Chapter 111: Chapter 103: The Old Master is Confused
「Three days later.」
Fang Yue returned to Da Liushu Village with the tea saplings he had purchased.
On the way, he naturally stopped to take a look at the Tea Garden he had just bought.
It was a thousand-mu Tea Garden in total. Because it was on mountainous terrain, the amount of silver it actually cost wasn’t much—just over one thousand taels.
If this had been a few years ago, you couldn’t have even dreamed of getting this thousand-mu Tea Garden for less than thirty or forty thousand taels of silver.
But look at the state of things now.
Even the good land at the foot of the mountains wasn’t worth much, to say nothing of mountain land that couldn’t grow grain. With no output, it was utterly worthless.
So, Fang Yue had managed to buy it for an extremely low price.
Oh, right.
He actually hadn’t paid the silver yet; that Zhou Fangwu had fronted the money for him.
Who could blame him? Zhou Fangwu was just such a kind and helpful person.
’Hmm, once I make some money, I’ll have to give him a little extra for interest,’ he thought.
The land deeds had already been transferred at the Government Office, and of course, the farmlands acquired from the Scholar Liu Family had also been transferred.
"Zhi’Er, you’re back. Perfect timing! These pastries just came out of the oven. I put peanuts, walnuts, hemp seeds, hulled sesame seeds, and candied fruit inside."
"You mentioned this kind of pastry, and Mother tried making it a few times. This batch finally looks decent. Quick, come try one and see if it’s any good."
Seeing Fang Yue return, Ms. Chen quickly brought over two round, golden-brown ’mooncakes’.
They were still warm to the touch, clearly fresh from the oven.
"Mother, anything you make is delicious. I don’t even have to taste it to know it’s good."
Fang Yue chuckled and took the mooncake. Before he left for Xiahe County Town the other day, he had only mentioned it to Ms. Chen in passing.
He never expected she would have already managed to make them.
Aside from lacking the intricate patterns on the surface, these mooncakes were no different from the ones in his memories of a past life.
Fang Yue took a bite. As expected, it was sweet and fragrant, soft with a hint of crispness, and filled with the aroma of various nuts.
More importantly, it had no preservatives—it was all-natural and unpolluted.
There was no risk of it being so hard you could knock someone out with it, a pastry that never seemed to go bad.
"I haven’t even had a bite of this pastry, and Zhi’Er gets to eat them all."
Father Fang had already put away the tea saplings, sprinkling them with some water to keep them viable.
Seeing that both of these so-called mooncakes were being given to Fang Yue, he immediately commented with a hint of jealousy.
Ms. Chen had tried many times at home, and only today had she managed to successfully make two.
’With so many kinds of nuts and candied fruits, it must be delicious,’ Father Fang thought, quite tempted himself.
"Go on, go on. How old are you? Still fighting with Zhi’Er over food," Ms. Chen said, pushing Father Fang away with mock disdain.
"Dad, I’m already full. This one is for you." Fang Yue had eaten one and gave the remaining one to Father Fang.
"Don’t give it to your father. He’d just wolf it down without tasting a thing. It would be a waste on him," Ms. Chen said, scolding him with a smile.
However, she didn’t stop him.
Father Fang took it, broke it in half, gave one piece to Ms. Chen, and then turned to Fang Yue.
"Zhi’Er, are we really going to plant only tea trees? Can they really survive if we plant them now?"
"Don’t worry, Dad. The results will be clear in a few days. This disaster is about to pass."
Fang Yue spoke calmly. His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a convincing weight.
Today, naturally, was another family dinner.
In this era, as long as a family hadn’t been divided, everyone, no matter how large or small the family, ate together.
Today, there was an additional dish: mooncakes.
Having succeeded once, Ms. Chen had naturally mastered the skill. That evening, everyone in the family, except for the little ones, received one.
Unfortunately, even with the Fang family’s current means, being able to eat mooncakes all the time was not an easy feat.
After all, in the current climate, many types of nuts were extremely scarce.
’By next year, things should get better,’ he hoped.
「That night.」
A bright moon rose in the sky, full and brilliant.
