CHAPTER 70: XIAOMI HAS A SOLUTION

The continuous days of busy farming made the whole family both tired and fulfilled. It’s not just the Jiang family; the entire Fu’an Village felt the same!

Nothing was more satisfying and joyous than a granary filled with grain and piles of crops.

The sorghum could still wait for another ten days. During these days, everyone’s task was to husk the corn, dry it, and then store it in sacks.

The dozen or so corn stalks in the vegetable garden were left until they were fully mature, without a bit of moisture, and only then did Jiang Hu finally pick them.

The kernels from just these few corn cobs weighed a solid four to five jin!

Moreover, the kernels were full and plump, much bigger than those in the field!

Jiang Hu specially used a bamboo sieve to dry them separately and then packed them in a small bag.

The September sun was scorching. The shelled corn dried completely in three to five days. After borrowing a winnowing fan from the village to blow away the chaff, it could be stored.

But before that, they still needed to separate out the grain for tax, which the officials would come to collect from the village before October.

The grain tax was collected at thirty percent of each mu’s yield, which was already a very low tax rate. It was because the court, in consideration of the newly stabilized kingdom, specially lowered the taxes.

Every household’s cultivated land, even the newly reclaimed land, was recorded by the village head and reported to the town and then the county government. When the officials came, they would weigh all of each household’s grain and collect the tax according to the ratio.

Second Aunt asked with the sack’s mouth open while using a dustpan to pour in corn kernels, "Brother Hu, are we selling grain this year?"

In the past, when the family was poor and didn’t have the Little Lucky Star, even hunting in the mountains brought no results nine times out of ten.

The yearly income was from selling grain, and after paying taxes, the remaining grain was barely enough for the whole family to eat, with the rest all sold.

And selling to the court was the most convenient.

The officials who came to the village to collect grain also took on tasks from some high-ranking officials or wealthy merchants, collecting grain in the village at prices lower than if hauling it to the grain depot oneself, primarily for convenience.

In the past, their family also sold grain yearly, leaving barely enough to prevent hunger in the household, exchanging Silver to send the eldest brother’s son to school.

This year it was just their family left, not really short of Silver Coin, as selling vegetables during this time added up to quite a bit, despite not seeming like much daily.

Jiang Hu was busy winnowing corn, with a big pile beside him. He had to be busy pouring into the winnowing fan and pushing cleaned ones on the ground aside with a rake.

Second Niece was turning the winnowing fan. When her hands got tired, Second Aunt or the eldest would replace her.

Jiang Hu kept his hands busy but answered Second Aunt’s question without a thought, "We’re not selling this year. With so many people in the family, and the children growing up, we can’t let them lack food."

He had often gone hungry as a child, even though there was food at home, but it was saved, and no one could eat an extra bite. That feeling of wanting to gnaw at dirt even while sleeping, he didn’t want the children to go through again.

Second Aunt didn’t object: "Then we’ll keep it all this year, never needing to worry about an empty stomach again."

Second Niece, busy working, didn’t quite understand, but the eldest, hearing it, was immediately delighted: "Thank you, Dad and Mum!"

He didn’t care if the family had money, but he knew that as long as the family had food, they could eat their fill!

Second Aunt chuckled: "What’s there to thank."

The eldest just chuckled foolishly, becoming more vigorous in his work.

The four of them labored all day, bagging all the corn. Before carrying it home, they weighed each sack individually.

From more than three mu of corn, they harvested over seventeen hundred jin of grain! This was definitely a bumper harvest!

Even after paying the thirty percent tax, there would still be twelve hundred jin!

And now, their monthly grain consumption was less than forty jin, meaning this twelve hundred jin could feed them for more than two years!

Realizing this, suddenly the fatigue didn’t seem tiring at all, making them burst with excitement!

Jiang Hu, being the most exaggerated, directly hugged the sleepily-eyed Little Lucky Star and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"It’s all thanks to Little Lucky Star; you are indeed a true blessing star!"

Little Lucky Star, squinting her eyes, was still somewhat puzzled: "Dad?"

Second Aunt promptly took Little Lucky Star into her arms, letting her lean against her, gently patting her back, coaxing her back to sleep, and cast Jiang Hu a sidelong glance.

"Honestly, she was sleeping so well, why wake her up?"

Jiang Hu just chuckled foolishly, laughed for a while before saying, "Even in good fertile fields before, we never harvested this much, and with us opening up wasteland this year, the yield should’ve logically dropped a lot, unexpectedly it increased."

Indeed, previously cultivating crops, an acre of fertile land would yield at most about four hundred jin, which was plenty.

This year, with clearing new land and no manure, getting even three hundred jin would be considered good, let alone four or five hundred.

Thinking of this, he suddenly felt it was the fortune Little Lucky Star brought along, although soon, Jiang Hu’s smile faded a bit.

Second Aunt had also thought of it: "Brother Hu, I wonder how the harvest is for others. If ours is too good, wouldn’t it make us stand out too much?"

Recently, everyone’s been busy with their own affairs, plus living far away, so nobody noticed or cared.

But after these days, surely someone would ask about it.

Or when the officials came to collect the tax, others would notice too.

Jiang Hu nodded: "Certainly, but since our family has few people and small fields, others have more people and more land, even if their yield is a bit lower, the overall yield couldn’t be bad."

Second Aunt nodded: "Just in time, many vegetables have aged recently, and are being seeded. After those collecting grain leave, if the villagers say something, we can distribute some of those seeds to them."

With that, surely nobody would have much to say, right?

Even if they did, surely they wouldn’t say it to their faces.

While the couple pondered over this, Little Lucky Star, who had been dozing, woke up and sat up in her mom’s embrace.

"Mom, don’t be afraid."

Second Aunt was instantly comforted, smiling with squinted eyes: "Mom is not afraid, Little Lucky Star, no worries."

Little Lucky Star chuckled gleefully: "Everything’s going to be amazing."

The couple didn’t catch the head-or-tail meaning of this, only Little Lucky Star knew what it meant.

Their bountiful harvest was bound to draw attention, an idea she had considered early on.

However, she was confident they wouldn’t attract envy!

As for the reason, hehe, she was just waiting to see when Liu Yang, the ever-knowing within the village, would finally find out.

No matter if he didn’t, Little Lucky Star wouldn’t be worried; she had already thought of solutions early on, and even if someone caused trouble, it wouldn’t involve all of Fu’an Village!