The whole village is starving, but I have a full warehouse of meat in the mall

Chapter 41 Successfully brewed mint water

Jiang Wan smiled. In just a few minutes, she could tell who was easy to get along with and who was more cunning.

She said, "Dazhu, run fast. Go to my aunt's house and get a few more bowls of mint water. I'll give you as much as you want."

Ye Erzhu quickly raised his hand: "I'll go too, I'll go too!"

The two boys ran away quickly.

Old Man Ye stared at the yellow and green stuff in the bowl, hesitant: "Mother Dahe, you said this is mint water?"

Old Madam Ye was a little scared: "I have lived for sixty years and have never seen this thing. Why doesn't it look like something drinkable?"

Ye Er said carelessly: "Sister-in-law will definitely not bring anything that you can't drink. You will know after taking a sip."

He picked up the bowl, drank half of it in one breath, and was stunned: "No wonder it's called mint water, I feel cold all over after drinking it. Sister-in-law, is this really made of Fritillaria? How is it made?"

Jiang Wan kept silent about it. She would only tell the Ye family about this way of making money when they were united.

If I tell the truth now, wouldn't that just make myself uncomfortable?
What's more, if Li knew about it, there was no guarantee that he would not reveal it to others.

Ye San also took a sip and swallowed it whole: "Why does it taste like hawthorn? This thing is too sour. I never touched it before. It tastes quite good in this mint water..."

The youngest girl drank it all in one breath and wiped her mouth: "Aunt, it's delicious, very sweet. I haven't had enough, is there any more?"

Old Madam Ye glared at him coldly: "You just want to drink it when you open your mouth. Who taught you the rules? This is what your aunt sells for money. It should cost at least one penny per bowl. If you want more, pay!"

Jiang Wan thought this old lady was really cute and she had helped her solve a big problem without even realizing it.

She smiled and said, "I plan to sell this mint water for two cents a bowl. Mom, do you think it's feasible?"

Li took a deep breath. This thing was sold for two cents a bowl. Wasn't it crazy? Wouldn't it be nice to buy a meat bun with two cents? Now the price of meat buns has gone up, probably four cents. Two cents could buy a steamed bun, why buy this snack that was not filling?
But she will not kindly remind her, and let her sister-in-law be turned away and not earn a penny, just to see how the old lady can still be partial to her!

She smiled and said, "I think two cents is too cheap. This thing is unique in Lotus Town, so three cents is not too much."

Jiang Wan had originally priced the item at three cents, but because of the natural disaster, many people didn’t have much savings at home, so three cents was a bit expensive, and she was worried that no one would be interested.

Two cents a bowl, not too cheap but acceptable, she could make some money.

She observed that mint water with brown sugar water seemed to be more popular, but those who liked sour taste could also accept hawthorn, so both flavors were fine.

After everyone had finished drinking, she said, "Let's try selling it for two cents. We have to go to town tomorrow morning, so I'll go back to work."

When she carried the basket back, Ye Dazhu and Ye Erzhu had already drunk two bowls of mint water. They touched their bellies and sighed, feeling so comfortable.

It was very hot this summer, and no matter how hard they fanned themselves, the heat could not be driven away. But at this moment, they felt cool from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads.

Jiang Wan couldn't help laughing: "You two should carry this big basin of mint water back and let everyone in the Ye family drink enough."

Ye Dazhu and Ye Erzhu jumped up, picked up the basins and walked out, fearing that their aunt-in-law would go back on her word.

The two of them returned with a large basin of mint water. Old Mrs. Ye was stunned: "You two little bastards, why don't you move back to your aunt's house? This is your aunt's livelihood. Return it to me quickly!"

Ye Dazhu said quickly: "It was our aunt who asked us to bring it back, saying that we could drink as much as we wanted today, and there would be no more in the future."

Before the old lady could say anything, Si Ya rushed over, her saliva almost flowing into the bowl. "Alright, everyone drink another bowl." The old lady said helplessly, "Put the rest in ice and drink it tomorrow. You have no restraint every day..."

The old lady came into the house and said to Old Man Ye, "The eldest son's wife is becoming more and more open and generous. She is really different from before."

Old Man Ye smoked his pipe and said, "She used to be obsessed with the promotion of the eldest nephew of the Jiang family, and she had a falling out with the Jiang family. Now she has to be sensible. I don't know if this mint water can be sold at a good price."

Old Mrs. Ye shook her head: "We are all honest farmers. We have never done business before, so we can't teach her anything. Let her figure it out slowly..."

Jiang Wan has been counting.

Half a pound of mint can produce a large basin of mint water, which weighs about twenty pounds. Twenty pounds of mint water can fill at least eighty bowls.

A bowl of mint water costs two cents, which means that with the remaining four pounds of mint water, she can earn a total of about 1300 cents, which is equivalent to one or three cents of silver. After deducting the cost, the net profit is at least one or two silver.

You have to know that in that era, the annual income of a farmer's family was only three or four taels of silver, and that was under the condition of good weather and good harvests.

If she successfully sold all of this mint water, she would earn almost as much as others earn in half a year, which is equivalent to a huge sum of money.

But the prerequisite is that the mint water can be sold.

Jiang Wan asked Gu Xiaohui and Ye Dahe to take out another half pound of mint to make mint water. Together with the finished product that had just been tried and not yet drunk, a total of about 150 bowls could be produced. They would use these to test the market reaction tomorrow.

That night, Jiang Wan and the children were busy until very late.

In the neighboring Huaihua Village, people also kept torches lit and stayed awake all night.

This afternoon, many people from Huaihua Village sneaked to Hehua Village and saw with their own eyes a ditch flowing down from the mountain and into the dried-up rice fields. Many people were jealous.

After careful consideration, the head of the village decided to follow the example of Lotus Village and call on all the villagers to dig ditches.

This decision was passed unanimously by everyone in Huaihua Village.

However, there was a big dispute when deciding on the people to dig the trench.

"Village head, my family's fields are closest to the mountains. Logically speaking, shouldn't my family have one less laborer?"

"Village head, everyone knows that the men in my family are very strong. One man can be as strong as two men in other families. Let's just have him!"

"Shut up!" Li Zheng's beard curled up in anger. "That mountain is the top of Lotus Village, and it's even farther away from our Huaihua Village. They have more than 400 laborers, and we need at least 600 to dig the ditch within three days. Why don't you want to work hard and just think about being lazy..."

"But our fields are close together, so we really don't need to put in much effort."

"My family lives far away, but we are from the same village. We can't be so picky."

"If we are far away, we need to bring more people. If there are no adults, the children will fill in. Anyway, our family cannot suffer any loss!"

"You're asking for a fight!!"

The people in Huaihua Village were in chaos, and they couldn't come up with any rules after an entire night.

(End of this chapter)