Chapter 608: The Imperial Examination Family-Raising System (17)

Hearing Lin Shi say this, Lu was stunned and subconsciously glanced at Lin Shi, as if asking: Why did you reveal the matter of the tea leaves? Didn't we agree not to tell anyone? This is the only business the family currently has to save up some Silver to pay off debts.

"Sister-in-law, you misunderstood." Lin Shi hurriedly held her hand to explain, "Yang Er wants to borrow the Wild Tea Forest to cultivate a batch of tea saplings. Didn't she buy a Xiao Chai Shan? She wants to plant some tea there, not come to the Wild Tea Forest to pick tea."

"Correct." Xie Yang added with a smile, "Please rest assured, the sales channels won't conflict either; I plan to sell to Fucheng and the Provincial Capital."

Lu instantly blushed: "Look at me! My vision was as short-sighted as can be. Actually, the Wild Tea Forest doesn't really belong to our family, so it's fine if you want to come and pick. But what is this 'cultivation' you speak of? Although there are tea leaves every year, there are only those few tea trees; can you really cultivate saplings from them?"

"Yes, you can. Pinch off a branch with a bud, stick it into the soil, and it will grow roots in about a month; this is called propagation by Cuttings. Additionally, when tea seeds fall to the ground, they will sprout into saplings. There will be quite a few tea saplings around the tea trees; these little saplings can also grow into tea trees if transplanted."

"Now that you mention it, that's true!" Lu slapped her thigh, "There really are quite a few Miao Miao of various heights in the Wild Tea Forest. The head of the house probably didn't look closely, thinking they were all weeds, and would pull them out periodically for fear they would steal nutrients from the tea trees. Oh my! What a pity!"

The Wild Tea Forest is on the slope behind the Lin family's house, and it is indeed not far to walk there.

Accompanied by Lin Shi, Xie Yang went to take a look at the site and indeed discovered quite a few tea saplings. Their stems were still green and they were all quite fragile, because Lin Laoda would periodically come to clear away the branches and weeds around the trees, fearing they would steal the tea trees' nutrients.

But no matter what, they were still tea saplings. Xie Yang counted roughly; in the entire Wild Tea Forest, it was estimated that two or three hundred tea saplings could be transplanted. However, the east and west slopes of Xiao Chai Shan up to the summit required at least five thousand tea trees, so she needed the Lin family to help her cultivate five thousand tea saplings.

At one Copper per cutting, five thousand would be five taels of Silver.

If you had to say this work was troublesome, it wasn't really, but it was time-consuming and labor-intensive. You had to select tea leaves with buds, pick them, stick them into the soil, and water and maintain them periodically. It also took a relatively long time, about a month to grow roots.

However, Xie Yang would give them a bottle of diluted plant nutrient solution, which could not only accelerate rooting but also make the tea saplings grow more robustly.

A family working for a month to earn five taels could be considered a significant extra income for the Lin family.

Upon learning this, the Lin family was overjoyed and brought out the few meat dishes they had to treat Xie Yang.

Xie Yang took out a few pieces of broken Silver from her purse as a deposit. It wasn't that she couldn't produce five taels, but as the little daughter of a butcher, no matter how pampered she was, it was impossible to carry a "huge sum" of five taels around everywhere.

When she left, the Lin family also gave her a jar of White Dew Tea that had just been stir-fried recently.

It was also the batch of tea leaves with the best taste after the spring season.

The Ning Dynasty, like the Great Ye Dynasty, did not exist in the historical dynasties known to Xie Yang; it was likely an alternate universe, but the climate was very similar to that of the Central Kingdom.

The geographical location of Qingfeng City was roughly that of Jiangnan—cold in winter and hot in summer, with distinct four seasons.

Such climatic conditions were certainly not as livable as cities where it was spring or summer all year round, but they were the favorite growth environment for tea leaves.

Throughout the four seasons, except for the winter rest period, tea could be picked in the spring, summer, and autumn.

