103 – Purchasing Sweet Potatoes and Potatoes

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Qin Mian hired eight women in the village to make sweet potato starch and potato starch from sweet potatoes and potatoes. Two people for peeling and the other two for cutting. Another four people mashed and made the starch. This time, he didn’t hire the people he had been hired before. Instead, he changed to several other people, who were also of good character and diligent in work. This way, he could maintain the balance in the village. The latter step was more critical. Qin Mian made the servants be in charge of it, not afraid of them revealing the secret.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie were responsible for the purchase of the potatoes and the sweet potatoes. Lei Tie checked and weighted, while Qin Mian kept accounts and paid the money.

After the matter was planned properly, Qin Mian had people release the news. If they purchased too many, it would be inconvenient to store. Therefore, they purchased once every two days.

This day, he came to the gate with his writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. Meanwhile, Lei Tie carried a box of copper coins that he specially went exchange in the town. Uncle Fu brought a set of tables and chairs and put them under the shade of the trees.

Early in the morning, the villagers harvested sweet potatoes and potatoes from their houses before coming to Leisurely Farm Residence and lined up at the gate. Summer was not the fruiting period of sweet potatoes. Most of these sweet potatoes were stored in their cellars in winter. The price was a little higher. The sixth lunar month was the ripening period of potatoes, and potatoes brought by many villagers were still stained with a bit of soil. At this time of the year, the farmers harvested potatoes. Having too much of it wouldn’t worth money, so they never thought of selling. They just served it as a dish on their table. But now, Leisurely Farm Residence wanted to buy the potatoes, which they could exchange with money without even going out. Everyone was smiling.

The villagers happily chatted, asking each other how many potatoes and sweet potatoes they had brought, what they were going to do with the money, and so on. At this time, the Leisurely Farm Residence’s gate was bustling like a grand gathering. A few naughty boys eagerly wanted to run to the farm residence, but they were scolded by their parents and obediently played at the gate.

“Everyone, please be quiet. Let me first talk about the price of the sweet potatoes and the potatoes,” Qin Mian said in a loud voice as he stood on his chair.

Lei Tie saw that his wife was only half a head higher than him, and a smile flashed past in his eyes.

The villagers immediately quieted down for fear of losing money if they missed the pricing.

Qin Mian said, “Sweet potato is 1 Wen for half a jin; potato is 1 Wen for a jin. Because it’s impossible for the weigh to be in a round number, I can’t break a copper into several pieces either. Therefore, if there is any remnant at the time of checking out, we will give you the round number.”

“What does it mean? The remnant… is denied?” A villager asked what everyone was doubting.

Qin Mian smiled, “For example, the weight of your potatoes is 20 jin and 7 liang, so the rounding is 21 jin. In short, if there is any remnant, it will be calculated to 1 Wen.”

The villagers praised Qin Mian and Lei Tie for their kindness.

Qin Mian modestly said, “You have overpraised. Everyone is a fellow villager, so we will not fool you. I will write down your name, the weight, and the total price in the account book. If there are illiterate people, you can remember the numbers and ask the literate people.”

The villagers all nodded.

“That’s good.”

“Also,” Qin Mian made clear of things, “because everyone brought different baskets with different weights, everyone will use our basket to weigh. The weight of your harvest is the total weight excluded from the weight of our basket.”

The villagers nodded again; they understood this.

Qin Mian jumped down from his chair and sat at the table. He put his brush and paper in place. “A-Tie, you weigh our basket first.”

Lei Tie weighed the basket in the presence of all, “6 liang.”

Most of the households in the village could read the scale. The two women who looked at it nodded to show that there was no problem.

“Good, now it’s time to weigh. Line up and come one by one,” Qin Mian said.

Zhou Erhao had come very early, so he was the first in the line. His potatoes were in the basket. Lei Tie picked up the potatoes one by one to check whether there were rotten places. If they were good, he put them into their family’s basket.

Some of the villagers at the back, who had thought of deceiving, quickly found a place to secretly pick out their rotten potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Zhou Erhao felt that Lei Tie’s inspection insulted him, but he didn’t dare to protest against Lei Tie. He pulled a long face and muttered, “My family’s potatoes are good; newly dug and fresh.”

Qin Mian smilingly said, “Of course. However, there will be villagers from other villages sending potatoes and sweet potatoes in two days. By doing this way, we treat people equally and avoid unnecessary trouble. Don’t take offense, Brother Zhou.”

Zhou Erhao had nothing to say.

Checking until the bottom, Lei Tie picked out four rotten potatoes and put them aside. A few of the villagers saw it clearly and sneered.

Zhou Erhao haltingly spoke, his tongue failed him.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie didn’t say anything. Lei Tie hung the basket on the hook of the steelyard, and the sliding weight of the steelyard moved, “40 jin and 4 liang.”

Qin Mian truthfully wrote it down and repeated it to Zhou Erhao. “Zhou Erhao, potatoes, 40 jin and 4 liang which counted as 41 jin, 41 Wen.”

“That’s right,” Zhou Erhao said.

Lei-Qin Le quickly counted forty-one copper coins from the money box and handed them to Lei-Qin Hui. Lei-Qin Hui said it again to confirm that it was correct and gave the money to Zhou Erhao.

The weighed potatoes were loaded on the cart by Lei-Qin Zhong. After the cart was full, it was transported to the workshop.

