The commotion lasted for over a month before gradually subsiding, and Ding Yun's life returned to its usual rhythm. The only changes were her accelerated efforts to expand overseas channels and logistics, and her decision to convert most of the farmland to wheat cultivation.
Wheat was the raw material she intended to sell abroad in large quantities.
Naturally, she had to grow more wheat.
Otherwise, she couldn't possibly let domestic wheat supplies run out.
Forcing those who ate noodles to switch to rice.
What unfolded in the following years undoubtedly proved her preparations were remarkably prescient.
From the year they received their imperial favor, high-yield grain seeds began to spread through two channels: one from the capital, and the other comprised the seeds accumulated by Yunxi Nu Guan over the years.
The impact wasn't significant in the latter half of that year, with only about one-thirtieth of the country planting these high-yield seeds. However, starting from the spring plowing of the following year, the cultivation of high-yield seeds had already spread across half the country. By the third year, it was an exaggeration to say every inch of land nationwide was planted with these seeds, but stating that over ninety percent of the land was covered was certainly accurate.
The result of this situation was an unprecedented bumper harvest of grain.
Even with Ding Yun's efforts to control the market, it was impossible to maintain the original grain prices. Grain prices across the country began an inevitable decline.
This was even with recent natural disasters in many areas; if the weather had been consistently favorable nationwide, the price drop would have been far more severe.
However, it wasn't without benefits. At least in recent years, many families dared to have children, and they no longer resorted to infanticide due to the inability to support existing children, let alone new ones. Overall, the substantial increase in grain production across various regions was still more beneficial than detrimental.
Ding Yun's coordination also played a significant role in this.
If she hadn't maintained the minimum purchase price for grain and continuously transported the wheat produced on her farms overseas, refusing to sell it domestically, grain prices wouldn't have seen just a slight decline.
Instead, they would have plummeted.
Because of this, starting from the second year, Ding Yun became busy again, calculating grain yields in various regions, potential price fluctuations, and the daily output of grain from her farms, all to manage and control these resources to prevent drastic price swings due to surpluses in any one area.
Fortunately, after high-yield grains were planted nationwide, data from various regions stabilized.
Ding Yun thus became less occupied.
In addition, Ding Yun received good news at the end of the year: her trusted confidants, dispatched years prior, after several years of discreet investigation, had finally located the original owner's parents…
Information regarding her elder siblings and younger brother.
...
Inside a guest room of a large winery on the outskirts of Hecheng.
"Tell me, what's the situation?"
As soon as they met, Ding Yun immediately inquired.
"Yuan Jun, we first investigated Zhao Lao Si, Zhao Fa Cai, and Zhao Jin Bao. Not long after they pawned their wives and daughters, they left the village to escape famine.
We don't know what happened during their journey, but after about half a year, Zhao Lao Si returned to Zhaojia Village with a limp, Zhao Jin Bao had a fever and became mentally impaired, and Zhao Fa Cai returned with them. Currently, Zhao Fa Cai has married a woman from another town and is raising his father and his mentally impaired younger brother.
It is said that Zhao Lao Si's leg was injured when he saved his eldest son, Zhao Fa Cai, from a fall. Zhao Jin Bao also became mentally impaired due to a fever because Zhao Lao Si, fearing he would use the remaining silver to treat his son, couldn't afford a wife for Zhao Fa Cai and continue the family line.
Thus, he spared the cost of treatment, and his son became mentally impaired from the fever.
After his son became mentally impaired, he regretted it and felt guilty.
He refused to give up and made Zhao Fa Cai swear to care for his brother his entire life.
However, these are just rumors from the villagers, and we cannot be certain of their accuracy, but there is likely some truth to them.
Their family's life is currently passable, mainly because Zhao Fa Cai's wife dislikes his mentally impaired brother and his crippled father. She occasionally throws tantrums and makes veiled insults. Zhao Fa Cai himself likely sees his father and brother as burdens and has never intervened, always remaining silent.
Therefore, their situation is somewhat dire.
But regardless, they are at least not starving, especially with the advent of high-yield grain seeds, they are even less likely to starve.
Because you instructed us not to report on them until we had gathered information on Zhao Da Ya, Zhao Er Ya, and others, even though we learned of their whereabouts two years ago, we didn't report it."
The entrusted confidant answered concisely, adding a special explanation at the end for why they hadn't reported immediately.
"It's alright, those three are not important.
Tell me about Da Ya and Er Ya."
Ding Yun wasn't particularly concerned about those three. Knowing they were alive, she immediately pressed for information on the others, namely the original owner's two sisters and mother.
"Zhao Da Ya was taken in by Zhu Tu Fu, the butcher in town, as a second wife, but she died in childbirth four years ago.
She left only one son with Butcher Zhu. Because he was Zhu Tu Fu's only son, his life was decent. It's said Butcher Zhu is even considering hiring a tutor for him.
Zhao Er Ya was about to be sold to a brothel by human traffickers, but she accidentally injured her face on the way. The brothel refused her, and she was nearly trapped by the traffickers. Later, she was sold at a low price to a hunter in a village they passed through. When we found her, she had already had four children with the hunter and her health was not good.
As for Zhao Wang Shi and Xiao Ya, whom you wanted to find.
Their luck was not good. While being transported elsewhere by human traffickers, they encountered a group of refugees. Many people died at the time, and they were completely separated. Later, those human traffickers returned to tidy up and record the situation.
We found their record list.
Zhao Wang Shi was clearly recorded as having died in a stampede.
Zhao Xiao Ya was missing, but also recorded as deceased.
At such a young age, being lost in the chaos, even without finding a body, the possibility of survival is very low. We spent a long time searching in this regard, but there were no signs. Therefore, this is the only conclusion."
After listening to the confidant's account, Ding Yun's mood sank. It was truly that human lives were as insignificant as grass. A good family was completely destroyed by a natural disaster coupled with man-made calamities, with some dead and some disabled.
Compared to the three men who were not sold, the wives and daughters who were sold were undoubtedly more tragic.
If Ding Yun hadn't arrived, only her second sister, Zhao Er Ya, would have survived. Although alive, she had given birth to four children in five to six years, and her health was likely severely compromised, it was hard to say!
After a long silence, Ding Yun finally instructed:
"They can be considered my distant relatives. The ones still in Zhaojia Village can be ignored. Let them be. Whatever happens to them, they deserve it.
It's already merciful of me not to act against them.
For the rest, if their remains can be found, bury them. If not, create a cenotaph.
Additionally, send some silver to that Butcher Zhu.
Have him take good care of and raise the child.
Send someone to monitor them. If you find that he treats the child poorly, or if he remarries and ill-treats the child,
bring the child to me for upbringing.
Also, send a physician to see Zhao Er Ya and treat her illness. Don't be afraid of the cost; do your best to restore her health.
At the same time, give her some personal savings.
Don't give too much silver, a thousand taels should suffice.
If she wishes to divorce and take her children, help her. If not, do your best to have people secretly protect her.
Also, if the graves or cenotaphs are established, inform me of their exact locations so I can pay respects when I have time!"
At this point, regretting not searching for them sooner was futile. Moreover, even if she had searched earlier, Ding Yun wouldn't have had the capability for large-scale discreet investigations, and she might not have found them. Therefore, all she could do now was offer some posthumous compensation.
"Yes, I will do my best to arrange it!"
"You may go. I wish to be alone."
"Yes, subordinate withdraws."
...