The Lucky Heiress

After Wei Ruo departed, Shi Dayou instructed the villagers to return to work in the fields and went home, shouldering his hoe.

The contracting matter that master Xu had just discussed with him was his top priority at the moment.

Once home, Shi Dayou summoned several respected elders from the village to his house and detailed the plan to cooperate with master Xu, seeking their opinions.

The senior villagers were very supportive, as there was no set rent to pay, only a fifty-fifty split, and they naturally would accept such a fair deal.

Moreover, they had a surplus of labor in their village. If they could combine their efforts and explore other livelihoods, it could be a prosperous year for everyone!

The elders instructed Shi Dayou to treat Xu Heyou well. Given the village’s limited skills and opportunities, and their inability to negotiate business with city dwellers, they were grateful for any help. They were determined to seize and cherish this opportunity.

Once he received the elders’ approval, Shi Dayou passed the news to Wei Ruo.

Wei Ruo didn’t procrastinate. After all, time waits for no one, and neither does the land in the spring. Planting needed to commence immediately.

Therefore, Wei Ruo quickly signed a contract with the people of Stone Village.

On the day contract was signed, Shi Dayou brought along some selected villagers to labor on the sandlot purchased by Wei Ruo.

In selecting people, Shi Dayou considered many factors. The first principle was voluntariness. Some households, with fewer laborers, were barely managing their own lands and couldn’t take on additional work.

However, some families, who had many members but little land, were eager to seize this new opportunity to earn money.

Based on voluntary enrollment, Shi Dayou and some village elders made some adjustments: if a family had three people enrolling, they typically allocated one or two positions depending on the family’s situation, striving to distribute the positions as evenly as possible.

However, due to the varied circumstances of each household, achieving complete equality was impossible.

Fortunately, with Shi Dayou, the village chief, and the village elders taking charge, the villagers were satisfied with the final result.

Then, the chosen villagers went to the large sandlot purchased by Wei Ruo to begin working: weeding, removing rocks, plowing, and properly fertilizing.

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Weighing many factors, Wei Ruo was mindful of seeding late-ripening rice. Two days later, she advertised her late-ripening rice seeds in villages afflicted by seedling disease, informing them that it was not too late to sow them.

Upon hearing this news, villagers flocked to Wei Ruo’s estate.

Outside the gate of Wei Ruo’s estate, several bulging burlap sacks were piled on the ground, and people were still moving more out from inside the estate.

The first villagers to arrive glimpsed the sacks and their eyes sparkled. They guessed those sacks might be filled with the late-ripening rice seeds they desired.

However, the sight of seven or eight robust men standing near the sacks dissuaded them from approaching recklessly.

At that moment, Wei Ruo came out from the estate and the villagers couldn’t resist inquiring.

“Master Xu, we heard you have seeds that can still be planted now to yield crops. Is it true?” An old man cautiously asked Wei Ruo.

Wei Ruo recognized the old man. He was the one who had accused her of cursing them when she urged them to change seedlings during her visit to Madam Xu’s farm.

Since then, Wei Ruo decided to use Xu Heyou’s identity instead of Wei Qingruo’s when visiting other villages to suggest the change.

Therefore, the old man was unaware that the person in front of him was the very one he had criticized earlier. However, whether he recognized her or not, Wei Ruo was not going to make an issue of it and intended to treat everybody with equal kindness.

“Indeed, it is.” Wei Ruo affirmed.

Upon hearing her confirmation, they were overjoyed.

However, their ecstatic expressions quickly turned into indecisiveness. After some hesitation, the old man cautiously asked Wei Ruo, “Master Xu, would you consider distributing these seeds to us?”

“You want the seeds?” Wei Ruo looked at the men standing before her.

The men hastily nodded.

“The seeds are for sale, not for free.” Wei Ruo declared.

“For sale?”

When they heard they had to pay, their hopes dimmed instantly.

The men exchanged glances, and then the old man asked Wei Ruo about the price, “Master Xu, how much are these seeds?”

“Ten coins per pound.” Wei Ruo replied.

This was the original price of the seeds. Wei Ruo did not intentionally mark up the price. The same price had previously been given to the Yun family.

Given that the seeds were carefully selected, full and superior quality grains, they naturally cost a bit more than the ordinary grains.

Even ordinary grains, dehusked, would sell for a hundred coins per bushel in Wei Ruo’s store.

However, upon hearing the price, the faces of the men before her changed.

“Master Xu, isn’t that too expensive?” The old man frowned. “Dehusked rice only costs a few coins per pound, how can your seeds cost ten coins?”

Using three to five pounds of seeds per acre, ordinary households with three to five acres of land would have to spend up to ninety coins on seeds alone.

This was an expense that many farmers simply couldn’t afford. Times had been tough recently, many households were struggling to get by, and they had already spent a considerable amount on the seedlings that had just died. Where could they get the money to buy these seeds?

Others chimed in:

“Exactly, Master Xu, this is too expensive. Where do you see such expensive seeds?”

“Moreover, what if the seeds you sell aren’t effective and we don’t get any yield this year?”

“Exactly, you say these are late-ripening seeds, that they would yield crops even if planted late, but we don’t know if that’s true.”

Wei Ruo replied calmly, “If you cannot afford them, that’s fine. I have a second solution. You can sign an agreement with me and take the seeds for free, take as much as you need, and return five times the amount of rice at harvest.”

“For example, if you take ten pounds of seeds from me, you just need to return fifty pounds of rice during the harvest. Of course, if these seeds don’t work, and it’s too late for a harvest when you plant them, you don’t have to pay me anything.”

Wei Ruo’s late-ripening rice needed three pounds of seeds per acre. Furthermore, Wei Ruo’s strain had twice the yield of the common rice they usually grew, usually producing around two thousand pounds per acre, although the exact yield could be affected by the year’s weather, water supply, and other factors.

Therefore, the fee Wei Ruo charged was fifteen pounds out of these two thousand pounds..