Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Although everyone in the village was busy—building houses on the Zhang family's property, doing odd jobs for the Zhang family, and working in their own fields—the Shen family's convoy still caused quite a stir when it entered the village.

Many people had already heard in advance that the Shen family was coming to the village to collect watermelons today, but seeing such a large commotion, they still couldn't help but gather around to watch.

Zhang Youtie and Manager Qin exchanged greetings and then discussed how to best arrange the melon harvesting. Because this time the melons weren't from one family, and their sizes and prices varied, it added considerable difficulty.

After discussing the matter, Zhang Youtie stood on a high place and began to address the onlookers.

"Listen up, folks. This year, because a large number of watermelons ripened at the same time, the price is much lower than last year. Now I'll tell you the price of watermelons, so please listen carefully. Watermelons weighing over ten jin (5 catties) will cost fifteen wen per jin. Watermelons weighing between seven and ten jin will cost ten wen per jin. Watermelons weighing less than seven jin will cost eight wen per jin. If you want to sell, go home and pick your watermelons. Our first batch will be those weighing over ten jin. Everyone, bring your watermelons over here and we'll weigh them outside your yard."

As soon as Zhang Youtie finished speaking, a clamor of discussion arose below. Most people felt the price of the melons was too low. Last year, Zhang Youtie's melons sold for fifty coins per jin (a unit of weight), but now they were selling them for as low as fifteen coins per jin, and as low as eight coins per jin. Some people were dissatisfied, very dissatisfied. Some even suspected that Zhang Youtie was pocketing the price difference.

However, Zhang Qishan and his men knew the market price; it wasn't low enough. Let them sell it themselves. They wouldn't sell it for even ten coins, let alone fifteen.

So, those who understood immediately went home to pick melons, while those who didn't wanted to argue with Zhang Youtie again.

Zhang Tianming was building a house on the construction site when his wife, Li Cuilan, happened to be there. She immediately found Zhang Youtie.

"Third brother, isn't this price too low? Your family sold it for fifty coins a catty last year, how come our highest price is only fifteen coins? Could you talk to the Shen family and ask them to raise it a little more for us?"

"You don't need to argue with Brother Zhang. I'm from the Shen family, and this is the price. If you think it's too low, just wait for someone who can offer a higher price to come and buy it. We're not forcing you to sell to us." Before Zhang Youtie could even speak, Xiao Qin, the steward next to him, coldly interjected.

"Hey, you..." But before she could finish speaking, the woman next to her covered her mouth and stopped her.

“I’m sorry, my daughter-in-law is not good at speaking, please don’t take it to heart.” It was Zhang Tianming’s mother, Zhang Liu Shi.

Even if Zhang Youtie was unhappy, he still had to give her some face when he saw her. In fact, this Zhang Liushi and his mother Liushi were from the same village and were related in some way.

"Auntie, if you have any watermelons for sale, please pick them and bring them over quickly. If we finish this harvest, we'll have to wait several days for the next one."

"Oh, oh, I'll go back and pick some melons now." Zhang Liu smiled, but dared not loosen her grip on Li Cuilan's hand. They pulled each other out of the crowd like that.

"Mother, why are you covering my mouth? I haven't finished speaking yet." Once outside, Li Cuilan finally managed to break free from her mother-in-law's grasp.

“You fool, keep your mouth shut in crowded places. If you think fifteen coins is too low, then go sell them yourself. Don’t interfere with your brother’s melon-selling business. Also, Tianming is working for the Zhang family now, earning thirty coins a day. If you keep spouting nonsense and ruin Tianming’s job, I’ll tear you apart,” Zhang Liushi threatened her daughter-in-law.

Hearing her mother-in-law's words, Li Cuilan felt indignant, but dared not say another word.

Once the first melon seller came, a second and a third followed. Soon, by noon, thirteen oxcarts were full. Five of these carts were loaded with melons weighing over twelve catties each, all of excellent quality, selected on the spot and destined for Shen Jingheng's residence in the capital. The remaining carts were to be sent to shops in the capital.

"We can eat in a quarter of an hour," Liu said to Zhang Youtie after hearing Aunt Ma's reminder.