Spring tea is clear, fresh, and crisp, with the best quality; autumn tea is rich and mellow, with a fragrance stronger than spring tea; although summer tea is slightly bitter, because people are prone to drowsiness in summer, bitter tea clears internal heat and also helps refresh the mind.

In short, tea is a treasure!

After returning from Qingshan Village, Xie Yang went to the Xiao Chai Shan under her name.

Only a small patch had been cleared before the autumn harvest, and most of it was still overgrown with shrubs and weeds.

Fortunately, clearing shrubs and weeds was not difficult; if it weren't for the autumn harvest, many villagers would have been happy to earn this extra income.

Isn't it just digging up shrubs, thorns, and weeds by the roots, dragging them to the foot of the mountain, and stacking them in the farm's woodshed after drying them? It's not hard!

Ten catties of dry firewood for one Copper! It was no problem for a strong laborer to clear two hundred catties of dry firewood in a day, which meant twenty Copper!

Those with many laborers in the family could even work in a relay—

The strong laborers were responsible for shoveling shrubs and digging weeds on the mountain; the women were responsible for bundling them up; the older boys were responsible for dragging them to the foot of the mountain; and the younger children or the elderly would sit at the foot of the mountain to shake them loose and dry them. By evening, the whole family would drag the dried firewood to the farm to be weighed and put into storage.

After a day like this, a family could earn at least thirty to fifty Copper. The key was that it was right at their doorstep, so they could respond at any time if something happened at home.

If it was a cloudy or rainy day and it couldn't dry, they would carry it back to their respective homes and send it to the farm for storage after the rain stopped and it was dry. This didn't delay the clearing on the mountain either. As long as it wasn't a downpour, a little light rain made the ground moist and soft, making it even easier to clear!

The first and second branches of the Song family were also very envious of this extra income, but Wang Shi would not allow them to go.

Did Wang Shi really not want to earn this money? Of course not! She wanted Lao San to take the initiative to invite them. After all, they were one family; how could it be right to let outsiders earn money while their own family just watched?

Unfortunately, she probably wouldn't live to see that day.

Because there was no shortage of manpower at all!

On the contrary, the villagers were fighting to do it!

After all, the clearing of Xiao Chai Shan had an end in sight—didn't they hear the village chief say? The employer hoped to clear the south slope as soon as possible to plant some grass, clear the east and west slopes up to the summit before late autumn to plant tea trees, and clear the north slope before winter to let the soil rest, waiting to plant timber and medicinal herbs in the spring.

Therefore, this extra income would last until at least before the twelfth lunar month.

The happy days of earning Silver at one's doorstep were becoming fewer with each passing day!

I wonder if they will need to hire people to scatter grass seeds and plant timber and medicinal herbs? If they hire people, will they continue to hire them?

If they work hard, they will surely hire them, right?

Thus, the families, young and old, were like they had been injected with chicken blood, finishing the autumn harvest in their own fields as quickly as possible, and reporting to Chai Shan without even taking a day off!

One by one, they brandished hoes and iron rakes, vowing to leave a good impression on the employer to secure long-term extra income!

Many hands make light work! Seventy or eighty percent of the people in the entire Qinghe Village ran to Chai Shan; there was no worry about manpower at all.

Song Zhisheng and his wife, one responsible for weighing and accepting, the other for handing out Copper—how could they think of the first and second branches! Seeing that they were not among those earning extra income, they even thought they didn't care for these thirty or fifty Copper!

"Mother, the autumn harvest has been over for several days, when will you let us go to Xiao Chai Shan to clear it? If we don't go soon, that hillside will be almost cleared."

The eldest, Song Zhikang, returned from outside, his eyes full of envy as he said:

"I met Song Jinhui on the road, and heard that kid say his family has earned no less than five hundred Copper since Lao San's family started building their new house!"

"Really?" Upon hearing that the neighbor had earned five hundred Copper in less than two months, the second, Song Zhiqiang, couldn't sit still, "Mother, how long are you going to keep holding a grudge against Lao San? Even if you're angry, you can't go against Silver!"

"..."