Chapter Twenty-Two: The Land Converter

Throughout the journey, Liang Yunqing could only listen to their incessant chatter in silence. After getting off the carriage, she reached into a wooden box and quietly handed an almond pastry to Uncle Ma.

“Uncle Ma, you’ve worked hard lately. Have a piece of this pastry.”

“How can I accept this? Such a precious treat—you should keep it for yourselves,” Uncle Ma replied, stepping back slightly. Although tempted, he knew how valuable these pastries were by the golden hue of the almond crust in Liang Yunqing’s hand.

“Please take it, Uncle Ma. If my second aunt sees it, you won’t get a share at all,” she urged gently.

“Well, thank you,” he said cautiously, wrapping the almond pastry carefully in his clothes. Such a delicacy had to be taken home for his mother to taste.

The three of them carried their goods back. Liang Zhiyan pushed open the courtyard door with his shoulder. Inside, dinner preparations were already underway. Liang Mingxue and Liang Youyong stepped forward to take the items.

“Ayan, Xiaohong, everyone, come here!” Liang Zhiyan called out, gathering the whole family. Liang Yunqing brought over a wooden table with a broken leg and placed the wooden box on it, opening it up.

Inside were colorful pastries pressed into various shapes—sycee-shaped, floral patterns. Everyone couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, especially the two children, who couldn’t tear their eyes away. Liang Yunqing wasted no time and divided the pastries, just enough for everyone to have one piece.

Grandmother Wang took the pale yellow pastry, bit into it gently, and tears welled up in her cloudy eyes the next moment. She was nearly forgetting the taste of pastries like these.

“Delicious… absolutely delicious,” she murmured.

The family praised the pastries over and over, unwilling to finish them all at once. After eating half, they wrapped the rest carefully in a clean cloth to save for next time.

Liang Yunqing, however, devoured hers in just two bites. The pastries were tooth-achingly sweet, and the texture was not perfect. She thought she might explore this direction herself in the future.

As she thought this, she began to talk about the Sichuan peppercorns.

“By the way, today the Happy Guesthouse and I signed a contract. We’ll supply them with 100 jin of Sichuan peppercorns every month at 200 wen per jin.”

“Two hundred wen per jin!” Li Pinghua exclaimed in surprise, calculating rapidly in her mind. Two hundred wen per jin, times one hundred jin—that’s twenty taels! A family’s annual earnings might be four or five taels if the harvest was good, and now just selling peppercorns could bring in twenty taels a month.

Startled by the price, Li Pinghua took several steps back and steadied herself against the table. Liang Yunqing smiled at her.

“Aunt, do you still want to cling to the steamed dumpling business?”

“No, no, I’ll join you in selling peppercorns, selling peppercorns,” she stammered, “I—I’ll fund it.”

Grandmother suddenly shouted, rummaging in her bosom as she tried to gather all her money. Liang Mingxue and Chu also turned pale at the astonishing figure.

Who would have thought that a humble farming family could earn twenty taels a month? It was beyond dreams.

Liang Yunqing saw their dazed expressions and said, “But don’t get too excited yet. Growing peppercorns requires planting; the family’s plot needs to be tilled and sown. The dumplings also have to be made properly and taken into town to find buyers.”

“I’ll till the land,” Liang Mingxue offered, finally ready to help.

“I’ll make the dumplings, but who will help sell them?” Li Pinghua hesitated. She couldn’t entrust the business to just anyone, and she couldn’t sell in person.

Liang Yunqing waved her hand, signaling not to worry. Then she took Ayan and Xiaohong outside to gather wild Sichuan peppercorn seeds. In the yard, Li Pinghua and Grandmother Wang began washing rice to make dumplings, Liang Youyong went to help till the soil, and Chu was washing the steaming pots.

The family worked steadily. As Liang Yunqing lowered her head searching for seeds, she began to plan how to recruit villagers for help. One mu of planting wouldn’t suffice. They must not waste the land converter, and upgrading the land meant the more, the better.

“Sister, over here!” Ayan called, lifting her little face. Liang Yunqing stopped thinking and ran over. There, Ayan and Xiaohong had found a cluster of wild Sichuan peppercorn trees.

The branches were covered with dense thorns. Liang Yunqing used the shovel she brought to dig near the roots. Fortunately, the wild trees weren’t large; after a few scoops, she uprooted over a dozen.

They worked until dark. The three of them each carried bundles of peppercorn trees back home.

In the yard, steamed dumplings were already laid out—170 in total. Liang Mingxue and the others returned from the field. The family ate a few dumplings before resting.

Late at night, beneath a sky full of stars, Liang Yunqing quietly slipped out of bed, wrapping a cloak around her shoulders as she stepped outside.

Guided by the original owner’s memories, she quickly found her plot—a small patch of yellow earth, already tilled, with loose clods piled on top.

“This soil is terrible. No wonder the whole village’s harvest has been poor for years. It’s a miracle anything grows at all.”

[Indeed.]

Could you not suddenly haunt me like this?

Liang Yunqing still bore a grudge. She had just been shocked earlier and still felt the tingling. But there was business to attend to.

“I’m going to use the Land Converter.”

[Received. Please outline the area of use.]

A blue screen appeared before her eyes, showing a miniature map of the entire village’s land. She circled her own plot.

[Land Converter starting operation. Expected completion in two hours.]

Okay then.

Liang Yunqing clapped her hands, satisfied, and went back to sleep—there was much to do tomorrow.

After a night of good dreams, she was awakened at dawn by Li Pinghua’s busy voice. Liang Yunqing looked at the empty wooden bed; she was the last to rise again.

In the yard, Li Pinghua was packing dumplings; Liang Mingxue and Liang Youyong carried some peppercorn trees on their backs. Grandmother sat by the gate, keeping watch.

Such business must not be revealed to others.

Liang Yunqing whispered a few words to her mother and then followed Li Pinghua and Liang Zhiyan out with the dumplings.

Chu bit her fingers nervously. Now that she had been entrusted with a task by her daughter, she must not mess it up.

Liang Yunqing led the two of them to town. They arrived late; some diners were already waiting at the stalls. Li Pinghua hurriedly set up the table.

“Here we are! How many would you like to buy?” she called out. Liang Zhiyan quickly lit a fire under the steaming pot beneath the table, and Liang Yunqing walked over, only to be stopped by a familiar figure.

“Little girl, how did the talks with the Happy Guesthouse go?” Uncle Qin smiled at her. Knowing her as an old customer, Liang Yunqing was polite, especially since he had previously revealed Yang’s identity as her steward.

She felt grateful.

“Uncle Qin, the deal is done, but the price is low—barely profitable.”

“That’s still good. Take it slow,” he encouraged before going off to buy dumplings. Li Pinghua was already bustling about, occasionally kicking Liang Zhiyan under the table for being slow with the fire.

“Miss Liang,” an elderly voice called from behind.

Granny Miao, limping and holding Yuanbao’s hand, approached. She had heard from a man driving a horse cart that Liang Yunqing wanted to see her. Now, despite her still swollen face, she had come out.

“Granny Miao, Yuanbao,” Liang Yunqing smiled at the little girl. Yuanbao happily ran up, hugging her leg and calling her “Sister” repeatedly.

“Why did Miss Liang call me here?” Granny Miao asked.