The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 388 - 377: With Conditions (Extra - as a reward for the book friend "Gail")

Chapter 388: Chapter 377: With Conditions (Extra Chapter as a reward for the book friend "Gail")

Yang Heshu pondered for a moment, retrieving some precedents from memory, and laughed, "I remember there’s a precedent where the court lends money to the people, and the monthly interest for one tael of silver ranges from twelve wen to more than thirty-six wen, depending on its purpose. Since you need the loan for farming, how about I set the minimum rate of twelve wen for you?"

Manbao quickly did some mental calculations. One tael was twelve wen, then three taels would be thirty-six wen. By the latest, when they harvested in the autumn, they would have the yield, and they could split the profit from the fields. She was confident she could come up with the three thousand two hundred and sixteen wen.

Manbao immediately nodded, "Good, I want to buy one."

Bai Shanbao quickly said, "We also want to buy one. We have a lot of land, and relying on just three cattle is a bit insufficient."

Such low-interest rates were just too tempting to pass up.

But Yang Heshu replied with a smile, "Your situation doesn’t qualify. These cattle are only sold on credit to poor households."

He looked at Manbao doubtfully, "Your family is a poor household, right?"

Manbao nodded affirmatively, "Of course, we are very poor."

"Poor households’ girls can also study?"

Manbao immediately replied, "Studying doesn’t cost me anything. The teacher saw that I was clever and lively and took me on as a disciple. Not only is the tuition free, but my books were also copied by the teacher, and even the initial stationery was given to me."

Yang Heshu grew even more suspicious, "Is your teacher that generous?"

Manbao nodded, "Our teacher is generous. Of course, it’s also because I am very smart. I used to be the smartest kid within a hundred miles."

Hearing this, Yang Heshu couldn’t help but burst into laughter and jovially asked, "You used to be, so you’re not anymore?"

Manbao glanced at Bai Shanbao and said, "Very soon, I will be again."

Bai Shanbao puffed out his chest.

Watching the exchange, Yang Heshu nearly cried with laughter, "Fine then, take me to talk with the villagers without revealing my identity. If things are as you say, I promise to register you, and I’ll sell the first cow on credit to you. But you have to agree to one more condition. Can you make decisions for your household?"

"There’s another condition? What condition?" Manbao said, "If it doesn’t involve money, I can generally make decisions."

That condition...

Yang Heshu couldn’t help but say, "That’s pretty much the same as not being able to make decisions. You’re buying on credit; can you ensure that the money will be repaid?"

"Don’t worry, I can definitely repay it!"

Even if the harvest wasn’t good, or they suffered another disaster, they still had the income from ginger.

Thinking this, Manbao whispered to Bai Shanbao, "We should plant some ginger in the field. We could dry it and sell it to the apothecary, alright?"

Bai Shanbao also thought ginger was profitable, earning more than grains, so he nodded in agreement.

Yang Heshu couldn’t hear the whispering between the two children and watched Manbao with an amused smile.

Having received Bai Shanbao’s approval, Manbao asked, "What’s the condition?"

"I need your family to allocate at least three acres of land for growing mulberry leaves, to prepare for sericulture next year. Can you do that?" The reason he chose Manbao’s family was that she was literate, indicating that her family was relatively open-minded and she could absorb knowledge more quickly; further, based on her mention of her brothers, it was apparent her family was populous.

Looking at the state of the fields, it seemed these farmers might not be able to rest all year round, let alone spare time for sericulture.

Unless they could see the huge profits of sericulture, even if he ordered them to plant mulberries and rear silkworms, their heart wouldn’t be in it.

Manbao hesitated, "But we don’t have any mulberry trees."

"The County Governmental Office will provide them."

"We don’t have money."

Yang Heshu said, "It’s for free!"

Manbao’s eyes lit up, "What about the silkworm eggs?"

Yang Heshu considered and said, "Those will also be given for free, but the silk damask produced must be sold to the County Governmental Office."

Manbao was stunned, "We don’t know how to weave damask."

Now it was Yang Heshu’s turn to be taken aback, struggling with the question, "Men plow and women weave, don’t most women know how to weave?"

"Are there people naturally born with that ability? Then they are even more impressive than me."

Bai Shanbao burst into hearty laughter, playfully saying, "If you’re the reincarnation of a fairy, then they must be the reincarnation of an immortal lord."

Bai Erlang also joined in the laughter, and even Manbao couldn’t help but smile.

Yang Heshu clearly didn’t grasp their joke, so he quietly observed them.

However, he soon understood why they said that, as apparently, all the villagers he spoke with were convinced that Manbao was a reincarnation of a fairy from beneath the Heaven Master’s seat.

Initially, Yang Heshu was bewildered, not knowing which Heaven Master they referred to. After asking three children, he learned that the Heaven Master was Daode Tianzun, only that whenever people recited the Taoist chants, they would add "Immeasurable Heavenly Lord," hence the villagers liked to refer to him affectionately as Heaven Master, seemingly believing that this title could bridge the distance between them and make the relationship feel closer.

Now that Ms.Qian’s health had improved, though she still couldn’t match the prime years of Junior Ms.Qian and others, her condition seemed to be somewhat better compared to her peers.

Everyone in the village knew that back then, Ms.Qian hardly ever went out, even her prescription remained unchanged, yet she suddenly got so much better—wasn’t that thanks to the Heaven Master’s blessing?

With her mentioning it for half a year, the villagers were fully convinced.

Mainly because she also found many corroborations, like how the Zhou Family was on the verge of decline due to Zhou SiLang’s gambling, but inexplicably, their fortunes improved.

True, the China root and others were things the Zhou Family kept to themselves, outsiders didn’t know, but they were aware that the Zhou Family made quite a sum from selling ginger, which, supposedly, was Manbao’s idea to plant initially. Even the wasteland Zhou SiLang cleared was suggested by Manbao.

This provided even more proof that Manbao was a lucky reincarnation of a fairy.

Although the Zhou Family refused others from worshipping Manbao to prevent stealing her blessings, the villagers still enjoyed talking to her.

What if the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord happened to glance downward from the heavens and saw them talking with Manbao, remembered them, and casually blessed them too?

So, seeing Manbao leading people to the fields, many villagers paused their work to greet her with a raised hand.

Of course, they also greeted the two young masters from the Bai Family, who were the wealthiest people in their village.

Manbao called them over for a chat and introduced Yang Heshu, "He is a highly capable scholar, coming to talk to you."

A man resting from plowing responded, having just been exhausted, plopped down on the ridge, and asked, "Talk about what?"

Yang Heshu squatted beside the ridge and asked him, "How many people are there in your family?"

"Besides my old mother at home, everyone else is here."

Yang Heshu looked behind the man at his wife and the four children, ranging from eight or nine years old to about three, and said nothing for a while before asking, "How much land can you cultivate?"

"We currently have only forty acres. Most of it is planted with wheat and soybeans, and the fields are primarily used for growing rice."

"Can you finish planting it all?"

"That’s manageable. First, we plant the better land thoroughly, then for the poorer soil, we just plow once and scatter the beans, at least we can get back the seeds, right?"

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