This trip collected a total of more than one hundred and twenty kilos of fresh leaves that could produce about thirty kilos of tea. This was also before the villagers themselves picked tea leaves to sell in the county town. Wang Shijing did not take the villagers to the west side of the mountain that was now their own. Although they had not completely bought it, he took the villagers to the other mountains in the village safe areas. They found around 40 to 50 tea trees in total scattered around the village.

After picking up so many tea leaves, the night became busy again. Shao Yunan cooked dinner early, so after eating the two children went to arrange their own things, while he and Wang Shijing dealt with the tea leaves. It was not that the people in the village did not doubt why Zhao Lizheng’s family started collecting red sour fruits and wild peaches, and a few families guessed whether they were making jam, but no one dared to ask Zhao Lizheng to his face. As for Wang Shijing’s tea collecting, the villagers guessed that they might want to make tea to sell for money, but they doubted it. Was tea so easy to make? Tea sold by stores was so damned expensive that ordinary families could not afford to drink even the most inferior tea. So how could Shao Yunan and Wang Shijing make tea? If they were able to make it, the Wang and Shao families would already have made a lot of money.

Wang Shijing and Shao Yunan closed their courtyard door and isolated themselves from any gossip. The two of them spread out the tea leaves, before Shao Yunan sprinkled the essence of the spiritual spring water by hand, and then dried the leaves, before starting the tea making process. They did not sleep for the whole night and Wang Shijing only closed his eyes for two hours in the morning before taking a bag of money and leaving. Shao Yunan wanted him to rest for a day, but he refused. He was going to Shanyang village together with Zhao He’s father, since his parents would gather fruits there. Before Wang Shijing left, Shao Yunan wiped his eyes and brought him two gourds of water, especially instructing him to drink this water by himself.

Wang Shijing wanted to finish harvesting and making the tea before the farming season and then find someone to build a house, while also reclaiming his newly purchased thirty acres of land and planting grains. Originally he wanted to ask the villagers for help with building his house at the end of the farming season, but it was a bit cold at that time and Wang Shijing was afraid of freezing Shao Yunan. In any case, there were many homeless people in the county town who had lost their land and came from elsewhere to look for work,  so it was not difficult to find people. The best way was of course to spend money. Their house now was too small and poor, and Shao Yunan’s dream of a big bathtub weighed on Wang Shijing’s heart.

Wang Shijing went out that day and rushed back the same night with freshly collected tea leaves. Shao Yunan couldn’t bear to see him so tired, so when the tea was placed to dry, he drove Wang Shijing to have a rest and took care of it himself. Wang Shijing went out early and came back late every day and Shao Yunan was also very tired. Although he had spiritual spring water and spiritual essence, he didn’t dare to drink it directly. In just a few days, Wang Shijing obviously lost weight, which made Shao Yunan almost mention his space. The fresh tea leaves could be put into his space first and then slowly processed, so they wouldn’t have to rush.

Apart from Wang Shijing and Shao Yunan, Zhao Lizheng’s family could be said to be the busiest in the village. After the first day that they signed the contract with shopkeeper Xu, Zhao Lizheng’s family became busy overnight, preparing three large jars of goat milk fruit jam and a large jar of peach jam. In order not to attract attention, at dawn, Zhao Yuande and Zhao He drove their cart with all four jars of jam to the county town. When Zhao Yuanqing and Li Caijuan came back, the couple joined the hustle and bustle, and after some discussion between Zhao Lizheng and Aunt Zhao Liu, they also called Zhao He’s foster parents to help.

Zhao He was the only son of his adoptive parents and Zhao He’s adoptive father was also the only son. These two were both tight-lipped and honest, so Zhao Lizheng did not hide the matter of the jam from them. The two of them also immediately promised that they would not say anything to other people about it, so even though Zhao Lizheng still did not let them prepare the jam, they could help with the preliminary preparation work. The two’s attitude reassured Zhao Lizheng and Aunt Zhao Liu, while also making Zhao He very happy. His parents’ attitude made him more pleasant to his ‘in-laws’.

