Aunt Li was also hesitant; to say she didn't want the silver would be a lie.
After all, picking these things is quite exhausting; her family had worked for several days, making their backs ache with fatigue.
Originally, they thought they could keep some of the harvest to sell in town to earn some wages, but after a few days, hardly any were sold, and the trip to town was a waste. They couldn't exchange the food for silver at all, so they brought everything back.
This is also why, after the Village Chief came to discuss, it took them three days to send the goods back.
Yang Ming knew exactly what was on these families' minds; he was aware that they'd been going to town to sell hazelnuts in recent days. His concerns weren't unreasonable; if they accepted these things and later sold them for silver, these people might turn things around against them.
