Chapter 258: So Much Silver?

Everyone stared expectantly at Gu Fei. This price would determine their earnings from the harvest.

Gu Fei thought for a moment. ’It takes about seven to eight pounds of fresh chili peppers to make one pound of dried ones. Since dried peppers sell for two hundred wen, thirty wen for fresh ones is the perfect price.’

Gu Fei announced, "Thirty wen."

Mrs. Chen’s eyes widened. "Thirty wen? Isn’t that too expensive?"

"We’ve only picked from four *mu* of land and we already have this much. Just how much money will that sell for!"

Gu Fei did the math. These four thousand pounds alone would come out to one hundred and twenty taels of silver.

Upon hearing this number, Chen Shi was rendered speechless. "That can’t be right. How can farming earn you this much silver?"

"In past years, we grew corn and wheat, and the annual yield from one *mu* of land was only about two or three taels of silver."

One *mu* of land had yielded thirty taels of silver, and that wasn’t all. Mrs. Chen estimated that in the fields they had already picked, there were still flowers and immature peppers. They could probably harvest about the same amount again.

’By that calculation, wouldn’t one *mu* of land yield fifty or sixty taels of silver?’

’Her family had planted chili peppers on all twenty *mu* of their land. Wouldn’t that mean they could earn one thousand taels of silver?!’

Mrs. Chen shook her head. "No, you must have calculated it wrong."

Little Uncle also chimed in, "How could there be that much? If there really is, then I’m going to be rich!"

He was the only able-bodied worker in his family and had planted three *mu* of chili peppers. He had spent every single day in the fields, worried he wasn’t tending to them properly.

Eldest Aunt’s family had more people, so they had planted seven *mu*.

Eldest Aunt’s husband also knew his numbers. He remained silent, calculating in his head.

Gu Fei also began to suspect she had made a mistake, so she took out paper and a brush to calculate it again. There was no error—it was indeed one hundred and twenty taels of silver.

Beside her, Gu Zhang had taken out an abacus and was flicking the beads.

In the end, they all came to the same conclusion: the amount was correct. There was no mistake!

Gu Zhang said hesitantly, "Little Fei, isn’t this price we’ve set a bit too high?"

Gu Fei chuckled. "Dad, we have an exclusive business here. This is me being generous."

"Besides, don’t just look at how expensive it is this year. By next year, if more people start planting them, it won’t be this price anymore. It’ll probably sell for just a few wen a pound."

"Wait a few more years, when chili pepper seeds have spread everywhere, and it might be one wen a pound—and people might still think that’s too expensive."

"Think about it. Chili peppers are just another vegetable. How much does Chinese cabbage sell for per pound?"

Mrs. Chen thought about it and realized she was right. Chinese cabbage was just one wen a pound.

Gu Zhang nodded. "In other words, we can only make a huge profit this year, and we can’t expect this much in the future."

Gu Fei nodded vigorously.

Little Uncle looked at Eldest Aunt’s husband. "Brother-in-law, pinch me."

Eldest Aunt’s husband happily obliged, pinching Little Uncle without hesitation. Little Uncle yelped "OW!" and jumped up. "It’s not a dream! I’m not dreaming! My three *mu* of land can earn me over a hundred taels of silver!"

"Good heavens! I never thought I’d earn this much silver in my entire life!"

Gu Fei smiled, pressing her lips together. "Don’t get too excited yet, Little Uncle. We can’t use this many fresh chili peppers right now. We’ll wait until they’ve all turned red, then pick them and dry them. We’ll sell the dried ones."

Eldest Aunt’s husband couldn’t help but ask, "Did Young Master Zhu really say he’d buy as many chili peppers as we can grow?"

Gu Fei nodded, then added, "But we can’t sell them all to him. We need to keep enough dried chili peppers for our own use for the year."

Gu Fei turned to look at Gu Zhang. "Dad, I have an idea. Even though Eldest Aunt’s family, Little Uncle’s family, and our family don’t have to worry about silver for now, the village chief’s house, Eldest Uncle’s family, and Uncle Zhang’s family are all still struggling. Every household is in debt."

"I’m planning to teach everyone how to make a certain snack to sell in Ping’an City. If they do it well, I figure they could earn a good half-tael, maybe even a full tael of silver a day."