~~~~~~
The next day, Fang Yue, along with his father and older brother Fang Cheng, arrived at the square in front of the village.
This place was originally used for drying wheat and grain.
Now, it was naturally empty.
"Young Master Fang must be confused. How can tea trees possibly survive if we plant them now?"
"Exactly! Without water, how can the tea trees live?"
They had barely settled in and hadn’t even spoken a word before the surrounding villagers started clamoring.
Previously, when they were given grain and told to switch to planting tea trees, everyone had agreed readily.
Now that it was actually time to plant the tea trees, these same people were starting to find excuses to refuse.
This was just how things were in the countryside.
Hesitant and indecisive—nothing more, nothing less.
"Everyone, we had an agreement. Starting today, we switch to planting tea trees. If any family doesn’t want to, that’s fine too. Just return the grain you received, and that’s that."
Fang Mu snorted and said with a frown.
His family wasn’t forcing anyone, but these people had all taken the extra grain his family had provided. They couldn’t just back out with a simple "we won’t plant" or "they won’t survive." It wasn’t that simple.
No matter how reserved or honest Fang Mu was, he still knew how things should be done.
A promise is a promise. Since they had agreed, they had to see it through.
To go back on one’s word was simply shameless.
"Master Fang, it’s not that we don’t want to plant. It’s this weather! How can anything survive without water? We’re just afraid of wasting your resources, Master!"
"That’s right, that’s right. Mr. Fang, why don’t we wait until the disaster has passed to plant?"
The crowd grew noisy again.
’These people only respond to the stick, not the carrot,’ Fang Yue thought. ’No wonder the old landlords used to curse and beat them, whipping and caning them at a moment’s notice.’
’Sure enough, if you just try to talk things out nicely, no one will listen to you.’
"Hmph. My father just said it, we’re all fellow villagers here. Today, if anyone wants to back out, you can either return the grain, or you can return the land."
Fang Yue smiled faintly. After he spoke, he just looked at the people around him.
He pulled up a stool and sat down.
He knew there would be trouble today, so he had deliberately brought a table, stools, and a stack of land deeds in advance.
Anyone who refused to plant tea trees and also refused to return the grain—well, sorry, but they would have to return their land.
The terms were the same as before: three taels of silver per mu.
Seeing that Fang Yue meant business, the villagers immediately fell silent as cicadas in winter. They just looked at each other, none daring to speak.
"I’m not going to go crazy along with this Young Master Fang. Planting tea trees now... they definitely won’t survive." At that moment, a man from a Liu-surnamed family stood up, walked over to Fang Yue, and took out fifteen taels of silver.
Fang Yue then found the man’s land deed from the stack and handed it to him.
Seeing how decisive Fang Yue was, the man took the deed but hesitated, suddenly not daring to leave.
He had originally just wanted to call Fang Yue’s bluff.
He never expected Fang Yue to actually give him the land deed.
However, with everyone watching, he couldn’t bring himself to go back on his word again. He just snorted, pushed his way through the crowd, and left.
With the first precedent set, a few more families followed suit and returned their land.
However, most of them seemed to be from Liu-surnamed families, and they were the ones who had originally been close to Scholar Liu.
Whether these people were acting on their own will or were put up to it by someone else, Fang Yue couldn’t be bothered.
In any case, if these people wouldn’t listen to him, there was no use in keeping them around.
"Alright. Since the rest of you are unwilling to return your land and unwilling to return the grain, then let’s start planting tea trees today."
After saying this, Fang Yue signaled to Father Fang and Fang Cheng, and they left, taking the remaining land deeds with them.
~~~~~~
That afternoon, whether they were willing or not,
most of the villagers in Da Liushu Village began to uproot the unripe crops in their fields and start planting tea trees.
However, because of the lack of water,
planting them like this seemed incredibly risky.
If the newly planted tea saplings weren’t watered, they wouldn’t survive in the ground for more than a few days.
And while there was water in the deep wells, it was barely enough for drinking and cooking.
It might be enough to water a small portion of crops,
but wanting to water these several thousand mu of tea trees was simply impossible.
For a time, the villagers all farmed in a daze.
They had no idea if what they were doing had any meaning or use at all.
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