Li Shi obediently extended her arm for the doctor to take her pulse. The doctor stroked his beard and carefully examined her pulse, then quickly withdrew his hand, smiling and congratulating her, “Congratulations, Madam! The First Madam is pregnant, almost two months along.”

Zhulan paused, then smiled and said, “Another member has joined the family. Good news! Liu Ya, give the doctor congratulatory money.”

Zhulan kept her spare change in a box for the past six months, and she trusted Liu Ya much more now. Liu Ya could now handle money, something that wasn’t allowed before.

The doctor received one tael of silver as a congratulatory gift and another tael for the house call. After explaining the precautions pregnant women need to take, Steward Ding saw the doctor off.

Li Shi only recovered after the doctor left. “So I am really pregnant.”

Zhulan noticed Li Shi’s poor condition; Li Shi was indeed under considerable pressure. Although Li Shi, like Wu Chun’s wife Wu Shi, was a loud-voiced peasant woman, Wu Chun was a general personally appointed by the Emperor and the second-in-command of the garrison. Even if someone looked down on Wu Shi, no one dared to say it to her face.

Li Shi was different. Her eldest son had no official position or academic achievements, so Li Shi’s confidence ultimately came from her. Despite her carefree nature, Li Shi also experienced anxiety, which intensified with the impending arrival of Zhao Shi and Dong Shi.

Zhulan tried to be kind to Li Shi, saying, “Now that you’re pregnant, just tell the kitchen what you want to eat, and tell your mother what you want to buy, and I’ll find it for you.”

As she spoke, Zhulan gestured for Liu Ya to bring over the money box. Zhu Lan opened the box and took out two five-tael silver ingots, handing them to Li Shi.

“Take this ten taels of silver. There are many shops on the street now, including those run by foreign merchants. Buy whatever you like.”

Zhulan felt that giving Li Shi money would improve her mood, and she had given Li Shi a lot of money over the past six months, but Li Shi stubbornly refused to spend it.

Holding the two silver ingots, Li asked, “Mother, can I really spend them?”

“Of course you can!”

Li burst into tears again. “Mother, you’re so good to me.”

Zhulan was silent. Li Shi’s emotions were fluctuating wildly. Sigh, her usually innocent and simple-minded daughter-in-law had become a crying baby under pressure. “Alright, it’s getting late; you should all go back and rest!”

Boss Zhou, still basking in the joy of becoming a father again, said, “Don’t cry, let’s go back and rest.”

Li Shi dodged Boss Zhou’s hand. “I’ll hold the silver myself, take your hand away.”

Boss Zhou was speechless.

He just wanted to support his wife.

ZhulLan chuckled. Even now, she was still thinking about the silver; it seemed her anxiety wasn’t too severe.

Half an hour later, Zhou Shuren returned. Zhulan asked, “What did you eat at the yamen tonight?”

Zhou Shuren washed his face, “Lord Chen’s preparations were naturally excellent. Their Jiangnan chef is truly superb.”

Zhulan had also eaten at Lord Chen’s house before; the food was indeed exquisite and delicious. Among the officials of Lizhou City, Lord Chen was the wealthiest. He wasn’t just a nouveau riche; he was genuinely wealthy. His family possessed a vast collection of books, including many rare and valuable ones, some worth tens of thousands of taels of silver. Not counting the books accumulated over generations, his estates in Jiangnan were numerous. Zhulan had always thought he only had one tea plantation, but it turned out Lord Chen owned two.

Add to that his shops and residences, and Lord Chen was truly rich.

Speaking of which, Lord He’s family also had money, but it was his wife who had it, thanks to his father-in-law.

Zhulan said softly, “The Emperor definitely hoped they would donate money out of their own pockets, but you stabilized the situation and didn’t manage to outmaneuver them.”

Zhou Shuren changed his clothes: “Why do I feel the Emperor would rather confiscate their property?”

Zhulan: “You’re right.”

Zhou Shuren stretched his back. “The autumn harvest has begun. The tax collection is arranged today, so we can have a day or two of peace.”

“I thought you would write a memorial to apply for a tax exemption this year, but I didn’t expect you to apply for a 10% tax.”

Zhou Shuren said, “It’s not good to exempt them directly. If you exempt them this year, they’ll want to continue exempting them next year. If you only collect 10% this year, they won’t be unwilling to collect an additional 0.5% next year. But if you exempt them directly and then collect 15%, there will be a lot of complaints.”

Zhulan sighed, “That’s human nature.” She changed the subject. “This year we dug ponds, so there’s enough water for irrigating the fields. It’s also been a year of favorable weather. This year is a bumper harvest.”

When the seeds were distributed, each household had one-third sweet potato seeds, one-third potato seeds, and the remaining one-third was divided into half corn and half soybeans, etc.

Even if they only paid 10% tax this year, although they wouldn’t have enough to eat, at least they wouldn’t go hungry.

Zhou Shuren not only went to the outskirts of the city but also to several nearby counties. This year’s harvest was indeed bountiful. He even went to see the fattened pigs, because he could get pig feed from the government office. The pigs were all growing well. Indeed, every seven days, special yamen runners would go door-to-door, so the people wouldn’t dare to misappropriate the pig feed.

He didn’t even need to look for merchants; merchants came to his door. Sausages were popular, and pork was always in short supply.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren lay down. Just before falling asleep, Zhulan remembered that she had forgotten to tell Zhou Shuren that he had another grandson or granddaughter. Oh well, she’d tell him tomorrow.

The next day, Zhou Shuren heard the news and said he knew, and that was it. In Zhou Shuren’s heart, there was another grandson. Raising another grandson meant preparing another dowry; having another granddaughter meant preparing another dowry!

Time flew, and the autumn harvest was over in the blink of an eye. Zhulan’s family didn’t plant potatoes or sweet potatoes; instead, they grew corn, wheat, and rice. The land in Lizhou City was truly not as fertile as in the Northeast, and the grain yield was incredibly low.

If Lizhou City didn’t develop other industries, even without war, it would be at the bottom of all the directly governed prefectures.

Zhulan’s family didn’t sell any of their grain; they dried it and stored it in the granary.

Zhou Shuren’s taxes were also collected. One-tenth of the grain wasn’t much, but Zhou Shuren stipulated that one-third of the grain should be sweet potatoes, one-third potatoes, and the remaining one-third corn or something else; they weren’t allowed to hand over only sweet potatoes or potatoes.

The main reason was that sweet potatoes and potatoes couldn’t be stored in the granary; they would sprout by the end of the year.

Zhulan looked at Zhou Shuren with a frown. “Haven’t the grain taxes been collected? What are you still worried about?”

Zhou Shuren said quietly, “The taxes have been collected, but most of them are sweet potatoes and potatoes. I was thinking of sending someone with silver to learn how to make vermicelli, and then teaching some merchants who want to start a vermicelli business. Of course, they can teach for free, provided they exchange grain for potatoes and sweet potatoes from the granary.”

Zhulan liked eating Suan La Fen, and she also liked potato noodles.

“You’ve already thought it all through,” she said. “So why are you still worrying?”

Zhou Shuren smiled. “I’m worried about who to send with the silver to learn it. Choosing the right person isn’t easy.”

When Zhulan thought about it, she realized he was right. She reached out and patted Zhou Shuren on the shoulder.

“That’s something I can’t help you with,” she said. “You’ll have to think it over slowly on your own.”

(End of Chapter)