You Call This a Good Thing?

The woman in blue unconsciously tapped her fingertips against the table, her gaze resting on the floor without speaking for a long time. Sensing the village chief's conflict, Su Yuhe grew even more afraid.

She already expected it to be bad news. Otherwise, it would not have been so hard to say.

Su Yuhe's gaze landed on Little He, who was happily drinking his sugar water. Whatever this was, it did not seem to be bad news to him.

After thinking it over repeatedly, she spoke first. "Whatever it is, Village Chief, just tell me."

The village chief chose her words carefully. "The weather has been favorable these past two years, and the harvests have been good."

"I suppose. Not that I've seen grain getting any cheaper."

Besides, she did not farm, so the words "favorable weather" did not mean much to her.

All she could say was that the summers were not as hot as in modern times, and the winters were not as cold as they were now. Both summer and winter were tolerable.

The village chief continued, "A few days ago, the imperial preceptor predicted that the great freeze from over two hundred years ago would happen again. Growing grain will be difficult then."

Little He was young, but he interjected with an air of affected gravity. "Yes, yes. I often hear people talk about the great freeze over two hundred years ago. So many people froze to death, and so many starved."

Su Yuhe's heart lurched.

She had grown up in Jiangnan in her previous life, where there were typhoons every year, so she understood their destructive power well. Even in modern times, people could only take precautions, not withstand them. In the backward ancient era, their destructive power was even greater.

Reed Flower Village, where she lived now, was neither particularly close to nor particularly far from Jiangnan. During her two years here, the village had been affected to some degree during typhoon season, but no harm had been done.

The wind and rain had merely been a little stronger.

Typhoons picked places to make landfall, but the cold did not.

She thought of the Little Ice Age in modern history. She did not know much about it; her teacher had mentioned it briefly in class. Even Jiangnan, where snow was rare, had seen snowfall.

Su Yuhe hurriedly asked, "So you came to see me because...?"

"The court plans to build a granary to supply a city in times of need. Every household must contribute either money or labor. There are four people in your household, so that would be two taels of silver or five hundred double-hours of labor. The choice is yours."

Relieved to hear that it was a matter of money or labor, she did some serious calculations.

Five hundred double-hours meant a thousand hours. Even working a full twenty-four hours a day, it would take forty-two days-a month and a half.

Better to pay.

Su Yuhe put on a troubled expression and pondered for a long while before asking, "Is it definitely five mace per person? You won't collect more later, will you?"

The village chief fell silent. At her silence, Su Yuhe nearly let out a piercing shriek.

Seriously? Were they going to harvest her like chives, cutting her down again and again?

Amid the eerie silence, the village chief spoke again. "The village also needs to build a granary. Even with advance preparations, if the great freeze returns, there's no guarantee the city granary will have enough to go around. We need a backup plan for everything."

That was true.

Su Yuhe sought confirmation again. "Then can the city granary's fee be fixed at five mace, with nothing more collected?"

"I can't say for certain." The village chief's tone suddenly turned firm, and she gave Su Yuhe a resolute assurance. "But our village granary will absolutely only collect money once."

"How much labor would it take to cover the village's fee?"

Embarrassment suddenly appeared on the village chief's resolute face. "Not many households in the village are paying money. Most are contributing labor."

"Then how much would my household have to pay for the village granary?"

The village chief tentatively held up two fingers. Su Yuhe cried out, "Twenty taels? You might as well sell me! I'll contribute labor too."

"The same as the city's. Two taels of silver. Any surplus will be returned to you."

Su Yuhe did not believe it. How could there possibly be a surplus? Even if there really was, all sorts of expenses would come swarming in-everyone's meals, materials, fees for craftsmen hired from somewhere. She would be grateful if they did not collect money again.

Lu Mingyi tugged at the hem of her clothes and suggested quietly, "Mingyi has nothing to do at home. Why not just pay your share, wife, and let me work off the remaining hours?"

The village chief heard him too, and displeasure showed on her face. Lady Su's husband really had no sense of propriety. It was bad enough that he had not withdrawn while she discussed important matters with his wife, but he even dared to interrupt.

Su Yuhe's small hand partly enclosed his. She instinctively rubbed his ice-cold hand, then casually let it drop. "I can't come up with that much all at once."

The village chief understood. "If your household has grain, you can use that instead of money. We'll calculate it at market price. You won't lose out."

Ha-ha. How funny.

She did not farm. She bought her grain. Buying it and then selling it again might even leave her paying out of pocket.

"I've delivered the notice. I'll come back in a few days to collect the money. Give it some thought." The village chief stood, her gaze sweeping over Lu Mingyi. "Your husband is so pretty. Could you bear to send him out to do that rough work?"

Su Yuhe glanced at Lu Mingyi, then rose to see the village chief out.

She wanted a fair, tender little husband too, untainted by the poisonous chatter of the village's gossiping husbands. But with a few movements of her lips, the village chief wanted to pull four taels from her pocket. Suddenly, letting him go out to work and get a tan seemed quite nice.

Four taels of silver. A third of everything she was worth.

Once the granary was built, they would still have to collect grain. With no land of her own, wouldn't she have to buy it?

Everyone spoke of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants.

Now she finally understood the importance of farmland in an agrarian society.

Especially since there were sweet potatoes here. Their yield per mu was far greater than that of other crops. If she had one mu of land planted entirely with sweet potatoes, it would feed her for a long time.