Chapter Eighty-Eight: A Successful Planting Brings Quick Returns

To use this cave for cultivating mushrooms, Wei Ruo would still need to find the headman of the nearby village and negotiate with him.

Though the mountain was barren and anyone might go there to gather firewood or pick medicinal herbs, if she wanted to lease and use the cave for a long period, she would still have to reach an agreement with the villagers.

That matter could wait until everything had been properly investigated, and then arrangements could be made.

Xie Jue and Xie Ying returned first to the Xie family’s country residence.

Xie Jue ordered the herbs to be taken away for processing: those that needed drying were spread out to dry, and those that needed washing were washed.

“Brother, you mustn’t ruin these herbs for me,” Xie Ying warned.

“Rest easy, little sister. Since you picked them yourself, I’ll naturally keep them with the greatest care,” Xie Jue said with a smile.

“And that ointment from earlier—give it back to me. Don’t even think of hiding it away.”

Xie Ying held out her hand and demanded the salve from him.

This time, instead of handing it over readily, Xie Jue shamelessly began bargaining with her.

“Yingying, let me keep that ointment.”

“Brother, what do you want it for?” Xie Ying asked curiously.

“Nothing much. I just think it smells wonderful, and I’d like to keep it for the fragrance. Besides, when the weather grows hot and I read at night, the insects are always troublesome. Perhaps applying this ointment will spare me that annoyance.”

“If you need it, then you may have it.” Xie Ying was always generous with her own family. So long as Xie Jue had a proper reason, she would never be stingy with him.

Then she added, “But don’t forget—you owe Ruo Ruo a return gift. I told you before to bring back some fine things from the capital, and you still haven’t brought me anything. Because of you, I haven’t had a gift to send her.”

Xie Jue cried out in grievance. “Sister, you wrong me. Since that time, I’ve been in Xingshan County and haven’t taken a single step away, let alone gone to the capital. How could I have brought anything back for you?”

“Then why have you been lingering in Xingshan County all this time? Have you still not finished with what you came to do?” Xie Ying asked.

“Part of it is done, but there are still some matters that need handling,” Xie Jue replied.

The fighting had temporarily ended, and by rights he ought to have returned by now. But because of the Seventh Prince’s affairs, his grandfather had ordered him to remain in Xingshan County a while longer.

“How about this,” Xie Jue said after thinking for a moment. “In two days I have to make a trip to Taizhou Prefecture. His Highness the Seventh Prince is now in the prefectural city, and there are some matters requiring my presence. I’ll make time while I’m there and buy some interesting new things for you and Miss Wei.”

“Good. Be sure to choose carefully. Mine doesn’t matter, but she’s given me gifts several times already, so my return gift must be presentable. I can’t afford to make a poor showing,” Xie Ying reminded him.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let my little sister lose face,” Xie Jue promised with a smile.

The brother and sister chatted and laughed for a while, and then, carrying the day’s harvest, left the country residence and returned to the Xie family mansion.

After receiving Wei Ruo’s instructions, the nursemaid set to work at once. On one hand, she instructed her husband to purchase the things Wei Ruo needed; on the other, she went in Wei Ruo’s stead to speak with the village near West Mountain.

The negotiations went unexpectedly smoothly. The moment the nursemaid mentioned that they intended to hire villagers at a monthly wage of one hundred and fifty copper coins, the headman agreed without the slightest hesitation.

To show respect for him, and in accordance with Wei Ruo’s wishes, the nursemaid handed over the authority to choose workers, asking the headman to recommend capable young villagers suited to the job.

At first the headman declined, but when Mother Xu explained that if the venture succeeded they would later expand and need to hire many more people, he agreed at once.

Choosing only one or two people would have put him in a difficult position; but if there might be ten or twenty opportunities for work, it would be much easier to arrange matters and there would be less risk of villagers objecting to his decisions.

For their impoverished little mountain village west of Xingshan County, this was a blessing. They had no special skills, and each household possessed only a few meager plots of land. Even in years of good weather they barely had enough to eat, let alone in recent years.

If they could have work to do, and earn two hundred copper coins a month, that income alone would be enough to keep a whole family fed.

Once the materials had been gathered, they were mixed according to the proportions Wei Ruo had provided.

They were then packed into cylindrical growing blocks, each resembling a section of deadwood.

After that, they were all transported into the cave, and the remaining work was entrusted to the hired villagers, Li Erniu and He Dong.

The work itself was not complicated. Their main duty was to stand watch, making sure no wild beasts or people entered the cave and caused damage. They also had to observe the mushrooms’ growth and report regularly.

Seven days later.

The first batch of shiitake mushrooms had matured. The nursemaid made a trip there in person, set the standards for harvesting, and then had Li Erniu and He Dong pick every mushroom that had reached the required size. She sent shop assistants to carry them down the mountain.

Immediately afterward, she had some delivered to the Wei residence for Wei Ruo.

When Wei Ruo saw the first batch of shiitake successfully cultivated outside the wild, her face lit with delight.

In only seven short days, there was already a harvest. The cultivation cycle for shiitake was truly far shorter than that of other crops.

“Miss, how shall these mushrooms be handled?” Xiumei asked.

“Take them to market at once,” Wei Ruo said. “Then have Uncle Xu and the others look for several more caves of the same kind near the first one I found, so we can expand the scale of cultivation.”

“Miss, shiitake mushrooms are not a staple food, and they do not keep well. If we grow too many and they don’t sell, we’ll be left holding them,” Xiumei said worriedly.

“There is no need to worry. Once the scale increases, I do not intend to sell them all fresh. Any mushrooms that cannot be sold can be dried into dried shiitake, and we can also make shiitake sauce. Both will greatly extend how long they can be kept.” Wei Ruo had already prepared a solution.

“Dried shiitake and shiitake sauce? I haven’t even tasted them yet. I can’t wait!” Xiumei said eagerly.

“When they’re made, you’ll be the first to try them!”

“It doesn’t matter whether I’m first or not. So long as Miss can grow more crops and earn more silver, that’s what matters!”

As Wei Ruo and Xiumei were happily discussing the mushrooms, someone came from the front courtyard to report that the young lady of the Xie family had sent Wei Ruo a gift, and was waiting for Wei Ruo to receive it in person.

Before leaving, the messenger deliberately added that the things sent by the Xie family’s young lady were rather numerous, so Wei Ruo should bring extra hands with her.

Xie Ying had spoken more than once of sending Wei Ruo a return gift, so Wei Ruo was not especially surprised to hear it.

She was only curious what sort of gift Xie Ying had prepared.

When Wei Ruo reached the front courtyard, quite a number of people were already gathered there. Even Madam Yun and Wei Qingwan had come.

“Eldest Miss Wei,” an elderly man with an honest face stepped forward and said with a beaming smile, “I am the steward of the Xie household. By order of my young master and young lady, I have come to deliver a return gift to you.”

Wei Ruo looked toward the cargo cart behind the steward and asked, “All of this is for me?”