Chapter 175 Harvest

Chapter 175: Bumper Harvest

"You deadbeat, you're not human! Your son just turned one and you're already out whoring—have you no shame!"

"What's wrong with whoring? Which man doesn't do it?"

"You dare say that? I'm the one earning to support this family, and you stole my silver to find covert prostitutes!"

Meng Wan came at an unlucky time today. Just as he carried A Yan out the back door, he saw the Wei couple from the back street brawling.

Although the area around the county office was usually quiet, a large crowd had gathered to watch the commotion.

The bathhouse landlady was cracking melon seeds as she watched. Seeing Meng Wan, she handed him a handful. "Tsk, Zhenniang's really unlucky to be stuck with such a man."

Meng Wan ignored his son's yearning gaze and handed him over to Huang Ye to hold. "Now the Wei family depends on Zhenniang to live. I don't know why they're so arrogant. Just cutting off their spending would be enough to control them."

The bathhouse landlady dropped her melon seed shell. "But... if she's unfilial to her in-laws and Old Madam Wei takes it to the county court, she could be flogged."

After saying that, realizing Meng Wan was the County Magistrate's husband, she lowered her voice to advise him, "Don't bend the law for an outsider, for Lord Song's sake. The Weis are troublesome."

She was warm-hearted and outspoken.

Meng Wan cracked a melon seed and laughed. "Sister-in-law, rest assured. If they take it to court, my husband will enforce the law impartially. I'm just afraid the Weis won't dare to sue Zhenniang—she's their cash cow."

Zhenniang was Wei's daughter-in-law. Her daughter was born only a few days apart from A Yan. When Meng Wan was busy, Chang Jinhua often brought A Yan to play with Zhenniang's daughter, so they had gotten to know each other.

Zhenniang was a resourceful woman. When dealing with Chang Jinhua, she often lowered her stance and tried to curry favor, but that was only because circumstances forced her.

The previous generation of the Wei family, Zhenniang's father-in-law, had been capable. The family had owned two shops in the county town. But not long after Zhenniang married in, her father-in-law passed away.

Her husband was a weakling who couldn't sustain the family business. One shop was sold, and the remaining one was nearly closed. It was only because Zhenniang worked day and night to manage it that she saved the last tailor shop.

If a man can't be relied on, one has to rely on oneself. That would have been fine, but the Weis, relying on Zhenniang, were still somewhat polite to her on the surface.

But Zhenniang had worked so hard that she injured her health and found it hard to conceive. After struggling to give birth to a daughter, she became unable to bear more children.

Then the mother and son of the Wei family dropped their pretense. They implied that Zhenniang had cut off the Wei family line and demanded she hand over control of the household. When she refused, they tormented her daily, leading to today's scene.

Old Madam Wei cared about face. Seeing neighbors gathered to watch, she quickly put on a kind air and pulled her son and daughter-in-law back inside.

Once the door was closed, no one knew what happened inside. But a few days later, Zhenniang bought a concubine for her husband and brought her into the house. Zhenniang still managed the household.

After hearing about the Wei family's mess, Chang Jinhua stopped bringing A Yan to play in the back alley.

As the weather cooled, the sugarcane in the fields grew sweeter and sweeter. When the sugar content was finally sufficient, it was time to harvest. The most excited were not the farmers but the two merchants, Wang and Zhao, who had been waiting for months.

Seeing the sugar workshop sending oxcart after oxcart to haul sugarcane back for processing, they strolled over to the workshop to peek in.

"This is the first time I've seen a sugarcane field this large. They say Heshan is barren, but just growing sugarcane alone could feed half the county." Merchant Wang sighed.

Merchant Zhao's heart stirred. Meng Fulang was the County Magistrate's husband. Such an achievement would surely lead to Lord Song's promotion. If he could get on this network and have it benefit the Zhao family, even moving the entire family to Lingnan would be worthwhile.

Merchants valued profit over distant relatives. Ordinary folk, unless disaster struck, would not easily leave their ancestral lands, but merchants had fewer scruples.

During the sugarcane harvest, Meng Wan only supervised for the first few days. After that, Bi Yun took charge. For remote families who planted a lot, the sugar workshop directly sent oxcarts to the villages to collect the bundled sugarcane.

There were also smallholders who dared not plant much and used wasteland or vegetable plots. These farmers had to haul the sugarcane to the town themselves. The price was 180 wen per thousand jin, the same as for full acres. One mu yielded about ten thousand jin, which was one tael and 800 wen.

Meng Wan rented a small courtyard in Luyun Town and assigned a minor steward to collect from the scattered households.

This year, many villagers planted sugarcane. Those near Hongshan and Hongni Villages had long been envious of them. A man surnamed Chen from Hongye Village, ignoring his family's objections, gritted his teeth and planted eight mu. Meng Wan personally delivered sugarcane seedlings to his home and had someone teach him in detail how to cut and plant them.

