Chapter 67: Reclaiming Wasteland

Shaoyang raised his cup to his parents, then to his brother-in-law and sister. Huixiang gained another cup through the toasts and smiled until her eyes narrowed.

Several cups warmed him and loosened his tongue.

“Brother-in-law, I hear the yamen has posted notices encouraging people to clear land. Is that right?”

“Yes. Why? Thinking of farming?”

“Just asking. Can you find a patch and clear it, or is there more to it?”

“Certainly more.”

Hou Pu put a piece of meat into his mouth, chewed slowly, sipped his wine and savoured it before continuing.

“First, tell the local headman which land you want. He takes people to inspect it and establish that it really is uncultivated waste. Then it goes into the register and is reported to the yamen’s Household Office. Once approval comes down, you may begin.

“There’s a deposit of one hundred wen for every ten mu. No tax for the first three years, then half tax for the next three…”

“A deposit?”

“Of course. Without one, everyone would register land at random and cause chaos. It’s refundable. If you cultivate continuously for three years, you report it to the yamen. They verify it and issue the land deed. Then the hundred wen is returned.

“If the family truly cannot afford it, a guarantor will do. But every step must pass through the yamen. Clear land privately without inspection and it will be taxed as ordinary cultivated land.”

“I see. It is rather complicated. Is there still waste ground outside town?”

“Why ask? Are you really giving up medicine to farm?”

“To tell the truth, if it’s possible, I’d like to clear some ground outside town and grow medicinal herbs.”

Everyone stared.

“Grow herbs?” Zuo Gui demanded.

“Yes, Father. The first three years are tax-free, so it costs only labour. Herbs aren’t like grain; they don’t all need rich soil. Waste ground will do. It seems almost a business without capital. Worth trying!”

“Not so simple,” Huixiang said. “What about seedlings? Won’t those cost money?”

“We can transplant them from the mountains. I went gathering with Peilan this morning especially to look. There are plenty of medicinal plants on Mount Qianren, many that can be transplanted directly. We can start with hardy ones that need little care. Once we earn some capital, we can grow more valuable sorts. Build it up gradually. It seems another way to make money.”

“Seems?” Zuo Gui sneered. “Will it make money because you think so? Have you grown medicinal plants? Do you know how?”

“I know something. It was in the book the old travelling physician showed me…”

His father frowned.

“Growing herbs is different. Can book knowledge be trusted?”

“How can we know it won’t work unless we try?”

“And trying makes it work?”

Zuo Gui snorted heavily, his grey brows trembling.

“You never attend to your proper work. Learn medicine well—what could be better? Today you want to process materials for sale, tomorrow to clear land for herbs. What else? Tell us all at once!”

Shaoyang lowered his head and said nothing.

Seeing the tension, Madam Liang tried to smooth things over.

“Listen to your father. Learn your practice properly. Growing herbs takes more than an idea. We may not have the ability.”

“Yes, Brother,” Huixiang added. “Making rounds with Father and studying the prescriptions you were taught will keep you busy enough. Where will you find time for planting? Bite off too much and you can’t chew it.”

“Thinking about prescriptions and travelling doesn’t stop us growing herbs,” he muttered. “Once planted, they don’t need the constant attention crops do…”

“What the hell do you know?”

His stubbornness enraged Zuo Gui, who slammed his chopsticks onto the table.

“If it were that simple, others would have done it. Why wait for you?”

“They don’t know how. That’s why no one does.”

“How do you know?”

“Fatty Dong at the wholesale market told me. Almost all his stock is gathered wild. Hardly any is cultivated. And in all our journeys through the villages, I haven’t seen a field of medicinal herbs. Isn’t that evidence?”

Zuo Gui paused. Thinking back, he had indeed seen none. But he would not concede before his son.

“If they don’t know, do you? Have you ever grown any?”

“No. But I know how. Can’t I at least try?”

“No!”

His father’s refusal was absolute.

“With the family in this state, instead of learning medicine and earning a living, you busy yourself with these crooked schemes. Are you trying to anger me to death?”

By the end, his voice was hoarse and almost choked.

“These aren’t crooked schemes…”

“Brother!” Huixiang tugged him. “Stop.”

“I’m going to say it!”

He put down his chopsticks and the words came in a rush.

“Father, Mother, travelling practice earns money from desperately poor people. They barely have a coin to their names. How can they afford more medicine? Without the chance of Master Jia’s case, what we’ve earned treating everyone else would scarcely feed us, let alone maintain a shop this size.

“Poverty should make us look for change. If we don’t find another way to earn, how can we go on? Even if Madam Zhao lets us get past the fifteenth, sooner or later we’ll be evicted if we still can’t pay!”

Zuo Gui was taken aback. His usually docile, almost dull son had become astonishingly stubborn. Yet the argument was not without reason. He wanted to rebuke him and could find no starting point.

Hou Pu cleared his throat and smiled appeasingly.

“Please don’t be angry, Father-in-law. I think his idea might be worth trying. Cleared land is tax-free for three years. If he can’t continue, we abandon it. All that’s lost is a hundred-wen deposit.

“The paperwork is no difficulty. I’m at the yamen. Once he chooses the ground, I’ll handle the rest. And I’ll stand guarantor, so he needn’t spend a single coin. If after three years it’s hopeless, we give it up without even losing that hundred. At worst, I get a scolding.”

He chuckled.

A yamen clerk was only a minor functionary, not an official, but Hou Pu’s opinion carried weight with Zuo Gui. He stroked his beard and nodded repeatedly.

Seeing that he was listening, Hou Pu smiled more broadly.

“I know nothing about growing herbs. But I know the boy is honest, not one to boast idly. If he says he knows how, he must have some confidence. He says he can bring seedlings from the mountain, so that costs little. The shop isn’t very busy. Another possible livelihood is always worth considering.

“If it fails, we can laugh it off. If it earns something, won’t that be another source of income?”

Zuo Gui nodded, considering, then looked at his wife. Having little idea of her own, she merely smiled awkwardly.

He turned to Huixiang. She loved her brother, and her husband’s support made sense. Seeing their father soften, she would hardly oppose it.

“It won’t waste money or food, Father. Only a little more work. Brother is young and has the strength. Let him try.”

Zuo Gui looked back at Shaoyang, beard in hand, brows drawn.

“What do you intend to grow? And how?”

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