Ye Shiqi felt secretly smug in her heart. Her space could prevent pests, mosquitoes, and increase the growth of crops, which was better than any high-tech invention. Eating them would not only promote health, but they were also free of pesticides.
"Qing, I’ve heard that the mountain is going to be planted with your cultivated Bull Power? And it takes five years to grow?"
Tang Shunyan had always been observing the youngest sister, Qing. For some reason, since the first time he saw her, she was the first person he thought of whenever he planned to visit the wet nurse, and he was especially concerned about her.
"Yes, if planted well, it might be possible to harvest in three or four years. Medicinal herbs should be the same as crops, just needing careful cultivation."
Ye Shiqi hoped that her Space Water could accelerate the growth of crops, so that Bull Power might grow a bit faster, saving a year or two of labor, and perhaps offer a surefire profit.
The guards brought by Tang Shunyan had already started to carry the picked fruits down the mountain, and they were also preparing to descend.
They came to visit relatives this time but did not expect to partake in a wedding feast. Fortunately, they brought plenty of gifts for visiting, and luckily they arrived early, allowing the host family to add more tables on time.
The guards were full and energetically carried baskets of oranges to the carriage, waiting there for the young Master.
Tang Shunyan was not in a hurry to leave, and strolled around the Ye family estate with the sisters.
He discovered new thatched houses and entered out of curiosity, surprised to find plants being cultivated inside, and as a young master, he found it very novel.
This made him think of his own family’s estates, which included tea plantations where they cultivated young saplings, but the saplings were especially prone to dying in the winter.
Seeing the plants inside the thatched house gave him great inspiration.
He planned to discuss this matter with his father or grandfather upon returning home.
Tang Shunyan then asked the sisters to take him to the neighboring estate to take a look.
The neighboring estate was even busier than this one. They had started to clear the mountainside to plant saplings, and the adjacent fields were also being prepared for cultivating rice seedlings.
Workers were already plowing the fields with oxen, and while other fields in the village had not yet been turned over, these two estates were bustling with activity.
Tang Shunyan, curious, asked, "Why are there so many people working in your two estates? Don’t they have their own fields to tend?"
"Many workers here do not own any land. More are those who previously rented land from a rich man, but this year the rich man repossessed the land, leaving them without fields to farm, so they must work."
Ye Fengqi, the Fourth Sister, answered promptly.
"Then what do they eat? Working cannot feed a whole family, can it?"
Tang Shunyan had yet to comprehend why, amid so many fields in this village, there were farmers without any land of their own.
"They clear new land during idle times, and they should have a bit of dry land, but they must wait for a rainy period to plant it."
Ye Xinqi, the Third Sister, also joined the conversation.
"Don’t those farmers have oxen? How can they cultivate the land?"
Tang Shunyan had become a curious little fellow.
"They manually dig the earth, of course. You see, buying oxen for farming in these two estates cost us quite a sum!"
Ye Shiqi heard that when they purchased the Meng Family’s Mansion, they also bought two oxen from the estate, along with some chickens and ducks, which were bought conveniently.
"Are you cultivating medicinal herbs on that mountain? Are you also raising chickens and ducks there?"
During his previous visit to this estate, Tang Shunyan had seen not only bees being kept but also many small animals, such as rabbits, cows, pigs, chickens, and ducks.
Especially under the fruit trees, where there were notably many chickens and ducks, it resembled a breeding farm.
"Of course we do. The medicinal herbs we grow are useful for their roots, and they also attract insects, so keeping chickens among them provides fertilizer for the seedlings."
Although Ye Shiqi had never actually cultivated such medicinal herbs, she knew their roots were useful, yet such herbs took several years to grow.
They would definitely need some branches or bamboo sticks to support the young saplings, especially during typhoon seasons. A lot of care would be needed for high-quality medicinal herbs.
After a month, when the young saplings were planted on the mountain, the workers would continue to be busy.
Ye Shiqi had already explained the simple matters to her uncle, a farmer who could easily learn and didn’t need much instruction from her to do a good job.
"I heard that your roadside estate hasn’t generated income yet. What’s the use of such a big fish pond and houses?"
Tang Shunyan, who had been wanting to ask about this from his previous visits, knew they had been secretive. Now that it was well developed, it shouldn’t require secrecy.
How the estate operates was something the other sisters were not quite clear about. They knew that it was now beautifully constructed, even more so than their own home, but how it made money was unknown to them.
The family had been discussing this matter, yet the sisters did not understand.
This youngest sister hadn’t explained it very clearly to them, so at the moment, they listened silently with curious eyes.
When Ye Shiqi heard this little boy ask, she laughed. Her intentions for constructing that estate were clear only to her.