The other villagers laughed at Chen, saying he was crazy with envy for the Hongshan villagers. They said he dared to abandon rice for sugarcane and risk losing food for the whole family.

The Chens, out of spite, tended the fields every day. To everyone's surprise, each mu produced an extra thousand jin, and the sweetness was higher than others.

Meng Wan was delighted and visited the Chens personally. Confirming the situation, he found that sugarcane from the Chens produced higher-purity sugar. So he raised the price to two taels per mu. After the Chens kept some seedlings for themselves, they earned a total of fifteen taels and a hundred wen.

Who wouldn't be shocked? Now the county had more grain merchants, and even the grain price in town was cheaper than before. The Chens, having earned money, immediately renovated their house and bought an oxcart, hauling a full load of grain back from town.

"Chen Er is going to town again? That cart of grain wasn't cheap, was it?"

Chen Er was light as air after selling the sugarcane. His mouth hadn't stopped smiling for days. He cracked his whip. "Heh, it's less than a tael. It'll last until next summer. My Daniu eats a lot, and Cao Geer's been clamoring for white-flour steamed buns. I'll have his mother learn how to make them."

He drove the cart to his yard. Cao Geer was playing with other village xiaoge. Seeing his father drive up, he ran over on short legs. "Dad! Dad! Did you buy me the hair ribbon I asked for? I want the red one!"

Chen Er scooped up his little son. "Bought it, bought it. It's red. Five wen a piece—that's the price of a catty of coarse rice!"

Cao Geer didn't care about the price of rice. He just wanted his red hair ribbon, which his father had promised to buy him on the trip.

But before he could show it off to his playmates, his mother took it away. "Let Mom keep it for now. If you take it out to play and lose it, wouldn't that be a pity? In a few days, I'll take you to the market. When you're dressed up nicely, you can wear it."

Cao Geer's tears welled up in his eyes, but hearing about the market, he brightened. "Great! Great! We're going to the market! I want sugar-coated hawthorn sticks then!"

"Dad will buy them!" Chen Er agreed at once, only to be pinched by his wife. "Want this, want that. We've just finished the house, and Daniu is old enough to think about marriage. Don't buy anything more."

The other villagers watched the Chens laughing and chatting, feeling both sour and bitter. They thought about buying some sugarcane seedlings from him and planting a few mu next spring. Even if they couldn't earn as much as the Chens, ten taels would be good.

—

At the beginning of the twelfth month, the sugar workshop was still running. Merchant Wang and Merchant Zhao had already left with the brown sugar that had been processed first. Heshan Sugar Mill offered good quality and low prices, filling a market gap. It was sure to attract more merchants next year.

Third Master Zhu was the last to leave. He took six cartloads of Heshan specialties that Meng Wan had prepared, along with a full-moon gift for Qiongniang. He left one cart for Mr. Xiang when passing through Yangzhou, as Meng Wan had requested. Back in the capital, he would deliver one to Brother Lin's family, one to Nie Zhiyao, one to Zhu Zening, one to Wu Zhaoyuan (who had gone to the capital for next year's spring exams), and finally one to Lord Song's mentor, Teacher Nie, in Changping.

Meng Wan saw off Third Master Zhu, feeling embarrassed. "Uncle Third, you already have to deal with carrying goods. Having you deliver our New Year's gifts every year is too much trouble."

"Don't be so formal with your Third Uncle. Knowing you're doing well here puts the elders at ease. I'll deliver everything. Rest assured. I'll come see you again next year." Third Master Zhu had initially encouraged his son to befriend Song Tingzhou from a merchant's profit perspective—hoping the good student would help the poor one. But after all these years, he had come to regard Song Tingzhou and Meng Wan as his own children. Every parting was bittersweet.

"Uncle Third, the seeds you brought me this year were really good. I grew several varieties. If you travel to other places next year, remember to bring me some more." Though Meng Wan said he was embarrassed, he truly didn't treat Third Master Zhu as an outsider.

Third Master Zhu mounted his horse. "Alright, Third Uncle will find them for you. Jingxing, take Wan Geer and A Yan back inside. The wind is strong—don't let the child catch cold."

"Take care, Uncle Third."

Song Tingzhou and Meng Wan watched the Zhu family's caravan fade into the distance. Then, holding A Yan in one hand and Meng Wan's hand in the other, Song Tingzhou walked home.

"This year, half the taxes have been collected, and a third of the arrears owed to the court have been repaid." Song Tingzhou spoke calmly of the problems left by previous county magistrates.

Third Master Zhu had left early; the sky was still not fully bright. A Yan lay on Song Tingzhou's shoulder with closed eyes, casting a thick shadow. His eyes were exactly like Meng Wan's, long-lashed and thick. He looked adorable when asleep.

