Chapter 144: Understanding
Editor: Atlas Studios
After sending Qi Haoran and Fan Zijin away, Shu Wanniang finally had the time to ask her daughter, “What did Young Master Fan mean by working together just now?”
Mu Yangling told him about Fan Zijin’s plan to sell the rabbits to the south. “He might smoke the rabbits into jerky or turn them into rabbit meat cubes to transport to the south. He needs a lot of rabbits, so I’ll be in charge of breeding them.”
Shu Wanniang frowned. “Ah Ling, there are only so many people in our family now. How are we capable of doing this? Besides, no one has raised multiple rabbits before. Are you sure you can raise them?”
“It’s easy to raise herds of wild rabbits. Don’t we still have more than 60 acres of low-grade land to the east of our house? Let’s raise the rabbits there. I’ll discuss with the two of them later and see if we can buy seeds of grass from the Hu people in the north.” Mu Yangling chuckled. “I don’t know how to plant wheat, but surely I can plant grass?”
Shu Wanniang’s eyes widened. “Do we still need to plant grass? Aren’t there plenty on the edge of the fields, in the mountains, and by the river?”
“There is, but it’s not enough to feed the rabbits. Moreover, we have to cut it ourselves. You conceded that there aren’t so many people at home. Later, I’ll get someone to dig a ditch around the 60 acres of land before fencing it up with a net. The rabbits can only stay inside obediently. I’ll try my best to ensure their food supply.”
Listening from the side, Xiuhong hurriedly promised, “Aunt, we can also help Cousin. Sister and I can do things like mowing grass.”
Mu Yangling nodded. “Farming will be less busy in two months. When the children in the village are free, I can invite them to cut the grass. Mother, don’t worry. If the rabbits end up dying, we can always skin them and eat them. In any case, we won’t lose out.”
Shu Wanniang was stunned. “Don’t you need to buy baby rabbits to raise rabbits?”
“Where can we find so many little rabbits to buy? We’re just going to catch them from the mountains. I’ve already discussed it with Qi Haoran. When the time comes, I’ll take 20%. He’ll take 10% and Fan Zijin will take 70%.” Mu Yangling continued after a pause, “Since our family doesn’t have money now, I’ll have to ask Fan Zijin for money to buy grass seeds. He has to provide the grass seeds for the first year no matter what.”
Shu Wanniang looked at her daughter in a daze and couldn’t find any objections. After a while, she said, “Then other than grass seeds, this business doesn’t require any other capital.”
“Isn’t that so? Otherwise, I wouldn’t have taken the risk. The most important thing is to capture the rabbits in the mountains. Only then will our crops in the south be safe.” Mu Yangling didn’t have much confidence in the rabbit trade. Even if Fan Zijin and Qi Haoran were very confident, her main aim was still to rescue her own crops.
In any case, since she had no intention of planting those 60 acres of low-grade land, she considered planting grass and raising rabbits there an experiment.
Mu Yangling went to sleep, feeling relaxed.
In the military camp, Fan Zijin could not fall asleep no matter what. This was the first major thing he was doing since coming to Xingzhou Prefecture. Having vaguely found his future direction and value, he paid unprecedented attention to this matter. He felt that he had to design every step and key point perfectly.
Hence, Fan Zijin laid on the table late at night to plan.
Meanwhile, next door, Qi Haoran was already snoring softly and sleeping like a dead pig.
The next day, Mu Yangling went to the 60 acres of land to take a look. Squatting in the field, she said worriedly, “Do you think I should build a small house for the rabbits or something?”
Bowen was puzzled. “Don’t rabbits know how to dig holes? Isn’t that their home? Why do you want us to build it?”
“That’s true, but if we raise them, they won’t be wild rabbits anymore. If we build a house for them or something, they might change their habit of digging holes everywhere.”
Xiuhong said directly, “Cousin, our family doesn’t have money at the moment.”
Xiulan nodded repeatedly. “Grandma said that she wants to plant wheat on the 30 acres of inferior land in the south.”
Mu Yangling felt her entire body ache. After a while, she said, “We can’t plant so many fields now. We’re nearing the end of the sowing season.”
“That’s why Grandma said that we should start today.” Xiuhong said, “Cousin, let’s go to the south quickly. Grandma must have brought the wheat seeds over.”
Mu Yangling was discouraged. “Alright, but let’s just plant five acres and nothing more.”
Great-aunt didn’t want to leave the fields uncultivated, but Mu Yangling persuaded, “Great-aunt, we still have to harvest after planting. When we’re planting, I still have some strength to stay ahead, but when we harvest, I won’t be able to keep up with Xiuhong. When the time comes, we’ll have to rely on you to harvest so much land all by yourself. Should we encounter heavy rain, our efforts for more than half a year will be wasted. I think we can only plant another five acres at most because I want to first see the harvest of the low-grade land.”
“Then do we just leave the other fields uncultivated?”
“Aren’t we planning to raise rabbits? When the time comes, we’ll plant grass there and cut it for the rabbits to eat. What do you think?”
Just like Shu Wanniang, Great-aunt felt that Mu Yangling’s idea of raising rabbits was unreliable. However, Mu Yangling was right about the fact that this was a business without capital, so she might as well give it a try.
Seeing that she was silent, Mu Yangling took it that she had agreed. In order to prevent her from being sad, she said, “It’s really because the harvest of rice and wheat is too close. If there’s a longer amount of time between the two harvests, I wouldn’t want to leave these lands uncultivated, too.”
Great-aunt looked up at Mu Yangling, who only reached her chest. Yet, her slightly immature face was filled with seriousness. She couldn’t help but sigh in her heart, feeling that she was asking too much of this child. After escaping from Nearhill Village, because Mu Yangling took the initiative to bear most of the risks, she subconsciously treated her as an adult even though she always called her a child. During this period of farming, she had been treating her as a strong laborer, but in fact, she was still a child.
When Great-aunt thought of her own health condition, her heart couldn’t help but soften. Forget it, so be it. Leaving the land uncultivated was better than ruining the child’s health.
At the thought of this, Great-aunt immediately felt that even planting five acres was a stretch. She said, “Forget it. Let’s just plant another two acres today and see how the harvest of this low-grade land goes.”
Blinking, Mu Yangling asked, “Didn’t you say that you wanted to plant five acres?”
Great-aunt glared at her and said, “I’m old and tired, alright? Let’s just plant whatever we can today.”
Mu Yangling couldn’t ask for more, and Xiuhong and the others were also happy. Children didn’t like farming, for they felt that farming was too taxing.
While Mu Yangling was planting two acres of low-grade land, Qi Haoran ran to Qi Xiuyuan and snatched 20 soldiers who had hunting experience over. He asked them to take turns leading teams into the mountains to catch rabbits and try their best to catch them alive.
Meanwhile, Fan Zijin began to count the soldiers who could not go to the battlefield and train. From now on, these people would have to work with him.
On the day Qi Haoran’s men started to enter the mountains, Mu Yangling came to talk about the grass seeds. Fan Zijin agreed to help them get the seeds, but he did not agree to pay for the seeds alone. He said, “All three of us have a share in this business. Since we’re splitting the money between the three of us, everyone has to chip in.”