Lufeng City is located northwest of the imperial city, separated from it by several cities. It is far, but not particularly far.
If you drive at a normal speed, it will take about a month; if you travel by water, it will take about half a month.
If it's done at full speed, without sleep or rest, it won't even take five days.
This is also why Yun Zhiyi chose it.
It's far away, but not completely outside the capital's sphere of influence.
She wanted to find a beautiful place to retire peacefully.
But I don't want to go to those poor, remote places to suffer.
Although Lufeng City is not a very large city, its location is decent and the climate is acceptable.
There are very few disasters so severe that they require entire families to relocate.
The only downside is the cold winters, which means the summers aren't too hot, which suits her perfectly.
Anyway, she can stay in her cat space during the winter and not go out.
The estate she wanted was located in the western suburbs of Lufeng City, in the middle section of the lower reaches of the Yanjiang River.
If you're traveling by carriage, it takes an hour at most, and half an hour at most, from Lufeng City to Tianzhuang. Even riding a horse, it wouldn't take more than a quarter of an hour.
Yun Zhiyi was quite satisfied.
She was satisfied, but others were not.
Dongyang Village has been shrouded in gloom these days.
Ever since the news came from above that the estate had changed hands and been sold by the princess to an ordinary woman, the people in the estate felt as if the sky had fallen.
That's why they are like this.
Firstly, the estate originally belonged to the princess, and its reputation was prestigious. While other aspects were uncertain, it offered some level of security.
Secondly, the princess was kind and generous; even though they couldn't pay their taxes and rent that year, she was willing to give them some time.
Thirdly, the land here is not very fertile, and the climate is also bad.
At most, crops can only be grown in the fields for half the year.
If the harvest is good, all is well; but if the harvest is bad, you really will go hungry for a whole year.
The quality of the harvest is closely related to the type of grain.
They now buy their annual grain seeds from the princess.
Now that the estate no longer belongs to the princess, she can no longer purchase those superior seeds.
In addition, the new employer's character is still unknown.
It's said that the other party was able to sue the adoptive father's family in court, so they must be a rather cold and unapproachable person.
What if the other party comes and drives them away, or imposes more taxes and rules?
What I fear most is that the other party doesn't understand farming but still tries to give me pointers.
I've heard that some farm owners are very capricious, and they often force their farmers to switch to planting all sorts of strange and unusual crops.
This caused immense suffering to the farmers.
Therefore, these days, everyone in the village is listless and dispirited, worrying about their future.
"Sir, what do you think we should do if the new employer wants to kick us out?"
Li Erhua looked at her grandfather, who was sitting on the threshold sighing, and asked him a question.
The old man sighed; he couldn't possibly answer her question.
Everyone is worried about this now.
The middle-aged man next to him said, "They won't kick us all out. I think it's more likely that they'll increase the rent and taxes."
Li Erhua frowned. "That's not much better than being driven away. The amount of grain we have each year isn't enough to feed us. If we move any further out, we'll really starve to death."
She thought about how she lost her job at the embroidery shop because the estate had changed hands.
They couldn't help but feel some resentment towards their new employer.
Why buy a farm when you have money to buy so many other things?
"Let's just take it one step at a time," the old man sighed, interrupting the father and daughter's complaints.
Yun Zhiyi had no idea how much of a nuisance she was becoming.
After arriving in Lufeng City, she did not immediately go to Dongyang Farm, but chose to stay in the city.
She spent a few days exploring the city to get a general understanding of the local economy, market, power dynamics, and business situation.
Now that I have a rough grasp of the situation, I plan to go to the restaurant and the cloth shop to complete the handover.
Princess Fu'an was indeed a kind and honest person.
Although the restaurant and fabric shop have been transferred to her name.
But when she didn't come to hand over the work, the staff in the store didn't move. They even ordered that they had to wait for her to come and complete the handover before they could leave, and only after she was satisfied.
Therefore, the three shops remained open for business during this period.
Business isn't doing too well.
It wasn't that the store staff were deliberately being negligent.
She had reviewed the accounts from the past few years; the cloth shop was doing alright, but the restaurant business was declining steadily.
At first, she thought it was due to the restaurant's management style and the quality of its dishes.
After arriving, I ate at the restaurant a few times and chatted with the waiters before I roughly understood the reason.
Ineffective management methods are indeed one of the reasons.
But the most fundamental reason is the problem of food supply.
Lufeng City is located in Jiaozhou, where the climate is uniformly mild in summer and freezing in winter.
The ice melts in February each year, and planting can only begin in March.
But frost begins to fall in October.
Therefore, the time when the fields can be cultivated is from March to September.
Just enough to plant one crop of wheat.
Food is the foundation of farmers' livelihoods, given their limited land and time.
They would naturally prioritize food.
This has led to a severe shortage of fresh vegetables and a lack of variety of ingredients in Lufeng City every year.
Many people who run food businesses own land and are self-sufficient.
However, Princess Fu'an was not someone who was short of money, so she did not force the people on the estate to abandon grain and grow vegetables.
Fresh vegetables are not suitable for long-distance transportation, which limits the dishes available in restaurants and reduces customer choices.
No matter how delicious the meat dishes are, people will eventually get tired of them.
Under these circumstances, the restaurant business naturally cannot compete with other businesses.
To revive the restaurant's business, the issue of ingredients must be resolved.
Perfect, it matches her 'profession' perfectly.
So she didn't really care.
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