In the midst of this busy schedule, the farming season arrived. Zhao Lizheng’s family made jam and processed all the goat milk and wild peach fruit collected for Shao Yunan into jam. The sweet-scented osmanthus was not harvested by the villagers, but it was enough if they went to the mountains to pick some. Zhao Yuande was also ready to buy a few more acres of land to plant fruit trees in the spring, then use all the open land in their backyard to transplant sweet-scented osmanthus and some goat milk and fruit trees. Zhao Lizheng’s family was full of confidence toward their future. The reason they were so confident was that the final tally of the sale made them think they were dreaming.

They collected more than three hundred kilos of goat milk fruit and after giving some to Shao Yunan, there were still more than 200 kilos remaining. They also collected more than 100 kilos of wild peaches and all the jam made was sold. Not counting the small change, they earned 174 taels of silver. The cost of collecting the fruit, plus labor was at most 20 taels of silver, which equals a net profit of at least 150 taels of silver for Zhao Lizheng’s family. After deducting Shao Yunan’s 10%, there were still 135 taels in profit. In just ten days of busy work they earned 135 taels of silver! Previously if Zhao Lizheng worked hard all year round, they could earn 30 to 40 taels of silver. It was already good to earn 20 taels of silver a year, but they had now earned 135 taels of silver in just ten days! Even after paying Shao Yunan’s promised 100 taels of silver, they would still have 35 silver left!

Zhao Lizheng immediately felt like he couldn’t breathe, causing Zhao Yuande and Zhao Yuanqing to hurriedly rub their father’s chest. Aunt Zhao Liu was also so happy that she couldn’t close her mouth and hurriedly asked Zhao Yuande to deliver the 100 taels of silver they owed to Shao Yunan and Wang Shijing. This time they really took advantage of Shao Yunan and Wang Shijing. They only gave Shao Yunan 50 silver at first, since they had to gather red dates and hawthorn, and were in no hurry to use the money. Zhao Yuande was also not polite and delivered the 50 taels.

This jam thing will sooner or later spread. Since Yizhang Xuan restaurant’s jam business opened, it was said to be very popular and always in short supply. But in the end, there were no longer any red sour fruits and other wild fruits also became almost extinct, so shopkeeper Xu had to sell a limited number daily. After getting the method to preserve freshness, when Yizhang Xuan restaurant received the jam they immediately sealed it and sent a part of the jam to the capital. Zhao Yuande, who had been following Yizhang Xuan restaurant’s situation, saw that the jam was very popular and knew that the secret could not be hidden for long. So Zhao Yuande, together with his father and brother, took advantage of the fact that the people in the village had not yet realized that the jam was related to their family, to collect red dates and red hawthorn, giving a price as high as 60 copper coins for red dates and 40 copper coins for hawthorn.

Wang Shijing and Shao Yunan bought a house, land, cattle, and sheep, while old lady Wang was still very upset about the money they made from selling the stones. She was both angry and anxious. Wang Zhisong tried to persuade her, but also had some hidden ideas in his heart. The two of them spent tens of hundreds of taels. If the family could give him this money, he could buy a good brush and ink, and go to the county town to buy even better books. He could even make some connections around or even enter the state school in the capital. But Wang Zhisong did not dare to ask his parents for money, and could only bide his time, while trying to persuade them.

It should also be mentioned that even Wang Chunxiu was disturbed. Their family could buy a maid with this money, so she would no longer have to do this dirty and tiring work. Moreover, with so much money, how much good material and jewelry could be bought for her? She only had one silver bracelet, which she had begged her mother for a long time before she bought it for her. But that little bitch Wang Nizi was wearing white jade earrings!

Their whole family was suffering when they saw Wang Shijing spend so much money on collecting tea leaves. Although it was said outside that Shao Yunan sold a good idea and made money, no one in the Wang family believed it. How could Shao Yunan, who was born in a farming family, sell an idea for so much money? If he really had such good ideas, the Shao family would have earned money a long time ago and would not allow Shao Yunan to be married out. So the Wang family was still convinced that the money Wang Shijing spent was the money he privately saved or got from selling the stones.

The more they thought about it, the more old lady Wang wanted to complain to Wang Wenhe. She didn’t dare to go to Zhao Lizheng since she was scolded by Zhao Lizheng last time and knew that Zhao Lizheng would definitely not side with her. Since Wang Guo was not there, old lady Wang took Wang Chunxiu with her. This time, they had to get some money out of that family’s hands!

Edited by: Jaisland

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