Chapter 384 - Didn’t disappoint me as expected

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

The next day, Shi Qingluo went to chat with Old Lady Xiao.

With the excuse that Eldest Grandson Xiao’s injuries were still not ideal for travel, they delayed their journey to Northern City.

Old Xiao’s family didn’t suspect her.

After all, Eldest Grandson Xiao’s injuries were indeed very serious this time.

Moreover, they could not wait for Ge Chunru and her brother to suffer more, so they had no objections.

Then, Shi Qingluo and Xi Rong went out to look for Russian dandelions, while Liang Youxiao brought Xi Rui to build a workshop.

While Xiao Hanzheng was dealing with the problems left behind by the previous county magistrate, he also used the small amount of government expense left by the county magistrate to build a workshop.

He also sent people to buy a lot of food and recruited workshop labors in the entire county.

Not only would they receive an allowance, but also food.

This caused many to be tempted.

As a result, many people from nearby villages and towns came to sign up for work.

Everyone was thinking that if the county magistrate didn’t pay up, they could at least have two full meals a day and save some food for the family.

The originally quiet county had also gradually become lively.

A few days later, Shi Qingluo finally found Russian dandelions in the wilderness.

There were quite a lot of them.

She then brought all of them back for planting.

Manpower was scarce, but there was a lot of land.

Every village had a lot of wasteland, which was just enough to cultivate Russian dandelions.

Shi Qingluo picked out a few nearby villages that were more suitable for planting, and Xiao Hanzheng asked the village chiefs of the respective villages to come to the county office.

The few village chiefs sat there nervously.

Xiao Hanzheng walked in with Shi Qingluo, a gentle smile on his face.

After introducing Shi Qingluo to everyone, he added, “You should know about corn, which my wife harvested.

“This time, I asked you all to come because my wife wants to try planting another plant in your villages.”

Of course, the village chiefs had heard of corn before.

They heard that it was a high-yield crop, but it had not reached their hands yet.

Thet didn’t know when their village would have it and they didn’t expect that Mr Xiao’s wife was actually the one who offered the seeds.

Now that they heard that she wanted to try planting another plant, they couldn’t help but be curious.

One of the village chiefs asked, “May I know what kind of plant Madam wants to plant?” What are we going to do?”

Shi Qingluo said, “I want to plant Russian dandelions. You just have to let the villagers plant it in the wasteland. When it’s time to harvest, the county government will buy it from you.

“If the county government can’t buy everything, my friends will buy all of it.

“Then we will sign a contract to guarantee that as long as you plant them, we’ll pay you.

“You can’t sell it to anyone else for three years, and we’ll still buy it at the same price.”

She took out the contract that she had prepared and handed it to the village chiefs.

The village chiefs carefully took the paper and let the only literate village chief read it.

After listening, they could not believe that there would be such a good thing.

Moreover, it was completely tax-free from the county government for the first three years of the wasteland reclamation.

In other words, as long as everyone worked hard to grow the plants, they could sell them for money.

According to the price set in the contract, one catty of that Russian dandelion was three times the price of one catty of grain.

If it really succeeded, everyone would be able to earn quite a bit of money.

A more brilliant village chief asked, “Is it difficult to grow Russian dandelions? If it doesn’t work, do we have to compensate you?”

“As long as you plant it according to my instructions, the possibility of it not growing is very small,” Shi Qingluo said with a smile.

“If the seedlings really can’t be planted due to non-human factors, then there’s naturally no need to compensate. We’ll bear the risk.

“But if someone deliberately doesn’t plant it properly, doesn’t add fertilizer at the right time, and doesn’t do it according to my requirements, you’ll have to compensate if the plant dies.

“I’ll tell you how to grow Russian dandelions. It’s not difficult. As long as you plant it with care, your next year’s income will definitely not be bad.”

It wasn’t uncommon for unruly people to appear in poor mountains and turbulent rivers.

She had to take precautions and clearly explain the responsibilities and risks of both parties.

Hearing her words, that village chief was not completely relieved.

He was really afraid that the new county magistrate was using a new method to collect money.

When the Russian dandelions failed to grow, he would ask the villagers to compensate him at a high price.

Or, if the villagers bought the seedlings at a high price now, but the county government found all kinds of reasons not to buy them during the harvesting season, they would suffer a big loss.

Everyone was poor to begin with, so how could they afford it?

“We want to plant it, but we just paid the tax not long ago. The villagers don’t have any money, so we can’t buy seedlings from you.”

Shi Qingluo agreed with his cautiousness.

He was probably tricked by the previous county magistrates a couple of times and was more fearful.

‘You don’t have to buy them from us.

“Just record how many seedlings each family has collected.

“After the harvest next year, the cost will be directly deducted.

“We’ll also set the price for the seedlings. This is the first year, so the county government will support it.

“The price of one catty of seedlings is only half of the price of one catty of Russian dandelion after harvest.

Upon hearing this, the village chiefs present were all a little excited.

Since it didn’t cost money in the beginning, and the price of planting the seedlings was so low, it was not a big deal.

This was worth a try. After all, it was just a lot of effort to do land reclamation and perform day-to-day maintenance.

Their village had a large pool of labor force that was physically strong.

Hence, he started to discuss with Shi Qingluo again, and gradually, he was not as nervous as before.

When they left, they all had smiles on their faces.

If this matter was really like what Mr Xiao and his wife had promised, they couldn’t help but be hopeful for the year ahead.

After that, Xiao Hanzheng and Shi Qingluo were occupied with planting the Russian dandelions.

At Northern City.

Xiao Yuanshi was not surprised to see that Ge Chunru had not been released yet, so he sent his personal aide to Heyang County to talk to Xiao Hanzheng.

King Jin’s resided at Northern City.

King Jin was drinking tea and listening to music in the courtyard.

His personal attendant walked in and reported in a low voice, “Your Highness, there’s news from Heyang County.”

King Jin opened his eyes. “What news? ”

“Shi Qingluo has come to a few villages in Heyang County. She’s doing some cooperation with the county government. She wants to plant a crop called Russian dandelion.”

King Jin sat up straight when he heard that. “Russian dandelion? What’s its use?”

“Shi Qingluo didn’t mention the specific usage,” his personal attendant replied.

King Jin thought for a moment. “Could it be related to the rubber that is now popular in the capital? ”

He was wearing rubber-soled leather shoes, and there were a few bicycles in the warehouse.

This rubber was indeed good stuff.

It was a pity that the emperor and the three high public houses had sent people to Southern Fujian and other places to search for rubber and secure land to plant rubber trees.

Therefore, it wasn’t easy for his people to make a move.

It was hard not to think of rubber when he heard her name.

“I also think that it might be related to rubber,” the personal attendant replied respectfully.

“Your Highness, should we also do something?”

King Jin shook his head. “We don’t know how to plant it now or how to extract the rubber during the harvest. There’s no rush.

“Shi Qingluo didn’t disappoint me. She started to make a move as soon as they arrived at the northern border.”

He curled his lips.

“Isn’t my secondary consort holding a flower viewing banquet half a month later? Ask her to send an invitation to Shi Qingluo.”

He really wanted to meet the disciple of the so-called old immortal.