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

Chapter 202 Proposes Building a Estate
Shenjiazhuang became famous because of its booming fruit sales, and even the township head, Liu Guangyao, came over to inquire about it.

Shen Ying earned over a thousand taels of silver, which gave her more confidence when speaking in front of Liu Guangyao.

Even the best tea and meat-filled flatbread sold by Shen Yi's family were served to the guests.

After eating a guokui (a type of flatbread) and drinking a few cups of tea, Liu Guangyao had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on. "Brother, your village is really doing well this year! Every household must be rich!"

Shen Ying smiled modestly, "Not at all, everyone has made money these past few years, so if we're going to get rich, we should all get rich together!"

"You're not being honest with me! You're just trying to fool me?" Liu Guangyao teased him good-naturedly.

After exchanging a few words, he asked, "I just want to ask, where do the fruits in your village come from? Who came up with the idea?"

“Shen Yi!” Shen Ying replied without hesitation.

This agreement displeased Liu Guangyao, who was unwilling to accept it. "Impossible! You are the village chief of Shenjiazhuang. If you don't give the word, will all the villagers follow suit and plant it?"

Shen Ying was taken aback for a moment, then shook her head very honestly, "Brother, you've known me for a long time, don't you know what kind of person I am? If I were to take the lead in this matter, wouldn't I be going around bragging about my achievements? Do you think I'd wait for you to come to my door and ask me?"

To tell you the truth, several poor families in our village had improved their lives after working with Shen Yi. So when Shen Yi said he wanted to plant fruit trees this year, everyone followed suit. Once someone responded, others followed suit, and everyone wanted to try their luck, including me.

Even I, the village head, started planting it, and others who were undecided followed suit. The result is what you see here. Logically, the Wei family in your village should have planted it too; you could have just asked them!

It's better not to mention it, because just mentioning Liu Guangyao makes me angry.

“That stubborn old man Wei Laoqi can’t speak properly at all. Every time I ask him a question, he retorts with three. He even said not to pry into his family’s affairs. Listen to that! Is he even speaking human language? I’m just a township head, can’t I even discipline him?” Liu Guangyao was so angry that he wanted to grind his teeth, but he couldn’t do anything about Wei Laoqi. So he changed the subject and said, “I came here mainly to ask you how those fruits are grown. After all, I’m the township head, and I have to do my best for the development of the township.”

Shen Ying shook her head, shrugged and sighed, "I really can't help with this. Those fruits were planted as seedlings, not seeds. Shen Yi got the seedlings. If you really want them, you'll have to go to Shen Yi."

You know Shen Yi's attitude towards that little girl last time. He might not listen to me. Besides, I heard him say something about scarcity making things valuable, which means that if there's too much of something, it becomes worthless. Now, besides our Shenjiazhuang, there's Dongmen Village in Qingsha Township, and a few scattered households growing fruit. It seems Shen Yi doesn't plan to sell fruit seedlings to outsiders anymore.

Some families in our village who wanted to buy land to expand their farming are now barred from doing so.

Liu Guangyao was furious. "This is outrageous! What gives Shen Yi the right to tell others not to grow fruit? Who does he think he is?"

Shen Ying quickly poured him some water. "Brother, calm down, don't get so worked up! What right do they have? It's because they have fruit seedlings. If they don't want to sell, who can force them? Even the town official can't force them to hand over the seedlings, right?"

"Then there's no other way?" Liu Guangyao was furious.

Shen Ying also looked troubled. "It's not that simple. Brother, you can think of another way. After all, there are more than just these two kinds of fruit, right?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Guangyao became even angrier, "I'm not talking to you anymore!"

Seeing him leave in a huff, Shen Ying immediately shook her head and complained to Zeng Shi, "The township head used to seem alright, but now he's getting more and more outrageous! He even blatantly came to our door asking for fruit seedlings. Does he think he's some kind of local tyrant?"

Zeng Shi was cautious and went to Shen Yi's house to tell Su Tai about the situation.

Su Tai was very grateful and brought over a bowl of grapes for Zeng to take back.

Zeng tasted one and her eyes lit up. "Sweet! This is so sweet! What is it?" "Grapes. They started bearing fruit last year, and this year's harvest is much better than last year's," Su Tai explained simply.

Seeing that she was unwilling to say more, Zeng praised her a couple more times out of sincerity, and then took the things back home.

When she got home, she immediately said to Shen Ying, "Shen Yi and his wife are no ordinary people. We must be more polite to them in the future. Come and have a taste."

After eating the grapes, Shen Ying kept Zeng's words firmly in mind.

It wasn't long after we finished working in the melon field that August arrived.

Everyone still fondly remembers the mooncakes Shen Yi's family sold last year. Now that they've made money this year, they're bound to enjoy them again.

With half a month to go before the Mid-Autumn Festival, quite a few people have already come to inquire about it.

Su Tai had no choice but to order 100,000 virtual coins worth of mooncakes to sell, and announced that starting next year she would no longer sell mooncakes in large quantities, but would only supply a small amount.

This will attract even more people to buy mooncakes.

The autumn harvest follows the Mid-Autumn Festival.

This year, everyone's main focus was on the fruit orchards, and they've earned the money they were supposed to. After harvesting the grain and paying taxes, no one was thinking of selling it outside, so naturally, things weren't as stressful as before.

Su Tai's family only planted ten mu of wheat. After paying taxes, they still had several thousand jin of grain left over, not even enough to make enough guokui (a type of flatbread). They still had to go and collect more grain.

At this time, Shen Yi thought of buying land again, adding another twenty acres of wasteland to grow wheat, so that he wouldn't have to find someone else to buy grain next year, and he could also fill up the cellar.

That cellar hasn't been used since it was built!

Without hesitation, he immediately took the money to Shen Ying and asked for twenty acres of wasteland.

Shen Ying was somewhat embarrassed. "Shen Yi, it's not that I don't want to sell it to you, but there are too many people in our village buying wasteland this year. All the wasteland that can be sold in the village has been taken. I really can't allocate twenty acres for you."

Shen Yi immediately frowned, "If twenty mu isn't enough, how about ten mu?"

Shen Ying shook her head again. "If you ask me, your family is already quite wealthy. You could learn from Master Ma in town and buy an estate, then lease out your fields to others to farm. Wouldn't that be great? If our village doesn't have enough, we can buy some from outside and find some reliable tenant farmers."

After hearing Shen Ying's words, Shen Yi suddenly understood. He thanked her sincerely and immediately went back to discuss it with Su Tai.

“All the wasteland in our village has been bought up. The village chief suggested that I buy land outside, set up a farm, and then rent it out to others to farm. I think this is a good idea.”

Su Tai nodded repeatedly, "Indeed, that's exactly what Master Ma did, but where should he buy the land?"

Shen Yi immediately asked, "What do you think of the outskirts of Dahe Town?"

"Dahe Town? We need to cross the river?" Su Tai was somewhat surprised.

Shen Yi nodded. “It’s quick to cross by boat from here. People from the other side don’t come here often and wouldn’t know the situation here. Most importantly, there’s a lot of wasteland outside Dahe Town. If I set up a manor there, the town officials would be very happy.”