Rushing Headlong
Xiao Qian, along with her children, was stringing yam beans when she heard the growing commotion from the other side. She couldn't help but frown and say, "What's wrong with Sister Zhang?" "She's in such a bad mood tonight."
It was almost dark, and typically at this time, everyone had finished dinner and was getting ready to go to bed.
He Shi chuckled and said, "What else could it be?" It must be because our fourth uncle drew a good lot. You didn't see it because you weren't here today. When he drew the bamboo lot, her face turned green immediately. Although the Liang family didn't say anything, she still got upset even though it had nothing to do with her.
Xiao Qian just snorted and set aside the strung yam beans, saying, "Don't mind her."
At least they had made some progress, right? She was dissatisfied with the knocking, but in the end, she was the one who got upset.
The Zhou family was particularly busy this year and had no time to deal with such trivial matters.
The stones in the homestead had been cleaned up, and the grass roots had been dug out. Tomorrow, they could start digging the foundation.
The village also needed to cultivate forty mu of fallow land this year, so they were very busy.
They were so busy that they didn't even have time to dig up the yams. In the end, it was Manbao who called on his friends to dig up all the ripe yams and pick all the yam beans from the vines.
Although the yams were a bit small, there were still quite a few of them. Zhou Sirlang was eager and excited as he ran to ask his mother, "Mother, have I paid off my debt?"
Qian Shi raised her eyelids and looked at him, saying, "Yes, almost, but you still haven't paid the two taels for building the house."
Zhou Sirlang's excitement deflated, and he drooped his head, saying, "Oh," before running back to find Manbao. "How should we sell these yams?"
"Sell them fresh," Manbao said. "It's too much of a loss to sell them dried to the medicine shop."
Zhou Sirlang also felt the loss and rolled up his sleeves, saying, "I'll sell them myself. Manbao, you have to speak well of me in front of my parents."
Zhou Wulang was not happy and said, "I'll sell them when I go to sell the ginger." Why do you need to go?
"You don't know anything," I have a few friends I can sell to quickly, and we need to keep more for next year's planting. If we choose a better piece of fertile land next year, we will definitely have a bigger harvest. What will we do if the county cannot consume so many yams by then? "We'll have to transport them out, won't we?"
Manbao's spirits lifted, and she immediately said, "Yes, we need to sell them outside." "I also want to talk to my father about saving more seeds this year and planting them in better, more breathable soil next year."
Zhou Wulang scratched his head and asked, "So, do we still get a share?"
"No," Manbao said. "That's Fourth Brother's own land, not the family's."
Manbao knew that only what was grown on one's own land belonged to oneself.
Zhou Wulang immediately looked at Zhou Sirlang and asked, "Fourth Brother, what do you plan to do with your fallow land?"
Zhou Sirlang's allocated field was predetermined, as it belonged to the entire family. Unless the family was divided, actual control would not fall into Zhou Sirlang's hands.
What truly belonged to Zhou Sirlang now was only the piece of land they had opened up together.
Zhou Sirlang turned to his companion and said, "I think it's better to grow ginger than yams."
Zhou Wulang agreed, "I think so too."
Then the two of them looked at Manbao together.
Manbao nodded solemnly and said, "So we'll keep a little more ginger this year."
Ginger was easy to sell and had a long shelf life. As long as it was buried in sand, it could be stored for five or six months without any problems. It could also be dried and sold to the medicine shop. In short, they all felt that they wouldn't lose money.
Old Zhou was also informed of this idea. He acknowledged that yams and ginger were profitable but cautioned that they should not consume too much of them themselves. If one day people outside stopped buying, they would be stuck with it. Therefore, they still needed to grow more grains. He suggested that the family set aside two mu of land for yams and another two mu for ginger.
Old Zhou said, "I don't care about the two pieces of fallow land opened up by Fourth and Xi." You can do whatever you want with them. "But I'll say this: if you want to cultivate unused land, you must complete the tasks at home first."
With this statement, he was essentially allowing them to cultivate unused land, and the brothers of the Zhou family were all somewhat tempted.
Especially Zhou Sanlang, who was the least capable and earned the least among the adult brothers. His expertise lay in farming, but the harvest from the farm belonged to the family and could not be used as personal funds.
Unlike the additional income of the eldest and second eldest brothers, the third brother primarily earned his own money by working at Bailao's house. It was only last year and this year that he had to cook for the laborers and earned a little extra. Otherwise, when he had to pay the bride price last time, he might not have been able to come up with the two taels.
So when Old Zhou mentioned opening up fallow land, he also wanted to cultivate a piece of fallow land and grow some ginger. Maybe he could earn a little more next year.
He Shi also thought the same way.
But they still needed to obtain the seeds from Manbao.
As soon as the meeting ended, Zhou Sanlang sought out Manbao and shared his plan with her.
Manbao had no problem with it and readily agreed, saying, "Okay, Third Brother, how much land do you want to cultivate, and how many seeds do you need?"
After contemplating the situation, Zhou Sanlang realized that he couldn't manage an excessive workload, considering there was still a significant amount of land to cultivate at home. "So," he said, "just open up a piece of land similar to Fourth Brother's, about seven or eight mu. If we plant all of it with ginger, it will be quite a lot."
Manbao had no problem with that and even patted her chest, saying, "Okay, Third Brother, you go and choose the land." "When you're done, I'll help you open it up."
Zhou Sanlang was happy and patted her little head, saying, "You don't need to do that."
Zhou Sirlang's allocated field needed cultivation, and the Zhou family also needed to provide a laborer. Old Zhou sent Zhou Sirlang, as if it were his own land.
The other brothers, except for the fifth and sixth brothers, all needed to stay at home to build houses.
Although Zhou Sirlang was unable to fully dominate the yam business, he still brought Zhou Wulang to the county town and successfully sold a majority of the family's yams.
The majority of the remaining yams were kept as seeds, and the rest were sold by Zhou Wulang and the others.
However, in the county town, there were not many people who knew about yams and were willing to eat them, unlike ginger. It was a bit difficult to sell them.
But as long as they found the right customers, the business trip of Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang was quite successful. The two brothers could bring back five or six hundred wen of income from the county town every day.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Sanlang became even more determined to cultivate fallow land.
Even Zhou Dalang was somewhat tempted and discussed with Xiao Qian the possibility of developing a piece of land.
Xiao Qian said, "Didn't Third Brother say he wanted to open up land?" If you open up more, won't all the work at home fall on Second Brother?
Although Xiao Qian was also tempted, she said, "Father won't agree." Fourth Brother is already three years old, and I think Third Sister is about to have another child. If we expand the family business excessively, it will become overwhelming to manage. It would be a waste.