The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 498 - 487 Various Ideas

Chapter 498: Chapter 487 Various Ideas

Yang Heshu looked at them skeptically, "You can still sell to outsiders?"

He didn’t believe that with Old Master Bai around, they could sell the new wheat variety to others.

The three of them looked up at Yang Heshu and laughed sheepishly.

Yang Heshu: ...

The three children were starting to get restless, too.

Yang Heshu wanted to take a look at their fields, and Manbao, checking the position of the sun, said it was fine.

So the three of them led Yang Heshu to see their small farm.

Having planned to plant winter wheat early on, their little farm was not idle at this time.

Manor Head Bai was leading three laborers to plow the fields that were to be sown with winter wheat. Yang Heshu, with his hands clasped behind his back, walked around the field and asked, "Seeing as your new wheat variety is so good, why don’t the villagers join you in planting winter wheat?"

"Because they’re not short of food now."

Yang Heshu looked at the three children, "Are you lacking?"

"We’re not lacking, but we don’t work the fields ourselves," said Bai Shanbao. "We hire people to farm for us."

Yang Heshu then shook his head and laughed, "The people are truly strange; they won’t work their own land, but they’re keen on working someone else’s."

He went back to watching the laborers plow and even helped to break up large clumps of soil with his foot. But as he did so, he started to feel something was amiss.

He stared at the plow in the laborer’s hands and, after pondering for a while, hesitantly asked, "Your plow seems different from others’."

"Yes, Lord Yang, didn’t you see it back at the start of spring?"

"No, at that time I..." Yang Heshu paused, and as he saw the laborer approaching with the ox-drawn plow, he exclaimed, "How did I not realize at that time that your plow could plow so deep and even turn corners?"

Manbao blinked and said, "Maybe because you didn’t understand farming at that time?"

Yang Heshu: ... He actually thought she made sense.

When the laborer and the ox came plowing towards him, Yang Heshu couldn’t help but stop him, rolling up his sleeves to try it out for himself.

The three children became excited and eagerly asked, "You know how to plow the land?"

"I don’t," said Yang Heshu. "But I’ve helped with a plow in other villages. Let me try yours."

He had tried plowing mainly to be approachable. Whenever he went to the countryside, people were somewhat restrained, so in order to build good relationships with the locals, he’d roll up his sleeves and do some farm work to start conversations.

He had assisted with a plow before.

Although he was a novice and hadn’t done it many times, Yang Heshu soon noticed the difference; this plow required less downward force but could be held steady, and the ox seemed to walk more comfortably.

Yang Heshu plowed two rows and returned, silently observing the three children.

The children looked back at him innocently.

Yang Heshu asked, "Who created this kind of plow?"

Bai Erlang looked around and finally at Manbao, and Bai Shanbao also turned to her.

Manbao hesitated, "A carpenter made it? I provided the drawings."

"Where did you get the drawings?"

"A friend gave them to me."

"Your friend is..."

"I won’t tell you."

Yang Heshu: ... "Fine, don’t tell. But could you possibly give me a copy of the plow design? Such a good thing should be used throughout the county, even all over the world."

Manbao nodded, "Sure."

Yang Heshu then laughed, "That’s a contribution. Are you sure your friend doesn’t want it?"

Manbao became conflicted, as he couldn’t use it even if he wanted to. She asked, "Can the contribution go to me?"

Yang Heshu looked at her with wide eyes, "You’re really not shy about asking for such a significant contribution."

"I’m not afraid to ask for anything," said Manbao. "Will I have to pay?"

Yang Heshu tapped her forehead with a smile, "You’ll probably get it."

He wasn’t someone who believed everything Manbao said. After returning to the village, he started to subtly inquire about it with Old Master Bai and Mr. Zhuang.

Wantian also went to the village to inquire.

The matter of the plow was no secret; everyone in the village knew about it.

Manbao had provided the design, which Ms. Zheng copied for the carpenter to make. Although everyone had tried it, and the plow was indeed good,

there weren’t many in the village who replaced their old plows with the new one. As long as their own plows were still usable, who would spend a lot of money for a new one?

Only a few households whose plows were broken and beyond repair or who didn’t wish to repair them would buy a new one.

So, not many in Qili Village were using the new plows at the moment.

The news left Yang Heshu thoughtful, "So even with new plows available, people might not switch to them."

Manbao said, "They will switch if it doesn’t cost them anything."

Yang Heshu was taken aback by her response.

He rubbed his forehead and asked, "Is the cost of making this plow high?"

"Eight hundred wen?" Manbao wasn’t sure. "Maybe if you make more, the craftsman might give you a discount."

Bai Shanbao asked him, "Lord Yang, will you provide farming tools to everyone for free?"

Yang Heshu looked at him and said, "Don’t even think about it. Even if they’re provided for free, you won’t be included; you’re rich and still thinking about my tools?"

Bai Shanbao muttered, "Who wouldn’t want more money?"

His voice was low, but Yang Heshu heard it and took note.

He couldn’t help but sigh, "Indeed, the richer people are, the more money they want. The world chases after profit."

Seeing his melancholy, the three of them curiously asked, "Lord Yang, are you stressed about something?"

"I’m not stressed, just frustrated." He shared his experience of competing with the grain merchants in the county and sighed, "We’re all villagers; they don’t know how much money used against me could offset the rising grain prices. Why bother?"

But Manbao remembered a book she had seen at Keke’s place and asked, "Lord Yang, will our County Governmental Office regulate the market prices in the future?"

Yang Heshu’s brow twitched and he couldn’t help but stop walking, "Regulate market prices?"

"Yes, isn’t that what you’re doing now?"

Yang Heshu’s mouth fell open as he mumbled, "Yes, what I’m doing is regulating market prices, through buying grain from the government and selling it... No, that’s not right, that’s not good..."

Manbao was startled and quickly said, "Lord Yang, I didn’t mean for the County Governmental Office to keep buying and selling grain. Isn’t price regulation about buying at a fair price when the grain is cheap and selling at a fair price when it’s expensive? You’re the government, so don’t think about making money."

Yang Heshu finally came to his senses, looking down at Manbao, he remarked admiringly, "You’ve made a good point, and it makes sense."

Bai Shanbao asked, "Would the grain merchants in the county agree? Lord Yang, why not try it once in the county first? If it doesn’t work, then we can think of something else."

Yang Heshu looked forward to his input, "What’s your idea?"

"I think it’s better to establish laws directly, forbidding grain merchants from hoarding maliciously. If anyone does so, they should be arrested, their grain confiscated and then sold at fair prices to the people. Wouldn’t that be better?"

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.