Manbao looked at him.
Zhou Silang glanced around, then asked with a mysterious air, "Manbao, what do you think about me bringing back the remaining herbs from home to sell here?"
"There isn’t much left at home, is there?"
"Not much, but we can plant more," Zhou Silang said. "Ginger can be planted in vegetable gardens and also in sandy soil. Many of the dry fields in the village are ; they’re no good for planting wheat, and the bean yields are low. Ginger would be perfect."
"In the past couple of years, since our family started making money growing ginger, quite a few families in the village have been thinking of planting it in large quantities. I’ve noticed that here in Yizhou, people use far more ginger than in Luojiang County," he said.
Manbao said helplessly, "Silang, ginger requires more fertile soil than beans; if you plant ginger in poor soil..."
"Well, it’s not us who will be planting. When they do it, they’ll naturally fertilize it themselves to make money," Zhou Silang said. "The real point is that there’s still time; if I go back and say something, we can plant another round in time for winter harvest. Then, I can come back every few days with a cartload."
Manbao thought about it and felt the idea was really good, "Ginger can be stored, and even if we can’t sell fresh ginger, we can grow it for another year and sell it dried the next."
"That’s right, it’s a surefire way to make money," Zhou Silang’s eyes shone. "There are also Ligusticum seeds—I’ve made arrangements with several pharmacy owners to sell them at a set price once they’re harvested in autumn. They want so much that our family can’t supply it all, so we could also get the villagers to help grow it. After all, every family has mountains."
"When the time comes, I’ll collect from them and then sell it in Yizhou City, and that way I’ll make another sum of money."
Manbao said, "Then you’ll also have to teach them how to process it."
Zhou Silang waved his hand and said, "That’s easy. When I go back, I’ll discuss it with my parents; if they want to learn, we’ll teach them. If not, I’ll buy it raw at a low price, and our family will do the processing."
"Then you should head back."
Zhou Silang was happy, and cheerfully said, "We’ve agreed then, I’ll head back now."
Leaning on her shoulder, Zhou Silang said, "Little sister, don’t worry. I’m just going back to give the message, I’ll be here again in a couple of days."
Manbao nodded, indicating she understood.
With Zhou Silang leaving, everyone’s first thought was, how would they manage their meals?
And feeding the horses?
Mr. Zhuang’s gaze swept back and forth over his three disciples, finally urging Zhou Silang, "Silang, make it a quick trip back."
Zhou Silang agreed, and then asked, "Do you guys have anything you need me to take back with me?"
Mr. Zhuang didn’t mention anything; he had been away from home for quite a while, and had not returned even for Tomb-Sweeping Day, so he really did have things to send back to his son.
And although Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang had just sent a letter home through Daji, they didn’t know that their own servant had delivered it, having assumed it was sent by travelling merchants, so they hadn’t sent any goods.
But now that Zhou Silang was returning home, they had many more things they wanted him to take back, though they asked Zhou Silang to bring even more with him when he returned.
Bai Shanbao said, "I’ve made a list of books, Silang, please give it to my grandmother so she can collect all those books for me and send them here. Also, my box of silver and my box of toys, I don’t want anything missing."
Bai Erlang had an equally long list of requests.
Initially indifferent, Manbao, upon hearing this, also began to make demands, "Silang, could you please bring me the box from the foot of my bed? It contains all the toys I’ve collected; and the books and stuff on my bookshelf, I’d like those brought over as well."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhuang became restless, "The books I left at the Bai Family are quite extensive. Since coming to Yizhou, I’ve had to use bookstores to read, which is very inconvenient. Moreover, when I came here, I only brought the simplest set of brush, ink, paper, and inkstone..."
Books were expensive, as were the Four Treasures of the Study.
Despite now earning more than before, Mr. Zhuang was reluctant to buy anew what he already owned.
Lately, he needed to read certain books and would go to the bookstore to read for free; naturally, having his own books would be ideal.
Everyone looked at Zhou Silang with anticipation.
Zhou Silang: ...Was he going home to lay the groundwork for a business, or was he going back to move house?
But facing the expectant gaze of his teacher and fellow disciples, what could he do but agree?
The next day, Zhou Silang left with a heavy heart, driving the horse cart, uncertain whether all the items would fit.
Daji, feeling particularly sympathetic, escorted him to the alleyway and then waved goodbye.
Mr. Zhuang was preparing for Bai Shanbao’s school enrollment.
There were two types of students in the prefectural school.
The residential ones who lived in the dormitory and the non-residential ones.
The majority of the students from outside the area would stay in the dormitory, paying a fraction of the rent compared to elsewhere, which was much cheaper.
Mr. Zhuang himself had lived there for many years.
Then there were those who lived outside, especially local students, who would naturally travel back and forth to their homes or rent places nearby.
Mr. Zhuang had initially wanted Bai Shan to stay in the dormitory too, but after a glance at the current environment there and learning from Lan Cheng how many special recruits were admitted this year, he decisively let Bai Shan stay at home instead.
Of course, the main reason was because Daji had come to have a talk with him.
Servants couldn’t enter the prefectural school, so Daji couldn’t get in.
If Bai Shan lived at the school, he could hardly go out freely; he would have to do his own laundry and cook his own meals. Of course, that wasn’t the main concern—the main issue was that if Bai Shan got into any danger, Daji wouldn’t know and couldn’t help him.
So Daji proposed that their young master live outside; that way he could still see him every morning and evening and know whether he was bullied or faced any danger.
After all, with the young master’s temperament, he was quite worried about him being trapped in a sack at the school.
Mr. Zhuang had long noticed that the Bai Family was particularly concerned about Bai Shan’s safety; otherwise, they wouldn’t have specifically placed Daji at his side.
Daji was neither a bookboy nor an ordinary servant; he had seen him fight on the rooftops.
So after a little thought, Mr. Zhuang agreed.
The list of successful candidates had been published, but there were still a few days left before the start of term enrollment.
Mr. Zhuang took Bai Shan to deal with the procedures, starting with registering his student status at the school supervisor’s office.
As a student officially admitted through regular channels, he was entitled to a monthly grain subsidy— not much, but enough for his personal needs.
For an average student, there could even be some left over.
This was another aspect of the imperial policy supporting education, only for students formally admitted to the prefectural school. Students recommended or even those without official status did not enjoy this benefit.
One of the reasons Mr. Zhuang insisted on being officially admitted to the prefectural school back then was precisely because of this benefit.
Not only did it provide access to the best educational resources in all of Jiannan, but he also had no need to pay tuition, and his living expenses were covered.
With some additional income from copying books and writing articles, one could even support a family.
Of course, Bai Shan, being only twelve and coming from a wealthy family, didn’t have to worry about this.