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Xie Yunjin said, “Don’t get flustered. Let Lu Jiao explain.”

Everyone turned to Lu Jiao, who started to explain, “As you know, leeches suck human blood and are not kind animals. What you don’t know is that leeches are highly valuable. They revive delicate veins, ease pain, and improve blood flow. Not only are they useful for pregnant women, they can help with brain injuries and strokes.

Right now, we don’t have a lot of medicine that uses leeches. That is because we don’t have enough supply. Because of the low supply, I suspect the purchasing price of leeches are very high. I estimate one pound of leeches to sell for at least 500 coins.

Half an acre of land can host 700 pounds of leeches. However, leech keeping isn’t easy and there’s a high mortality rate. Let’s conservatively estimate that half an acre of land can host 350 pounds of leeches. That means, half an acre of leeches could earn 150 taels of silver.

!!

You can feed small shrimps, fish, or river snails to the leeches. Those are things every family can catch from the river. Blood is also required, which can be bought from the butchers. That’s only used once a week, so the cost is low.

Basically, human resources are what’s needed the most. And for the Xie Village, we definitely don’t lack laborers.”

By now, the leaders were astounded by what she had said.

Half an acre of land could earn them 150 taels of silver? That number was terrifying. Just think of all the food they could buy with 150 taels of silver.

She was also estimating conservatively. If they manage to lower the mortality rate, they could earn even more money.

The Village and Clan Leaders started to pace around excitedly.

After some time, they calmed down and asked Lu Jiao, “Who’s going to buy the leeches we keep?”

Lu Jiao smiled, “Baohe Tang is planning on opening a pharmacy. They are going to purchase medicinal ingredients in bulk. Leeches are going to be one of those items they buy. Before you start leech keeping, you can sign a contract with them and get some deposit.”

The Leaders wavered. They turned to look at Xie Yunjin, “Yunjin, what do you think about that?”

Xie Yunjin nodded slightly, “I think it’s a good opportunity. Leech keeping isn’t an easy task. Once the villagers learn this skill, the wealth will pass down for generations to come. If the villagers get the money, they can send the children to town to study.

If I get to leave this village, I will establish a school for the Clan. That way, more and more people can get out of the village.”

His promise excited the leaders even more. They all have children and grandchildren, and they wanted the best for them.

Xie Yunjin looked towards Lu Jiao.

Lu Jiao planned on teaching the women this skill. That way, the power imbalance would improve and the women won’t have to endure so much bulls!t from the men.

In this era, men go bad once they make money. The men from the Xie Village were no different. If they made money, they would get concubines and infuriate their wives.

She did want to build wealth for the Xie Villagers but she didn’t want the women to be taken advantage of.

It appeared that the Clan Leader had some thoughts to share. She asked, “Clan Leader, is there something you want to share?”

The Clan Leader’s eyes went heavy, “I want leech keeping to be a skill that’s only passed down to the Xie Clan. That’s just a thought. What do you think about that?”

The Clan Leader may have the highest position in the village, however, he was born and raised in the countryside and never got to see the world outside. He may have a few ideas but he never knew how to execute them.

If he handled this poorly, he would create tension between the villagers.

The only reason there wasn’t tension right now was because he asked Xie Fugui to make sure everyone learned herb harvesting.

Xie Yunjin turned to Lu Jiao. Since this was originally Lu Jiao’s suggestion, he wanted to hear what she had to say.

Lu Jiao thought about it, “That can work. However, you must agree to three conditions.

First, the money made from leech keeping has to be kept by the wife. This is to prevent the men from getting corrupted.”

All the men snapped their heads towards Lu Jiao.

Xie Yunjin also looked at her and weirdly added, “I won’t get corrupted even if I get rich.”

Lu Jiao speechlessly stared at him. Why was that her business?

Inside the room, the leaders found Lu Jiao’s request to be strange. However, they were all family men and didn’t decline her condition right away.

“Okay.”

Lu Jiao continued, “Even if leech keeping ends up being very profitable, the men from the Xie family are not allowed to get concubines. Those who get concubines will be kicked out of the Xie Village.”

This was a serious condition.

Lu Jiao noticed how weirded out the leaders appeared so she explained, “My intention is to improve the villagers’ quality of life, it’s not to put money in men’s pockets so they could get more women in the house. If that’s the case, I rather not teach you the skill.”

The leaders felt better after what she said. Lu Jiao’s condition was really to ensure the women here have a good life as well. Plus, the people here didn’t plan on getting concubines so they were okay with it.

“We agree to that one.”

Lu Jiao continued, “The third condition is regarding the leech keepers. The leech keepers must divide up the money, two thirds of it can go to the family’s shared fund and one third can be kept by themselves.”

This was to help hard workers such as Xie Erzhu and Xia Lian.

The leaders were a little flustered but ended up agreeing, “We agree.”

Lu Jiao smiled, “Then, thank you, leaders. If every family agrees to my conditions, they can leave their thumbprint on the binding contract.”

The leaders didn’t fight it.

Beside them, Xie Yunjin spoke up, “Leaders, I have an idea, can you give a listen?”

The leaders turned to Xie Yunjin.

He thought about it a little before he spoke again, “I suggest you build an infrastructure just for leech keeping. As for the leech-keeping skill, you can teach it to only the clan members. Of course, this can’t be taught to everyone – we will only teach one person who’s responsible. That person will then delegate tasks accordingly. There are lots of tasks involved, such as catching fish, shrimp, and river snails. There will also be men needed to guard the leeches at night. This is to prevent outsiders from coming in and poisoning the leeches.”

The leaders nodded.

Xie Yunjin continued, “We can start keeping leeches right away. Every family can donate a part of their land. Once leech keeping starts to make money, the profit can be shared based on the percentage of land donated. The combined land can be used as the specialized area for leech keeping.”

The leaders nodded and supported the idea.

Xie Yunjin added, “As for the profit, that can be split amongst the people responsible for doing all the work. As for how many people each family should send to do the work, that can be done based on the number of household members. For example, a family of three can send one person. A family of six can send two people. That way, the profit sharing ends up fair.

If we do things right, the Xie family will be the only people who learn the skill, and the other members can still be hired to do individual tasks. That way, we can ensure there’s no tension and divide between the villagers.”