Chapter 17 - Chapter 17: Chapter 17 Buying Land to Plant Sweet Potatoesl (1/2)
Chapter 17: Chapter 17 Buying Land to Plant Sweet Potatoesl
Translator: 549690339
Five taels for a small silver ingot, arranged in a line, five to each line, two layers, a total of one hundred taels (sixteen taels to a pound, over six pounds). “This is the profit from the past six months. As per the young lady’s instructions, all the whole numbers have been made into silver ingots and the change is kept in the account.”
Wei Ruo likes the hefty feel of silver, not the lightweight silver note, hence whenever the wet nurse brings in the shop’s earnings, she always brings the weighty silver ingots.
In addition to the silver, the wet nurse also brought the account book for the shop’s recent half-year.
There are also baskets of dried mushrooms that have been sun-dried.
“Brother Xiaoyong thought the young lady might not be used to the food here, so he specially brought some mushrooms that the young lady likes. They’re all sun-dried, some of them were cooked in the way the young lady used to teach, all fried in oil and sealed in jars.”
“Wet nurse, thank you for your hard work, as well as Uncle Xu and Brother Xiaoyong, for making you travel such a long way with me.”
“Not at all, not at all!” exclaimed Xu’s mother, “I haven’t had any hardship at all. I rode in a carriage all the way, not needing to travel on foot. I didn’t even have to carry anything heavy, Dazhuang and Zhengyong did all the work.”
A happy smile spread across Xu’s mother’s face.
Xu’s mother continued: “Being able to help the young lady do things is the happiest thing. If it wasn’t for helping the young lady, I don’t know how Dazhuang, Zhengyong and I would spend our days! I never even dared to dream that I could live such a life!”
“Have you arranged everything in Huaibei Town?”
“Dear girl, don’t worry. I handed over the estate there to Old Qian, he’s been on the farm for many years, you can trust him to manage things well. There’s also someone looking after the house.”
“Have you moved all the things I asked you to move here?” Wei Ruo asked.
“Everything has been moved here, exactly three carts of sweet potatoes!” “Good, then I’ll tell you the next arrangement. I’ve set my eyes on the Xiaoyang Mountain in the north of the city, you and Uncle Xu go negotiate, if the price is right, buy it and plant sweet potatoes on it; there are many fishermen in the city who have lost their livelihood due to the Japanese pirates, and some farmers who have been forced to beg due to poor harvests. You and Uncle Xu should check it out and the ones with good character who are willing to work hard, hire them as permanent workers.”
“Good, I’ll take my husband to the north of the city for a good inspection.”
“Then settle yourselves, find a decent house in the city. When you’ve settled, come back to the Military Prefecture and give me the address so that I can keep in touch with you.”
“Yes, I got it, I’ll take care of it when I get back.” Xu’s mother agreed repeatedly. Xu’s mother stayed in the Tingsong Garden for over an hour before leaving. While leaving, she passed Wei Qingwan’s Wangmei Garden, seeing the uncultured woman hurrying away, Li Granny happily said to Wei Qingwan: “Miss, the woman who just passed by is Miss Wei Ruo’s wet nurse. I heard that her son made a fuss at the entrance of our Military Prefecture yesterday. Fortunately, the eldest son stopped it, otherwise it might have ended in a laughable situation.”
“Is that so… As long as nothing happened…” Wei Qingwan murmured.
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After negotiating with the village chief and elders of Yueying Village, Xu’s mother decided on a price of one thousand taels of silver.
Then the wet nurse reported this result to Wei Ruo to make the decision.
One thousand taels of silver was not a small sum for Wei Ruo.
Several years ago, she was determined to start a business, but she was too young and had no way to do so, so she could only use her wits to earn some small amounts of money to improve her life in the countryside.