Chapter 27

Zhao Yan's decision to visit the Village Chief's house first, rather than Goodwife Cao's, which was much closer, came down to two reasons. One of the main reasons was that the Village Chief's family enjoyed the highest recognized status in Baiyun Village. Whether the family wanted to buy farmland or build a house in the future, they would need the Village Chief's approval. Zhao Yan felt the Village Chief was a good person and wanted to cultivate a solid relationship with him. Although Zhao Yan considered farming a losing proposition—in this era of extremely low productivity, the effort put in was simply disproportionate to the harvest—he had considered buying land and renting it out to others to farm, while he simply collected the rent at home. That way, he wouldn't have to go to town to buy rice. New rice sold at the grain shop for fifteen wen per jin, and five dou of rice made up a jin. Yet five dou of new rice sold at the grain shop for ten wen per dou, meaning the grain cost him fifteen wen to acquire, but sold for fifty wen—a direct net profit of thirty-five wen.