CHAPTER 153: CHAPTER 153: THANKS TO LIU ZE

One person with fifty jin, twenty-seven people, that’s nearly one thousand three hundred and fifty jin!

If all of this were planted as seeds, how much grain would be harvested!

If Jiang Hu were not under his command, coupled with the fact that Officer Xie had a good impression of Jiang Hu’s original plan to keep seeds, he would have almost punched him twice.

Fortunately, in the end, he just kept muttering ’prodigal son’ and didn’t say much more.

Since a decision had been made, everyone did not dawdle.

They kept the tax grain separately, and the Jiang family kept only six hundred jin of grain for themselves, three hundred jin of sorghum and corn each, selling the rest.

It’s not much, even a bit little, but after waiting for another month, the rice could be harvested, and there are sweet potatoes in the field too.

Over with Liu Zhi and his twenty-seven people, they weighed out one hundred and thirty-five jin each of corn and sorghum, and also had Liu Zhi personally oversee it.

These are their seeds, as Liu Zhi said, five jin per person, Officer Xie didn’t charge them.

The construction site had the grain Jiang Hu had brought over previously, but it was from last year, not this year’s new grain.

But now, there’s not much old grain left, and apart from what the Jiang family kept, all the new grain was sold. Starting tomorrow, Jiang Hu would have to sell grain to the workers.

Officer Xie did the accounting and had Zhang Hu and the others load the grain onto the ox cart.

Before coming, Officer Xie had already planned to buy more grain to take back, so today’s ox cart was one or two times more than usual, which was sufficient.

Of course, the silver was also well prepared, and he sent a guard to fetch it from his carriage. Officer Xie said to Jiang Hu.

"I know the buying and selling prices of grain differ, even if I buy your grain at a price ten percent higher than the granary, you won’t get the same price if you go there to buy."

"So, when we get to the town, I’ll personally instruct the granary to sell you the grain at the purchase price, of course, with a limit of two thousand jin, is that okay?"

Two thousand jin, enough for the workers until the house is built, and the granary won’t lose too much.

Jiang Hu was startled, then quickly realized and said, "Officer Xie, I don’t think that’s necessary. The shopkeeper..."

Before he could finish, Officer Xie waved him off.

"Oh, you can’t say that. You’re so generous in bringing out all your grain to take care of the people of Cheng County, the granary is only losing a few taels of silver, it’s no big deal."

"Besides, this is also for a good cause. With this batch of seeds, next year’s harvest will be abundant, won’t the granary earn even more?"

Since Officer Xie put it that way, Jiang Hu didn’t refuse any further.

The guard soon brought the silver, and Officer Xie gave Jiang Hu every last penny.

Jiang Hu casually put the silver in his pocket, now he wasn’t as excited about silver as before.

Instead, Officer Xie was a bit surprised to see Jiang Hu’s nonchalant reaction.

However, Jiang Hu didn’t notice this and was instead curiously looking at the ox cart outside the yard. Whether it was the tax grain or what Officer Xie bought, it was all piled together, indistinguishable.

"Officer Xie, may I be so bold as to ask, if you put it all together like this, won’t you have to separate it again when you get back?"

Officer Xie, in a very good mood with so many seeds, laughed heartily and patted Jiang Hu on the shoulder.

"Brother, I have no intention of sending these to the national treasury."

Jiang Hu was shocked: "What?"

Cold sweat immediately broke out.

But Officer Xie wasn’t the least bit nervous and continued to calmly explain.

"Let me put it this way: the items brought back from Fu’an Village, whether it’s the grain tax or what I bought, will all be used as seeds."

"As for the shortfall in the grain tax, we can just buy some from elsewhere to fill it up."

A false alarm, Jiang Hu was drenched with sweat.

Officer Xie, hands behind his back, finally showed some official demeanor.

He deliberately glanced sideways at Jiang Hu: "What, afraid we might misuse the national treasury’s grain?"

Jiang Hu waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, Officer Xie misunderstood, I was just making an offhand comment."

Officer Xie’s show of authority lasted only for a moment before he resumed his usual manner.

"Alright, enough talking, I need to hurry back to take these things to the county, goodbye."

With that, Officer Xie waved his hand and prepared to leave.

Just as he turned around, he suddenly stopped: "Jiang Hu, you sure this sorghum won’t die in winter?"

Jiang Hu dared not make a direct guarantee, but he said: "Officer Xie, most people in the village know that sorghum was growing with our wheat back then, and when the wheat was about to be harvested, the sorghum was just ripe."

Jiang Hu spoke of the first year he planted sorghum.

Officer Xie nodded: "Alright then, when I get back to Cheng County, I’ll find a suitable place to plant it once specifically."

After saying this, he sighed: "Jiang Hu, I think you could be even more diligent, like maybe grow another batch of sorghum in the winter."

This comment left Jiang Hu speechless; he hadn’t been idle in winter, which is when wheat and rapeseed are planted!

But before he could retort, Officer Xie had already gotten into the carriage.

The guard turned the carriage around, whipped the reins, and the carriage left the Jiang household.

Second Aunt, an apron tied at her waist, came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands: "Why are they leaving already? The meal is almost ready."

After all this bustle, it was already lunchtime.

Folks in the countryside don’t have sophisticated hospitality customs; they just invite guests to a meal, a good one at that.

So, when Jiang Hu took Officer Xie to find Liu Zhi and the others earlier, Second Aunt had called Xiaoxue and Liu Ze to help pick the vegetables, and asked Qi Xi, who had just returned home, to help make the fire and cook.

But just as the meal was about to be ready, and it was almost time to eat, the people had left?

Jiang Hu quickly took Second Aunt back to the kitchen, as if afraid Officer Xie might suddenly return.

Second Aunt was puzzled: "What’s going on? Weren’t you all talking nicely just now?"

Jiang Hu’s face twitched: "Luckily Officer Xie and the others left early; if he stayed for the meal, he might have taken away the last bit of grain."

He had kept only three hundred jin here, and that included the seeds for next year!

Second Aunt gasped: "No way? That exaggerated?"

Jiang Hu shook his head helplessly: "Second Aunt, you didn’t see it. Officer Xie was so reluctant to leave any grain for me. If I hadn’t said Little Ze couldn’t eat the bought grain, he would have preferred to leave us only the seeds and buy everything else."

And then have them buy whatever they needed to eat.

Jiang Hu knew Officer Xie meant well for the people, but he really couldn’t be that selfless.

Officer Xie knew the sorghum and corn yields were high, but he didn’t know the things from Fu’an Village didn’t just yield well, they also tasted great!

He couldn’t leave the good things at home to buy something else for the kids to eat from outside.

With this in mind, he reached out and patted Liu Ze, who was passing by.

"Little Ze, we really owe it to you today."

Liu Ze: "???

What did I do? I don’t think I did anything? Was it for helping Aunt pick the vegetables?