Chapter 23 - Farming (1)

Li Ming looked at the waiting crowd in front of her and finally said, "As Sir Liu has already told you, I'll be providing you with seeds and any other requirements. So, you all don't need to sell your crops from the last season. Use that for your family. And don't worry, the grains are not affected by the poison and are completely safe for use."

The crowd happily accepted and thanked Li Ming for her kindness. After a few minutes, she again said, "Now here's my deal. I want all of you to listen to me carefully without interrupting, to the end. After you have listened to my deal it will be your decision whether to accept it or not."

All the villagers nodded their heads in understanding as they all waited for Li Ming to tell them her proposal.

"I want to take over the ownership of your entire fields." Li Ming had imagined a lot of questions, anger, and doubts from the villagers. But to her surprise, all of them remained silent. No one argued or cursed her. They kept looking at her like they were waiting for her to say something more.

She raised her eyebrow in surprise and asked, "Are you not angry?"

"Didn't Miss Li asked us to listen to you till the end without interrupting and coming to conclusions!" The person who spoke was an old grandma who was sitting with her family beside Liu Hansi.

"....." Li Ming smiled lightly and nodded her head.

"Alright! As I said I want to take over your fields and I want you to work for me. In return,  10% of the final production will be distributed between the families of this village at the end of the season from their fields. In addition to that, each family will also get 10 silver taels at the end of each month as your salary. But since I have already given the entire production of last season to you and am also taking care of the seeds and other requirements, you all will not get any silvers for the next 4 months. I think my deal is fair enough. Now you all can decide if you want this deal or not." Li Ming stated and then sat down on a chair that she had produced with her magic.

The villagers started talking among themselves. Although the 10% portion of the crops was very little but it was completely out of their hands whether the production would be good or bad in the end. That's why everyone focused on the fact that no matter how bad the result of the production would be if they excepted the deal then they would get 10 silver taels each month which was more money than they had ever earned. In their village merely a few families could earn a few silvers if they worked hard for the entire year. Also, they had enough grains to feed their families for the next 4 months.

After discussing for an entire half an hour, the villagers agreed to accept the deal.

Li Ming didn't waste any time and made a contract. She made the villagers either sign it or left their thumbprint.

After everything was taken care of, Li Ming took a look at the contract and after making sure that everything was fine, she placed it inside a locker in the mansion.

"I want all of you to stand a little away from the fields." Li Ming told the villagers and started walking towards the center of the fields.

The villagers didn't waste any time and made a straight line a few meters away from the fields.

Li Ming approached the center of the fields and took out the crystal ball with runes. She placed the ball on the soil and put two drops of her blood on the ball. Then she teleported back to where the other people were standing.

The crystal rose a few feet above the earth and started glowing with a faint green light. Soon black colored smoke-like substance started coming out of the soil and entered the crystal.

The villagers looked with shock and horror at the scene that was taking place in front of them. As far as their eyes could see the fields were covered with that black substance.

"Is that...!" Sir Liu was also shocked to the core that he couldn't even voice his thoughts.

"The Poison." Li Ming finished what Sir Liu had started to say.

It took nearly 10-15 minutes before the black substance finally stopped coming out of the soil. But the pure white crystal ball was now completely filled with black smoke.

Li Ming again teleported back to the center of the fields and picked up the crystal ball. She looked at the slightly hot ball in her hand with a frown.

According to her theory, the poison should be in liquid form but the crystal ball was completely filled with black smoke.

Li Ming continued to look at the ball for a few minutes but then put it in the spell room inside a golden box. After she made sure that the ball was completely safe, she looked at the villagers who had already approached her.

"Is the soil now free of poison?" Sir Liu asked her. All of them were still shocked after witnessing so much poison in the fields.

"Yes, it is now completely free of poison. We can start our preparation for this season now." Li Ming told the villagers.

"Miss Li, what's your plan? Should we start plowing the fields so that we can sow rice and wheat crops?" Sir Liu's eldest son, Liu Nian asked.

"I have a new plan for this season. First, we are going to divide the fields into three parts. One part for crops, the second part for vegetables and the third part for fruit orchards." Li Ming told the villagers.

Although they had no idea how they were going to do that but they were sure that Miss Li had her own ideas and plans for that.