There was no rain throughout the entire spring, and sure enough, it affected this year's harvest. Although it did start to rain intermittently in May, it came too late and didn't last long. While it did provide some relief to the fields, the damage had already been done. This was especially true for wheat—spring rain is vital for its growth. Without sufficient moisture, wheat plants couldn't photosynthesize properly, grew stunted, and produced underdeveloped grain heads.
Experienced farmers all shook their heads and sighed. Based on past experience, the yield this year was bound to drop significantly.
Fortunately, unlike in previous years, even though not a drop of rain fell throughout spring and they had to rely on manual irrigation, the presence of irrigation canals helped ease the labor burden. Although many of the canals eventually dried up, at least in the beginning, they provided ample water to the fields. As a result, the crops grew decently despite the lack of spring rain.
Some people believed yields would decline, but the situation was still considered manageable. Compared to other regions, their area fared much better.
Moreover, many optimistically pointed out that even though yields would be lower this year, they were still better than the harvests from the years before fertilizers were introduced. So yes, there would be losses, but at least the days of people starving to death during every drought or flood were gone.
Especially since the Earl had also reduced their taxes this year, which further mitigated their losses, leaving people much less worried.
That was the general sentiment: with food at home, there was no anxiety in their hearts. Even with scarce rainfall, there weren't many truly anxious or miserable faces. As long as they worked hard and cared for the fields, the losses could be minimized.
So although a spring drought occurred this year, remarkably, it didn't affect many people. The atmosphere remained relatively upbeat, and life went on as usual for the villagers.
Time passed, and June arrived quickly. The drought had mostly subsided, and the weather returned to its usual early summer pattern. The wheat grains in the fields were visibly less plump than in previous years, but at least they weren't empty husks—just not as well-developed.
In June, the overseas merchant who had signed a contract with Wei Wei finally returned with the goods she had requested.
An entire shipload of cocoa beans, along with a rare and limited amount—barely a hundred jin—of coffee beans.
It wasn't that the merchant was unwilling to bring more goods. He only had one ship, and it just so happened to be cocoa harvest season when he set out, so he managed to return with a full load of cocoa beans. Coffee beans, on the other hand, were a different matter. Their main use hadn't yet been discovered at this time, and in fact, Africans during this period regarded coffee as a medicinal herb. The reason was simple—unsweetened coffee tasted more bitter than traditional medicinal decoctions. Yet it had a stimulating effect, so naturally, it was treated like a drug and remained largely unknown to the world.
The overseas merchant had only discovered the plant by chance and brought some back to Wei Wei with a "let's try it" attitude.
Coffee beans weren't yet being cultivated manually during this time, and since the merchant had arrived during the off-season for coffee harvests, even bringing back one sack was the result of considerable effort. He had to gather information and use monetary incentives to acquire leftover stock from tribal shamans.
"...The tribes there are truly barbaric. Some of them even practice cannibalism! I was this close to being eaten alive," the merchant recounted dramatically, clearly exaggerating but also visibly excited by the thrill.
Wei Wei could tell he may have encountered some trouble, but it was not as dramatic as he described.
Cannibal tribes may have existed in the African interior, but the coastal areas along the Mediterranean were under the control of various nations, and their level of civilization was comparable to that of Europe. The Mediterranean merchants rarely ventured inland; they mostly operated along the coasts. Encountering a cannibal tribe was nearly impossible.
He was embellishing the story to increase the perceived value of his goods.
Wei Wei didn't expose him. In the end, she paid the originally agreed-upon price and even gave him a bonus. She also placed a new order with him.
Felix loved everything made from cocoa. He was convinced that, with the right promotion, it would sell like hotcakes. What's more, the process of turning cocoa beans into delicious hot chocolate and chocolate products was quite complex. As long as they kept the process secret, they didn't have to worry about others figuring it out. So he was extremely generous with his orders, telling the merchant to bring back as much as he could—he'd buy it all.
The merchant was overjoyed. As he left, he was already planning to hire several more ships next time to bring back an even bigger load.
Luckily, he had already arranged with the locals to reserve a batch of cocoa beans for him.
It was also fortunate timing—he had arrived just as the cocoa harvest began. Following Wei Wei's instructions, he had the locals place freshly harvested cocoa pods, along with their pulp, into barrels to ferment before drying them.
