After being jilted, the entire neighboring village was filled with deep regret.

Chapter 131 Hope for the Future
Seeing his guilty look, Su Tai suppressed a laugh and agreed to go along with him.

For the next two days, apart from delivering the guokui (a type of flatbread), Shen Yi stayed in the wasteland next door. In the sweltering heat, he didn't need to collect stones, so no one came to their place, which made it convenient for him to do many things.

This guy finished the foundation of the wall in just two days, and then he measured it himself and made the foundation of the house as well.

The river stones that appeared to be piled up into a mountain were actually not much left after the foundation was completed.

Once the foundation was almost dry, Shen Yi covered it with soil and continued to find people to help collect river stones, gradually building up the wall.

September arrived in the blink of an eye, and the mountains seemed to have changed their clothes overnight.

The neighbor's wall had already been built ten feet high. The villagers should have been suspicious, but because Shen Yi was slowly turning things around, and with the autumn harvest approaching, everyone was focused on the fields. No one kept an eye on Shen Yi's small plot of land, and no one had the time to gossip.

Shen Yi took this opportunity to quickly clear the soil from the house foundation and had Su Tai buy a bunch of bricks, trying to make the house prototype as fast as possible.

Su Tai didn't hold him back. She made a trip to the fire-time space and ordered 10,000 bricks and 10,000 pieces of sand and cement. She left the rest to Shen Yi to handle himself.

At this time, Xu called back the people who had been working in the spring planting season, and everyone gathered in the Shen family courtyard to discuss the arrangements for the autumn harvest.

Su Tai is due to give birth in a little over a month, and her energy is limited. Xu Shi is already busy with her own work, so she naturally helps out. She can only entrust everything to Huang Xinghua. "Auntie, you know our family's situation. Shen Yi can only go to the fields for half a day at most. I'll have to trouble you to look after things for the other half of the day."

I won't let you work for nothing. Here's the deal: from the start of the autumn harvest, I'll give you sixty copper coins a day until the harvest is over. During this time, you'll help me keep an eye on the crops in the fields and arrange for everyone to harvest. Is that alright?

"No problem! I've got it covered." Huang Xinghua smiled broadly, barely suppressing her excitement.

Su Tai also raised the wages of the remaining workers to forty coins a day, which was a huge surprise for the villagers who were working, and they all said they would work hard.

Before the autumn harvest, Su Chunlin was still worried and came over to check on things. Only after seeing that Su Tai had arranged everything did he feel relieved and go back home. This year, his family had an extra 60 mu of land, which was simply too much to manage and could be very difficult.

When the gong signaling the autumn harvest sounded, everyone in Shenjiazhuang came out in droves, leaving nine out of ten houses empty, all buried in the ground.

Su Tai stood on the edge of her own field and looked out. Seeing that no one was slacking off, she turned around and went back to her yard.

The autumn harvest, which lasts for more than half a month, is like a battlefield without gunpowder. The farmers' enemies are the unpredictable weather and their physical strength, which cannot keep up with their mindset.

Su Tai often heard stories of people fainting in the fields or being injured and exhausted, which made her anxious.

She couldn't offer much help from others, but she could provide the best possible working conditions for everyone within the limited resources available, such as food.

People in this era lacked oil and fat the most, so Su Tai went all out, making big basins of steamed buns for everyone every day, steaming a large basket of steamed bread, and cooking a pot of pheasant and wild vegetable soup.

Every morning, people who come to her house to pick up their farm tools can have a steamed bun and a big bowl of chicken soup.

At noon, you can come to her house for a steamed bun and a bowl of chicken soup, and after finishing your work in the evening, you can get another steamed bun or a mantou.

Even the village chief, Shen Ying, was envious of the food. He couldn't help but say to Shen Yi, "If we didn't have work to do in our fields, I would definitely come to your house to help!" Shen Yi smiled wryly and said modestly, "My wife was afraid that the busy aunties would get too thin from exhaustion, and it would be hard to explain to their families, so she prepared extra food for them."

Shen Ying waved her hand, "Alright! Everyone loses money during the autumn harvest. Your wife is a shrew, generous, but she's too stingy. Luckily, you know how to make money."

He now regrets not having the foresight to secure such a fine young man as Shen Yi.

However, the thought only flashed through his mind. After all, Shen Yi had no parents and few relatives, so he was still somewhat wary of him. Moreover, Shen Yi could earn money but also had many expenses, which made people uneasy.

The autumn harvest ended amidst this chaotic and busy atmosphere. Shen Yi's family also successfully harvested their grain. After paying the taxes, they still had nearly 23,000 catties of wheat, 10,000 catties of peanuts, and more than 6,000 catties of soybeans.

This year, more people in Zhaohua County planted high-yield wheat. County Magistrate Liang Qiushi did not personally visit each county, but instead instructed the town officials to assign tasks, with township heads and village chiefs collecting the high-yield wheat in a unified manner, and prohibiting the substitution of inferior wheat for superior wheat.

Because Shen Yi's family only had high-yield wheat, the village chief didn't keep an eye on them, focusing instead on the other villagers' homes.

When it was Shen Yi's turn, Shen Yi had already packed the grain he was selling to the county government. "Village chief, here is 16,000 catties of wheat. Please check it carefully again."

Shen Ying was quite surprised. "Shen Yi, I remember your family only has six mu of fertile land, and the rest is all produced from the wasteland?"

Shen Yi nodded honestly, "Although this is the first time we've planted grain on our wasteland, we took good care of it in the spring, and Aunt Xinghua and the others also looked after it meticulously, so the harvest wasn't bad."

"What do you mean the harvest isn't bad! It's exceptionally good!" Huang Xinghua, who had come along, said excitedly from the side, "Village Chief, I'm in charge of the crops over the wasteland. The grain yield per mu is definitely not low. I haven't calculated the exact amount, but every grain is plump and full. It's definitely a good grain variety."

Shen Ying and the constables collecting the grain opened the package and took a look. They found that the grain from Shen Yi's family was indeed exceptionally good, and it was delightful at first glance.

"Not bad! It's really good." The constable said with satisfaction, and weighed all the grain. There were 16,000 catties of wheat, and each catty cost 50 coins, totaling 800 taels.

The constable immediately gave the silver to Shen Yi and made him put his fingerprint on it.

After the wheat seeds were sold out, another group of government officials arrived in the afternoon, this time to collect peanuts and soybeans.

Their family still needed to do business, and Shen Yi didn't want to sell anything, but he couldn't not sell. He could only spare 5,000 catties of peanuts and 3,000 catties of soybeans, which was considered normal compared to the yield per mu of other people's families.

The constables didn't suspect anything, took the goods, and went to the next shop.

Shen Yi received another 265 taels.

This autumn harvest, their family made a net profit of over a thousand taels of silver.

Shen Zhuang and Xu Shi earned more than four hundred taels of silver from selling their crops. This sum made the family of four extremely happy, and they smiled at everyone they met. If it weren't for the fact that everyone else had made money, they would probably be very envious!

Aside from Shen Yi and Shen Zhuang's families, the happiest were the families who helped Shen Yi with his work.

They were already short of land and farmland, and even after a year of hard work, they couldn't even fill their stomachs. This year, because they were farming for Shen Yi, they earned as much as yellow apricot blossoms and actually saved up seven taels of silver. Even the few older women who only came to help with spring planting and autumn harvest earned a little over one and a half taels of silver.