Farm Girl's Manor

Stepping out of the small room, Mo Yan saw Lizhong counting out several pieces of broken Silver and handing them to a stranger. Once that person had left, she approached and asked, "Who was that? Does the shop owe him Silver?"

Lizhong locked the drawer and said with a smile, "He’s a worker from the mill. The grain in the shop is all processed by the same mill, and we settle last month’s processing fees on the fifth of every month. Today just happens to be the fifth, so the mill’s owner sent a worker over to settle the accounts."

Hearing this, Mo Yan nodded without saying much. This expense would be recorded in the ledger, the amount wasn’t that large, just three or four Silver a month, and compared to the substantial profits the shop made each month, this bit of Silver wasn’t something she was concerned about.

However, Lizhong felt it was a pity and couldn’t help but say, "The shop processes so much grain every month, and over time, it adds up to a considerable expense. If we had our own mill and hired a couple of Helpers, not only would it be more convenient, but we could also save a good amount of Silver over a year!"

Mo Yan thought it over, and it did sound inconvenient. It was easy to stockpile the grain from Space into the warehouse, but before selling it, they had to transport it to the mill for processing and then back to the warehouse once processed. If the shop ran out, they had to go back to the warehouse for more, which indeed was a hassle. After all, the mill couldn’t just set aside their processed grain, not when it had other business to attend to and couldn’t delay retrieving it when needed.

Seeing that she hadn’t spoken, Lizhong continued, "The fields in the valley will be planted with rice this year, and the harvested grain will definitely supply the shop. It would be better to build a mill in the village, store the processed grain at home, and transport it directly to the shop when needed. With this arrangement, we wouldn’t need to rent that warehouse anymore. The Silver saved would be enough to pay the workers. Plus, there’s no mill in the village, so when the villagers need to mill their grain, they have to travel far to the city or another village. We could also take on the village’s milling work for a small profit."

Mo Yan was very tempted by the idea. Building a mill wasn’t difficult or expensive, and it was, importantly, very convenient. Without giving it much thought, she agreed and planned to get the mill set up before building the distillery.

Seeing that it was still early, she guessed that Mother and daughter of Mo Wu clan hadn’t returned from their Southern Market stall, so she drove over in the carriage to pick them up and head back to Liu Yang Village together.