[BL]The Big Landlord

Chapter 55 - Tribute Rice

Chapter 55 – Tribute Rice

An Yuan County was a small county in Hong Prefecture, and Hong Prefecture was known as the land of rice.

The area of An Yuan County was small, but the land was fertile. It had sufficient water sources and the soil quality was good. The climate was also better than most of the other counties, so it was a good place to grow rice. It was also suitable for the cultivation of gong mi* and black rice.

[*T/N: gong mi literally translates to "tribute rice"]

For the precious rice varieties like gong mi, the manpower and financial resources required were not affordable for the average family. Therefore, the amount produced in An Yuan County was not much. The gong mi produced by the An family accounts for nearly half of its total production, but the amount was still small. However, the wealth that these gong mi brought to the family was far higher than other types.

An Zi Ran only knew about this after having reviewed the ledgers.

The gong mi produced by the An family was not for sale, but for giving away (as a gift).

Gong mi was a kind of high-quality rice that has been carefully selected. The appearance of this rice was as crystal clear as pearls. In the early days, it was mainly dedicated as a tribute to the emperor.

However, as the output of gong mi increased, some high-ranking officials also began to eat it.

Translations by www.vmnovels.com

The An family's gong mi existed to please these types of people. An Chang Fu used gong mi as a way to pave the path to fortune. The results were not bad. It could be seen that the An family charged a high amount for renting out land, and also gave out a lot as disaster relief funds. It was no wonder that things have always been smooth and steady for the An family. An Chang Fu's means of doing things were not honest, but he could still be regarded as a successful landlord.

This year the rice seedlings were planted in April, so there was still some time away from the harvest.

However, not all rice was harvested in the same period, and the precocious varieties could be harvested in about seventy days. This rice was commonly called "jiu gong ji" or "hou xia ji."*

[*T/N: Literal translations are "rescuing public hunger" and "urgently going down the throat"]

Just from listening to the name, one knew that the quality of this type of rice was not too high, but this was precisely what made the people of An Yuan County most happy.

The climate in Hong Prefecture was warmer than other places all throughout the year, and the chances of snow were low.

But this year there was a rare heavy snowfall in the winter. The snow covered the rice fields. The rice that could've been harvested in just a few more months, half of it was frozen to death. Although the rest survived tenaciously, the harvest was not expected to be too much.

This was also the reason why the people were borrowing such a huge quantity of rice.

After a round of inspections, it seemed that the growth of rice was quite prosperous.

Although the rice paddies of the An family were also affected (by the snow), their response was relatively timely, so the damage was not large.

An Zi Ran didn't know much about rice paddies, so he just spent an hour to give them a cursory inspection. When the sun was about to climb to its zenith he got ready to return.