Divorcing your wife might feel good for a moment, but seeing me make money will make you regret it f

Back at the Xu family home, Xu Qing served a cup of grass jelly milk tea: "Master, please try this. It's a new dish I've developed. Let's talk about it after we have some milk tea."

The clerk picked up the glass, took a sip, and praised, "Delicious! My wife told me yesterday that there's a new milk tea in town. I didn't expect it was made by Madam Xu."

The clerk put down his milk tea and continued, "Besides seeing someone off, the magistrate has entrusted me with a task today, which concerns those bandits."

Originally, all the people had been arrested, and the trial was scheduled to conclude tomorrow. However, this morning, the entire village came to the yamen to plead for leniency.

They claimed that the imperial court was inactive, that they couldn't survive, and that they had no choice but to become bandits.

Although they robbed and plundered, they would still provide food to the villagers; otherwise, the entire village would have been wiped out long ago. We beg the magistrate to show leniency.

That group of people is still kneeling outside the yamen. There are forty or fifty of them, all of them old, weak, women and children. You can't beat them or drive them away.

This can't go on forever, so the magistrate sent me to ask Madam Xu if she had any solutions.

Xu Qing was having a terrible headache. She had to figure out all these things herself. What was the advisor even doing? He hadn't even paid her a salary.

But she couldn't afford to offend the county magistrate, so she had no choice but to help him come up with a solution.

"They protect those bandits only because as long as the bandits are around, they will always have food to eat. Now that the government has arrested the bandits, where will they find food?"

The imperial court has no disaster relief grain; how long can our meager relief supplies last? They understand this, which is why they refuse to leave.

The advisor was caught in a dilemma: "But we can't keep helping them forever. If we help them, there are other villages to help. How can we possibly help everyone?"

After much thought, Xu Qing concluded that the problem ultimately boiled down to food. He just needed to find a food with a high yield that could be planted at the right time.

With hope in sight, the county magistrate could easily intimidate the people and then stop pursuing the matter.

Autumn potatoes and late-maturing sweet potato varieties can be planted at this time of year and can be harvested in three months.

During these three months, the government will distribute some relief grain, along with konjac, which should be enough to last until the harvest is ripe.

In February or March of the following year, yellow-fleshed cassava can be planted again. This type of cassava is non-toxic and can also be eaten as a staple food.

Most importantly, these crops have very high yields. Sweet potatoes and potatoes can yield three to five thousand catties per mu, while cassava can yield an astonishing seven to eight thousand catties.

Furthermore, if she continues to develop her milk tea business, making tapioca starch for pearls and taro balls will also require tapioca starch, creating a mutually beneficial situation for everyone.

The question is, how do we get these crops out...?

Looking at Xu Qing deep in thought, the advisor couldn't help but feel anxious. This Madam Xu was able to pinpoint the crux of the matter so accurately, which meant she must be quite capable.

If she can't come up with a solution, how are they supposed to handle this? If they don't handle it well and it blows up, not only will they not get the credit for suppressing the bandits, but they'll also be criticized.

The clerk asked cautiously, "Madam Xu, you must help us! Those old ruffians are just kneeling in front of the yamen, refusing to eat or drink."

"The sun is so strong now. If one or two people die, they'll become even more unreasonable. If things get out of hand, the magistrate's achievements for the year will be wasted, and he might even be punished by the higher-ups..."

If it were just a few people, we could just arrest them. But there are so many of them, even if we arrested them all, there wouldn't be enough space in the jail!

Xu Qing thought for a long time. Since konjac could be found in the mountains, she could also use the excuse that her potatoes and sweet potatoes were found in the mountains.

“Master, my brothers have been cutting down trees on the mountain to build houses recently. They found some plant roots that taste soft, sweet and fragrant.”

Moreover, this crop has a fairly large yield. Why not dig some up and give it to the villagers to plant? If they have hope, and the county magistrate distributes some disaster relief grain, they can get through this difficult time.”

The advisor's eyes lit up at first, but then he became worried: "It can be planted, but how long will it take to harvest it?"

Xu Qing: "It only takes three months. We cut the vines of this plant to feed the pigs when we went up the mountain to collect pig feed before. At that time, no roots had grown underneath."

During this time, my brothers cleared a path to make it easier to transport the trees down the mountain, and they discovered that the roots of this plant were bearing fruit.

We figured if pigs could eat it, then humans could too, so we brought some back and cooked it. It turned out quite delicious.

Xu Qing spoke so fluently that he almost believed it himself.

The clerk was overjoyed and stood up excitedly: "Madam Xu, could you please bring some of these things you mentioned and come with me to the yamen?"

Xu Qing nodded in agreement, pretending to go to his room to get it, but actually bought 100 jin of sweet potatoes at the mall and put them into his basket.

"Master, could you please come in and give me a hand? It's too heavy for me to carry."

The advisor was also very curious about what Xu Qing was talking about, so he jumped up and went into Xu Qing's room.

The clerk and Xu Qing loaded the sweet potatoes onto the carriage, first went to the construction site to inform their families, and then headed towards the yamen.

……

Shijiazhuang.

"Son, come here."

Ding Guihua stood outside the courtyard and waved softly to her three sons.

"Keep your voice down! Don't let your grandma hear you. Come out."

In the past, when their mother had something good, she would secretly hide outside and let them eat it, so the boys ran out without hesitation.

Ding Guihua took out half of the pastries she bought, enough for each of her three sons to have one.

"Eat quickly, wipe your mouth clean after you finish, and drink more water to get rid of the taste of the snack in your mouth before you go back, understand?"

The three boys wolfed it down, and it was gone in less than three seconds.

Ding Guihua swallowed hard and couldn't help but ask, "What does it taste like?"

"Mother, is there any more? I haven't tasted anything yet."

"Mom, I want more..."

Ding Guihua muttered angrily, "It's all gone, you heartless bastards! I didn't even get to taste it, I left it all for you to eat, and you just had to give it to me."

"Get back home now, before your grandma finds out, I have things to do."

After saying that, he ignored his three sons and started walking back towards Xujia Village.

Ding Guihua bought some pastries and intended to go directly to the Xu family's house, but the sweet aroma of the pastries kept wafting into her nose.

The three sons in the family had never tasted such good food before, and now it was going to be a treat for the Xu family's little girl.

Ding Guihua felt increasingly resentful. Xu Qing made so much money from his stall, while those losers must have eaten plenty of good food.

If it weren't for her mother-in-law's constant admonitions reminding her, she would have already eaten the snacks.

Halfway there, I felt increasingly uneasy. My mother-in-law had told me not to steal any food, but she hadn't said the grandchildren couldn't eat it.

Xu Qing's daughter can eat a lot, and Ding Guihua's son can eat even more. There are 6 pieces here, what's wrong with giving 3 pieces to your son?

Xu Qing's daughter can eat three pieces by herself, so Ding Guihua is actually losing out.

However, considering that she could make money, she was magnanimous and decided not to hold it against her.

So she made a detour, first returning to the Shi family, giving her son three yuan, and then going to Xujia Village.