After the banquets held by the Jiang and Mu families, Mu Yi'an's watermelons began to ripen.
"Uncle Li, starting today, you will learn from me how to tell if a watermelon is ripe or not. The day after tomorrow, the merchants will come to pick up watermelons."
"Understood, Madam, I will study hard."
Uncle Li was very excited. If he could learn a skill, he would have another guarantee for making a living.
Mu Yi'an taught diligently, and Uncle Li and Jiang Shuhe learned with care. To put it simply, this is something that comes with practice; if you put your heart into it, you'll gradually master it.
The three of them spent several days inspecting the thirty acres of watermelon fields, marking the ripe watermelons. Uncle Li then went to the village to check on the watermelons planted by each family; some were ripe. However, because some families were reluctant to cut off too much of the flesh, their watermelons weren't very big.
Mu Yi'an has already taught them; whether or not they listen is a personal choice.
Of all these families, the ones with the best watermelons were Li Qiu's family, her cousin's family next door, and Uncle Jiang's family. They completely trusted Mu Yi'an and followed his instructions meticulously. As a result, their watermelons grew the best, and the first batch was already ripe.
Mu Yi'an calculated that each family received eighty melon seedlings, and since it was the first batch, with two or three melons left on each seedling, there would be more than two hundred large watermelons.
Manager Zhou has already sent word that watermelons will still cost thirty copper coins per pound in the second half of the year. If there's a large-scale planting next year, the price won't be so high.
Based on this calculation, each household could earn approximately forty taels of silver. If they followed Mu Yi'an's instructions, that would be roughly the expected profit. However, those households that didn't follow the instructions produced smaller watermelons, so the price they would fetch is uncertain.
In the countryside, thirty or forty taels of silver was a huge sum of money. During the off-season, farmers could only earn seven or eight copper coins a day at most, and a few hundred copper coins a month. Thirty taels of silver could do a lot for a farmer.
There is room for maneuver in weddings and funerals.
However, since the money hasn't arrived yet, people haven't really felt the impact.
The day agreed upon with Manager Zhou arrived. Before dawn, a crowd had already gathered in front of Mu Yi'an's house, all preparing to help Mu Yi'an pick watermelons.
"Uncle, cousin, just like before, all the ripe watermelons have been marked with red ribbons. Please look carefully when you pick them. This is related to the quality of our Jiangjia Village watermelons, and we can't ruin our reputation."
"Don't worry, we remember Shuyun's family's wishes."
My uncle called everyone to go to the field, saying that they would see money today. His family had thirty ripe watermelons, and he didn't know how much they could sell for.
With a mix of trepidation and excitement, everyone worked with extra care. It would be heartbreaking to break one of them.
People often experience things more realistically when they put themselves into the situation.
Mu Yi'an's batch of watermelons is mostly ripe, about a quarter of them.
When Manager Zhou arrived, Mu Yi'an and the others had already picked all the watermelons.
"Mrs. Jiang, you've worked hard!"
"Manager Zhou, you've worked hard too!"
"Start weighing them. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can transport them to the capital."
Because of the watermelon incident, Manager Zhou gained face in front of his employer and received considerable benefits. Therefore, he was grateful to Scholar Jiang's wife and spoke to her with even greater respect.
The first batch of nine thousand watermelons belonging to Mu Yi'an's family was shipped out, earning one thousand nine hundred taels of silver. After counting the silver notes, Mu Yi'an then had the watermelons from other families weighed one by one.
The watermelons from my cousin's house next door sold for 6,100 coins. The watermelons from Jiang Shuwen's and Jiang's third uncle's houses were about the same price as those from my other uncle's house, and the selling price wasn't much different either.
The other families, including the third grandfather's family, the great-grandfather's family, and Jiang Shuyun's maternal uncle's family, kept a few more watermelons, each weighing less than five jin. Manager Zhou, out of respect for Mu Yi'an, gave them twenty wen per jin, which they deeply regretted.
The watermelons at the Jiang family's old house weren't doing very well. Jiang's sister-in-law wasn't good at farm work and hadn't bothered to learn. Jiang's mother lacked the stamina, and Jiang Lan didn't participate, resulting in a poor watermelon harvest. Besides, Jiang's aunt and the Zhou family had already informed them that the watermelons should be reserved for them.
Mu Yi'an ignored all of this, saw off Manager Zhou and his group, and the others, with silver in their pockets, were all beaming with joy.
"Grandpa, Third Grandpa, watermelons may be planted on a large scale next year, so the price won't be as high. I can't say exactly what the price will be. Whether or not to plant watermelons next year is up to you."
Mu Yi'an didn't mention the county magistrate's matter, since there hadn't been any official notification yet, and she couldn't overstep her bounds.
“Shuyun’s family, we understand what you’re saying. We’re already doing our part to help you make money this year. As for next year, whether or not to plant is up to each family. Whether you make a profit or a loss is none of your business. If anyone is ungrateful, then they shouldn’t stay in Jiangjia Village.”
Third Grandfather spoke seriously; he was the patriarch of the Jiang family and held a special position in Jiangjia Village. Even the village head, Lin, might not have as much prestige as Third Grandfather, after all, the Jiang family was the established local power in Jiangjia Village.
Each family made a guarantee, took the silver home, and had to hide it—it was silver, after all! Among the farming families, how many had silver? Copper coins were their common currency.
With income, Mu Yi'an felt at ease, after all, she had already spent more than four thousand taels. Next, she needed to buy a house in the county town, and the price couldn't be cheap.
Mu Yi'an took a one-hundred-tael silver note and went into Jiang Qi's room.
"Jiang Qi, you can keep this."
"Second sister-in-law, why are you giving me these silver notes?"
"Keep this for you to rely on. Whether you get married or not, having money in hand will put your mind at ease. You've worked hard these past six months, and your second sister-in-law knows that. If you ever want to get married in the future, your second sister-in-law will prepare a dowry for you."
"Second sister-in-law..."
Jiang Qi's eyes reddened. She must have done good deeds in her past life to have met such a wonderful sister-in-law in this life.
"Keep it. You can buy property there if you find a suitable shop or land in the future."
"Yes, I'll listen to my second sister-in-law."
Jiang Qi wiped her eyes sheepishly. Honestly, it was so embarrassing.
Mu Yi'an told her to wait a while and turned to leave. Jiang Qi had really sacrificed a lot since she started living with them. One hundred taels wasn't much, but Mu Yi'an knew that Jiang Qi wouldn't accept any more.
At the Jiang family's old house, Jiang's sister-in-law and Jiang Lan looked at the watermelons in the vegetable garden that weren't growing very well.
"Sister-in-law, tell me, how much silver did Second Sister-in-law get from selling it?"
"It must have cost several hundred taels of silver. She planted thirty acres of watermelons; those are all gold nuggets!"
Jiang's wife was extremely anxious. If the family hadn't separated, and some of this money had gone into the public treasury, then when the family separated later, their eldest branch would have received the lion's share.
Jiang Lan thought to herself, "Several hundred taels! They sold so much before, so my second brother's family must have several thousand taels of silver! If I were to get married, would my second brother give me a portion of my dowry?"
The two women, an aunt and a sister-in-law, squatted by the melon patch, each lost in their own thoughts.
Meanwhile, Mu Yi'an was at home counting her banknotes, completely unaware of their ulterior motives. She and Jiang Shuyun had already agreed that all of their family's assets would be included in her dowry, so neither of them needed to worry about it.
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