The Great Drought

"Winning the people's hearts is part of it too." Xu Chuan smiled and nodded slightly.

"For ordinary folk, a great drought is a matter of life and death. But for wealthy households, powerful merchants, and aristocratic clans, it is a question of how much they lose."

"Those who look only at immediate gains may sell their land, but the wise will endure."

"Once the drought reaches a certain point, Great Wei will not stand idly by. It will certainly send people to resolve it. With immortal cultivators around, drought is no great problem. It is only a matter of sooner or later."

"Our perfume, our various wines, our medicinal herbs—all these businesses depend on the land. The more solidly we build up these holdings, the deeper our lineage's foundations will be."

After pondering for a moment, Xu Mingyuan nodded. "You're right, Father."

"If these pillar industries lack a foundation of our own, and we have to purchase most of our supplies from others, wouldn't that leave them with a grip around our throats? That would greatly hinder the Xu Household's rapid growth."

"A great calamity can also be a great opportunity."

Xu Mingwei's eyes brightened as he understood too.

"People or land, the Xu Household wants both." Xu Chuan's words rang out firmly, his tone brooking no doubt.

"But there is no telling when the drought will be resolved. It could take months, or a year. So I've also thought of some ways to reduce our losses."

With that, Xu Chuan picked up several sheets of draft paper from the desk, covered in drawings and written annotations.

"Take a look first."

The brothers leaned their heads together and looked through the pages one by one. Their eyes grew brighter, and the smiles on their faces gradually widened.

Xu Mingwei's eyes shone with excitement. "Father, you're incredible!"

"With these designs for waterwheels and pipes, we only need to recruit some people to build them, and we can greatly reduce the losses to our rice harvests. The same goes for the fruit and vegetables in our fields and wooded hills. We can also make full use of the newly recruited servants' labor rather than letting it go to waste."

"Using this black gauze to block direct sunlight is a very novel idea, but can it really absorb heat?" Xu Mingwei was delighted, though a little curious too.

He had thought the drought would cause considerable losses to the Xu Household's businesses.

But if all of Xu Chuan's methods worked, the drought would affect them by no more than ten or twenty percent. In fact, the drought would drive up the prices of all kinds of goods.

The Xu Household could earn several times more than usual.

"Those little hand-cranked fans should sell well too. Oh, and we have our secret ice-making recipe. Pair the two together, and they're sure to sell like wildfire."

The Xu Household only secretly mined a little saltpeter each summer.

They kept it strictly confidential, and no one had discovered it.

Xu Chuan smiled. "Be careful to keep it secret. I would rather give up this business than let anyone discover it. After all, that stretch of wooded hills and its mineral deposits do not belong to the Xu Household yet."

"I know what matters, Father," Xu Mingyuan assured him with a smile.

"Go get to work."

"Yes, Father." Both men clasped their hands in salute, took the draft papers, and left the study.

Xu Chuan left shortly afterward too, heading to the Jade-Cold Pool to check on the medicinal herbs.

More than ten mu of Medicine Field had been cleared there, dedicated entirely to growing rare medicinal herbs.

At twenty years of age, any one of them would be worth at least ten or twenty taels, while the most precious would fetch forty or fifty.

If all the herbs in those ten mu of Medicine Field were harvested, their value would be considerable.

But Xu Chuan had not cleared the Medicine Field and cultivated the herbs to sell them for money. He intended to refine medicines, prepare Medicinal Cuisine, and the like.

The spiritual energy here was denser than elsewhere, which would also make the herbs grow somewhat faster.

Besides the herbs, a small tree grew there as well.

It stood a little over half a zhang tall, with an arm-thick trunk and lush green leaves.

It had grown from a seed taken from the hard black fruit Xu Mingwei had brought back, which they had cut open and planted.

Xu Chuan diligently studied medicine and Medicinal Cuisine recipes, researching the properties of many herbs.

After several months of effort, he had improved the Dragon Elephant Sect's secret Medicinal Cuisine recipe for martial artists, making it suitable for the vast majority of them while increasing its efficacy by thirty or forty percent.

However, its effects were potent, so it could only be consumed once every three days.

And because the secret Medicinal Cuisine was precious, it was currently supplied only to Xu Mingyuan and a few others.

As for the Xiantian Medicinal Cuisine, Xu Chuan was still attempting to improve it. For now, the two men used the Dragon Elephant Sect's Xiantian Medicinal Cuisine to aid their cultivation.