His strange request was met with initial resistance. At this time, people didn't grow cocoa trees for their seeds but for the white pulp surrounding them. The pulp, sweet and tangy like mangosteen, was considered a delicacy.
As for the seeds inside—the cocoa beans—locals did use them, but only by drying and grinding them into powder to brew or boil into drinks. These had a bitter and unpleasant taste with lots of scum and foam on the surface. Without sugar, pure cocoa drinks were unbearably bitter and sour and used only medicinally.
No one else had ever fermented cocoa pulp together with the seeds. To the locals, this was simply a waste of good food.
But since the merchant had bought the fruit, and money was involved, the locals eventually agreed to his method. Soon, the first batch of fermented cocoa beans was produced.
The hired locals found that these fermented cocoa beans had a unique aroma. Some secretly took a few homes, ground them, and tried brewing them. Though still bitter, the drink now had a richer, more pleasant flavor. And that awful smell? Gone.
After the merchant left with the first shipment, the locals began using his fermentation method to process cocoa beans and stored a large amount this way, believing he would return to purchase them again.
Cocoa pods didn't fetch high prices locally, while the merchant's offer was slightly higher. When the market became flooded during harvest and prices dropped, many people opted to ferment the pods along with the seeds and store them for future sale.
The merchant had long been familiar with that area—well-known for being honest and reliable. Without that reputation, locals wouldn't have dared "waste" their fruit just based on his word.
Sure enough, after a few months, the merchant returned—this time with several ships in tow. He was welcomed with open arms. That year, the cocoa pods were difficult to sell. Farmers couldn't bear to let them go at low prices, so they had broken them open, fermented both pulp and seed and waited for his return. Had he not come, they would have suffered serious losses.
Thankfully, he returned and made annual purchasing agreements. From then on, cocoa no longer had trouble finding a buyer, and more and more families in the area began growing cocoa trees as their livelihood.
But that's a story for another time.
Not long after Wei Wei received the shipload of cocoa beans, the town's milk tea shop suddenly introduced a new product line: "chocolate."
This brown, dirt-like substance didn't look like much, but its flavor was unforgettable. Whether made into a cake, drink, or eaten directly, it received an overwhelming response.
The only downside? Any food or drink containing chocolate was significantly more expensive than regular milk tea or cakes—so much so that the average commoner couldn't afford to enjoy it more than once a week. Most could only indulge once a month, otherwise it would strain their household budgets.
But such costs didn't bother the nobility or the well-off middle class. Once they had tasted the chocolate cake and hot cocoa made with chocolate and milk, they quickly became loyal customers. Whenever they had the chance, they would buy some to savor at home.
Merchants immediately recognized a new business opportunity. They believed selling chocolate elsewhere would be hugely profitable. Unfortunately, the Earl didn't seem interested in expanding the business. Aside from his beverage shops, no one else could get their hands on chocolate.
Before long, merchants also learned that Earl Williams had opened milk tea shops in the capital, Princia, and Aldridge, all offering chocolate products, which were met with rave reviews. That all but crushed their hopes of entering the market.
While chocolate fever was spreading, Wei Wei was holed up in the mushroom rooms, checking on the condition of her fungi.
Last autumn, she had set up two mushroom chambers in the castle to cultivate oyster mushrooms and white mushrooms. The experiment had been a huge success. The mushrooms grown indoors proved to everyone that something they had believed only harvestable under specific conditions could in fact be cultivated manually.
The mushrooms from those two rooms became a regular part of everyone's meals in the castle. Every few days, there would be fresh, delicious mushroom dishes on the table—right up until winter, when the rooms had to stop production due to unmanageable indoor temperatures.
After that, Felix approved a plot of land for building an entire row of mushroom rooms. Following the same setup as before, they prepared new materials and re-created the cultivation beds.
When spring came, new mushroom spores were planted. After forty days of growth, batches of mushrooms began to sprout again.
Now, after several harvests, the mushroom yield had begun to decline. Wei Wei was inspecting the chambers to determine whether the cultivation substrate had lost its nutrients and needed replenishment, or if it was better to replace it entirely and start a fresh batch.