There are elegant individuals from nearby villages and towns, either seeking out Wu Lang or asking Lian Shouxin for a favor, wishing to come to the Lotus Pond for a scenic visit. As long as the people are genuine, such requests are seldom refused by Lian Manman’s family. Beside the Lotus Pond, in the pavilion they built for Mr. Loo, they have even held two poetry gatherings. Wu Lang and Xiao Qi naturally participated, which allowed the two brothers, especially Wu Lang, to make even more scholarly friends.

Some wealthy families, seeing the prosperity of the fish pond and Lotus Pond, also developed thoughts of emulation. Scholar Wang’s family is already searching for a suitable place to dig their own Lotus Pond. One day, Wang Youhuai accompanied Wang Youheng to Lian Manman’s family home, agreeing with Wu Lang that when the time comes, they would buy the lotus roots for planting from him.

The business of the fish pond has been thriving continuously, and the Lotus Pond finally reached the harvest season.

Fresh water caltrops and fresh lotus pods can now be brought to market.

The family, of course, needed to sit down and discuss.

"How should we set the price?"

Fresh water caltrops and fresh lotus pods are both rare items in Jinyang County, and their target customer group is clear: the wealthy and gentry of Jinyang County.

"We need to sell these lotus pods carefully," Lian Manman suggested, "and keep some for when we sell dried lotus seeds later." Rare things are priced highly, so we shouldn’t set our prices too low."

The wealthy and gentry in the county can eat dried lotus seeds brought in from the south, but they can’t get fresh lotus pods.

"How about pricing each lotus pod at thirty Wen Money?" Lian Manman thought aloud. She remembered in her previous life during this season, vendors would carry baskets selling fresh lotus pods, selling them one by one. It’s said that in southern water towns, the price of fresh lotus pods is not high. But in northern cities, fresh lotus pods were priced at fifteen coins each.

There were quite a few buyers at that price, just for the freshness.

Lian Manman now plans to sell fresh lotus pods, also focusing on freshness. Most of the lotus pods will still be kept for drying and selling the seeds later.

"And what about the water caltrops?" Lian Shouxin asked.

Water caltrops cannot be left to grow too old; fresh and tender water caltrops are delicious when eaten raw, and adding a few grains of water caltrop kernels when cooking rice or porridge can make the whole pot fragrant.

"Sell as many water caltrops as we can by weight, let’s first set it at twenty Wen Money per jin," Lian Manman suggested. This is the price for fresh water caltrops with shells; later, when the shells are removed, the price of the water caltrop kernels will naturally be higher.

The Lotus Pond of Lian Manman’s family, thanks to those who came to enjoy the scenery and the poetry they left behind, had already gained significant fame, creating many conveniences for the sale of fresh lotus pods and fresh water caltrops. Lian Shouxin just carted some fresh water caltrops and fresh lotus pods to the restaurants, went to the market in Jinyang Town twice, to the markets in two or three nearby towns, and took a trip to the county town, and orders were actively made.

Besides restaurants and those wealthy families, there were quite a few small vendors among the ones placing orders. These small vendors bought fresh water caltrops and fresh lotus pods from the Lotus Pond, carried baskets or poles and hawked them through the streets, selling the caltrops and lotus pods at two or three extra coins to make a profit. The target customers of these small vendors were mostly small households with some spare money. These families wouldn’t buy much at a time, just to sample the freshness. The vendors were also flexible, for example, they didn’t have to sell fresh water caltrops by the whole jin; if someone picked a small handful, they would also weigh and sell it, making it convenient for everyone and earning money for themselves.

"Fresh water caltrops, fresh lotus pods and lotus seeds, special from the Lian Family Lotus Pond at the Shipai Archway..."

For a while, such cries could often be heard in the streets and alleys of the town.

Lian Shouxin and Wu Lang also took a trip to the Prefecture City, to deliver a cart of fresh water caltrops, fresh lotus pods, and the fattest fresh fish from the fish pond to the Shen Family.

The Shen Family did not set a price for the items but returned many gifts instead, and set a date for Lian Shouxin to send another cart. It was said that the ladies of the Shen Mansion particularly liked the fresh lotus pods and fresh water caltrops.

"Is Sixth Master at home?" Lian Manman asked Wu Lang.

"He is at home. ... Six-you pronounced-ith Master is indifferent to fish, but he really likes fresh lotus seeds and water caltrops," Wu Lang said.

In this midsummer, fresh lotus seeds and fresh water caltrops taste refreshing and are best to clear away heat and relieve summer heat.

"What about Fatty?"

"He likes them all," Wu Lang laughed. "He even complained to me, saying he can’t go out at home and really wants to see what our Lotus Pond looks like now.... He even asked about Da Hua, Da Pang and Xiao Pang..."

Even the cats and dogs were mentioned. This Fatty Shen is quite something, causing Lian Manman to smile.

The produce from the fish pond and Lotus Pond had been sold for a while, and that evening the family sat down to clear the accounts.

"Sold one thousand two hundred jin of carp, eight hundred jin of grass carp, four hundred jin of crucian carp, seven hundred jin of white silver carp, six hundred jin of spotted silver carp, three hundred jin of mandarin fish..." Lian Manman added up the daily recorded accounts, "Total income converted to silver is fifty-seven taels and eight qian."

Lian Manman then took out the account of opening the Lotus Pond and purchasing fish seedlings, calculating the various costs of the fish pond and fish farming with Xiao Qi. Finally, she concluded that after spreading most of the costs over this income, their net profit was still forty-eight taels.

And as there is still half of the fish left unsold in the fish pond, one can imagine how much the Lian Manman’s family’s income will be when all those fish are sold.

"What about the water caltrops and lotus pods?" Lady Zhang asked.

Lian Manman and Xiao Qi then looked through two other account books. Fresh lotus pods, a total of one thousand were sold, fresh water caltrops sold one thousand five hundred jin, and this income totaled fifty-two taels and five qian of silver. The excavation cost of the Lotus Pond and daily maintenance costs had already been spread over the fish pond’s income above and only the cost of lotus root seeds and water caltrop seeds needs to be deducted, leaving them with net profits from the Lotus Pond. Lian Manman calculated the net profit to be forty-two taels of silver.

Since the costs of the fish pond and Lotus Pond were all allocated within these two incomes, any additional future income from selling fish, lotus seeds, water caltrops, gorgon seeds, and especially lotus roots would be pure profit within the year.

Not a single lotus root had been sold yet, and even the lotus leaves could be sold to pharmacies. Thinking about the potential income from those figures, the whole family couldn’t help but have their eyes glowing.

"Unexpectedly, the fish pond and Lotus Pond are quite profitable," Lian Shouxin sighed.

"Of course." Lian Manman nodded with a smile. Being a landlord is not just about farming, constantly developing side businesses is the only way to bring in continuous financial resources.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊ 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Offering a second update, thanks for everyone’s rewards and support, on this festive night, I wish everyone an early new year, and continue to ask for pink votes. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)