Zhou Erhao happily took the money and put it in his pocket.

A villager at the back of the line joked with him in a loud voice, “Erhao, let’s go to the town to drink today!”

Zhou Erhao picked up the rotten potatoes back into his basket. “Another day. The potatoes on the farm haven’t been completely dug yet.”

“Next.”

Du Shi and Zhao Shi each carried a basket and put them on the ground. There were sweet potatoes in one basket and potatoes in the other.

The villagers all fell silent and craned their necks. There was a feeling in their hearts that this pair of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law would cause trouble again.

Lei Tie also checked hers one by one.

Du Shi put on a dead face and snorted coldly. Her voice was sharp, “Eldest, we are your family. Surely, I won’t use the rotten ones to deceive you? Doesn’t it look bad for you to check one by one?”

The couple acted as though they did not hear her. Qin Mian looked down at the account book while thinking if there are rotten ones, the one who looks bad is you. The movement of Lei Tie’s hands was ceaseless.

Zhao Shi thought of the rotten potatoes and sweet potatoes mixed at the bottom and felt a little flustered. All of a sudden, she became clever and quietly pushed the basket to Du Shi’s back. Anyway, she just helped to carry the basket.

As expected, there were six rotten potatoes and four rotten sweet potatoes at the bottom of the baskets, all of which could add up to 7 or 8 jin.

Quite a few of the villagers clicked their tongue.

Du Shi’s expression sunk, “It’s just rotten a bit. If you cut off the rotten parts, won’t you still eat them all the same?”

Qin Mian stood up. With a polite attitude, he said in a serious tone, “Mother, you are wrong. We buy these sweet potatoes and potatoes to sell to others for eating. Isn’t it harmful to sell rotten products to others?”

“You… It shouldn’t be that serious.” Du Shi was afraid of being found out, so her voice was much lower.

Qin Mian sat down without a comment.

“Sweet potato is 52 jin and 4 liang; potato is 60 jin and 8 liang.” Lei Tie’s indifferent voice was like hail hitting the ground.

Du Shi shuddered and did not dare to entangle with this anymore.

Qin Mian wrote with fluency as he reported, “52 jin and 4 liang of sweet potato are counted as 53 jin; it should be 79 and a half Wen but counted as 80 Wen. 60 jin and 8 liang of potato are counted as 67 jin; 67 Wen. The sum is 147 Wen.”

Lei-Qin Le took out a string of money and counted out 147 Wen.

Du Shi frowned and did not immediately receive money, “Eldest daughter-in-law, say it again.”

Qin Mian repeated it without delay.

After pondering for a long time, Du Shi nodded and took the money.

“Your Little Mother wants some peaches. I’ll go in to pick some.” With that, she went to go inside.

Qin Mian leisurely called out, “Lei-Qin Le.”

Lei-Qin Le took a basket from the back of the cart and ran to Du Shi. He cheerfully said, “Eldest Young Master and Little Young Master have prepared it earlier, Old Madam. Shall I help to carry it for you?”

Du Shi saw the basket was full, but she couldn’t sustain the weight as each peach was very big. There should be more than a dozen. Each person could only get one at most (she guessed it correctly. Qin Mian gave according to the headcount of the family). She was dissatisfied. However, Qin Mian’s preparation was exactly within the limit of “filial piety”, so she could not nit-pick a mistake. When she discovered that the villagers’ eyes fell on her, her vanity was greatly satisfied. She held up her head high as she walked out of the gate, and scolded Lei-Qin Le, “Why aren’t you keeping up with me?”

Lei-Qin Le quickly followed.

“Hey, there are still the baskets!” Zhao Shi cried out.

Lei-Qin Le pretended not to hear and attentively said to Du Shi, “Old Madam, slow down. Be careful or you’ll step on the stone and hurt your feet.”

Zhao Shi had no choice but to carry the two big baskets by herself and quickly caught up with them. She stared at the basket of peaches, for fear that there would be one less.

As soon as they left, the villagers burst into laughter.

Qin Mian bowed his head as he wrote, but the corners of his lips quietly curved.

Before noon, the villagers in several nearby villages received the news and rushed over with their sweet potatoes and potatoes.

They were busy until the evening. After seeing off the last person, Qin Mian shook his wrist. Lei Tie went over, took his hand, and massaged it.

Qin Mian leaned on the back of his chair like an idle rich man, with his legs on the table, and said to Lei-Qin Hui’s group, “You all will take over the next purchase following today’s steps. Lei-Qin Hui is responsible for the bookkeeping. Lei-Qin Zhong arranges people to take turns weighing and counting the money.”

“Yes!”

Qin Mian pondered for a moment and looked at Lei-Qin Hui. “There’s another thing.”

Lei-Qin Hui came forward, “Please tell me, Little Young Master.”

“How many words do you know?” Qin Mian asked.

Lei-Qin Hui answered, “I’d once studied in a private school for four years. I can recognize common words.”

Qin Mian said, “It’s always inconvenient for our people to be illiterate. How about you teach others to read?”

Uncle Fu, Lei-Qin Le, Lei-Qin Zhong, and the others were surprised. Lei-Qin Le’s hands even trembled. For them, learning to read was an unreachable thing, but they could have a chance now!

Thank you JuBr! 🙂