Chapter 74

Li Yao was busy distributing sweet potatoes to each household until midday. The food shortage that had seemed so bleak was somehow solved, and Wang Jiafu felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his chest.

It seemed that ever since Li Yao had started her business, she had changed.

"Li Yao, on behalf of everyone, I really need to thank you properly for this," said Wang Jiafu.

"No need," said Li Yao. "The villagers have also helped work my fields. Otherwise I wouldn't know when those barren hills could be opened up."

"That's not right. That sweet potato money could open dozens of barren hills for you," said Wang Jiafu. "If you were a man, I'd offer you an official position right now."

Only men could become officials - that was the sad truth of this world.

But Li Yao was quite happy living a comfortable life on her own terms. She had no desire to become a village headman.

"But I absolutely won't forget your contributions," Wang Jiafu continued. "Tomorrow I'll go to the county office and report this to Magistrate Song. You'll definitely get a commendation again."

"Village Headman, please don't," said Li Yao.

"Why not?"

"It's not thieves we need to worry about, but their envious thoughts," said Li Yao. "Our entire Baichuan County, even the whole Yizhou Prefecture, is lacking food. If our village alone is suddenly not lacking, don't you think it might make others envious?"

Wang Jiafu was shocked.

With the grain, he had gotten a bit carried away and forgotten to consider this.

But if he didn't report it, how could he reward Li Yao for her contributions? The village didn't have money for commendations!

In the end, he could only prioritize the greater good. As for rewarding Li Yao, he had already thought of a better way.

"Li Yao, from now on, for any village affairs, I'll come discuss with you and listen to your suggestions," said Wang Jiafu. Li Yao twitched her mouth. She suddenly felt like the village tyrant.

Are you sure this is a reward and not a punishment?

Oh well, there weren't that many village affairs anyway. She could come up with a few ideas without too much effort when needed.

After the village headman left, Li Yao finally had time to catch her breath.

They had dug up 200,000 catties of sweet potatoes this time, and distributed 180,000 catties. There were still around 20,000 catties left in the yard.

Keeping a few hundred catties to eat, the rest would be used to grow seedlings next spring. Most of the reclaimed land on the back hill could be planted. Any extra seedlings could also be sold for money.

Speaking of which, since coming back Li Yao had been busy and hadn't had time to go take a look at the back hill. So she brought along the kids and He Xiaoya and went straight there from the new house.

The land reclamation was being arranged according to her plans by the able-bodied men.

The gentler slopes below the mid-hill, which were turned into terraced fields, totaled about 1000 mu.

Although these terraced fields looked barren, they could grow grains - wheat, rapeseed, sweet potato, potato, taro, and all kinds of vegetables.

With sufficient fertilizer and water, and scientific planting methods, the yield would definitely not be less than the so-called fertile lands.

On the mid-hill and above, there was a soil pit every 20 meters, which Li Yao planned to use for fruit trees - apple, pear, citrus, orange, apricot, plum... As long as it was something He Wan village could grow, it had to be thoroughly arranged.

The spaces between the fruit trees would be used to grow fodder or scattered with cabbage and rapeseed seeds, to grow naturally as feed for chickens, ducks, pigs, cows, sheep and other livestock.

In addition to these, there was a one-meter wide water channel winding around the waist of each hill, to supply water to the entire mountainside in the future.

"Mother," asked Da Zhuang, "I understand the rest, but what's the water channel for? There's no water that can flow here!"

"There will be in the future," said Li Yao.

When she had saved up some more money, Li Yao planned to build a dam.

She had surveyed the terrain early on. The reservoir's water level was higher than the water channel. Later, they only needed to build a trestle between the hills to divert the water source over, instead of carrying water up from the foot of the mountain.

As they slowly reached the top of the hill, Li Yao looked down upon the new house and entire He Wan village, imagining the scene of verdant greenery and drifting fragrances of fruits and flowers. She felt all the efforts after coming here were worth it.

"Da Zhuang, Xiaoya, come here," she called seriously.

Seeing her solemn expression, the two quickly came over. "These 5000 mu of mountain land, plus the dozen or so mu of paddy fields at home, will now be fully handed over to you two to manage," said Li Yao. "I will teach you how to plan and plant. If you encounter any problems you can come ask me."

All of it?

The couple was stunned.

That was 5000 mu!

mu could grow grains and vegetables, 4000 mu could grow fruits and fodder. It could be said no other family in the entire Baichuan County had so much usable land!

Recalling just two months ago when they were eating wild vegetables every meal, and now having become the biggest landlords in Baichuan County... This earth-shattering change made the couple's hearts race.

"Mother," asked Wang Er, "Why are we spending so much effort to reclaim these barren hills?"

Li Yao turned the question back on him: "How are your studies recently?"

"Pretty good," Wang Er quickly replied. "Teacher Lv said I will definitely pass the county exam next year, but I want to try the autumn provincial exam."

Passing the county exam made you a private candidate, passing the provincial exam made you a licentiate - a gentleman scholar. Wang Er was only going to be 14 next year. Li Yao felt passing the county exam would be enough, without needing to push himself so hard.

But seeing his attitude, he probably wouldn't listen even if she said anything.

"Green hills and clear waters are as good as mountains of gold and silver," said Li Yao. "If you want to become an official, benefiting the common people, or rising to prominence in the imperial court, benefiting all people under heaven, you must always remember this saying."

Wang Er's heart stirred. He knew this was his mother imparting wisdom to him, and firmly engraved those words in his heart.

Wang San'er and Xiao Si also watched longingly, hoping Mother would say something to them too. But Li Yao just said, "Go home and make dinner."

After overworking for half a month with barely any decent meals, today they finally finished the pressing matters at hand. It was time to make something delicious to reward themselves.

...

Early next morning, Li Yao took the ox cart to the market town.

Half a month had passed. Those merchants who had come seeking partnerships had made their decisions. Most were willing to pay the deposit to join the chain stores.

Actually they had already decided earlier, but could never find Li Yao's people, so they could only wait at the store every day.

The contracts had long been prepared. After signing and paying the deposit, everyone returned to their territories to prepare opening their stores. And to ensure they had sufficient goods to sell at opening, Li Yao also began purchasing large quantities of lard, tea seeds, beeswax and other raw materials.

While she was busy, Wang Jiafu also put on clean clothes and followed other village headmen into the county office.

The county magistrate would convene these meetings every half month, both to understand each village's circumstances, and also to pool their wisdom on how to weather the difficult times together.