Having made the trip into town so many times, Xu Zhichun had more or less asked around about the county magistrate's character. After all, while ancient times did have laws, the rule of man played a far greater role. Though there were generally laws to follow when trying a case, how a verdict was ultimately handed down depended heavily on the magistrate's personal discretion and subjective judgment.
For ordinary country folk like them, if they ever accidentally crossed the wrong person, they'd truly be left with nowhere to turn and no one to save them.
Fortunately, Magistrate Lu of Qingshan County was an official with an excellent reputation among the people. Under his governance, while Qingshan County might not have reached the utopian ideal of leaving lost goods untouched on the streets, the local atmosphere was remarkably upright and clean.
For this very reason, Xu Zhichun had the courage to set up a stall right in town to sell entirely novel treats like konjac tofu, konjac knots, and ice jelly without any fear.
Stealing a person's secret recipe was practically as unforgivable as murdering their parents. Besides, by any measure, their setup was a tiny, low-stakes operation. Wealthy, influential families would simply look down their noses at such petty goods and wouldn't deign to bully people over them. If someone actually pulled that stunt and got reported by a rival, landing right in Magistrate Lu's court, wouldn't they thoroughly deserve whatever punishment came to them?
Even if other small-time vendors felt envious, jealous, or red with envy, they simply lacked the capability and the guts to actually resort to malicious acts.
Having asked around about the magistrate's character, Xu Zhichun proceeded to look into the laws of the current era.
Knowing a bit about the law never hurts you, no matter what era you're in.
To her surprise, the authorities had designated four teahouses across the city—catering to the upper, middle, and lower classes alike—to serve as ancient-style legal education hubs. Every couple of days, storytellers at these teahouses would perform four or five tales centered around the law to educate the populace. This instilled in the common people a constant awareness that there were laws to follow and matters should be handled lawfully: whenever trouble arose, they must avoid acting out of impulse, and in everything they did, they must strictly abide by the law.
Rumor has it that this was an initiative introduced after Magistrate Lu took office. And sure enough, through word-of-mouth spreading from person to person, public awareness and popularization of these legal tales among the common folk turned out to be remarkably high.
How much in the way of entertainment could this era possibly offer anyway? Legal education tales were still stories all the same, and stories are naturally captivating by nature.
Whoever managed to catch a story at the teahouse and bring it back to the village instantly became the coolest kid in town. All they had to do was sit down on a bench under the big tree at the entrance of the village and call out that they were going to tell a story, and a whole crowd would swarm around to listen in no time.
Xu Zhichun thought Magistrate Lu was genuinely fascinating—a fine official who was full of creative ideas and vision.
Whenever her schedule lined up with the storytelling days, she'd have to go check it out herself.
Then she'd have to think carefully about how to report the credit for introducing potatoes and sweet potatoes up the chain of command. Even if she couldn't make any money out of it, scoring a good reputation wouldn't hurt either.
There was no need to rush this matter either. After all, she had 'stumbled' into acquiring the potatoes and sweet potatoes from a 'traveling merchant,' and whether those claims were true was entirely based on the merchant's one-sided word—she didn't fully understand them herself yet. Waiting several months to actually plant, cultivate, and harvest them would be cutting it a bit late. At the very least, she needed to tinker with them for a few days and whip up a few delicious dishes using these two crops. Only then would she have a natural, logical justification to report the discovery up the chain of command.
Xu Zhichun sorted the five different varieties of sweet potatoes—including yacon—neatly into their respective categories, and then went off to feed the chickens and pigs.
Thanks to the generous, extra helpings of feed, fish bone meal, and cornmeal she gave them, the chickens and pigs at home had grown and were thriving beyond words.
The two pigs in particular had skin tinged with a faint, healthy pink, and coats so sleek and glossy that anyone who looked at them couldn't help but let out a word of praise.
The chicks were growing by leaps and bounds, changing with each passing day, and the hens had started laying eggs at a much higher frequency, producing seven or eight a day. There was simply no way the uncle and sister-in-law could eat them all.
Two of the hens looked like they were ready to go broody, and Xu Zhichun intended to let them hatch a clutch—with chicken feed in endless supply, she could easily afford to raise another thirty or forty chicks.
Xu Zhichun pondered checking in a couple of days to see if any ducks were up for sale, figuring she might as well buy around twenty of them to raise too.
Ducks grow fast; in just a hundred days, they get nice and plump, ready to be eaten.
Plump duck tastes delicious whether it's stir-fried or stewed, but stewed with konjac tofu, it's an absolute culinary masterpiece.
That afternoon, Village Head Liang's young grandson ran over to ask Xu Zhichun to come by their house, saying her grandfather wanted to see her. Xu Zhichun immediately guessed that the land deeds must have been processed and issued. Thrilled inside, she hurried over right away.
After thinking it over, she packed up a portion of both potatoes and sweet potatoes, added two huge yacons to the mix, and headed over with her basket in hand.
When Village Head Liang caught sight of the potatoes and sweet potatoes, he found them quite unusual: "Oh, what are these? They look like they grow in the ground, but we don't have anything like this around here, do we? Did you buy them in the city?"
"You really are a veteran farmer, Elder; nothing can be kept from you."
Xu Zhichun couldn't help smiling as she gave Village Head Liang a thumbs-up in praise.
Village Head Liang hurriedly waved his hand and said, "From the looks of it, it's definitely something that can fill a person's stomach. But since you paid good money for it, you should just keep it for yourself—you really shouldn't be spending so much on us."
