Chapter 179: Chapter 1: The Eighth Grade Prominent Family (New Chapter on Monday Seeking Recomndations)_1
Spring of the year 3153 of Great Qian Longchang.
Almost eight years have passed since Wang Shouzhe’s ti travel.
It is a season of blooming flowers and rejuvenation.
Dingpu Ferry Terminal.
A large ferry slowly docked in the deep-water port area.
As soon as the docking bridge was leveled, the crowd orderly disembarked holding a card, passing through the gate in succession.
The card, the size of a child’s palm, is exquisitely crafted, seemingly gold but not gold, resembling jade but not jade, presenting a faint purple color in the sunlight.
Inside the card, there appears to be an inlaid piece of paper, inscribed with the holder’s birthplace, na, age, and basic physical characteristics.
As long as the one holding the card passes through the gate, the fully ard gatekeeper rely inspects it briefly before expressing their welco with a smile, “Welco ho.”
The one passing through, would also express their gratitude, “Thank you for your protection.”
However, those without a card need to go through another gate. That gate is more crowded, the gatekeepers sternly inspecting those passing, requiring an official Da Qian guide. Without the guide, they are imdiately sent back.
Even if they have a guide, a dedicated person will interrogate them about their origins, purpose, and how long they plan to stay in Ping’an Town. The interrogation is strict, and if anything feels off, they are sent back imdiately.
After passing the interrogation, they are given a thick card with a warning that they can’t stay in Ping’an Town for more than a month, and a processing fee of a single copper coin is charged.
They may refuse, but then they will have to pay for their own return on the next ferry.
On the ferry, a few n dressed as peddlers ford a small caravan. Since they have a horse carriage with them, they were arranged to disembark last.
At this mont, a young peddler in his twenties looked at the scene in the distance and asked, “My brother, what’s with those pale purple cards?” Obviously, it was his first ti coming to Ping’an Town to trade.
The peddler caravan was loaded with goods like refined salt, coarse salt, crude iron, and copper, all best-sellers in Ping’an Town. Especially refined salt and crude iron, which were bought up at high prices by smithies and general stores as soon as they disembarked.
And they would buy so snow candy, coarse cotton cloth, patterned cotton cloth, ordinary porcelain, and other high-priced items from Ping’an Town. After a hard trip, they would make quite a profit.
“The purple card?” An old peddler in his forties or fifties looked envious, “That is the identity card of the locals in Ping’an Town. Nowadays, outsiders who want to migrate to Ping’an Town are required to buy at least twenty acres of land and a set of houses to get an identity card. With an identity card, they can co and go freely in Ping’an Town.”
“Dear , I heard the prices for fields and houses in Ping’an Town are very high now.” the young peddler said enviously, “Don’t tell even those lowly tenant farrs are given identity cards?”
“Watch your words.” The old peddler hurriedly stopped him.
But it was too late.
A few rough n dressed in fine cotton clothes stared at them fiercely, “What’s wrong with us tenants? How are we inferior?”
The old peddler apologized on behalf of the young man, “I apologize for the young man’s ignorance. He doesn’t know the high status of the Wang family’s tenant farrs now.”
Their high status ca from their high inco and the Wang family’s attention to them.
Now, the average annual inco of the Wang family’s tenant farrs has exceeded 30% of the inco of the independent farrs in Ping’an Town. The only explanation for such an upside-down situation is that the inco of the Wang family’s farms has beco very high, and the tenant farrs have benefited.
It must be known that the independent farrs in Ping’an Town, because they are farming Wang’s N0.9 Good Variety and can enjoy the Insect Master’s preferential extermination prices, are already much higher in yield than the independent farrs in other places.
From this, it can be seen that the inco of the Wang family’s tenant farrs is higher than many people’s imagination.
The tenant farrs of the Wang family waved dismissively, too lazy to argue with them. They began a casual conversation, “I heard that Old Zhang’s daughter got married to an independent farr’s family? I rember that girl used to work in Silkworm Manor, right? I don’t know what he was thinking, allowing his daughter to marry beneath her.”
“Their family has fifty acres of good land? That boy is a blacksmith’s apprentice? In that case, they are well matched.”
“Old Liu, I heard your family bought a storefront outside of Zhuwei Manor Phase Two? This is all your family’s savings from over the years, right?”
“Yes, you’re right, my third son has so talent in sewing, and he’ll be ready to work in a couple of years. Opening a tailoring shop can sustain him. Our Liu family can’t be farrs throughout all generations, can we?”
“What’s wrong with farming? Becoming a tenant farr for the Wang family isn’t easy now. They need to verify your background, assess your skills, and work in the outer farms for a few years…”
“That’s true, but having a tailoring shop plus a craft, the inco isn’t low. It’s also good investnt owning a storefront.”
The tenant farrs talked about profits and investnts once they opened their mouths.
This frightened the young peddler. Are these tenant farrs? The confidence and tone sound like rich farrs from other places.
He felt odd hearing them disdain the match with independent farrs.
“Is the storefront in Zhuwei Manor very expensive?” The young peddler asked weakly.
“Well, it’s a little over a hundred Qian gold coins.” Old Liu said, “We poured all our family’s savings into it and borrowed quite a bit.”
“That expensive?” The young peddler was shocked, “If this were another town, you could buy more than thirty acres of land. The Wang family sells the shops at such high prices?”
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