After returning home, Qi Huan took out a plastic sheet and the accompanying greenhouse assembly instructions from her spatial storage.
"Shu, look at this."
She handed him the drawings and slid her slender fingers across the paper, carefully explaining each step.
Finally, she summarized, "Even in the cold winter, the greenhouse can be as warm as spring. The sunlight can pass through this plastic sheet into the greenhouse, but the cold air cannot get in, so the temperature inside the greenhouse will be much higher than outside."
Recalling the biological knowledge she learned in middle and high school, Qi Huan blurted it all out. Seeing the inquiring gaze of Li Shuchen, she couldn't explain the more profound principles in detail.
Because she was a liberal arts student.
She only had a smattering of knowledge about biology, and after so many years, she had basically returned it all to her teacher.
So she simply said, "Building a greenhouse, growing vegetables, out-of-season produce that everyone loves. Let's do it!"
Holding the drawings, Li Shuchen nodded.
How effective it would be, only a trial would tell. He studied the drawings carefully again and circled all the materials except the plastic sheet with his brush pen.
"I'll have Yan Jiu procure these."
"Thank you, Shu. After we get the out-of-season vegetables up and running and start earning money, I'll give you a share."
Qi Huan patted his shoulder, keeping her feelings and business separate.
With the materials sorted out, she began thinking about buying land.
The few good arable lands in Mo County were mostly in the hands of landlords. Ordinary people either rented fields to cultivate or had only a pitiful few ancestral fields that no one was willing to sell.
The last time was a stroke of luck, as they caught the Rong Family's crisis and bought their manor. Recently, things had been calm in the city, and no one wanted to sell their manors.
Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants all valued land greatly. Unless absolutely necessary, they were unwilling to sell it.
Qi Huan didn't want to buy scattered pieces of land either, as it would be inconvenient to manage.
Plastic greenhouses were best built together, with people regularly patrolling to prevent accidental punctures.
"Shu, let's go and try our luck with Chief Clerk Liang first, see if we can directly buy a manor."
"Alright, wait for me."
With that, Li Shuchen turned and went back into the house.
A moment later, he came out with a wad of silver ingots.
Qi Huan was dumbfounded.
There is nothing difficult in the world, only a lack of money.
As long as you have enough silver, you can buy anything you want. However, Qi Huan didn't want to be such a big spender.
"Shu, there's no need for so much silver. If there's nothing suitable, we'll just wait until the harvest from our previous manors, then choose a plot of land to grow vegetables instead. There's no need to waste money unnecessarily."
Her only concern was that after the potato harvest, witnessing its high yield, the tenant farmers might be reluctant to try growing unfamiliar out-of-season vegetables.
Li Shuchen had thought of this as well, so he said, "It's better to be prepared."
Whether to buy or not would be up to Qi Huan to decide. His job was to have enough silver ready.
When they arrived at the county office,
After Qi Huan explained her intentions, Chief Clerk Liang flipped through the land registration book and said with some regret, "Miss Qi, it's difficult to buy a large piece of land!"
He couldn't make a profit from the transaction either!
However, after glancing at the bulging purse on Li Shuchen's waist, Chief Clerk Liang flipped through the land registration book a few more times.
"Miss Qi, with the harvest season approaching, apart from those desperately in need of silver, not many households are selling their fields at this time. If you don't mind, I can consolidate the plots for sale and transfer them to you in one transaction."
According to the land prices in Mo County, based on the fertility of the soil, each mu of land cost around three to five taels of silver. He would secretly charge a fee of five hundred wen per mu, which would accumulate into a considerable sum.
With a chance to profit, Chief Clerk Liang smiled eagerly.
After reviewing the plots he pointed out, Qi Huan's gaze lowered in slight disappointment. These lands were too scattered, one mu here, one mu there, with great distances between them, making them difficult to manage.
She sighed softly.
As she was about to take her leave, Chen Jinyou suddenly burst in.
"Qi Huan, you came to the county office but didn't come to play with me?"
Putting down the registration book, Qi Huan turned to him with a smiling expression, "I didn't come to play. I came to buy a manor."
