415: Chapter 404: High Price 415: Chapter 404: High Price It wasn’t until they left the grain shop that Yang Heshu looked down with puzzlent at the two people, “What are you two giggling about?”
Bai Shanbao grinned, though his head shook like a rattle-drum, “Nothing, I just want to go ho.”
Manbao also said, “I want to go ho too.”
Bai Erlang: “I’m already feeling spirited now, I don’t want to go ho.”
Manbao ignored him and said to Bai Shanbao, “I’m going to buy so at, and then I’ll head back.”
“I’ll go with you, I also want to buy so at to take back.”
Bai Erlang pouted unhappily.
Yang Heshu then stopped in his tracks, having visited the at market before, he knew it wasn’t a pleasant-slling place, so he waved goodbye to the three, “Then the next ti you co to the county town, I’ll take you to my house for a visit.”
“No problem, Lord Yang, till our next eting.”
Yang Heshu couldn’t help but chuckle, “Till our next eting, and also, try to read fewer storybooks.
You’re young now; be careful not to adopt bad habits.”
The three kids stuck out their tongues sheepishly and ran off.
Daji silently followed behind.
Only then did Yang Heshu notice Daji’s presence.
He couldn’t help but narrow his eyes, looking back, “I didn’t notice the Bai Family’s servant all this way, is he a guard?”
Wantian: …You didn’t notice him, but did you notice ?
“Young Master, I asked around, he is a servant of Young Master Bai Shan.”
“A servant, so he’s a guard then.”
Wantian didn’t correct him, and Yang Heshu didn’t take it to heart either—who doesn’t have a few servants and guards in their family?
A little further ahead, his family even had their own troops.
Yang Heshu strolled back to the County Governntal Office with his hands behind his back.
After buying at for her family, Manbao huddled with Bai Shanbao and chatted in whispers, of course dragging Bai Erlang into the conversation too.
They felt it was too wasteful to sell their wheat as food when their yield was so high and the quality so good—it should be sold as seed instead!
Daji, holding the reins of the horse-drawn carriage, listened to the three kids inside plan how to promote their wheat, oh, no, to sell it…
He smiled contentedly, relaxed the reins a little, letting the old horse amble toward Qili Village without urging it on.
The three kids unanimously agreed that in order for people to buy sothing, they first needed to know it was good stuff.
So, what was good about their wheat, oh no, their wheat seed?
Manbao had already listed many advantages, the first and the most significant one being its high yield!
Manbao said, “Our yield is twice that of the average wheat seed!”
Bai Shanbao, always a stickler for the truth, countered, “Not twice!”
“You’re so silly, if it’s not twice, it’s because their fields aren’t fertile enough, they didn’t give enough fertilizer, and they didn’t water it properly.”
Bai Shanbao pursed his lips and said, “Grandma always says, a good child doesn’t lie.”
Bai Erlang stood by Manbao’s side and said, “This isn’t lying, this is exaggerating!
Anyone selling sothing has to exaggerate.
My dad says it’s called self-praise.”
Bai Shanbao couldn’t help but burst into laughter and pointed at Manbao calling out, “Mrs.
Wang!”
Manbao, annoyed, went to hit Bai Erlang, “Call Senior Sister, call Senior Sister!”
Bai Erlang howled as he was hit, exclaiming, “I didn’t say you were Mrs.
Wang, it was just a taphor, a taphor.”
Bai Shanbao laughed so hard that tears nearly ran down her face, and Manbao hit even harder.
Even Daji outside the carriage couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
In the end, Bai Shanbao was persuaded by the two and asked, “So, what other advantages are there?”
Manbao directly borrowed descriptions from the comrcial city’s notes on wheat seed, “It’s drought and flood-tolerant, with tall and sturdy plants.”
Bai Shanbao paused, “So is it drought-tolerant or flood-tolerant?”
“Both!”
“But, aren’t those two the opposite?
How can they both apply?”
Manbao thought for a mont and said, “They can’t be considered opposites, I guess.
Like a person who is both drought and flood-tolerant, it ans they won’t drown in water, nor will they die of thirst from a slight lack of water.”
Bai Shanbao tilted his head to think, feeling that her argunt was unsound, yet he had no evidence to refute it.
anwhile, Mr.
Zhuang was feasting with Old Master Bai at the Bai Family, discussing this year’s freshly harvested winter wheat.
Mr.
Zhuang asked with a smile, “How many catties of wheat did your Qili Village harvest?”
“The yield is actually higher than that of last year’s spring wheat.
I just don’t know how much rice we’ll get this autumn harvest,” Old Master Bai replied, “after all, the soil has beco sowhat depleted.”
“Doesn’t the village have a new composting thod?
Just pile more of it.”
Old Master Bai could only laugh and shake his head, “After all, it’s not my own field, the hired workers always have their negligent monts, so there’s never enough fertilizer.”
“Have you ever thought about changing wheat seeds?”
“Changing wheat seeds?”
Mr.
Zhuang laughed, “Has Old Master Bai not seen the harvest of other families in Qili Village, or the fields over by the big ridge?”
Old Master Bai narrowed his eyes and said with a smile, “That plot of land has been given to Erlang and the others; it wouldn’t be right for to keep inquiring.
As for the wheat in the village…”
Old Master Bai thought for a mont; in fact, he had occasionally walked in the fields and it seed the wheat in the village grew better than in his own fields.
He pondered and asked, “Is the seed they’re using different from ours?”
Although each family’s wheat seeds were generally saved by themselves, the original source was more or less the sa.
Every two or three years, they still needed to get a new batch of wheat seeds from the grain shop, to experint whether it could increase the yield.
He often collaborated with the grain shop in the county town; it would make no sense for them to have new seeds and him not to know about it.
Mr.
Zhuang did not pursue the matter further, only offering him a knowing smile.
However, it wasn’t long before Old Master Bai found out.
Because his troubleso son Bai Erlang casually asked him during dinner, “Dad, do you want to buy wheat seed from us?”
Old Master Bai almost imdiately thought of Mr.
Zhuang’s words from the afternoon and stopped to ask, “Where did you get wheat seed?”
“We grew it ourselves, of course.
Our wheat from those more than twenty acres can all be used as seed.”
“So confident?” Old Master Bai laughed, “Isn’t wheat seed from every household specially selected?
Who sells them in bulk after harvest like this?”
“Why not?
Last year, when the people in the village planted winter wheat, they used wheat seed swapped with Manbao’s family from the grain silo, without any selection.
And look, this year everyone’s wheat has grown better than ours—a bountiful harvest.”
“How do you know?”
“I just know,” Bai Erlang declared matter-of-factly, “Bai Shan and Zhou Man told .”
Old Master Bai asked unfazed, “Did they also tell you how much they’re selling the wheat seed to ?”
“One hundred and fifty wen per dou.”
Old Master Bai nearly smacked his rice bowl on his son’s head, as Mrs.
Bai couldn’t help but look up, then at her husband and back at her son, she earnestly advised, “Erlang, even though you have a share of that estate, you shouldn’t side with outsiders to bully your father.”
Bai Erlang was displeased and said, “I’m not bullying Dad; this is the price we’ve discussed for a long ti, it’s one hundred and fifty wen per dou for Dad, the sa for Grandma Liu, but for outsiders, it would have to be one hundred and eighty wen.”
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