Transmigrated As A Scholar Chapter 72 Part 1

Chapter 72

Following the mourning period, two golden osmanthus trees were transplanted in the front courtyard. When first planted, their leaves were withered and yellow, constantly falling. During the summer, Qiao Hezhi had people water them daily. This year, upon entering autumn, the trees unexpectedly revived all at once, their leaves lush and green, and now the entire trees were fragrant with blossoms.

Qiao Hezhi held a tightly woven small basket, picking the osmanthus flowers. The golden osmanthus was intensely fragrant and bloomed abundantly. He planned to collect the flowers to make some osmanthus rice cakes. He would first turn the osmanthus into osmanthus paste, then use glutinous rice and raisins—the flavor was sure to be excellent.

Last year, the family had no osmanthus trees of their own. Qiao Hezhi had wished to brew some osmanthus wine, but when the flowers were at their peak, the household was swamped with affairs. By the time he had a free moment, the osmanthus sold in the markets was already gone. The scant leftovers were of poor quality. This year, upon entering autumn and seeing the osmanthus fragrance filling the air, his very first thought was to gather the flowers himself.

Fang Yu was in the study organizing this year's autumn harvest accounts. Last year's autumn harvest came from forty-seven mu of land. After passing the provincial examination and becoming a juren, he was awarded another fifty mu. Later, after securing Qiao Hezhi's name on the scholar registry, Fang Yu purchased an additional fifty mu of land as a gift for him. Altogether, their combined land now totaled one hundred and forty-seven mu.

During the first year of observing mourning, one could not take up an official post nor go out to study. Banquets were limited to small gatherings of two or three people, and household meals were kept simple. His time suddenly became very ample, so he set about properly managing the family's land and properties.

Before the new year, all their land was leased out to tenant farmers. Fang Yu also directed the building of a small manor on their property. This served several purposes: firstly, it facilitated managing the tenant farmers; secondly, it made collecting grain during the autumn harvest easier; thirdly, the manor could also raise some chickens, ducks, and livestock.

This year, after the chickens, ducks, and geese grew up, they began laying eggs. The household had many fresh eggs to eat. With an overabundance of eggs, they also made salted eggs, preserved eggs, and other agricultural products. They sold relatively few, but these items proved quite useful as gifts.

As a juren, land under two hundred mu was exempt from taxes. Externally, this year was considered a minor bumper harvest. When the manor submitted the account books one by one, Fang Yu calculated with an abacus and found this year's net profit exceeded four hundred taels of silver. In truth, the gross profit was far more than this. However, this year over one hundred taels were invested in raising livestock, digging fish ponds, releasing fry, etc., and over eighty taels were spent on building the manor.

Building a manor should have been far more expensive, but the labor came at no cost. All the manpower was provided by the tenant farmers' families, who contributed their efforts to construct the buildings. Only materials like timber and roof tiles had to be purchased.

While it was customary for tenant farmers to help the landlord with tasks, Fang Yu wished to encourage greater loyalty and initiative. During that year's harvest, he granted each tenant household a small bonus of extra grain—calculated according to the amount of land they worked and the yield they produced—on top of their usual share.

Although the extra grain wasn't much, it was very effective in winning over the tenant farmers' hearts. When delivering the grain, the manor's steward didn't even need to ask—the tenant farmers proactively came forward to settle accounts.

Aside from the initial land income, the two salt shops awarded to him could also earn one to two hundred taels per month. Industries monopolized by the court were truly the profitable ventures.

Seeing that the income from the land, businesses, and all the ventures he had built up himself was sufficient to cover expenses with a surplus, he felt considerably more at ease. Finally, he no longer had to rely on Qiao Hezhi to subsidize household expenses. He felt like a tenant farmer who had finally lifted his head, free to sing his own tune.

He closed the account book and tilted his head to see the person outside the window stretching to pick osmanthus from the tree. He smiled, then simply propped his elbow on the desk and watched the person in the warm sunlight.

Perhaps sensing the intense gaze, Qiao Hezhi turned around. Spotting Fang Yu in the study, trying to hide a smile, he called out, "Instead of coming to help me, you choose to lounge there and watch? Do you still want to eat osmanthus cakes or not?"

"Eat, of course I want to eat."

Qiao Hezhi looked at the smiling person. Seeing there was already quite a bit of osmanthus in the basket, he handed it to Siyu and walked towards the study: "Just idle around here then. In a couple of days, it'll be time to report to the academy."

"I haven’t been idling," Fang Yu replied with a light chuckle, then sighed softly. "A whole year has gone by in the blink of an eye. No wonder they say the prime of youth slips away so quickly."

As he spoke, Fang Yu gently picked off an osmanthus flower that had landed on Qiao Hezhi's head: "However, our young master is in the prime of youth. Although I see you every day, today I suddenly feel you've grown much taller."

"Where have I grown taller? Last year when those two golden osmanthus trees were planted, I only reached that tree fork. This year, I still only reach that tree fork. I couldn't even pick the osmanthus; just now when I rolled up my sleeves, the branches scratched my arm."

Fang Yu pulled him closer and indeed saw a two-inch-long red mark scratched on the lower part of Qiao Hezhi's forearm. Against his fair, unblemished skin, the red mark stood out sharply. "You should have told me sooner," he said, his voice laced with concern. "Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt. The skin isn't even broken, just a bit red and swollen."

"Come, I remember there's some wound medicine in the drawer. Applying it will help it heal faster. It wouldn't be good if it left a scar."

Fang Yu poured a cup of chrysanthemum tea for him to sit and drink while he rummaged through boxes and cabinets looking for the medicine. He rarely got bumps or scrapes. It was mostly from practicing horse riding before, where he often fell and got hurt. So, he used to keep medicinal wine and ointments ready in his room and study. But after becoming proficient at riding, he hardly used them anymore. For a moment, he couldn't remember where he had put them.

He was just wondering whether to call Xuezhu in and ask when suddenly—click—his hand resting on the edge of the desk pressed a hidden latch underneath. Immediately, a few books clattered to the floor.