Second watch, seeking pink.
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To build temples and gardens for Empress Shen, two mountaintops and a large tract of land were occupied. A portion of these mountains and lands originally belonged to the Shen Family in Xiao Shen Tun, while others were ownerless wastelands.
The reason these wastelands had not been cultivated was that most of them were hilly and unsuitable for planting grain crops.
The land in the mountains that Lian Manman’s family wanted to buy also belonged to the wastelands. However, since it was near the construction site, their purchase had to be approved by the Shen Family.
Old Huang had been running around, and in just a few days, he had managed to get the matter taken care of.
The fields to the east from the foot of the Guarding-Temple Forest could be purchased by Lian Manman’s family at will.
Lian Manman’s family simply bought a large expanse of mountains and wastelands stretching eastward from the Guarding-Temple Forest to the border of the fields of Wanjia Tun. Wu Yugui and his son Wu Jiaxing acted as interdiaries, and officials from the County Yan were invited to witness the asurents and signing of the docunts.
The entire tract of land was sixty-eight acres. Because it was wasteland and hilly, the price was exceptionally cheap, with each acre costing only two taels of silver. Including the expenses for signing docunts, paying taxes, exchanging silver for the Red Deed, greasing palms, organizing feasts, etc., the total cost was only one hundred and fifty-two taels of silver. Lian Manman’s family didn’t have to make much effort—all was taken care of efficiently by others, and Manman’s small wooden box now contained another land deed.
There were also villagers who laughed at them behind their backs, thinking they had gone mad with too much money to think that the land would produce anything.
However, Manman felt that the land was well worth the purchase; the soil of that wasteland, while not fit for crops, was perfect for the growth of wild grapes.
Based on her experience picking wild grapes last autumn and this year, Manman roughly estimated that the yield per acre of wild grapes should be around six to seven hundred catties.
And if wild grapes were transplanted manually and fertilized sufficiently, along with careful tending, the yield per acre could reach nine hundred to one thousand catties. This figure seed quite astonishing, but Manman still felt a bit regretful. In her previous era, as far as she knew, well-tended wild grapes could produce as much as four thousand catties per acre.
With sixty-eight acres planted with wild grapes, a year’s harvest could yield sixty-eight thousand catties of wild grapes. If these grapes were all used to make wine and juice, what would the annual inco be?
Just thinking of that number made Manman feel that the land deed she held in her hand was heavy and seed to emit a golden light, the light of gold.
Of course, to achieve such a harvest, the investnt of human and material resources was indispensable.
It seed that she needed to make arrangents as soon as possible, and have Wu Yugui and Wu Jiaxing recomnd so skilled and reliable temporary and permanent workers.
As the autumn air beca clearer and the chill in the air more distinct, the crescent moon hanging in the night sky grew plumper day by day. It was ti to harvest the crops. The peanut plants were turning yellow, while the sorghum heads had beco fiery red, and the millet heads bowed under the weight of their plump grains. The husks of the corn had changed from green to yellow, then to white, with the silk drying up and even so husks splitting at the tips to reveal the plump, firm kernels inside.
To harvest the corn, Manman had written a short letter several days in advance and sent it to Imperial Doctor Shi’s residence in town, asking the steward there to forward it to the Shen Family in Prefecture City.
When the steward returned, he brought back a verbal ssage for Manman, stating that the Shen Family would send people as arranged in her letter for the corn harvest and that her family should just prepare for it.
That very evening they received the verbal ssage, the family sat in the courtyard behind their shop, enjoying the cool breeze while discussing matters.
"There’s not much ti left to prepare. This year, we’ll start with the corn. Once the corn is harvested, we’ll move on to the rest," Lian Shouxin said.
"That’s fine. This year we have our own yard, so we don’t have to follow others’ schedules. We can thresh whenever we want to," Lady Zhang said.
Next to the Lian Family’s newly-built large courtyard, they had built their own threshing floor, which had been rolled flat and was ready for the grain to be stored.
"Mother, with just a few of us, I’m afraid we won’t be able to handle it all. Not to ntion anything else, just the corn alone will take us several days to harvest. I think we should hire help for this year’s harvest," Lian Manman suggested.
"Your mother and I have already considered this," Lian Shouxin and Lady Zhang exchanged glances and said, "Hiring help is definitely necessary. For our corn, I don’t trust outsiders. Your mother and I have discussed it, we can count all six of our family mbers and add the three from your third uncle’s family."
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