Song Jinzhao had the other horse harnessed to a carriage as well.
With two carriages, they had almost emptied the house of all their daily necessities, leaving behind only large items like beds, cabinets, and chairs.
Looking at the now bare house, Old Man Song and Old Lady Song felt a deep sense of loss.
"Remember to write home often. Send word before you come back, and your grandmother and I will clean the house for you in advance."
Song Gaoli's family approached carrying three large bundles.
They had ultimately agreed to let Song Gaoli stay in the academy dormitory. Compared to renting a small, distant house outside, staying in the dormitory was indeed more convenient.
Their only worry was Song Gaoli being alone in Anyang Prefecture; if he encountered any trouble, the family wouldn't be able to help him in time.
Song Mancang walked up to Song Jinzhao and pleaded, "Girl Jinzhao, that child Gaoli has a habit of only reporting good news and hiding the bad. If he runs into any trouble in the prefectural city later, I beg you to be sure to write and tell me."
There was no one from Song Village in Anyang Prefecture besides Song Jinzhao; Song Mancang couldn't think of anyone else to entrust with this.
Song Gaoli spoke up, "Grandpa, what could possibly happen to me staying at the academy all day? Set your mind completely at ease. I'll definitely send a letter home every month to report that I'm safe."
Watching the carriages gradually disappear into the distance, the hearts of both families also felt hollow.
The journey was smooth, and seven days later, Song Jinzhao and the others arrived safely in Anyang Prefecture.
Song Shixue lifted the carriage curtain and gazed at the familiar city walls not far away. They would be staying here for a long time to come, until Song Qiming passed the provincial examination.
"Useless trash, daring to steal my things. Beat him up!"
The vicious cursing caught Song Shixue's attention.
She turned her head to look in the direction of the voice. A group of beggars in tattered clothes were surrounding a man, kicking and punching him.
His withered, straw-like hair was yanked violently, and a yellowish liquid was poured over the man's face, revealing pale skin underneath.
A pair of defiant, pale blue eyes shot straight into Song Shixue's own, like a snow lotus growing in a filthy place, making her heart jolt.
Looking at his other eye, it was dull and unfocused, likely blind.
The man's head was ground into the dirt under someone's foot, the soil making his eyes appear even more striking.
Song Shixue instinctively grabbed Song Jinzhao's sleeve and called out softly, "Elder Sister."
Seeing her staring fixedly at one spot, Song Jinzhao looked up.
Meeting the man's pale blue eyes, her brow furrowed. She said coldly, "Elder Sister is going to teach you a very important lesson today."
Song Shixue withdrew her gaze and looked at her puzzled, "What is it?"
Song Jinzhao expressionlessly flicked the reins, "Never pick up men you find on the roadside. Stay as far away as possible, or it could bring disaster upon you."
Song Shixue's lips parted slightly. Though she didn't fully understand, she obediently nodded and replied, "Oh."
When she looked back again, the beggars had surrounded the man completely, and she could only faintly make out his body curled into a ball.
After returning to their rented house, Song Jinzhao began calculating the silver she had on hand.
What she had saved before, earned from business, and the rewards from the government and the Emperor added up to two thousand taels of silver.
The monthly rent from the shop in Xining City was four taels, forty-eight taels a year. Adding the rent from fourteen mu of farmland, her fixed annual income totaled about fifty-five taels.
Remembering that Song Qiming still had a quota for sixty-six mu of tax-exempt land under his name, Song Jinzhao started visiting brokerage firms to inquire about buying land.
Almost all large plots of land in Anyang Prefecture were outside the city walls. Any land inside the city had long been enclosed within the walls of wealthy families' estates as gardens.
The broker, holding a ledger, asked, "Miss Song wants to buy sixty mu? Do you plan to farm it yourself or rent it out?"
Song Jinzhao stared at the map of Anyang Prefecture hanging on the wall. There was plenty of land and many villages outside the city, much more expansive than Xining City.
