Chapter 49: The Great Drought

"Gathering popular support is one reason, I suppose." Xu Chuan smiled and nodded slightly.

"For ordinary common people, the great drought is a matter of life and death, but for wealthy households, merchants, and aristocratic families, it's a question of how much loss to endure."

"Some who only focus on immediate benefits will sell their land, but the wise will endure."

"Once the drought reaches a certain degree, the Great Wei won't stand by idly. They'll definitely send people to resolve it. With immortal cultivators present, the drought isn't a problem. Its resolution is only a matter of sooner or later."

"Our perfume, various wines, medicinal materials, and other businesses all depend on farmland. The more substantial this accumulation, the deeper our family's foundation."

After pondering briefly, Xu Mingyuan nodded. "Father speaks reasonably."

"If these pillar industries don't have our own foundation for support and we purchase most from others, wouldn't we be letting others grasp our throat, greatly disadvantaging our Xu family's rapid development?"

"Great disaster is also great opportunity."

Xu Mingwei's eyes brightened as he also understood.

"However, the time when the drought will be resolved is uncertain, perhaps several months, perhaps a year. Therefore, I've also thought of some methods to reduce our Xu family's losses."

Having said this, Xu Chuan picked up some draft papers from his desk covered with drawings and text annotations.

"Look at these first."

The two brothers brought their heads together and flipped through page by page. The light in their eyes grew brighter and brighter, and the smiles at the corners of their mouths gradually became more brilliant.

Brilliant light burst from Xu Mingwei's eyes as he said with delight, "Father, you're amazing."

"With these water wheel and pipeline designs, as long as we recruit a group of people to manufacture them, we can greatly reduce the loss of grain in the rice paddies. The same applies to fruits and vegetables in farmland and mountain forests. At the same time, we can fully utilize the manpower of newly recruited servants without waste."

"This method of using black gauze to block direct sunlight is very novel, but can it really absorb heat?" Xu Mingwei was equally delighted but also somewhat curious.

He had originally thought that this time, due to the drought, the Xu family's business losses would be quite significant.

But if Xu Chuan's methods were all useful, then this drought would affect at most ten or twenty percent. They might even profit several times more than usual due to rising prices during the drought.

"Some hand-cranked fans would probably also sell well. Oh right, our family also has the secret recipe for making ice. Paired with this, it would definitely be a hit."

As for saltpeter, the Xu family only secretly mined a bit each summer.

And they kept it very secret, never letting anyone discover it.

Xu Chuan smiled. "Be careful to keep it hidden. We'd rather not do this business than let people discover it, since that mountain forest's mineral vein doesn't currently belong to our Xu family."

"Your son knows what's important." Xu Mingyuan promised with a smile.

"Go attend to your business."

"Yes, Father." The two cupped their hands, took the draft papers, and left the study.

Xu Chuan then also left to go to Jade Cold Pool to check on the medicinal materials' condition.

There, over ten mu of medicinal fields had been cultivated, specifically for growing medicinal materials, all rare ones.

If they had twenty years of growth, any single plant would be worth at least ten or twenty taels. The most precious were worth forty or fifty taels.

These ten mu of medicinal fields, fully harvested, would be worth a considerable amount. However, Xu Chuan cultivated medicinal fields and grew medicinal materials not to sell them for money, but to refine medicine, prepare medicinal diets, and so on.

The spiritual energy here was richer than other places, so the medicinal materials also grew somewhat faster.

Besides the medicinal materials, a small tree also grew in this place.

This tree was only about half a zhang tall, with a trunk as thick as an arm and verdant branches and leaves.

It had grown from the seed obtained by cutting open the hard black fruit that Xu Mingwei had brought back initially.

Xu Chuan studied medical arts and medicinal diet recipes painstakingly, researching the medicinal properties of many herbs.

Through his months of effort, he improved the Dragon Elephant Sect's secret medicinal diet recipe for martial artists, making it suitable for the vast majority of martial artists, with effects thirty to forty percent stronger than the original diet.

However, this medicine was so potent it could only be taken once every three days.

And because the secret medicinal diet was precious, it was currently only provided to Xu Mingyuan and the others.

As for the innate medicinal diet, Xu Chuan was still attempting to improve it. For now, the two of them temporarily took the Dragon Elephant Sect's innate medicinal diet to assist their cultivation.

