The Lucky Heiress

Her shop was poorly managed and the yield from both of her estates was unimpressive.

Although she had grown the late-ripening rice cultivar provided by Wei Ruo and also planted sweet potatoes in the mountainous areas of Xingshan County, both of her estates had relatively infertile soil. In particular, the five hundred acres she purchased near the city of Taizhou prefecture had compact soil, severely lacking fertility.

Initially, Madame Yun sought advice from Wei Ruo, who told her about soil improvement methods. However, due to cost considerations, Madame Yun did not make the significant effort nor investment in fertilization as advised by Wei Ruo.

Later, due to a lack of silver taels, Madame Yun even sold several of her servants, resulting in a shortage of labor for managing the estates.

Now that the harvest season was here, the yield from her own estates was only one-fifth of Wei Ruo’s, and even the generally easy-to-grow sweet potato yield was much lower, at only a thousand catties per acre.

This yield was far below Madame Yun’s expectations. According to this yield, it wouldn’t suffice for the government’s usage in the next year, let alone having a surplus to sell for silver coins.

Madame Yun had a throbbing headache and was so worried that she barely ate anything for several days.

“Madam, please don’t fret, it’s not worth ruining your health over this,” Cuiping advised seeing her distress.

“How can I not worry?” Madame Yun massaged her temples, her expression extremely gloomy.

“Madam, if you really can’t think of a solution, why not have a talk with Miss? Miss is very resourceful in such matters, maybe she has some ideas,” Cuiping suggested.

Madame Yun paused, mumbling, “She does have many ideas in these matters.”

Continuing, Cuiping added, “Madam, Miss is truly a good person. Though her way of doing things is different from that of most young ladies, this is what makes her unique.”

Madame Yun sneered lightly, “Indeed, she’s unique. But she is distant with me. I’m her mother, yet she always treats me like an enemy. I have her best interests at heart, but she always gives me the cold shoulder. Perhaps, I don’t have the motherly bond with her, it frustrates me whenever we talk.”

Cuiping tried to comfort her, “Madam, Miss’s differences with you are not major issues. You two are mother and daughter by blood, and blood is thicker than water. As long as you are good to Miss, she will eventually appreciate and grow close to you.”

Madame Yun did not quite agree with what Cuiping said and sighed, “Enough about this, go and call her here. I do have some things to ask her.”

“Yes,” Cuiping went to Tingsong Garden to fetch Wei Ruo.

Recently, Wei Ruo finally had some free time and was busy tending to the fruits and vegetables planted in the Tingsong Garden.

When Cuiping came to fetch her, Wei Ruo was not surprised. She had heard some rumors recently about the poor harvest from the two estates of the Military Prefecture and guessed that Madame Yun probably wanted to discuss this matter with her.

“I got it, I’ll go over there right away.” Wei Ruo got up to wash her hands.

Then she followed Cuiping to Tingsong Garden.

On their way, Cuiping unusually spoke more than a few words to Wei Ruo, “Miss, Madam really does care for you. But Madam grew up in the capital and she has many rules, she always hopes you could be as dignified and gentle as the ladies in the capital, so this created a lot of conflicts.”

“Are these your words or did she tell you to say this?” Wei Ruo asked.

“These are my words, Madam did not instruct me.”

“The conflict between her and me is much more than just differences in ideas, so spare your breath.”

“I overstepped.”

Cuiping dared to say no more.

When they arrived at Cangyun Garden, Madame Yun asked Wei Ruo to sit down and directly began asking about the autumn harvest, “I heard that Taizhou prefecture has received a rich harvest recently?”

“Roughly forty percent had bountiful harvests, twenty percent had average yields which were about the same as those in regular years, and the remaining forty percent had barely satisfactory results but slightly better than those of the last two years,” Wei Ruo replied honestly.

For this year’s grain production campaign, only about sixty percent of the farmers were willing to comply with the government’s arrangements and switch to Wei Ruo’s late-ripening rice variety and sweet potatoes.

Even within this sixty percent, some did not fully follow the fertilization and other management methods promoted by the Government Office and maintained their own methods. As a result, their harvest was somewhat lower, hence only forty percent of them had bountiful harvests.

“Unfortunately, the yields from the two estates of the Military Prefecture were just in the barely satisfactory forty percent you mentioned. Everyone knows about what you have done in Taizhou prefecture and people think highly of your talents. But now your own estates can’t even grow decent crops. If this gets out, I’m afraid it will be a laughing stock,” Madame Yun stated.

Wei Ruo smiled faintly, “Mother, if I recall correctly, you once asked me how to manage the estates and improve the yield. I gave you some improvement methods. But you didn’t follow my advice. Moreover, you sold several servants, which led to a shortage of labor and lack of management in the estates.”

“Don’t you know why I had to sell the servants on the estate? Could the situation at home at that time allow me to do as you said?” Madame Yun retorted.

Throughout this year, the Military Prefecture was severely strapped for cash, so Madame Yun saw herself as trying to cook a meal without rice.

On the contrary, Wei Ruo, with ample money at her disposal, had never thought about stepping in to help.

Therefore, when this matter was brought up, Madame Yun’s words were inevitably filled with resentment towards Wei Ruo.

“What does that have to do with me? I offered a solution, but you didn’t heed my advice. It’s not my negligence. As for how others view this matter, I don’t care. If they think I’m incompetent, they can just disbelieve me. The pioneer land-development activity for work-for-relief has progressed to this stage and those who participate can only continue believing in me. Any skepticism about my abilities would not benefit them in any way,” Wei Ruo calmly responded.

“You do see through things,” Madame Yun sarcastically “praised.”

“Or does Mother think I should care about these? Or do you think that the poor harvest of the estate is my fault?” Wei Ruo counter-questioned.

“How dare I blame you? Today I called you over just to ask if there’s any solution. I need your help, how can I blame you?” Madame Yun replied.

Though she said she wouldn’t dare blame her, her expression and tone were filled with blame for Wei Ruo’s “inaction.”

“The rice has already been harvested. If Mother asks me for a solution now, I’m afraid it’s too late to help,” Wei Ruo responded.

“For the fields you’re developing for work-for-relief, aren’t you about to plant wheat? If you could secure more fields for our home, then problem will be solved when we have surplus wheat half a year later, won’t it?” Madame Yun suggested.