A Blessed Daughter - Chapter 294

A Blessed Daughter
Chapter 294 – Going to the prefectural city to do business (2)

Translator : Virichime
Editor : Chu
This translation made by Virichime.
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“What about the manpower issue, Miss? If we acquire more land, we’ll certainly need more hands to work it,” Steward Yu asked further. At present, the estate’s workforce was just enough to manage their existing fields; adding more land would make them short-handed.

“Hire those landless peasants and refugees,” Wei Ruo replied.

“Hire refugees?” Steward Yu was taken aback.

Hiring peasants was understandable, but hiring refugees was surprising.

After thinking for a moment, Steward Yu cautiously said to Wei Ruo, “Miss, refugees have no fixed residence, and it’s difficult to determine their background. They’re hard to manage and can easily cause trouble…”

“I understand that it will require more effort and that the risks are greater than hiring local residents with known backgrounds, but I’m willing to try,” Wei Ruo said resolutely.

Wei Ruo had thought this through carefully. If she was willing to take this approach, it was because she had a plan. Even though managing refugees would be relatively challenging and prone to issues, she didn’t want to dismiss all of them outright due to fear of inconvenience.

After all, these people were the most vulnerable and in dire need of a way to support their families.

“Alright, I’ll start arranging everything right away,” Steward Yu responded and immediately began to take action.

Wei Ruo and Xiumei then accompanied Xu Zhushan to inspect the estate. The estate given by Madam Yuan was indeed superior to the average one, with fertile soil. The soil had already been tilled and was ready to be planted with the new wheat seeds Wei Ruo had brought.

-wheat seeds

When it came to sowing wheat at this time of year, many of the estate’s laborers expressed their doubts. They believed that wheat planted now would have difficulty growing well.

Although they were skeptical, they still completed the tasks assigned to them by the stewards.

Wei Ruo had no objections to their concerns. After all, it was already past the usual time for wheat planting. Their worries were understandable as long as they performed their duties properly.

After working on the estate for two days and arranging everything that needed attention, Wei Ruo took Xiumei to stroll through the streets of the prefectural city.

What appeared to be a leisurely outing was, in fact, a search for a suitable shop.

Ordinarily, as an outsider without any background, opening a shop in the prefectural city would have been difficult, even with money. However, with Madam Yuan as her backing, Wei Ruo was spared this obstacle.

Although this was far from the eyes of the authorities and the people at the Colonel’s Mansion wouldn’t find out, Wei Ruo was cautious and wore a veiled hat whenever she went out.

–veiled hat

After all, as a woman of noble birth, being concerned with farming matters was still acceptable, but opening a shop in the marketplace was entirely out of the question.

After two days of searching, Wei Ruo finally settled on two shops near Drunken Immortal Pavilion.

The shops were not cheap, but Wei Ruo found the location excellent and worth the price.

Wei Ruo loved money, but she never hesitated to spend it when it was worthwhile. One must be willing to take risks to achieve gains.

Wei Ruo planned to open a branch of Sibaozhai in one of the shops.

Items such as the Four Treasures of the Study always sold better in places where aristocrats and scholars gathered. The prefectural city was undoubtedly a more profitable location than the county town.

-Four Treasures of the Study

However, expanding to the prefectural city meant that her papermaking workshop would need to increase its production capacity.

The other three items of the Four Treasures of the Study were not produced in her workshop but sourced from other merchants she had partnered with. The supply of those items was sufficient. However, the paper was her own production and had limited output.

As a result, Sibaozhai had always sold paper in limited quantities, often bundling it with other products to boost overall sales.

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