PNB Chapter 75 Even a giant turtle can be sold for money
Chapter 75 Even a giant turtle can be sold for money
"Yes, you're right, I need to inform everyone right away." After saying that, he hurriedly left the room, completely ignoring what Song Jiaojiao said next.
Soon after, the sound of gongs rang out in the village. Song Jiaojiao had never seen the place where the village held a meeting before, so she thought she would go and take a look, just in case there was anything that had not been mentioned.
Upon hearing the gong, villagers gathered in twos and threes under the large willow tree in the center of the village. Due to the large population of the village, usually only one person from each household would attend a large meeting.
When Song Jiaojiao arrived, she saw the village chief standing under the willow tree, looking at the villagers with a happy expression. When he saw Song Jiaojiao arrive, he beckoned her to come forward.
Seeing that most people had arrived, the village chief cleared his throat and shouted loudly, "Quiet, quiet. Is everyone here? I've called everyone here at this time because I have something important to tell you."
The villagers looked at each other, wondering what the village chief was up to, but seeing his wide grin, they figured it couldn't be anything bad.
"That's right. I believe many people saw Jiaojiao catching the giant turtle a while ago. There were also rumors in the village that Jiaojiao's family's grain workshop was going to close down because they didn't have any grain. Many villagers even came to me to find out the truth."
As the village chief finished speaking, he glanced at the people who had come to him to gossip recently. Those whom the village chief saw all lowered their heads in unison.
The village chief snorted at the families making the fuss and continued, "What I'm going to talk about today is related to this giant turtle. Today, Jiaojiao went to town and sold the delicacies made with the giant turtle to Sifanglou. Sifanglou is now buying them for 5 coins per catty."
Before the village chief could finish speaking, the villagers collectively gasped.
How many?
How much did you say?
The incredulous villagers stared wide-eyed and asked, "Village chief, are you serious? Really 5 coins a pound?"
"Yes, that's five coins, enough to buy a pound of mixed grains."
"How is that possible? Those giant turtles are everywhere, how could anyone possibly collect them?"
……
Seeing the villagers talking amongst themselves, the village chief quickly shouted, "Quiet, quiet, let me finish."
Unfortunately, the effect was minimal, so the village chief had no choice but to strike the gong, which finally calmed everyone down.
"I know everyone finds this unbelievable, but don't get excited. Let me finish. Sifanglou has its requirements for acquiring Da'aozi: it must be at least two fingers' size, and it must be alive."
Moreover, we have to thank Jiaojiao for this. If she hadn't figured out how to eat the giant turtle and sold it to Sifanglou, you would have earned that income.
"As soon as Jiaojiao came back from town, she came to tell me without even taking a breath, asking me to inform everyone so they could catch the giant crab as soon as possible and earn this money. Otherwise, if everyone in the surrounding villages knows about it, who knows how much the Sifang Tower will charge?"
As soon as the village chief finished speaking, the villagers' eyes shifted from him to Song Jiaojiao. The feeling of being stared at made the socially awkward Song Jiaojiao wish she could disappear into a crack in the ground.
At this moment, Aunt Sun spoke up, "So Jiaojiao really caught those big turtles to eat!"
"Yes, when I saw Jiaojiao catching the big turtle, I wondered what she was doing. Jiaojiao said she was going to eat it, but I didn't believe her. I didn't expect it to be true."
"As expected of Jiaojiao, just like the offal before, everyone said that the stuff was not tasty, but I didn't expect it to change in Jiaojiao's hands. I still think about it now after eating it. I heard that it has been sold to Sifanglou, and a small plate of it costs 50 coins."
A villager who helped build Song Jiaojiao's house said,
"That's right, I don't know how there can be such a big difference between people." Thinking of Song Jiaojiao's cooking and comparing it to his own wife's, it was simply inedible. Many married men in the village shared the same sentiment.
The village chief felt a deep sense of empathy upon hearing this, but later, when his wife went to work as a kitchen helper at Song Jiaojiao's house, her cooking skills improved considerably.
"Alright, alright, now that everyone knows the news, let's all go our separate ways!"
The village chief was about to wave his hand to disperse the villagers when Song Jiaojiao, disregarding the embarrassment of being stared at, quickly spoke up.
"Wait a moment!"
The village chief and the villagers all looked at Song Jiaojiao, their faces filled with confusion.
Song Jiaojiao: Uh...
Song Jiaojiao clenched her fists, trying to make her voice sound calm. This feeling was just like being on stage in front of thousands of people at a school gala. How could she not be nervous?
Of course, Qingshui Village doesn't have that many people; at most, there are only about a hundred.
"Besides buying Da'aozi Sifanglou (a type of aquatic plant), we also need Shitouchong Sifanglou (another type of aquatic plant), but we didn't say how much. When you catch Da'aozi, you can also pick up Shitouchong if you see them. Keep them in water and change the water every day. After six or seven days, they will be able to expel the sand. Shitouchong that has expelled the sand will be priced slightly higher. Of course, we also need Shitouchong Sifanglou that hasn't expelled the sand."
Another commotion arose in the crowd.
What? You even collect stone worms?
The villagers felt a pang of heartache when they thought about the stone worms they had used to feed their chickens and ducks. Even if they only paid one coin for five catties, that would still be a lot of money, and those things were heavy.
The village chief didn't know that stone worms were also collected, but he vaguely remembered what Song Jiaojiao had said later. However, he was too excited to listen to anything she said.
Song Jiaojiao continued, "There's another thing. The village chief asked me to inquire about planting He Shou Wu (Polygonum multiflorum). I went to ask today, and Huichuntang said they do buy it, but only the processed kind. If any villagers are interested, they can register with the village chief. Planting He Shou Wu isn't difficult; it can be planted in the yard or along the edge of the soil. As long as you keep up with the fertilizer, it will grow quite well. After all, this stuff can grow in large patches even in the mountains."
This time, the villagers didn't cheer; they needed to prepare the food before they could harvest it, but the problem was that they didn't know how.
"Jiaojiao, we don't know how to process this Polygonum multiflorum! Even if we grow it, we won't be able to sell it."
"Yes, yes, we'd be better off catching more big giant turtles, they're only five coins a pound."
……
Seeing that everyone's enthusiasm was low, Song Jiaojiao spoke again, "I know that none of you know how to process herbs, so I came up with a plan. I plan to build another herb workshop to process and prepare medicinal herbs."
It's not that I don't want to tell you the method, but the manager of Huichuntang said that he will only buy qualified medicinal materials. He won't buy unqualified ones. I'm afraid that you won't be familiar with it and will waste the medicinal materials, which would be a waste of your time.
The processing of Polygonum multiflorum is not difficult, but it is time-consuming and requires human intervention.
After Song Jiaojiao finished speaking, the villagers began to discuss it.
When everyone heard that Song Jiaojiao was going to build a new workshop, they thought that planting some crops wouldn't be a bad idea. Didn't Jiaojiao say that crops could be planted anywhere, even if it was only a hundred or so kilograms, it could still be exchanged for a lot of things?