The Ace Bigshot Becomes A Farmgirl

Chapter 1354: Chapter 1354: Signing the Contract

”Of course, if you are tight on funds, you can temporarily owe the money. After the sunflowers are planted, we can deduct the cost of the seeds.”

As Shu Yu finished speaking, the villagers began to discuss quietly.

In the end, three families decided to buy on credit, while the rest all paid upfront.

Shu Yu wasn’t surprised and soon asked about the land area they intended to plant.

Since it was the first time planting, half of the people decided to plant just one or two mu. Shu Yu didn’t mind, as she would buy based on weight and quality.

The other half, the smallest choice being Aunt Liang’s, decided to plant three mu.

The most ambitious was a young man named Daqiang mentioned by Aunt Liang. His family had ten mu of land and planned to plant all of it with sunflowers, leaving only six fen for vegetables.

Shu Yu was a bit taken aback and looked at Daqiang, ”Are you sure?”

Daqiang nodded, ”I’m sure.”

The soil on his family’s land wasn’t very good. When they had fertile land, it was exchanged forcibly by a wealthy landlord due to its convenient location.

Since his grandfather’s generation, they had only been able to work poor-quality land, and life had gotten progressively harder.

In his generation, they had plenty of land, but the yields were poor; neither he nor his elder brother, both in their twenties, had been able to marry.

His brother had gone to the prefecture to find work, and he wanted to go too, but unfortunately, he couldn’t leave due to elderly parents and a twelve-year-old sister at home.

Because of this, he couldn’t go to the workshop to work, but staying on these ten mu of land was very stifling.

He was the first to consider planting sunflowers. Since he wasn’t familiar with the Lu family, he asked his neighbor Aunt Liang, as Uncle Liang had been working with Lu Erbai.

As a result, Aunt Liang was convinced as well, and word spread from one to another, leading to twelve households deciding to plant sunflowers.

But Shu Yu was very happy; she was quite impressed by this Daqiang.

”If no one has any issues, I’ll start writing the contract. After Daniu brings the seeds, if you have any questions, you can ask him. But he will only stay in Shangshi Village at the beginning, and soon he’ll have to go back to the Manor. After that, if you have questions, you can ask my Eldest Uncle.”

”Alright.” Daqiang was the first to nod.

Shu Yu then asked Ying Xi to fetch pen, ink, paper, and inkstone from the carriage and began writing the contract in front of everyone.

She wrote down the key points and then filled in the mu each person planned to plant.

Finally, they pressed their fingerprints on it.

Shu Yu kept the contracts safely. Seeing that it was getting late, she stood up and said, ”Alright, everything’s settled. When you return, first level the land. I hope everyone has a good harvest.”

After signing the contracts, people felt both nervous and excited as they left the Lu family home, with an added sense of confusion, uncertain if today’s decision was right.

However, after planting one crop and receiving their first payment—which was double what they earned from growing grains—they began to feel glad about today’s decision.

Afterwards, more and more people began planting sunflowers. Gradually, the entire Shangshi Village and even the neighboring villages became a sea of golden blooms, and sunflowers slowly became a specialty of Jiangyuan County.

Shu Yu, holding the contracts, returned to Lu Dasong’s home. By this time, everyone had rested enough and was discussing returning home.

Even the old lady was much more spirited, but Father Zhou, not much of a drinker, was still groggy after a nap.

In his condition, he clearly couldn’t drive the carriage, and Second Zhou couldn’t drive either.

In the end, the Zhou family decided to leave with Shu Yu’s group since they’d be passing through their village on their way back to the county town.