"Oh? Did you manage to buy one?"
Qi Huan shook her head, "Only scattered plots, no one is selling their manors."
"Don't be disappointed, I'll sell you one!"
Chen Jinyou puffed out his chest. Over the years, he had collected a lot of protection fees, but later realized that keeping the silver somewhere wasn't secure, so he decided to spend it wisely.
So whenever he accumulated some silver, he went and bought land. Bit by bit, he had bought quite a few manors and fields. On the surface, he was a dissolute son, but in reality, he was a bona fide small landlord.
After hearing his story of getting rich, Qi Huan's willow-leaf brows furrowed slightly.
She gestured for Chen Jinyou to follow her into the courtyard, walking to a spot out of earshot of Chief Clerk Liang and the others, before speaking her true thoughts.
Initially, she didn't directly lecture him on morals. Instead, she found a pretext, as if casually chatting, and asked about Chen Jinyou's "wealth-making" experience.
"Young Master Chen, could you share your insights with me? Why do those people pay you protection fees?"
"Because I can protect them!"
"Is that so! Could you explain in detail how you protect them?"
"I'm the county magistrate's son!"
"But Chen the county magistrate will also grow old someday. What about after he retires?"
Seeing Chen Jinyou stumped by her question, Qi Huan took a different angle and continued, "Try to put yourself in their shoes. Imagine you're diligently running a shop, earning silver through hard work, but someone comes and takes a portion of it for no reason. Would you be happy?"
After a long silence, Chen Jinyou slowly shook his head.
"Actually, after my father found out that I was secretly collecting protection fees, he ordered me to stop, or he would chop off my fingers.
He beat me and scolded me, but he didn't tell me why I couldn't do it. But in the storybooks that Xigua bought for me, collecting protection fees is called 'robbing the rich to help the poor'..."
"..."
Qi Huan's mouth twitched slightly, "You robbed the rich, but did you help the poor?"
"I did!" Chen Jinyou exclaimed loudly, fearing she might misunderstand. "I helped Xigua! He said his family was very poor, which is why he was sold as a slave. Every time I collected protection fees, I would share some with him!"
"Xigua?"
Recalling that insolent young servant with eyes on the top of his head, Qi Huan frowned slightly.
"Yes, Xigua. He's doing great now. He can help me buy storybooks and deal with my parents."
"..."
Gazing at him with a complicated expression, Qi Huan seemed to envision him being sold while still being able to help others count money.
Chen the county magistrate and his wife doted excessively on their son, Chen Jinyou, who had grown up spoiled and hazy.
The person who tied the bell must untie it.
Qi Huan decided to write some positive story books for Chen Jinyou to read, and another story book depicting a wicked servant misleading the master, which would be spread to Chen the county magistrate.
She was determined to get to the root of this matter, knowing that changing a person is not an overnight task, and mere words would hardly be effective.
A gradual approach would be better.
She was not one to meddle in others' affairs, but in her heart, she felt that Chen Jinyou had been good to her, and he was not inherently a bad person, just having taken some wrong turns.
As a friend, she should guide him back to the right path.
She raised her bright eyes, smiling as she asked, "Chen Gongzi, in the future, what do you plan to do for a living?"
"I... I want to do business," Chen Jinyou scratched his head, a bit embarrassed. "Studying books is too difficult, practicing martial arts is too tiring. Making money is the most satisfying!"
"Apart from collecting protection fees, there are actually many ways to make money. Would you like to try some together?" Qi Huan had clear intentions.
First, she wanted to help her friend walk the righteous path.
Second, she had never truly set up a greenhouse, so if anything went wrong, having a risk-sharing partner would prevent her from losing too much money.
Finally, with Chen the county magistrate being like an emperor in Mo County, having Chen Jinyou as a business partner would deter anyone from causing trouble.
Additionally, helping Chen Jinyou would also earn her some credits. Although meager, even a mosquito is flesh.
Facing the olive branch she extended, Chen Jinyou gladly accepted, excitedly saying, "Qi Huan, what can I do? Invest in the manor or provide capital? I can do either!"