Seeing the villagers still queuing up behind him, waiting to be weighed, Zhang Youtie gave Uncle Ma a few instructions. Uncle Ma quickly walked up to the last villager and gave him a few more instructions.

"Fellow villagers, everyone has been busy all morning, and it's almost lunchtime. Listen, those currently in line will be weighed here soon, but those coming later don't need to line up. Come back in an hour. Those who need to go home, please go home."

After saying that, he handed the scene over to Uncle Ma to keep an eye on, and he and Manager Qin went into the house first.

"Hey, Brother Zhang, it's so hot today. Sitting under the shed doing any work, I'm covered in sweat."

After entering the house, Manager Qin first gulped down a large bowl of cold tea, then wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve. He was completely different from the Manager Qin who had been sitting in the courtyard earlier, drinking tea politely and wiping his sweat with a handkerchief.

"Here, have a watermelon. It's been chilled in the well water all morning, so it's perfect for cooling you down," Zhang Youtie said as he scooped a watermelon out of a bucket next to him and began cutting it.

Manager Qin didn't stand on ceremony with him, reaching out to take a piece and finishing it in a few bites. He let out a comfortable sigh.

"Brother Zhang, I've noticed that the watermelons in your Zhangjia Village are really sweet. My wife's farm also grew some this year, and they're sweet too, but they still can't compare to yours! Do you have some secret to growing watermelons?"

"Hehe, what secret could there be? Maybe the soil and water here are just right for growing watermelons. Keep eating, they taste best while they're cool." Zhang Youtie said with a smile as he cut a watermelon, listening to Manager Qin's words.

While eating watermelon, Manager Qin observed Zhang Youtie's expression. Seeing how relaxed and casually he spoke, he felt that Zhang's words made sense; perhaps the environment was indeed different.

The dishes I made for lunch included braised pork with eggs, braised fish chunks, stir-fried pork slices with bell peppers, and steamed eggs with minced meat. The staple food was steamed buns made from two kinds of dough. Later, we even used the old stove in the old house to steam all the buns before noon. The soup was mung bean soup.

Inside the main room, the table where Steward Qin, Zhang Youtie, Old Master Zhang, and the village chief sat had the same meat dishes as outside, but with four additional cold dishes: a platter of braised meats from the old house, drunken chicken, fried peanuts, and cold sliced ​​pork. Steward Qin had eaten the braised meats and peanuts before, but he kept praising the taste of the drunken chicken and cold sliced ​​pork.

The village chief and Grandpa Zhang loved the sliced ​​pork the most. So much so that a large bowl of cold sliced ​​pork salad was the first to be emptied.

Seeing that everyone liked it, Zhang Youtie quietly went out and gave an order, and soon another large plate was brought up.

After the meal, everyone rested for a while, and then someone came carrying more watermelons. Once they had collected enough watermelons—15,000 catties in total—to be sent to the capital, Steward Qin glanced at the sun and ordered the oxcarts, already loaded, to leave first. The messenger on horseback, along with fifteen servants, followed the oxcarts directly to the dock. There happened to be a ship heading to the capital today; as for the watermelons to be sent to various restaurants, they could be delivered to the ship tomorrow or the day after.

By sunset, only a little over 1,000 jin (500 kg) of small watermelons weighing less than seven jin (3.5 catties) had been harvested, while the remaining 5,000 jin (2,500 kg) were watermelons weighing seven to ten jin (3.5-4.5 kg). Seeing the villagers still queuing behind, Manager Qin said...

"Brother Zhang, I need to return to the city immediately. The city walls will be closed soon. Please accept these remaining notes for me. I'll be back in a couple of days." With that, he pulled several silver notes from his pocket and placed them on the table.

"This is the money for today's watermelon harvest. Consider the extra as a deposit. I'll trouble Brother Zhang to exchange it for smaller change and distribute it to the villagers." After saying this, he bowed to Zhang Youtie.

"Manager Qin, you're too kind. You trust me, so rest assured that I will distribute the money in full according to the records. You can also trust the watermelon collection."

Having finished speaking about the important matters, Steward Qin did not linger for a moment, leading the remaining oxcarts slowly toward Ming'an County.