Chapter 548. Seaside Outing (1/2)
The days flew by and in a flash, it was time to harvest again. The Yu Family’s farmstead in Tanggu once again had a large bumper harvest of winter wheat and the output had increased again. On average, they had gotten around seven hundred and fifty catties of wheat per mu.
Although the yields of the commoners who had bought wheat seeds from the Imperial Plantation and Tanggu weren't as high as the Yu Family’s or Imperial Plantation’s, they still received on average six hundred catties per mu. Compared to normal wheat yields, this was about an additional fifty percent to double of what was normal. The commoners who lived in the suburbs near the capital, as well as those near Tanggu, all had joyous expressions on their faces.
The villagers near Tanggu were especially happy as they had started planting high yielding corn and wheat earlier than the ones by the capital. Their lives had been much more pleasant these past two years compared to before. They had surplus grain on hand and could even sell it out at a high price. Some people, for the sake of increasing their profits, sold all of the grain they produced and used that money to buy ordinary grain instead to eat.
Since the Yu Family’s farmstead originally only had around two thousand mu in land, they were limited in how much improved grain they could plant and harvest. Some of the merchants in the area came up with the idea to buy grain from the nearby villages. However, they soon discovered that the seeds from those people gave yields that were much lower than the ones they got from the Yu Family. Thus, they soon gave up on that idea and did their best to get connections with the Yu Family so that they would be able to buy high-yielding grain as soon as possible.
Seeds for winter wheat were reserved for the grain merchants who sold to the people in the northeast. After carefully inspecting and getting information on all of the eager merchants, Yu Hai decided to cooperate with a grain merchant surnamed Zhen. This man had a pretty good reputation in the northeast districts and didn’t cheat the people there, so the people liked him. After signing an agreement where the merchant agreed not to inflate prices on the grain, they filled two of his cargo ships with winter wheat seeds and they set off from the harbor to go to the northeast.
After a light refreshing rain, it was time to start the autumn planting on the expanded Yu Family’s farmstead in Tanggu. Once this season of corn was harvested, then they would be able to supply more than half of the commoners in the northeast with seeds to plant.
Yu Xiaocao, who was currently in the capital, wondered if she should find some time to go back to Tanggu to take a look. It didn’t seem very honest of her to throw all of the responsibility onto her father and older brother while she stayed away, acting as an idle manager.
When He Wanning, who represented everyone who was interested in whether there would be a second ‘picking peaches picnic’, heard her tentative plan, she immediately became interested, “Xiaocao, if I’m remembering correctly, you once said that your hometown is by the mountains and the sea. One can hunt in the autumn and winter and gather seafood in the summer and spring. How about you organize a ‘seaside feast’ and invite us over to see your hometown? What do you think of this idea?”
Yu Xiaocao looked at her helplessly and replied in a tone that didn’t have much hope, “Older Sister He, you forgot that when I first came to the capital, many people mocked me for being a ‘crude villager’ or ‘muddy peasant’. Not everyone is like you and is interested in how life goes in a small fishing village!”
He Wanning had a confident expression on her face as she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you find out what everyone else thinks. Those who want to come are welcome to come, whereas those who aren’t don’t need to! If no one else is interested, then the two of us can go. It’ll definitely be more relaxing that way!”
After He Wanning left Xiaocao’s residence, she directly went to visit her good friend, Yuan Xueyan. She enthusiastically described Yu Xiaocao’s farmstead as if she had personally been there and then slapped the table and stared at Yuan Xueyan, who showed zero reaction the entire time, with wide open eyes and asked, “Are you going to go or not?”
“When will you be able to change that rascally temperament of yours? Younger Sister Xiaocao has made it such that you look gentle and tender on the outside and no longer resemble a tomboyish urchin. But as soon as you open your mouth, that image is ruined!” Yuan Xueyan put down her book of lyrical poems and faintly glanced at He Wanning.
“Xueyan, are you still my best friend or not? This is an idea that I came up with. If you don’t agree with it, then what sort of face will I have in front of Younger Sister Xiaocao now?” He Wanning pulled at Yuan Xueyan’s hands and swayed back and forth until she started to feel dizzy.
Yuan Xueyan let out an audible sigh and took her hands out. She calmly said, “Alright ah! Since you're trying so hard right now, then I’ll agree to your proposal. As a matter of fact, I also wanted to see my grandfather and younger brother, so it’ll be the perfect timing to stop by too…”
“Then we’re all set then! I’m going to go visit Minglan and see if she’s interested or not. In actuality, I feel like just the three of us going without any extraneous people following is more relaxing and enjoyable.” He Wanning recalled that with Royal Princess Minglan’s fiery temperament, if she didn’t invite her on a fun outing, then the other girl would likely get revenge later.
Royal Princess Minglan had a similar personality to He Wanning and also wasn’t one to be patient. When she heard He Wanning’s proposal, her eyes lit up and she excitedly said, “I heard that Younger Sister Xiaocao is very skilled at swimming and she knows how to dive deep to gather seafood. She also has a dolphin friend that helped her discover the Wokou pirates early! Do you think we’d be lucky enough to see her dolphin friend?”
He Wanning also became excited at the thought. She strolled back and forth a few times as she complained, “That lass Xiaocao is truly some friend. Her hometown has so many fun things to do but she never thinks of us, her good friends! If I didn’t have a moment of impulse and blurt out a sentence, that lass would have secretly ran back to Dongshan Village by herself! That’s not okay, I need to make her pay this time! She needs to provide us with an authentic seafood feast!”
After she got in touch with her two best friends, He Wanning ran back to the Yu Residence and made sure to confirm the date that they were leaving on. Then, she went home and exhilaratingly began to pack for her trip!
Having one sheep come along was no different than having two sheep. Since she already had three extraneous people tagging along with her to Tanggu, there was no real difference if she added a few more. Thus, she sent out invitations to Yu Wanqing and Li Mengru and her sister. After thinking a bit, she also went to Imperial Prince Jing’s estate to visit to find out if that fellow Zhu Junyang had time to spare. This was to avoid her petty man from becoming jealous and sulky that she invited other people but not him.