…

When the various aristocratic families of Qingjiang County learned that the Xu family was actually being benevolent, massively recruiting people and acquiring fields, they all sneered and mocked the Xu family for having shallow foundations and no experience dealing with disasters whatsoever.

After all, due to this drought, not laying off people and not operating at a loss would already be great fortune. Yet the Xu family was doing the opposite, temporarily becoming the laughingstock of Qingjiang's aristocratic families.

In Dongxi Village, at the Bai residence, Bai Fu, together with his son Bai Hua and his daughter Bai Fang's son-in-law's family, had jointly rented over a hundred mu of farmland to grow fruits and vegetables.

Due to their marriage relationship with the Xu family, Xu Mingyuan had waived their stall rent at the West Market.

In the past year or two, their development had been quite good.

From an ordinary common family, they had become a small wealthy household.

In the first half of this year, they had even specifically pooled funds together to purchase the previous hundred mu of land, then rented another hundred mu.

Who could have expected that less than two months later, before the fruits, vegetables, and crops could be harvested, the drought had struck?

Moreover, it was a great drought rarely seen in a hundred years.

At this moment, both families had gathered at Bai Fu's home to discuss this matter.

Everyone furrowed their brows deeply, their complexions wan, looking as unpleasant as if they had swallowed yellow earth.

"Father-in-law, what do you say should be done about this matter?"

Bai Fu sat smoking a pipe and remained silent.

"Brother-in-law, where does this talk come from? Back then, you yourself happily agreed. How can you now blame my father?" Bai Hua's eyes showed slight dissatisfaction. "We all pooled money together. Naturally, we share the burden when problems arise."

"Besides, our two families made quite a bit in the previous two years. Although the losses this time aren't small, it's not to the point where we can't survive, is it?"

Bai Fang quickly said, "Ahua, your brother-in-law is just anxious. His Zeng family has many mouths to feed after all, with great expenses. You should be understanding and forgiving."

"Why don't you go find elder sister? She loves you most. Now that she's the Xu family's mistress, as long as she's willing to lend a hand, it shouldn't be difficult."

"I heard the Xu family has recently been buying up land. Why not sell it to the Xu family at the original price?"

Bai Hua immediately rebuked, "Second sister, do you know what land prices are now?"

"Ordinary common people can't even survive. What use is land to them?"

"And you want elder sister to take it over at the original price? You have the nerve to ask? If you want to go, you go. I'm not going anyway!"

"Furthermore, elder sister has never managed the Xu family's outer household affairs. You also know something of this."

"It's still elder sister's husband who makes decisions for the Xu family."

Upon hearing this, Bai Fang was also displeased and argued with a flushed face, "But you started this matter. If you don't go speak up, who will? Should we just accept this loss?

"Right now it's a drought. Who knows when it will end? The later it gets, the harder life becomes. Our two families aren't like the Xu family with their great wealth and business that can withstand it."

"Enough, stop arguing."

Bai Fu snorted coldly and tapped the table with his pipe, sending out a shower of sparks.

"I'll go speak. Is that acceptable?"

"I'll make a trip right now."

Having said this, Bai Fu stood up and tottered toward the Xu residence.

The Xu family's newly built estate was no longer at the original small courtyard's location, but rather at a remote place far from the village.

After all, they needed a large expanse of land, and it was impossible to demolish other people's houses.

Bai Fu walked for over two quarters of an hour before arriving at the Xu family's gate. He looked up at the Xu family's grand compound, his eyes holding both gratification and emotion.

When he had agreed to Xu Chuan's marriage proposal back then, he had been attracted by his ability in farming matters. If Bai Jing married him, at least food and drink wouldn't be a worry.

Who could have imagined that in just over ten years, he would bring the Xu family to heights Bai Fu couldn't possibly have imagined?

On the day the Xu family established their clan, almost all of Qingjiang's aristocratic families and wealthy merchants had attended.

How grand it was!

"Old Master Bai has come. Are you looking for the family head or the mistress?"

"Looking for my daughter."

He then walked straight through the gate. No one blocked him along the way, and the maids and servants he encountered all greeted him, not daring to show any neglect.

He had attended both Xu Dezhao's birth and full-month celebration, so naturally he knew the way.

"Father, how did you find time to come today? Did you come to see Zhao'er?" Bai Jing was somewhat pleasantly surprised.