"To rent out. A small portion of the rent will be paid in grain, the rest in silver."
The next day, the broker took Song Jinzhao outside the city.
"This land originally belonged to a wealthy family in the city. Their business hasn't been doing well the last couple of years, so they're selling. The tenant farmers are already in place. If you take a liking to it, Miss Song, you can just change the contracts. You won't have to worry about finding tenants afterwards."
Song Jinzhao bent down to examine the soil at her feet. "This isn't top-grade paddy field."
The broker pointed south. "The best paddy fields are all in the south, near the river. The owners are either among the top wealthy families in Anyang Prefecture or learned masters and teachers from Anyang Academy. No one is selling."
"All that's available now are medium-grade fields and dry land. This plot is already the best located among the medium-grade fields. With waterwheels now and the new irrigation ditches the Prefect ordered dug, the annual harvest isn't much worse than from top-grade fields."
"The tenants are villagers living nearby. Their families depend entirely on farming for their livelihood, and they put their whole hearts into the crops."
Song Jinzhao spent a day riding around outside the city, confirming the broker's words was true.
The land in Song Village had its ownership determined according to government regulations when the village was founded, through reclamation. Later, when land was bought and sold after reclamation was complete, one mu of paddy field only cost four taels.
Here in Anyang Prefecture, one mu of medium-grade field sold for seven taels. The plot the broker had marked out was fifty mu in total; buying it all would cost three hundred and fifty taels.
"It's August now, and the grain in the fields hasn't been harvested yet. If I buy now, how is this year's rent from the tenants calculated?"
The broker handed the prepared agreement to Song Jinzhao.
"Of these fifty mu, half is under prepaid rent, the other half under sharecropping. The landlord already collected the prepaid portion at the start of spring. The sharecropped grain won't be given until after the autumn harvest. If you buy it, Miss Song, the tenants will deliver that grain directly to you then."
"Who is responsible for the grain tax?"
"The tenants pay it all."
Song Jinzhao said, "My family doesn't need to pay grain tax. The portion for the grain tax should be given directly to me."
The broker nodded, "Naturally."
There were four tenant families farming this land. After taking Song Qiming to the prefectural office to complete the transfer with the former owner, Song Jinzhao met with the tenants.
Once the contracts were changed, they would henceforth be renting Song Jinzhao's land.
Jiang Zhutao, the manager of the Yunshang Woodworks in the east city, came to see Song Jinzhao with the profits from the wheelchair sales for the seventh and eighth months.
"In two months, we sold a total of one hundred and twenty-three wheelchairs at a selling price of two taels each. The profit per chair is one tael and three qian. According to the contract terms for profit sharing, this is thirty-two taels."
Song Jinzhao finished reading the four-page document quickly. She provided the design drawings; Yunshang Woodworks handled the manufacturing and sales.
Since the other party was responsible for all costs, labor, and everything else, the profit-sharing contract Song Jinzhao had signed gave her twenty percent of the profits and the other party eighty percent.
"There are only so many people in Anyang Prefecture. Those who wanted to buy have already bought. Have any merchants from other provinces taken an interest and wanted to place orders?"
Jiang Zhutao laughed heartily, "That's precisely what I came to discuss with you."
"A merchant from the south wants to buy three hundred wheelchairs, but he's driving a very hard bargain. I negotiated with him once; he's only willing to pay one tael and five qian per chair."
Their profit would be five hundred wen less per chair, and Song Jinzhao's share would be even smaller. Therefore, Jiang Zhutao had to come and discuss it with her, otherwise it could lead to disputes later when dividing the profits.
Song Jinzhao picked up her pen and began calculating the expenses on paper. The transportation costs and labor expenses averaged out to about two hundred copper coins per wheelchair, and that was without factoring in the shipment of any other goods.
As for the prices down south, she wasn't sure of the exact figures, but they certainly wouldn't be less than two taels of silver.
