The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 765 - 764: Taking a Big Advantage

Chapter 765: Chapter 764: Taking a Big Advantage

When a woman heard this, her eyes lit up instantly: "Are you the Wang Family Young Lady? The one who knows how to dye cloth?"

Wang Yongzhu nodded.

"Oh my goodness! It really is you! I heard from my sister-in-law back home that your Fourth Brother married a girl from the Liu Family in Xia Chongzi Gully?" The woman slapped her thigh.

Wang Yongzhu was taken aback: "Really?"

"That’s like the flood hitting the Dragon King’s Temple, and the family members don’t recognize each other! My sister-in-law is that Liu Family girl’s aunt! She said that last year, thanks to your Wang Family, people in Xia Chongzi Gully all got new clothes and had a prosperous year! She mentioned your family does business with integrity, and also said you are a good person, helping people from our Chongzi Gou buy affordable fabric and deliver it right to their doorsteps, even without charging them!"

"We didn’t know last year, and were just wondering if this year your family is still buying mountain goods, whether we should sell to you or not!"

The woman didn’t wait for Wang Yongzhu to respond, unloading a basketful of words in a flurry, leaving Wang Yongzhu somewhat dazed. Her own fourth sister-in-law’s aunt’s niece is somehow related to her family?

Still trying to map out the relationships in her mind, the woman finished telling her story.

Unbeknownst to some, the woman took the initiative to explain a few things and in no time, all the women in Yingzi Gully knew that this seemingly delicate and mild-mannered Scholar’s Lady was actually an extraordinary person.

By the time the woman had finished singing the so-called great deeds of Wang Yongzhu, every woman’s gaze towards her had changed.

This wasn’t just a Scholar’s Lady, she was the God of Wealth!

Suddenly, they became enthusiastic, and one by one, they started offering up their picked tea leaves to Wang Yongzhu: "Scholar’s Lady, would you weigh mine?"

"I’m first!"

"I was ahead, it’s my turn!"

...

"Ladies, please, no quarreling, it’ll be quick! There aren’t many of us!" Wang Yongzhu, afraid that they might start fighting, hurried to pacify them.

Yang Zhaodi and the niece of Liu Xiaoqiao’s aunt were also helping to hold people back, somehow managing to calm everyone down.

Wang Yongzhu was efficient with her hands and feet, and quickly weighed out the harvest for each family.

She also calculated how much Silver Pieces to give to each family, with some getting as many as twenty Large Coins, and the least getting around ten. Everyone was uplifted with joy.

But Wang Yongzhu hadn’t brought any Copper Coin with her, only Silver.

Then a woman volunteered eagerly: "I have some at home, I can exchange it for you!"

"What have we got? What are we exchanging?" Suddenly, a man’s voice came from the entrance of the cave.

The women turned their heads towards the entrance, where a dozen men stood, showing signs of fatigue, each with varying amounts of game by their side.

The man who had spoken was the leader of the group, and his gaze quickly fixed on Wang Yongzhu, surrounded by women, sharp and vigilant.

"Who’s this?" the man asked.

"This is Da Shu Family’s Sister-in-law’s niece’s Daughter! She’s that Wang Family Young Lady who deals with the mountain goods!" the woman who said she had Copper Coin introduced her.

The leader’s expression relaxed slightly, "What are all of you crowding around for? The men are back, why aren’t you helping?"

Usually, as soon as these men returned, their families would have crowded around them, making a cheerful entrance into the cave for a rest; the women would prepare delicious food, and they’d all sit together drinking a little alcohol, watching the children running around.

The women would also start a big fire in the center of the cave, chatting while processing the game.

After drinking the alcohol and the women’s game was prepared, they’d return to their own caves, where the women and children were waiting with a warm bed. The hardships and exertions of several days’ toil in the forests could finally be left behind.

But today, having returned, they found everyone still standing by the entrance of the cave, completely ignored.

A group of women were happily chatting around a young girl.

By rights, since their men had spoken up, the women should have stepped forward to help.

But today, the women really couldn’t be bothered. The game wasn’t going to run away, and who could feel at ease without receiving their wages?

The woman who said she had Copper Coin at home to exchange was too busy to care about her husband, hurriedly saying, "Scholar’s Lady, please wait a moment, I’ll go back to fetch the money!"

With that, she ran back, leaving her husband with a bewildered expression.

His wife, was she reaching for the heavens?

Soon after, the woman came out with a jar. Seeing this, her husband’s face darkened, "Why are you bringing out our money pot?"

The woman ignored her husband, placed the jar on the stone table in front of Wang Yongzhu, and then opened it to take out a string of Copper Coins.

Then, she handed it to Wang Yongzhu, "Here’s a bunch of coins, is this enough to exchange?" she asked eagerly, eyeing the piece of Silver Pieces in Wang Yongzhu’s hand.

Wang Yongzhu smiled, "Of course it’s enough!" The silver was roughly around one tael and one qian, the excess was the exchange fee for the woman.

She promptly handed over the silver to the woman.

The woman took the silver, bit it to check, and seeing the teeth marks, she was reassured and happily pocketed it.

The onlookers were envious, "That piece of silver is worth more than a tael. Xiao Shan’s Wife, you’ve got yourself a huge bargain!"

Xiao Shan’s Wife pretended not to hear, cherishing the silver as she returned to her cave dwelling. It was a while before she came out beaming with joy.

Wang Yongzhu did not hesitate; she remembered how much each person had harvested and how much they were to be paid.

Calling out names, she had each person come up to receive their wages.

The women, upon hearing their names, stepped forward to receive the Copper Coin, which felt hefty in their palms.

Everyone’s faces were adorned with smiles.

The men returning from the hunt were surprised to see this, each woman had at least ten Large Coins!

"What have you all been up to?" the leading man couldn’t help but ask.

One of the women who had received money eagerly explained the whole situation.

The men were initially skeptical, but seeing the tangible Copper Coin in the women’s hands, they had no choice but to believe.

However, having heard that Wang Yongzhu was the Wang Family Young Lady from the Wang Family’s mountain goods store, even these hunters, who were almost isolated from the outside world and rarely interacted with outsiders, had heard of her.

With this knowledge, their wariness eased by half.

Yet, they had been exposed to the outside world, unlike these women who rarely left the mountains and some had never left in their entire lives.

Even though their vigilance had lessened, they were still somewhat doubtful.

After all the women had received their wages, Wang Yongzhu calculated that together they had picked just under ten jin of fresh tea leaves! Under normal circumstances, these ten jin of fresh leaves could be processed into about two jin of tea.

She would have to process all these tea leaves tonight, as their nutritive content would decrease if left too long.

Wang Yongzhu had a plan in mind and entrusted the fresh tea leaves to Yang Zhaodi. She trusted Yang Zhaodi’s character and believed even more that the women who had received their wages today would treat her as an honored guest, a God of Wealth, and would definitely not offend her at this time!

Yang Zhaodi never expected Wang Yongzhu to trust her so much, to actually entrust the tree buds she had bought with money into her care.

Overwhelmed, she nodded vigorously, ensuring she would take good care of them.