see how many we need!"
"Thank you so much!" Li Yan said gratefully.
Zhou Xun waved his hand: "This one mu of land can be used to plant licorice seedlings for an entire acre of land. We don't have much labor at home, and my grandparents are old, so they can't take care of too many medicinal herbs. It's just right for you to take them back and transplant them!"
General Zhao drove the donkey cart to the door of Doctor Zhou's house and stopped. Zhou Xun jumped off the cart and said to Li Yan, "Come on, I'll take you to the backyard!"
The gate of Zhou's courtyard was wide open. Li Yan followed Zhou Xun to the backyard of Zhou's family. At this time, the Zhou family members were also picking up herbs in the backyard.
Doctor Zhou saw the two men coming back and stopped what he was doing to ask, "How's it going? Have you chosen the medicinal herbs and seedlings?"
Li Yan nodded. "I have to thank Dr. Zhou for this. The seedlings have been selected and will be delivered to my home tomorrow!"
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