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

Chapter 201 is booming
This was the first time the villagers of Shenjiazhuang, who grew strawberries and watermelons, had experienced the busy farming season in the summer, and it was also the first time they had felt money come to them on its own.

Before dawn, Shen Mu took a group of children to the field to pick strawberries. In about an hour, they had picked all the strawberries they could and filled three large wooden cages.

The so-called wooden cages were made by the villagers at Su Tai's request. They were like steamers, stacked layer upon layer, up to ten layers high, so that the harvested strawberries wouldn't be crushed.

Just as the father and his sons were about to head back, a businessman from out of town entered the village. His eyes lit up when he saw the three wooden cages, and he quickly stopped the family, asking, "Fellow villager, have you ordered these strawberries yet?"

Shen Mu shook his head, remembering Su Tai's earlier advice to stay calm and take the initiative. He deliberately put on a blank expression and said slowly, "Just harvested, about to take it back."

The other party became even more excited and asked to take a look.

Shen Mu generously opened the package and let him take a closer look, so the other party bought all of Shen Mu's strawberries without saying a word.

The neighbor looked on with envy, and within fifteen minutes someone came to their house to ask.

The situation at Shen the Cripple's house was similar.

Originally, he had no connection with Shen Yi and did not plan to follow the trend of planting fruit. He only became interested after adopting a child. And because several poor families in the village made money by doing business with Shen Yi, he gritted his teeth and took a chance, managing to clear out four acres of dry land, planting two acres of watermelons and two acres of strawberries.

He never expected strawberries to be so in high demand. Now he works from dawn till dusk every day and has saved more money than in the previous few years. He is so happy that he smiles at everyone he meets. Then he regrets that his family has too little land. If he had more land, he could earn even more.

Many families shared his frustration, which sparked a wave of land-buying frenzy in the village.

Shen Ying was experiencing both pain and pleasure.

Because so many people wanted to buy his land, he couldn't take care of his own farm work and had to leave it to Zeng Shi and his children and grandchildren.

After more than half a month of strawberry craze cooled down.

Shen Ying was finally able to catch her breath.

In the evening, he sat in the courtyard enjoying the cool breeze and asked Zeng Shi, "How much did our family earn from selling strawberries this time?"

They only planted four acres of strawberries.

Madam Zeng smiled broadly and whispered in his ear, "Three hundred and twenty taels."

"How much?" Shen Ying suddenly stood up, her legs cramping from excitement. Even as she grimaced, she still managed to ask, "How could there be so much?"

Zeng smiled reproachfully at him, then sat down with a smug look on her face. While picking vegetables, she explained slowly, "Because this is the first batch. To be honest, those strawberries are so fragrant! I've lived most of my life and never seen such sweet and delicious fruit, and they look so appealing too."

We sell it for ten coins per pound. This stuff has a good yield; you can earn about eighty taels per acre. After selling the last batch, I went to Shen Yi's house to give him some thank-you gifts and chatted with Su Tai for a bit. She said this is the first year, so take good care of it and it will yield even more fruit next year!

I'm content. It doesn't matter if we don't get more fruit next year. We've already earned over three hundred taels, and in about ten days, the watermelons will be ready for harvest, and we'll earn a lot more money then."

Shen Ying, regaining her composure, was both surprised and delighted. She asked, "How do you know watermelons can make a lot of money? What if they become worthless?"

“That’s impossible!” Zeng said with certainty. “To tell you the truth, I went to the field and checked. Most of the melons are ripe. There were a few that had been stolen and spoiled, but I tasted a few myself. They’re sweeter than strawberries, juicy, and thirst-quenching. They’re also durable and can be stored longer than strawberries. I disagree that watermelons aren’t profitable.” Shen Ying was now convinced and smiled like a simpleton.

After a long while, he sighed, "It seems that everyone who worked for Shen Yi's family this year has made a good living. That cripple Shen must have saved up more than a hundred taels of silver. I never dared to dream of that before!"

Madam Zeng nodded in deep agreement, “That’s right! Their house is right next to Shen Yi’s. When I went there, I chatted with Granny Zhang for a bit. Granny Zhang was so happy, she kept saying that Shen Yi and his wife were living bodhisattvas who saved people from suffering.”

They even said that the child was their family's lucky star. If it weren't for the child, Shen the Cripple wouldn't have thought of working with Shen Yi, and their family wouldn't have been able to accumulate so much money.

I think that child is doing really well with Shen the Cripple. In just a few months, he's become quite plump and fair-skinned, always clean, and smiles at everyone he meets. He's so endearing.

Shen Ying listened silently, then, remembering what she had asked Shen Dagou to inquire about, she turned and headed towards Shen Mu's house.

When Shen Dagou saw Shen Ying coming, he immediately followed him out.

Shen Ying slowly said, "If there's no result to the matter that your uncle asked you to inquire about before, then there's no need to ask anymore. Regardless of whose child it is, it has been publicly acknowledged by the town magistrate. It was abandoned by her own family, so it's good that she's with Shen the Cripple."

Shen Dagou was somewhat surprised, yet felt it was within his expectations, and obediently nodded in agreement.

Shen Ying smiled, turned around and looked at the nearly completed courtyard of Shen Mu's house, her smile deepening.

After a few days of respite, the villagers have started harvesting watermelons again.

Like strawberry fields, watermelon fields attract small animals as soon as the fruit appears, so someone has to be in the field around the clock to watch over them. When harvesting begins, the riper and rotten ones have to be removed.

Standing at her doorstep, Su Tai often heard the workers shouting in distress, "How could such a big piece have been stolen again? What an inhuman creature!"

Every time Huang Xinghua and her men came to collect a batch of goods, they would complain to her, which left Su Tai feeling quite helpless.

The harvested melons were immediately taken to the prefectural city by oxcart. Since they owned a lot of land, they usually harvested from morning till night without stopping.

At times like these, Huang Xinghua can't even worry about their melon patch.

After more than a month of harvest season, she found out that her family had earned more than 550 taels of silver. She was immediately dizzy and grabbed Shen Mu's hand tightly, her voice trembling as she spoke, "Honey, do you mean our family earned almost 1,000 taels of silver this summer?"

Their family grows four acres of strawberries and eight acres of watermelons.

These twelve acres of land were wasteland that they bought just last year. Wasteland is tax-free for the first three years after it is reclaimed, so the couple gritted their teeth and planted fruit trees on it all. They thought they could only make a little money, but they didn't expect to make so much!
Shen Mu, who was usually sullen and serious, was all smiles like a fool, nodding uncontrollably. "I've been calculating it over and over for two days now, and it's correct. Why don't you count it again?"

Huang Xinghua had to count them herself. The couple counted them all night by candlelight. Strange laughter could be heard coming from inside the house, which made Shen Dagou and Shen Xiang, the brother and sister who got up early to work, feel uneasy.

With such a large sum of money, plus what they had saved over the previous two years, Shen Mu's family could finally turn their lives around completely.

They were originally worried about building a small courtyard for their eldest son's wedding, and what would happen when their other sons got married. Now, that's no longer a problem. What they need to think about is buying more land so they can build up a family fortune for their sons.