Meng Wan lovingly kissed A Yan's tender cheek and pulled the little hood of his cloak tighter. "The sugarcane from all around has been mostly harvested. Apart from keeping some for seedlings, there's still a batch piled in the workshop. We can boil it slowly. Next year, when the sugar merchants know the schedule, they'll come to Heshan after the New Year, so the workshop won't have to rush like it did this time. Bi Yun was exhausted."

"Oh, that Merchant Zhao is interesting. Before he left, he secretly came to me and even wanted to put down a deposit for next year." Meng Wan still found the man's behavior amusing.

Children in the street were setting off firecrackers. A Yan in his arms was startled and began to sob quietly with his eyes closed. Song Tingzhou patted him soothingly. "He was trying to curry favor with you?"

"Probably. These merchants are shrewd. Who knows what they're thinking now." Meng Wan quickened his pace, moving away from the area where firecrackers were being set off.

Song Tingzhou squeezed the hand in his own. "You've worked hard too."

A simple caring word was enough to warm Meng Wan's heart. "It's worth it—my little treasury has grown quite a bit." They didn't cheat or deceive, every coin they earned was clean, and it also helped develop the local economy, so they could spend it with peace of mind.

Both had worked hard for a year, and as the year drew to a close, things were somewhat quieter, but there were still other matters to attend to. Lin Yi had found a kiln craftsman from Yangzhou, who had finally arrived in Heshan a few days ago. It was also thanks to Lin Yi's reputation that the man brought his whole family along.

The man's surname was Xu, and his family had been kiln workers for generations, even having fired official kilns in the capital. But he had offended someone and nearly died in Shengjing. Out of gratitude for Lord Lin's life-saving grace, he had agreed without a second thought to move his family from Yangzhou to this remote Lingnan region.

Meng Wan had become quite adept at handling affairs. He not only bought a small courtyard in the city for the Xu family to live in, but also arranged for them to work in his shop. After all, without worries about their livelihood, the kiln worker could focus on his work for them.

Song Tingzhou frequently went to the kiln site outside the city to check on progress. More and more roads paved with different materials were being laid in the county seat, and once the county seat was fully paved, the work extended to the outskirts.

Moreover, this year the Heshan county yamen had a new duty that hadn't existed in previous years.

"The Lingnan region has always been plagued by bandits, but Xiwu Prefecture, because of its dire poverty, was relatively peaceful. However, Qinzhou has always been the most unstable place in all of Lingnan. A few days ago, the official gazette reported unrest along the southwestern border, and it's very likely that bandits from there will flee into the interior of Lingnan..."

After speaking, Song Tingzhou said to Inspector Huang and the new Archivist, Tao Jiu, "You may need to work hard in the coming days. Lead your constables and yamen runners to frequently patrol the villages, especially Hongshan and Hongni villages. This year, both villages had a bountiful sugarcane harvest, and every household has spare money. If bandits do come, they might target them."

Inspector Huang and Tao Jiu both looked serious. One came from a family of local gentry, and the other lived in Hongshan Village with his whole family. Hearing Song Tingzhou's dire warning, they couldn't help feeling uneasy.

Upon hearing this, the Deputy Magistrate respectfully said to Song Tingzhou, "Your Excellency, I hear that the Tong family in Luyun Town has also hired people to plant sugarcane and build a sugar mill. Should we send word to them with a warning?"

Apart from the land in Hongshan and Hongni villages, the Tong family also had hundreds of mu of land in other villages. Initially, the villagers didn't want to associate with them, but who wouldn't want to earn the wages being offered? Everyone wanted to be the next Hongshan Village.

However, although the Tong family's land was good, the Yangzhou merchants cheated them on the cartloads of sugarcane seedlings they bought. The sugar mill had barely been built, and the merchants who sold the seedlings had absconded with the money.

It was Tong Laoda's overconfidence—he thought that if a young man like Meng Wan could succeed, why couldn't the Tong family? He believed Meng Wan's nonsense about the honest people of Yangzhou, and even trusted the merchants who eagerly taught him how to build a sugar mill.

Even a shrewd businessman like Third Master Zhu had been taken advantage of in Yangzhou, let alone a simple landlord family like the Tongs, who thought they could succeed overnight. Who else would they cheat but them?

Not counting the money lost on the seedlings, the sugarcane had already been planted for half a year, and they couldn't just pull them out and plant rice. Tong Laoer gritted his teeth and forced himself to roughly finish building the sugar mill.

After harvesting the sugarcane from their own fields and hauling it to the mill, the output was either thin sugar syrup or sugar that was overcooked and tasted bitter and burnt.

Song Tingzhou didn't hesitate for long. "Notify them. Whether it's the Tong family, other country gentry, landlords, or ordinary folks, everyone must be told what I said. Before the new year, have the village heads from all villages come see me in the county seat."