Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Although Shen Jingheng didn't say anything in the letter, Xia Yu still felt that something was about to happen. Although a war with the Russians in the north hadn't broken out a few years ago, the border was still somewhat unstable.

This information came from Fourth Uncle Zhang Chengwen and Changyun. Previously, their family only operated around Ming'an County and didn't have much access to outside news. However, in the past two years, as Fourth Uncle entered officialdom and Changyun studied under Grand Tutor Li, their family's horizons have gradually broadened considerably.

His fourth uncle, newly entering officialdom, obtained a position as a seventh-rank county magistrate with the help of Shen Jingheng. The Zhang family was disappointed by this result, but Zhang Chengwen himself was quite satisfied. After all, there were too many talented people in his cohort of imperial examinations. Even though he was exceptionally talented, there were always people more capable than him. In the final palace examination, he only achieved fifth place in the second class.

While the family was lamenting that their fourth uncle couldn't enter the Hanlin Academy, he took it all in stride and told them...

“The capital city is now a complex place with many factions. One could easily get caught up in the maelstrom. It would be better to be sent to a post outside the capital, where I can do things for the people. Besides, my grades are really not good enough to be admitted to the Hanlin Academy, so there is really nothing to regret.”

Grand Tutor Li shared the same view as his fourth uncle. Moreover, the imperial court was currently weak, and several regional princes were showing signs of restlessness. For this reason, Grand Tutor Li advised his brother against continuing his studies, suggesting they wait a few years and observe the situation. Therefore, Changyun, now fifteen, was only a student at the lowest level of the imperial examinations.

Having figured out what to do, Xia Yu spent the rest of her days, except for going out to practice her martial arts in the early morning, hiding in her room to plant wheat in her spatial dimension. She planned to plant as much wheat as possible before the harvest. After the harvest, she would plant corn in her spatial dimension.

Nineteen and Daniu didn't know what was wrong with Xia Yu, but Xia Yu told them not to disturb her, and the two girls were very obedient. They would go to the workshop to help out every day, especially Daniu. When the cloth in the workshop was being loaded onto the ship, she, a girl, was as capable as three men.

Because Xia Yu's family lived too far inside the village, it was always inconvenient for merchants to cross the entire village when they came to pick up goods. So, Xia Yu's family built a dock by the river, where ordinary medium-sized cargo ships could dock. Of course, this dock was for the Zhang family's exclusive use and was not open to the public.

However, every year when the Shen family comes to Zhangjia Village to collect watermelons, they transport the watermelons directly from the dock. They no longer need to load them onto oxcarts, take them to the county town, and then load them onto boats, as they used to.

All those people bought their watermelon seedlings from Xia Yu's family, and the price remained five copper coins per seedling. Xia Yu's family would no longer sell watermelon seedlings to those not on the cooperation list.

Many people had reservations about Zhang Youtie's family not selling melon seedlings to outsiders. However, Zhang Chengwen was already a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations at the time. Although they were dissatisfied with the Zhang family, no one dared to do anything excessive; they only gossiped about it behind their backs.

So many people started growing their own seedlings and watermelons. But like the watermelons that appeared on the market before, they weren't sweet enough. Nevertheless, they were still a decent refreshing fruit in the hot summer. The price couldn't compare to the ones that the Shen family transported to Beijing, but it made watermelons available to ordinary people in the neighborhood.

To distinguish his watermelons from others, Xia Yu instructed the watermelon growers to cut out characters from paper, much like paper-cutting for window decorations. These characters were then pasted onto the watermelons about two weeks before they ripened. When the watermelons matured, the characters were peeled off, leaving an imprint of the words on the watermelon. The paper used for the characters was specially collected by Xia Yu's family from the school—paper used by the students. Xia Yu's family also specified which characters each family would cut out.

When these watermelons with words on them first appeared on the market, they caused quite a stir. However, everyone only then realized that these watermelons with words on them were the same variety as the watermelons that were presented as tribute to the palace, and they could only be bought at the Shen family's shop.

The Shen family also seized the opportunity to create exquisite gift boxes, each capable of holding two watermelons. Not only were the boxes beautiful, but even the lining was made of genuine silk. This method was suggested by Xia Yu, and the Shen family was responsible for its execution. Judging from the market response over the past few years, this method has been successful.

Nowadays, among Beijing's wealthy circles, it's a source of pride to be able to buy Shen's brand watermelons with their special logo every year around this time. These gift-boxed watermelons have also become a must-have fruit for many families when giving gifts.

The days are always busy, and time always flies by. In the blink of an eye, the wheat harvest season has arrived. Now all the land in Zhangjia Village is registered under Zhang Chengwen's name, so the land in their village no longer needs to be taxed.

When the news of his passing the imperial examination spread, the entire Zhangjia Village was abuzz with excitement. Regardless of their previous relationship with the Zhang family, everyone brought gifts to the old house, hoping to have their family's land registered under Zhang Chengwen's name.

After receiving the Zhang family's promise, those with some money began buying wasteland. The wasteland was tax-free for the first three years, after which it would be transferred to Zhang Chengwen's name.

The most surprising thing about the land purchase was that Old Man Wang's family (the family that fought with Liu's family) actually bought eighty mu of wasteland in one go. Adding that to the twenty-odd mu they already owned, their total land holdings now exceed one hundred mu. No one in Zhangjia Village expected that the usually unassuming Old Man Wang's family was so wealthy; these eighty mu of wasteland, plus the fees, would cost nearly three hundred taels of silver.

Zhang Youtie's family also took the opportunity to buy 100 mu of wasteland, Zhang's old house bought 40 mu, the village chief's family bought 40 mu, and other families bought 10 or 20 mu. As a result, most of the wasteland in Zhangjia Village and the surrounding villages was sold off.

The land registered under Zhang Chengwen's name only required him to pay 10% of the land's yield annually, which was half the 20% collected by the government. In Xia Yu's words, his fourth uncle started making money after passing the imperial examination. Each year, the rent from the land registered under his name was enough to support him. After passing the higher-level imperial examination, he owned even more land, and his income naturally increased accordingly.

At this point, Xia Yu truly experienced the benefits of studying for official positions. He could sit at home without lifting a finger, and countless people would come to him with land deeds to offer him land. However, Zhang Chengwen only accepted land offers from Zhangjia Village and a few relatives. He wouldn't accept offers from others.

We've gotten a bit off-topic, let's get back to the main point.

When the wheat harvest season arrived, everyone in the Zhang family became busy. Except for the weavers in the weaving workshop who didn't have to do the hard work in the fields, everyone else had to focus on the wheat harvest.

Even Xia Yu had to come out of the house. She needed to start preparing to mix the wheat ears from the cellar with the newly harvested wheat.