When the many aristocratic clans of Qingjiang County learned that the Xu Household was actually indulging its charitable impulses by taking in large numbers of people and buying up land, they all scoffed. They mocked its shallow foundations and utter lack of experience in dealing with disasters.

After all, with this drought, it was already a blessing to avoid dismissing workers or suffering losses. Yet the Xu Household was doing the exact opposite, becoming the laughingstock of Qingjiang's aristocratic clans for a time.

Dongxi Village.

The Bai household.

Bai Fu and his son Bai Hua had partnered with Bai Fang's husband's household to rent over a hundred mu of farmland and grow fruit and vegetables.

Because of their ties to the Xu Household through marriage, Xu Mingyuan had waived the rent on their stall in the West Market.

Their business had developed quite well over the past year or two.

They had gone from an ordinary peasant household to a modestly wealthy one.

In the first half of this year, they had even pooled their money to buy the hundred-odd mu they had been renting, then rented another hundred mu.

Who could have imagined that less than two months later, before their fruit, vegetables, and crops were ready for harvest, a drought would strike?

And it was a great drought, the likes of which had not been seen in a century.

Now, both households had gathered at Bai Fu's home to discuss the matter.

Everyone's brows were tightly furrowed and their faces dispirited, looking as wretched as if they had swallowed yellow earth.

"Father-in-law, what do you think we should do about this?"

Bai Fu sat and took a puff from his pipe, saying nothing.

"Brother-in-law, what are you trying to say? You agreed readily enough back then. How can you blame my father now?" A trace of displeasure showed in Bai Hua's eyes. "We all pooled our money. Naturally, we should shoulder any problems together."

"Besides, both our households earned quite a bit over the past two years. This loss may be considerable, but it won't leave us unable to get by."

Bai Fang hurriedly said, "Hua, your brother-in-law is just anxious. The Zeng Household has many mouths to feed and heavy expenses, after all. You should be more understanding."

"Why don't you go speak to our eldest sister? She dotes on you most. She's the mistress of the Xu Household now. As long as she's willing to lend a hand, it shouldn't be difficult."

"I heard the Xu Household has been buying land lately. Why don't we sell it to them at the original price?"

Bai Hua immediately snapped, "Second Sister, do you know what land is worth now?"

"Ordinary people can barely survive. What use is land to them?"

"And you want our eldest sister to take it off our hands at the original price? How can you even bring yourself to ask? Go yourself if you want. I'm not going!"

"Besides, our eldest sister never meddles in the Xu Household's outside affairs. You know that well enough."

"It's our eldest brother-in-law who makes the decisions."

Bai Fang grew displeased as well. Her face flushed as she began arguing. "But you were the one who started this. If you won't speak to her, who will? Are we supposed to just swallow the losses this time?"

"There's a drought now, and no one knows when it will end. The longer it goes on, the harder life will become. Our households aren't like the Xu Household, with its vast holdings and businesses. We can't afford to bear this."

"Enough. Stop arguing."

Bai Fu gave a cold snort and tapped his pipe against the tabletop, scattering a shower of sparks.

"I'll go speak to her. Will that do?"

"I'll go right now."

With that, Bai Fu rose and walked unsteadily toward the Xu Household.

The Xu Household's newly built mansion was no longer on the site of its original small courtyard. Instead, they had chosen a secluded spot far from the village.

After all, they needed a large expanse of land, and they could hardly tear down other people's homes.

Bai Fu walked for over half an hour before reaching the Xu Household's gates. He looked up at the grand mansion and spacious grounds, his eyes filled with both gratification and emotion.

When he had agreed to Xu Chuan's marriage proposal, it was because he valued the man's skill at farming. Married to him, Bai Jing would at least never lack food or drink.

Who could have imagined that in little more than a decade, he would raise the Xu Household to heights Bai Fu could not even conceive of?

On the day the Xu Household founded its clan, almost every aristocratic clan and wealthy merchant in Qingjiang had attended.

What a magnificent occasion it had been!

"Old Master Bai, you're here! Have you come to see the household head or the mistress?"

"My daughter."

As he spoke, he walked straight through the gates. No one stopped him along the way, and every maid and manservant he encountered greeted him, not daring to show the slightest neglect.

He had visited when Xu Dezhao was born and for his full-month banquet, so he naturally knew the way.

"Father, how did you find time to come today? Are you here to see Zhao?" Bai Jing was pleasantly surprised.