The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 993 - 972: Flowers Expensive, Grain Cheap (Extra update for the reward from the book friend "Like Drinking Water")

Chapter 993: Chapter 972: Flowers Expensive, Grain Cheap (Extra update for the reward from the book friend "Like Drinking Water")

Zhou Wulang brought a chest into the room, opened it to show Manbao, and exclaimed with delight, "Four hundred taels, how about that, impressive right?"

Manbao, touching a large ingot of silver, asked, "Fifth Brother, I’ve counted, and there’s a total of six hundred and twenty-five taels of silver in the house, which is more than I expected."

"Isn’t it what you said, to just aim for a high price and let them bargain it down?" Zhou Wulang said, "I negotiated back and forth with the steward of the prince’s mansion several times. That pot of chrysanthemums sold for two hundred and forty-five taels, and ’Chang’e Flying to the Moon’ went for three hundred and eighty taels. I told them that the flowers were very rare, the only one like it in the entire Great Jin."

"The ancient early roses I took out in the afternoon were golden, and their eyes lit up when they saw them. Seeing that, I aimed for an even higher price, and by the end, it was pushed down to four hundred taels."

Manbao clicked her tongue in amazement, "Three pots of flowers are worth more than what our family yields in a year’s worth of grain."

Bai Shan remarked, "It’s best not to let this kind of thing spread, or else if more people start growing flowers, fewer will farm the land. But if flowers become too common, they’ll lose their value."

Bai Erlang looked up from his pastry and muttered indistinctly, "Who would be so silly as to plant flowers instead of growing crops?"

Bai Shan glanced at him and said, "Money moves the heart. A pot of flowers can sell for four hundred taels, and with the current price of grain, that could buy forty thousand dou of grain. That is to say, one pot of flowers could be exchanged for forty thousand dou of grain. So do you think they’d prefer to grow flowers or crops?"

Bai Erlang replied, "How can that be the same? Not just any pot of flowers can sell for four hundred taels. Like that ancient early rose Manbao brought back, I’ve never heard or seen one like that before."

Bai Shan continued, "You know that, but the average person doesn’t. They just know someone sold a pot of flowers for four hundred taels."

Mr. Zhuang nodded in agreement, about to express his assent, when Manbao interrupted, "Oh, stop arguing. It’s not just now that rare flowers are selling at high prices, it has always been that way since ancient times."

"Orchids, peonies—you can find them for a tael or two, or even sell the expensive ones for thousands of taels. The annual flower festivals are always bustling and lively, and I’ve never seen anyone use their grain fields to grow flowers. How many people out there can afford to buy these expensive flowers? They’re either wealthy merchants, or powerful gentry, or the elite nobility," Manbao explained, "This flower business can only be done once or twice. If you sell the same kind of flower a third time, customers will come knocking."

Mr. Zhuang then chose not to speak.

Bai Erlang said, "But you sold twenty pots of white peonies before."

"That’s because I only charged twenty taels each. If I were selling them for two hundred taels or more, you’d see if I would sell a second pot." Manbao pointed towards the corridor outside where the flowers were placed, "Look, out of all the flowers I’ve bought back, not a single one is completely the same. They either differ in type or in color, but they’re definitely different."

Everyone looked outside and indeed found it to be the case, falling silent for a moment.

"So this issue of flower growing taking over crop land, that’s not going to happen with ordinary folks, just among the flower growers."

Mr. Zhuang couldn’t help but nod slightly.

Zhou Wulang didn’t understand these things. He was only concerned with one thing, "With so much silver, where will you keep it? Is it safe to keep it in the house?"

"Very safe, I’ve already been taking money out from the house for you, right?"

Zhou Wulang thought about it and agreed, then picked up the chest, saying, "Alright, I’ll take it to your room for you."

Manbao happily returned to her room with Zhou Wulang.

Manbao opened the chest she had previously used, picked out the scattered twenty-five taels, and handed them to Zhou Wulang, saying generously, "Fifth Brother, this is for your hard work."

Holding the silver, Zhou Wulang said, "Isn’t this a bit too much? Do you have enough money to buy flowers? How much did you spend when you bought those flowers?"

Manbao replied, "It was quite a bit, but I also made money, and not just a little. Would I engage in business if there was no profit?"

Zhou Wulang thought about it, and since they had a base price set, he accepted the money contentedly.

"Well, I need to get back to the restaurant now."

"Are you going back now? Won’t you stay and have dinner with us?"

Zhou Wulang said, "The restaurant gets very busy in the evening. I need to go help out."

Manbao saw him to the door and asked, "How’s the restaurant business these days?"

"It’s slowed down a bit, but with regular customers, the income is alright. It’s doing a little better than the other nearby restaurants."

Manbao nodded, "Take it slow. It gets better with time."

Zhou Wulang then asked in a low voice, "How long do you think our family can keep it up?"

Manbao was quite confident about their case being reconsidered, so she said, "As many years as you want."

Zhou Wulang chuckled, gave his younger sister a pat on the shoulder, then drove off in his own mule cart, greeting Liu Gui and others before leaving.

Manbao watched Fifth Brother leave, then bounced back to her own room energetically. She felt the texture and weight of the silver ingots in the chest before happily storing them in her system space.

Since the next day was the first day of the lunar month, and all three were off-duty, Manbao took the rare chance to lie in bed a little longer.

She eventually got up when the sun was already high, leisurely had breakfast, and then strolled to the small garden to find Bai Shan.

Bai Shan was up a bit earlier, standing under a tree, swaying as he recited from memory.

Manbao quietly moved up behind him. Just as she was about to startle him, Bai Shan suddenly turned around with a "waah" yell, and Manbao also screamed "ahh," startling neither of them.

Bai Shan said, "You’re so childish, playing pranks at your age."

"You’re not focusing on your recitation."

"Didn’t you see where the sun was coming from? I saw your shadow the moment you got behind me."

Manbao looked down and indeed, there it was. She looked around and asked, "Where’s Bai Er?"

"He hasn’t woken up yet."

"I didn’t see Mr. Zhuang either."

"Mr. Zhuang said there’s a poetry gathering at the Hanmo Studio on the first, and they’re also selling new poetry collections, so he went early to take a look."

Manbao sat down on a patch of grass the sun had dried and asked, "So, where do you want to go today?"

"I also want to go to the street and look around. Didn’t you say last time you wanted to find a book? I want to buy an art collection. Shall we go to the bookshops later?"

Manbao nodded eagerly, "Yes, yes!"

As soon as she had spoken, Liu Gui hurried in and bowed, "Miss Man, someone from Jishi Hall has come. They say the patient you’ve been waiting for has arrived."

Manbao lazily asked, "Who is it? That scoundrel from the day before yesterday?"

"No, it’s the young master from the Yin Family."

Manbao’s eyes lit up, and she jumped up and ran, "Tell him to wait, I’ll go get my basket."

Before her words were cold, she had already darted off, and Bai Shan spoke to Daji, saying, "Go and hitch up the cart."

Daji responded and left.

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