Chapter 226: You Can Even Make Money Like This
Li Daoxuan watched the scene unfold from outside the diorama box, a wide, delighted grin spreading across his face.
Gao Yiye was about to make a fortune.
The better the books sold, the more she would earn.
Her situation was also unique; she was essentially "self-publishing." This was an investment, and the returns from an investment far surpassed any mere writing fees.
To put it simply, writing fees were like a contracted author earning royalties from a publishing platform.
But self-publishing to make money was like owning the entire publishing platform yourself.
Which model was more profitable was self-evident.
Three days later, the second print run of five hundred copies also vanished in an instant. The Gao Family Village Bookstore had no choice but to rush a third edition—another five hundred copies—which were again snapped up the moment they appeared.
This frenzied scramble for books only subsided with the sixth edition, by which point a total of two thousand seven hundred copies had been printed. Gao Family Village had reached the point where "every household had one or even two copies," and only then, with the market saturated, did sales finally slow down.
With the Heavenly Lord providing for her, money held little personal value. After some thought, she simply went to the Valley of Exiles and distributed the funds among the most struggling elderly residents.
This act—the Saintess publishing books, earning a huge sum, and then giving it all away—instantly spread throughout Gao Family Village.
Among the villagers skilled in painting, a small thought began to stir: "Drawing a little comic can earn so much money. While I wouldn't dare to depict the Heavenly Lord irreverently, I could certainly invent other stories. Who knows, I might strike it rich!"
On July 10th, the first year of Chongzhen, the reclamation efforts on the loess plateau near the Valley of Exiles finally began to yield results.
Vast stretches of the loess plateau had been tilled, their soil loosened and prepared into neatly squared agricultural fields.
Everyone worked without squabbling or contention, adhering to a tacit agreement: whoever cleared and cultivated a plot of land would be granted its use.
The villagers from Qingjian County were not greedy. Each family worked within their means, reclaiming only two or three *mu* of land before stopping. They understood that with just a hoe and their own strength, it was unwise to overreach, as they wouldn't be able to manage more, and a small, well-tended plot might even yield a better harvest.
However...
What should they plant in these small plots of farmland?
Having fled the rebellion in Qingjian County, they naturally hadn't brought any seeds. To plant crops in these fields, they would need to purchase seeds, which represented a significant investment. If they acted rashly without careful consideration, they risked not only a poor harvest but also losing the money spent on seeds. This made them exceedingly cautious.
Zhao Sheng, also known as Dian Dengzi, sought out Gao Yiye early that morning. "Esteemed Saintess," he began, "I have a delicate request."
Gao Yiye replied, "What is it?"
Zhao Sheng explained, "Our people in the Valley of Exiles have finished reclaiming the land. It's still mid-July, so there's time to catch the tail end of spring and plant a batch of crops. But everyone feels uncertain. We were hoping you... could you... perhaps ask the Heavenly Lord for some guidance?"
"Oh, so that's it." Gao Yiye pointed to the low-hanging clouds in the sky. "The Heavenly Lord is right up there; he has already heard your request."
Zhao Sheng quickly looked up at the sky, his face etched with an expression of earnest pleading.
Li Daoxuan was currently enjoying cumin-spiced shredded ribs.
He had, of course, heard Zhao Sheng's words, but... the person he was waiting for, the one meant to bring the seeds, hadn't returned yet. What was he to do?
Just as this thought crossed his mind, his peripheral vision caught something, and he couldn't help but beam with delight.
Xing Honglang was back!
It was truly a case of something arriving just when it was most needed.
She had brought back over twenty people.
Indeed, she had returned with quite a large group this time. Besides her own thirty-eight salt smuggler subordinates, there were also impoverished scholars dressed in refined robes and poor artisans in coarse hempen clothes, a vast and impressive entourage following her.
What's more, her subordinates hadn't returned with empty baskets; their loads were filled with all sorts of unusual goods.
Li Daoxuan had previously instructed her to bring back anything the village lacked, and she had certainly lived up to his expectations, acquiring whatever she found to be new or absent.
There were porcelain wares from Jingdezhen, glass lamps from the Western Regions, silk brocades from Jiangnan, samurai swords from Japan, chickens, ducks, and even a few small piglets.
There was even a bundle of red chilies.
Xi'an, as expected of the largest city in the northwest, truly offered a plethora of strange and wondrous goods. For someone from Shuangqing City like Li Daoxuan, seeing the red chilies was a particular delight, a small burst of joy. It seemed he would have to find time to teach his little people to appreciate spicy food. While teaching Shaanxi natives to enjoy spice might seem odd, what could they do? Their Heavenly Lord hailed from Shuangqing!
The Heavenly Lord *had* to corrupt their palates!
Of course, there was no rush for such matters; they could be introduced gradually. For now, he needed to focus on the immediate priority.
The most useful item she had brought back was a shoulder-pole load of corn.
Corn had been introduced to the Ming Dynasty in 1531 and, by the late Ming period, had spread to ten provinces, including Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Jiangsu, Anhui, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan.
However, merely "spreading to" didn't equate to widespread cultivation.
Li Daoxuan hadn't observed any corn cultivation in Gao Family Village, Zhengjia Village, Zhongjia Village, or dozens of other surrounding villages.
Even in Chengcheng County city, no one had mentioned it. Yet, after Xing Honglang made a few inquiries in Xi'an, she managed to procure it.
During the drought, however, grain prices were terrifyingly high; a *dou* of corn was selling for eight hundred *wen*.
Xing Honglang didn't care about the price. She knew that anything the Heavenly Lord specifically requested wasn't about cost; she just had to buy it. So, she returned with a full load.
Seeing this, Li Daoxuan felt reassured.
He lowered his gaze and instructed Gao Yiye: "Tell Zhao Sheng to have the folks from Qingjian County try planting corn. Xing Honglang has already brought corn seeds back to the village. These seeds can first be distributed to the farmers in the Valley of Exiles. After the harvest, the cost of the seeds can then be returned to the village treasury."
Zhao Sheng listened, his face blank with confusion. "Corn? Forgive me, I am merely a scholar, unused to manual labor and ignorant of grains. I don't even know what this 'corn' is. I must seem foolish to the Heavenly Lord."
"It's perfectly normal not to know; there's no need to belittle yourself," Li Daoxuan replied. He then produced a page of pre-printed instructional material titled "Growing Corn from Scratch" and gently placed it before Zhao Sheng.
He also set down a packet of the accompanying Celestial Fertilizer. "Since you are literate, I am entrusting this method directly to you. Take it, study it carefully, and instruct the villagers to plant corn according to these instructions. Every step must be strictly followed, and you are guaranteed a bountiful harvest."
Zhao Sheng’s heart swelled with joy at the sight of the enormous paper. Without a doubt, this had to be a cultivation method from the immortal realm.
He had heard that the wheat fields in Gao Family Village and Zhengjia Village yielded abundant harvests, all thanks to the use of Celestial Fertilizer. Now, the Heavenly Lord had bestowed Celestial Fertilizer upon them again, along with the divine secrets of farming. "Heh heh," he chuckled inwardly, "the farmers of Qingjian County are surely about to turn their fortunes around!"
Comments