The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 701 - 690: Commodity Circulation

Chapter 701: Chapter 690: Commodity Circulation

County Magistrate Tang laughed and didn’t take the bait. Instead, he continued to ask, "What’s the difference between these two types of wheat seeds?"

Zhou SiLang pondered and said, "I haven’t planted them myself, but after the first year when our family harvested the new wheat, we screened it once and then exchanged seeds with the villagers. Only our family planted the seeds that had been meticulously selected. The second year’s harvest, each mu of our family’s yield was generally about two baskets more than others’."

Manbao also frowned and thought for a moment before speaking, "However, these years, the villagers have all been planting seeds selected from the previous year, and the yield per mu has been getting higher. Now, even if the seeds are only screened twice, they are still better than the ones we initially swapped with the villagers."

County Magistrate Tang nodded his head and finally asked about the price.

After some thought, Zhou SiLang said, "The wheat seeds I sell to others are priced at 140 wen per dou, but for Lord Tang, I’ll give a five wen discount per dou, how about that?"

In Yizhou City now, the price for seeds at the grain stores is 150 wen per dou for the old wheat, while the new wheat is above 200 wen. Basically, ordinary families can’t afford the new wheat seeds.

County Magistrate Tang’s eyebrows raised slightly as he curiously asked Zhou SiLang, "How can you sell it so cheaply?"

Zhou SiLang didn’t think it was cheap, because when he went back to the countryside to buy these wheat seeds, they weren’t that expensive. Even if some of the villagers tried to fool him with seeds that had only been screened once, upon returning home, after he and his brothers screened them again, it was still profitable.

He could earn quite a bit of money per dou.

Moreover, "Lord Tang, I don’t have a store and sell directly in the countryside. If I don’t make it a little cheaper, who would buy from me?"

Lord Tang laughed and asked, "Do you not know that for something like seeds, if you don’t have a storefront, you can’t sell them, and after selling you also have to pay a tax to the County Governmental Office?"

Zhou SiLang was startled and said, "Lord Tang, I did pay the tax for entering the city."

"Doing business is not just about the entry tax alone. If you don’t believe me, ask your sister to look up the Great Jin Legal Code."

Zhou SiLang immediately turned his head to look at Manbao.

Bai Shan had, at some point, come to stand behind Manbao. Seeing the situation, he said, "Fourth Brother Zhou, you’re obviously selling surplus wheat from your home. How did it turn into wheat seeds?"

Zhou SiLang was jolted back to his senses and immediately nodded in agreement, "That’s right, that’s right, I’m selling wheat, not seeds. Whether they buy wheat to eat or to plant, I don’t know."

Manbao nodded repeatedly as well, looking innocently at County Magistrate Tang, "Lord Tang, I heard there are many refugees in Yizhou City, and the grain prices here are high. Our family farms, so it’s normal for them to buy some wheat from us to eat, right?"

County Magistrate Tang knocked Bai Shan’s forehead and said with a laugh to the three, "Cunning, aren’t you? Your wheat at 140 wen per dou is not expensive? It’s more expensive than the ones in the grain shops. Which refugee would buy wheat from you to eat?"

Bai Shan, rubbing his forehead and seeing that he didn’t seem intent on seeking retribution, asked, "Then what do you suggest?"

"I don’t want anything special," said County Magistrate Tang with a smile, "Before the flooding, the price for good wheat seeds around Yizhou used to fluctuate between 110 and 120 wen."

Manbao said, "Then how about we sell to you for 120 wen per dou?"

County Magistrate Tang looked at her without saying anything.

Unable to resist, Manbao called out, "Lord Tang, everyone in the village knows that we’re selling this wheat to be used as seeds, so we got a much higher collecting price compared to what grain merchants would offer. My brother still has to transport them here from home. 120 wen is really not expensive at all when you consider the price new wheat seeds are fetching in the grain shops."

County Magistrate Tang thought about it and then nodded in agreement, "Alright, let’s settle on 120 wen per dou."

"Let’s sign a contract," Manbao said, "Lord Tang, we need to make it clear in advance, you can’t resell the wheat seeds that you buy from us. They are for your personal use only. If you take the seeds from us and then turn around and sell them for a profit, we’ll have no business left, and we’ll be at a loss."

After thinking for a moment, County Magistrate Tang chuckled, "That’s fine, but this is also the first time I’m signing such a contract. I should also clarify that these seeds are not for my personal use."

The Zhou siblings stared at him with narrowed eyes, and County Magistrate Tang burst into laughter, "But rest assured, I won’t resell them either. This is considered a purchase by the County Governmental Office."

Surprised, Manbao exclaimed, "Eh, does your County Governmental Office also allocate wheat seeds to the people under its jurisdiction?"

County Magistrate Tang paused for a moment and asked, "Does County Magistrate Yang often allocate seeds to you?"

Zhou SiLang nodded, "Almost every year, a certain amount. Whether it’s wheat seeds, grain seeds, or various types of bean seeds, and sometimes some unusual vegetable seeds. Whatever the county magistrate distributes, we’ll plant. Since vegetable seeds don’t take up much space and the quantity of the other seeds isn’t much either, we can easily spare a patch of land for them. If they grow well the following year, we continue to plant them; if not, we don’t."

County Magistrate Tang lamented, "Your County Magistrate Yang must be quite wealthy."

Zhou SiLang nodded in strong agreement.

However, Bai Shan and Manbao, who had more dealings with County Magistrate Yang, thought otherwise. They said, "County Magistrate Yang only spent money in the first year, and moreover, he earned it back."

Manbao had seen the accountants at the County Governmental Office doing their calculations and explained while counting on her fingers, "The year when the new wheat seeds came out, County Magistrate Yang advanced the money to buy a lot of new seeds. When he distributed the seeds for planting, he made it clear that the resulting new wheat seeds harvested the next year had to be sold back to him at a price he set, which would not be lower than the market price."

"The following year, County Magistrate Yang collected a lot of new wheat and sold half to the merchants straight away, and the other half he distributed again for planting under the same conditions. Now practically every village large and small in Luojiang County has planted the new wheat, and each year, apart from the seeds they save for themselves, the best batch of wheat seeds is all bought by County Magistrate Yang. No amount of grain merchants can compete with him."

Zhou SiLang nodded repeatedly, "And the price County Magistrate Yang offers is even slightly lower than those grain merchants. Even Old Master Bai couldn’t outbid County Magistrate Yang. It’s only because County Magistrate Yang no longer cares for these sifted wheat seeds that the other villages don’t refuse to sell to us."

But he had not grasped what this had to do with their previous conversation.

His mind worked fast, and he asked, "Manbao, are you saying that County Magistrate Yang, like our family, makes money by buying low and selling high?"

Manbao emphasized, "Not County Magistrate Yang, the County Governmental Office!"

"However, if the County Governmental Office makes money, they naturally have to pay back the money owed to Lord Yang." Thus, Lord Yang didn’t lose any money at all.

County Magistrate Tang counted this back and forth and exclaimed, "That’s what you call a shrewd merchant."

Manbao and Bai Shan silently looked at him.

County Magistrate Tang coughed lightly and asked, "Can’t you make it even a bit cheaper? These wheat seeds are for distributing to the refugees under my jurisdiction. Our Huayang County can’t compare with your Luojiang County; we’re quite poor."