Farm Girl's Manor
Chapter 63 Joyful Harvest (2)_1

Chapter 63: Chapter 63 Joyful Harvest (2)_1

Just like the Eastern Market, which gathered nearly half of the nobility and aristocracy of Great Chu, the Southern Market was the territory of the wealthy merchants. The West Market is where ordinary folks lived, while the North Market, the smallest area, was known as the "Beggars’ Den of the Wealthy Village," because it was home to either the impoverished or beggars, and was rife with petty thieves and disorder.

If Uncle Zhong’s daughter had indeed turned up there, it could only mean that she was going through tough times, no wonder he was so fraught with worry.

With this in mind, Mo Qingze comforted him, "Getting any news is good news. As long as Xiu Er is still in Jing City, we will find her sooner or later. If there is anything we can help with, Uncle Zhong, just say the word."

Lizhong patted his shoulder gratefully, feeling innumerable times lucky that he and his grandson had encountered the Mo Family.

Just then, Mo Yan called out from the main hall that it was time to eat, and they stopped their conversation to join the meal together.

Seeing that her father and Grandfather Li’s expressions were not quite right, and knowing that Grandfather Li had been out looking for his daughter from dawn till dusk these days, Mo Yan couldn’t help but guess that there might be news, and that it probably wasn’t good. Seeing that neither seemed willing to discuss it, she didn’t lack the tact to go and ask.

Now that the seeds had sprouted, the most important things were to keep them warm and moist.

When planting, Mo Yan had listed a series of precautions, carefully explaining each one to the farmers in charge of the vegetables, such as uncovering the oilcloth to let the sun in around noon, and covering it again when the temperature dropped.

If there happened to be frost, and the night temperature was too low, they would need to light the furnace to warm up the greenhouse; some vegetables required plenty of water and should be watered every other day, while others needed to be drier, being watered once every five or six days, etc.

Although everything had been clearly explained, Mo Yan still visited Liu Yang Village every two days, mainly to channel Spirit Spring Water into the irrigation channels. Since these fields were higher than the riverbank, they needed to use a waterwheel to pump the river water up.

This era already had manual waterwheels, usually operated by two people. To fill the channels for twenty acres of land, it took two whole days of toil.

In reality, operating the water treadmills was exhausting work, so Mo Yan didn’t pay the two people who worked the waterwheel daily wages, but monthly. Each was paid five hundred Wen Money per month, with around fifteen to twenty days of work required each month, so the pay was slightly better than the daily wage of twenty Wen.

When she first sought help, many desired the job after hearing of the generous wage. Mo Yan, after consulting with Mo Qingze, chose the hard-working Zhang Erniu and Zhang Dayou.

As for the ten old farmers taking care of the greenhouse, some from the Lin Clan and others with different surnames, all were experienced in farming and vegetable cultivation. They needed to stay in the fields day and night, which was also exhausting, so they too were paid a monthly wage, eight hundred Wen each.

All twelve individuals had many mouths to feed at home, straining their grain supplies. Mo Yan, wishing to support them and impressed by their diligent work and useful suggestions, hired them.

Their performance proved she had chosen well. They all took their responsibilities seriously, looking after the vegetables meticulously. In just half a month, leafy greens like bok choy, spinach, and lettuce grew significantly, to everyone’s surprise. The old farmers credited the good feng shui of Liu Yang Village for the rapid growth, making Mo Yan secretly laugh.

Mo Yan specifically visited Liu Yang Village and observed that these vegetables in the greenhouse looked much better than those in the small vegetable plot at home, where each plant had two or three yellow leaves, whereas the greenhouse plants had none, lush and green as tender jadeite.

It was clear that even with Spirit Spring Water, the so-called "Cheater," the right environment was necessary to ensure that vegetables grew quickly and well. Now that the first batch of vegetables was ready for sale, the question of how to sell them brought differences of opinion between father and daughter, Mo Qingze and Mo Yan.

In the end, guided by Lizhong’s analysis, they decided to use Mo Yan’s approach to sell the produce, which was to set up a stall in the vegetable market street, thereby establishing a reputation for the "Great Chu Greenhouse Vegetables"...