"I bought plenty." Xu Zhichun replied, using the 'traveling merchant' as a cover story to give Village Head Liang a brief explanation.
Village Head Liang: "...You didn't get scammed, did you? More than a whole tael of silver—that's over a tael!"
Village Head Liang was utterly distressed and exasperated, at a loss for words. Even if she was able to make money now, she shouldn't just squander it like that. Young people after all, still lacked maturity and prudence.
Xu Zhichun was inwardly amused, thinking to herself that as expected of a true father and son, Uncle Lizheng and Third Brother Liang had given her the exact same line.
"Uncle Lizheng, those two traveling merchants didn't seem like deceitful folks. Besides, we tried eating these sweet potatoes raw, and they really are quite tasty. This other kind—the yacon—is out-of-this-world delicious, and we all love it. Here, Xiaodong, take these and go wash them with your sister so you can share them, and cut a piece for your grandpa too."
Hearing that it was something good to eat, the boy didn't care in the least what it looked like; with a cheerful "Got it!", he happily scampered off.
"Wow, it's so sweet!"
"It's both sweet and crunchy—so delicious!"
The brother and sister let out cries of amazement and eagerly rushed over to let their grandfather have a taste.
"Grandpa, hurry up and try some—it's so good!"
Village Head Liang was skeptical, but to spare his grandson's feelings, he took a bite—and instantly froze in surprise.
This—
Xu Zhichun curved the corners of her lips in a quiet, smug satisfaction.
See? It really is delicious—I'm not just humoring the kids.
"Now, what was this called again?"
"This is yacon. We've tried it, and it tastes best eaten raw. The other sweet potatoes are also good raw, but they aren't as crunchy, fresh, or juicy—they're probably better cooked."
Being a man who knew how to bend with the wind, Village Head Liang quickly finished the piece in his hand in just a couple of bites and shooed his two grandsons outside. "Well, your luck turns out to be not bad at all. Good stuff—this really is good stuff."
Never mind what the sweet potatoes and potatoes taste like; just this yacon alone is already plenty good.
However, at first glance, this yacon isn't something that can fill your stomach—it's just good for a snack, nothing more.
Well, I suppose that works anyway.
Village Head Liang chuckled and said, "It really is good stuff. How about our family plants some too? I'll buy around a hundred odd jin or so from you, just like what you're buying. What kind of price do you have in mind?"
Xu Zhichun was taken aback for a second.
A—a hundred odd jin?
It wasn't that she was being stingy; there simply wasn't enough to go around.
Good stuff like this was bound to have other takers in the village. Even if she tried to pull the wool over everyone's eyes, there was no way she could pull an endless supply out of her harbor warehouse.
Xu Zhichun managed a strained smile. "Uncle Village Head, the thing is... our family has just cleared a bunch of wasteland and we need to plant all of it, so I'm afraid I can't sell you that much. Besides, I don't know if other households might want some too; if they do, I'll have to reserve a portion for them. How about this—the merchant mentioned that once the sweet potatoes grow vines, we can pinch off the cuttings to plant more. Why don't you just take ten jin or so of sweet potatoes, and I can let you have about ten jin of potatoes as well? How does that sound? As for the price, let's just make it one string coin per jin—that's what I paid the merchant anyway. I'm not looking to make a profit off our own villagers."
One string coin per jin was actually set way too cheap, but she had no choice. She couldn't just give them away for free; if she did, regardless of whether the produce was actually good or not, you could guarantee every single household in the village would come running to ask for a handout. When that happened, how was she supposed to decide who to give to and who to leave out?
She couldn't price it too high either; if it were too expensive, the villagers definitely wouldn't be willing to buy it.
If only her family grew them while nobody else had any, there's no telling if someone might sneak over to dig them up behind her back. It would be impossible to guard against completely, and it would end up harming neighborly relations to boot.
Xu Zhichun didn't plan on trying to please everyone, but she also didn't want to get into petty arguments with folks.
Village Head Liang was taken aback.
He had been genuinely worried that Xu Zhichun would end up stuck with such a massive pile of potatoes and sweet potatoes that she wouldn't be able to unload them. It was purely out of kindness that he had gritted his teeth and offered to take a hundred-odd jin of each. Besides, his family had already made a pretty penny thanks to Xu Zhichun, so spending a little bit of cash to help her shoulder the load was no big deal at all.
To think she actually... couldn't bear to part with them!
Village Head Liang fell into deep thought. Could those two merchants have been telling the truth after all? Maybe her judgment isn't bad and she didn't misjudge them—could this stuff actually be the real deal?
Come to think of it, human nature really is universally the same: seeing how secretive Xu Zhichun was being and how tightly she was holding onto it, Village Head Liang suddenly found himself wanting even more of it.
🐇♡🐇♡🐇♡🐇
Runa: “Village Head Liang, what did you think of Xu Zhichun’s new crops?”
Village Head Liang: “At first, I only wanted to help her get rid of a hundred jin.”
Xu Zhichun: “And then?”
Village Head Liang: “Now I’m wondering why she won't sell me more.”
Runa: “So, the moment she said supplies were limited, you wanted them even more?”
Village Head Liang: “It's called recognizing a good investment!”
Xu Zhichun: “...Uncle, I was just trying to plant enough for my own family.”
Village Head Liang: “Then you should plant more. And save some for me!”
Runa: “Congratulations, Xu Zhichun. You've officially discovered the ancient art of creating demand by having absolutely no stock.”
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