mesbooks Chapter 175: Start of Work
Chapter 175: Start of Work
The lunch lasted from noon to night. Zheng Lizheng ate a bowl of pork and green onion dumplings and went home drunk.
The wife of the village head saw him like this and couldn't hold back her anger. She reached out and hit him twice on the back, saying with disdain, "You reek of alcohol. How much did you drink?"
"If it hadn't been dark, I'm afraid you wouldn't have come back?" There was a hint of coldness in his eyes, which made Zheng Lizheng sober up a lot.
He quickly said in a flattering manner: "No, no, how could I dare, hehehe..."
He rubbed his hands nervously and said, "This is Mr. Xia buying land to build a village. As the head of the village, he must get the red deed done, right? Old Man He stayed for two meals."
"Seeing it was getting dark, I hurried back. I didn't dare to stay any longer. Really!" His tone was so sincere that people who were not familiar with him would definitely be deceived.
The wife of the village head knew him best. She rolled her eyes speechlessly and said word by word, "Haha... You came back in a carriage at noon, and you spent the whole afternoon eating lunch."
Village head: “!!”
He lowered his head and gritted his teeth, thinking that his wife knew everything and the older she got, the harder it was to deceive her.
Seeing that he couldn't fool the enemy, he simply fell backwards and started snoring in an instant.
The headman’s wife: “…”
She was almost mad, but seeing that the old man looked happy, she ignored him.
The next day, no one knew how Prime Minister Zuo did it, but the master builder came into the village with some land. Before Old Man He, who was still sober, could figure out what was going on, the village started recruiting workers.
It was the slack season for farmers, and normally every household would have to go to town to find work. But now that there was a way to make money right at their doorstep, the men began to scramble for it.
"Li Zheng, I'm strong and can do any dirty or strenuous work. Choose me, choose me."
"Uncle Village Chief, look at my muscles and how I can move things easily, so announce that I am the winner.
"Li Zheng, Uncle Li Zheng, Lord Li Zheng..."
"..."
Zheng Lizheng felt dizzy from being called all the time, as if there were hundreds of ducks quacking in front of him.
Shouted: "Stop!"
The crowd fell silent instantly, all looking at him eagerly, as if they had been chosen by him. The main reason was that building a house was not tiring at all, and almost every household knew how to do it.
He rubbed his head, looked at the villagers and said, "People over 16 and under 35 should stand on the left. These people need to pull bricks and tiles, which requires great strength. The daily wage is 35 cents, and food is not included."
"The children and the elderly stand on the right, responsible for clearing the weeds from the homestead, and they are paid twenty cents a day, regardless of food."
Hearing that there was no work for women, the maids asked anxiously, "Doesn't the He family cook? Doesn't Mr. Xia's family cook either?"
Hearing this, Zheng Lizheng nodded and said, "There are too many people. Master Xia said that he would pay more wages and would not provide meals. You can go home to eat when the time comes."
"Yes, thirty-five dollars is enough to carry sacks in town for two days. There is no food or drink, and you have to bring your own dry biscuits to eat."
"Very good, very good. It's worth it. Fortunately, Mr. Xia has many people to build the manor. Thirty-five cents a day, how much is it a month?" Someone was seen counting on his fingers.
Hearing what the men at home said, the old women and young wives nodded and gave up the idea of going to work together. Someone has to do the housework, and there are so many ducks.
They all told the men in their families, "Work hard and don't be sneaky. Uncle He is taking care of the villagers. Otherwise, how could such a good thing fall into Xiaotian Village? Don't embarrass yourself."
Listening to their wives' instructions, the men smiled and said, "Okay, you must work hard. You will be hard at home. When we earn money, we will buy you a piece of new cloth to make clothes."
"Let's cut a few more pounds of meat so that the children can have a few big pieces of fat meat to enjoy."
"..."
The left prime minister, who was standing not far away, listened to the dense voices in his ears and sighed softly, "All people want is to have enough food and warm clothes. This is also what the emperor worries about every day."
Xia Yining happened to hear him running to find his father with his legs twitching. Thinking of the high yield of crops that he had planted, he quickly came over and hugged his legs.
Nai Huhu called out, "Daddy, it's easy to feed everyone, just grow some food."
The left prime minister looked at the small pendant on his leg and smiled very gently. He held her in his arms and shook her before saying, "Ning'er is right. We need to grow grain, but the grain harvest in Nanxu is not good. One acre of land can only produce more than 400 kilograms."
"After paying the land tax, there is no way to support a large family. People in the court also know this. The emperor has been putting pressure on the Ministry of Agriculture to increase the per-acre grain yield."
"Unfortunately, most of the land is barren and it won't work, eh~~~"
Xia Yining didn't expect her father to say so much to her. After thinking for a while, she said, "Then let's ferment the land to make it fertile and grow crops, and then use high-yield crops to grow high-quality crops."
Left Prime Minister: “???”
He was just talking casually, but he didn't expect the little girl to reply seriously. He didn't understand the word "fermentation", so he asked, "What is fertilizer? How to ferment it?"
The little girl said in a grandma's voice, word by word: "Like human excrement, chicken and duck excrement, and egg shells, find a place to dig a big hole, throw in some dead leaves and the like, cover it with something and keep it secret for a few days."
In fact, there are some fungus powders to assist, but these things did not exist in ancient times, and she did not have a shopping system, so she thought of trying the Stream of Life.
Fortunately, she did not say this out loud. If Chi Yan knew about this, he would definitely be furious and call her a spendthrift.
It was the first time that the Left Prime Minister heard this statement. He asked curiously, "How did Ning'er know about composting? Who told you about it?"
Xia Yining: “!!!”
Weak and helpless, his whole body stiffened a little, and he whispered: "I saw it in a book, and my little brother read it to Ning'er."
Feeling the changes in his arms, the Left Prime Minister knew that the little girl was not telling the truth, so he did not want to delve into the issue.
He felt a little disgusted at the thought of using excrement to make fertilizer, but...
Thinking that it would be a great thing for the people to fertilize the land, he thought of finding someone to give it a try.
Originally they were talking about the high yield of grain per mu, but when Xia Yining saw his father's expression, he gave up the idea instantly and decided to talk about it when he had time. It didn't matter what time it took.
After the workers were found, construction on the homesteads of the Xia and He families began.
Every household can make money as long as they work in the village. Everyone in Xiaotian Village is very grateful to the two families and greets them warmly whenever they see them.
Old man He was no longer used to this. His face was stiff from smiling at the end of the day. When he went home to eat, he complained to Mrs. He in a low voice that he just felt that the day had been really hard.
As for He Xinglang, he took his two little nephews back to school early. Before leaving, he felt guilty for not being able to help his family, so he was sent back by the old couple of the He family.