Transmigration: The Evil Mother-In-Law Is Actually Innocent!

Chapter 371: Chapter 371 Confidence_1

Zhou Shuren washed his feet and didn’t want to think about it anymore. Choosing the right person was difficult, mainly because the Silver Coin was provided by the government office, so the selection involved many considerations and needed to be careful. ”By the way, has Old Master Zheng left? Last time he said he’d stay a while before going back.”

Zhulan did indeed know, as her maternal family had quite a bit of land, and she had been visiting frequently lately. ”The old master has left; his main purpose this time was to see you. After meeting with you, he left.”

Zhou Shuren twitched the corner of his mouth, indeed, it was to see him. First he expressed his feelings, then he regretted that the Zhou family had no suitable young men to match with the Zheng family. The old master didn’t hide his lack of interest in Chang Zhi at all, but he seemed quite taken with Mingyun, interrupting Zhou Shuren’s thoughts with distraction. Pshaw, to come to his door to look down on his son, yet fancying his grandson. Not a chance.

Moreover, he couldn’t stand this crafty old fox himself; he had no desire to become connected through marriage!

Zhou Shuren didn’t want to talk about the old master anymore. ”It’s getting late, let’s rest early.”

While picking up her pillow, Zhulan said, ”The autumn harvest back home should be over by now. The last letter I received was half a month ago; they should have set off by now.”

Zhou Shuren, pulling Zhulan toward him, said, ”Let’s sleep, don’t worry about them. They are all adults from the Chang family, capable of taking care of themselves. They’ll arrive when they do.”

Zhulan knew Zhou Shuren was being considerate of her. She lay down and said, ”Okay, okay, I won’t worry, let’s sleep.”

Zhulan said she wouldn’t worry, but in her heart, she was calculating the days. She estimated that Zhou’s second uncle and the others should arrive in late November. As she counted the days with her eyes closed, she remembered that it was time to hire people to pick apples. It would require quite a few workers to transport them down from the mountain. Ah, there was always something to deal with.

The only thing that eased Zhulan’s mind was that her family’s apples had already signed a contract with merchants from foreign clans, buying each jin of apples for Fifty coins regardless of size.

Zhulan calculated again in her half-asleep state before finally falling asleep. Zhou Shuren opened his eyes and tucked the blanket around Zhulan, muttering, ”Always worrying.”

Early the next morning, just as Zhou Shuren left, Lady Li and the eldest Zhou headed out to go shopping.

Zhulan called for Er Yue and tasked her with hiring workers, preparing to start harvesting apples in five days. In Lizhou Province City, many followed the trend of planting apples, which meant there were plenty of laborers available for hire. It was an extra source of income for the locals.

The Zhulan family hadn’t sold any grain. The payments were still half grain, half Silver, offering Twelve coins a day, two jin of cornmeal, and a lunch of coarse grain vegetarian steamed buns.

The Yang family’s orchard had also signed a contract, and Zhulan sent someone to the Yang manor to ask her father to join in the harvest.

Zhou Shuren, being the prefect, neither merchants from foreign clans nor those of the current dynasty dared to delay in paying Silver. It was all a transaction of cash for apples.

Once Zhulan had made the arrangements, the eldest Zhou and Lady Li returned. Zhulan looked at what Lady Li had bought. ”I gave you ten taels of silver, and you just bought a few pieces of cotton fabric?”

Zhulan checked the time. This couple had been out for one and a half to three hours and only bought a few pieces of cotton fabric?

Lady Li clutched her purse. She was reluctant. She held onto the allowance for the first wife’s chambers, along with her own savings and the occasional gift from her mother-in-law, totally barely one hundred and fifty taels. That didn’t include the ten taels from the previous day. As her children increased, she, being a mother, could not withhold Silver from them. So squandering away from the thrill of the eye was enough; had it not been for the seamstress room running out of fine cotton fabric, she wouldn’t have cared to buy it at all.

Pressing her forehead, Zhulan waved a dismissive hand. ”You must be tired from the morning outing, go back and rest.”

The eldest Zhou moved his lips. He didn’t feel good inside. Despite Lady Li’s carefree attitude, when it came to Silver, she was very meticulous. It was he who failed to give Lady Li proper confidence.

Zhulan saw this but didn’t ask the eldest to stay. Firstly, because the family’s property was limited. She had already invested Silver and couldn’t afford to entrust the property to the eldest. She wouldn’t disturb the balance out of favoritism—the household was full of cunning folks. Once she favored the eldest’s house excessively, there would be no peace.

In the days that followed, Lady Li stayed in and only worked on small clothes with the newly bought fabric.

Since arriving in Lizhou Province City and setting up a seamstress room, Zhulan allotted Silver monthly for purchasing fabric to make clothes. She and Zhou Shuren would have two new outfits a month, whereas the eldest Zhou and Lady Li only had one per month.

Over twelve months in a year, aside from her and Zhou Shuren’s twelve garments per person, with three per quarter, it was quite luxurious.

However, there was no helping it. With Zhou Shuren becoming an official, the invitations Zhulan received were numerous. There were several cards each month, requiring her to accompany daughters-in-law or daughters out, and her sons and grandsons were also invited. They couldn’t always wear the same clothes, and maintaining appearances meant spending more Silver.

Before they knew it, it was time to pick apples. Zhulan went to the orchard the day before. The fruit towards the mountaintop was sweeter, and she instructed for twenty of the top trees to be reserved for personal consumption.

Zhulan’s orchard boasted five-year-old trees in their prime productive years. Despite some being wasted during relocation, each tree still bore about thirty jin.

The history of apples in this invented dynasty began with the introduction from Europe to the Northwest. Local varieties existed too, but weren’t as appealing due to the lack of water content and taste. After European apples were brought in, the local ones were phased out.

Steward Ding went to Chuanzhou Province to purchase the trees, and it was said that the varieties brought in were among the best. Although they still fell short compared to modern tastes, they were nevertheless decent—valuable for being free of pesticides and fertilizers, thus entirely natural.

With over a hundred acres of apple orchard, the Zhulan family alone employed fifty men, and due to various transportation issues, it took six days to finish harvesting, mainly due to the time-consuming logistics and fruit selection.

Although all sizes were accepted, some bad fruit had to be sorted out—those nibbled by squirrels, rats, birds, and so forth.

The merchants also bought the bad fruit, but very cheaply.

From a thirty jin per tree yield, the actual salable quantity was about twenty jin, considering the wildlife ravaging through the orchard as winter approached.

Initially, Zhulan had about three thousand apple trees, with over two thousand six hundred surviving—a substantial mortality rate. Excluding the twenty reserved, slightly over two thousand six hundred trees were for sale.

After finalizing the accounts, the income was over two thousand seven hundred taels of Silver. The year’s investment hadn’t been recouped. If not for the high number of deceased trees, it would have been possible to break even this year. The only consolation was that this was the first year, with the following year’s yield being almost pure profit.

Indeed, the profit from apple cultivation was significant, as a single tree doesn’t just bear fruit for one season—assuming it doesn’t succumb to drought, which would wash away the investment.