Chapter 133

The next day, Granny Yang brought everyone over. These maids were all quite young, dressed in drab clothes, and all looked timid and uneasy.

Yingxiang sighed, got up and led them to the wine shop first.

There are five people here who are collecting debts. They all live together in cramped conditions. If someone is someone you like, you can arrange for them to stay at the farm first.

For a marriage to last, you need at least one room. There are still empty rooms on the farm, enough to accommodate everyone. Since she's in charge, you need to make sure everyone has enough to eat and a place to stay.

Granny Yang must have told these girls in advance, because they remained very quiet throughout the journey.

For them, finding a good man and working for a few years to regain their freedom would be the best thing ever; otherwise, they would truly have to live a miserable life.

Being sold to a brothel is worse than death; that's what some strong-willed women think.

"You can decide for yourselves. If you find someone you like, then you can live together. Starting from the time I receive your indentures, you can redeem yourselves after five years. The redemption fee is five taels of silver. Of course, you have to work hard during these years. If you don't work hard, I will return you all to Granny Yang."

In the backyard, everyone was startled by what they heard, and the workers all looked at the women.

After looking at them, surprisingly, a few people actually hit it off, and two couples were formed. The farm had more young and middle-aged men, and in the end, all ten girls found their partners.

Yingxiang wasn't unhappy; they all had terrible starts, and it wasn't easy for them to get to where they are today.

She repeated what she had said at the tavern and began to assign them houses. Fortunately, there were enough houses built when they were first established, and the farm originally had one house per person, with many houses still vacant, so they could all be accommodated.

With the planting plan in the works, having more people involved wouldn't hurt. This incident happened unexpectedly. In theory, she could have ignored it, but thinking about it, she decided to treat it as a good deed.

After arranging all this, Yingxiang went back to settle the bill with Granny Yang.

"Shopkeeper, with your kind heart, your wishes will surely come true, and Heaven will favor you."

Granny Yang loves money, but she never engages in crooked practices or cheats people. She bought these maids for two hundred and thirty taels of silver.

This time, she didn't raise the price either, and told Yingxiang the truth.

After receiving the money, she immediately took out the indentures from her bosom and handed them all to Yingxiang.

"Shopkeeper, please keep this safe. It's a good place for these girls, at least."

They got married and started living together. Yingxiang even allowed them to redeem themselves from their servitude, and they were paid money for their work. This was already considered exceptionally kind treatment. Nowadays, most marriages are arranged by parents, whether they are village girls or daughters of noble families. There is no such thing as free love and getting along. Parents make all the decisions.

Yingxiang picked up the teacup and drank half of it in one gulp.

She had stored quite a few fruit tree seedlings in her system inventory, all of which she planned to plant later, and spring planting was just around the corner.

In the evening, Yingxiang went home first. She put away all the indentures. Although she had spent another sum of money, she still had money in her private treasury.

She took out all the fruit seedlings she had stored in her daily check-in account in one go. There was nothing unusual about them; she had seen them at the market before, and they were pretty much the same as the others.

There are persimmon trees, pear trees (they don't seem to call them pears here, they call them fruits), jujube trees, apricot trees, plum trees, and peach trees. These are all saplings that can bear fruit.

There's a lot of land there, so we need to plant it separately. Planting only one type of fruit tree might not be good, since the prices are not fixed.

The number of people she signed in wasn't enough; she would need to buy more later. Now that there were many more people, she thought she might need to reorganize the planting area when she went there tomorrow.

When Wenshi picked up the child later that evening, he was stunned to see fruit tree seedlings filling most of the yard.

Yingxiang sat to the side, not bothering to hide her feelings, and then said, "I made several trips to buy them. Let's get up early tomorrow and deliver them all over there. It's time to start planting them."

Wen Shi did not refuse, but in order not to delay, they would have to get up 15 minutes earlier tomorrow.

It would be difficult for Yingxiang alone, but with him, it would be a little easier. Wen Leqian can't take too much, but taking less is also acceptable.

When I heard the news, I didn't refuse; it was all for the good of the family.

“There is plenty of land over there, and this is probably not enough. If we are planting fruit trees, I remember reading in a book that they shouldn’t be planted too densely.”

“I know that.”

These fields are all under Yingxiang's name. She knows that she will have to buy more and spend more money. She will have to spend a lot of money right after the New Year. However, thinking about the harvest season, she is not so pessimistic.

The next morning, the couple got up and started working. They made two trips back and forth. After finishing, Wen Shi took the child and left.

Inside the farm, under a blue sky and white clouds, with a gentle breeze, Jiang Xian stood behind Yingxiang. Seeing her looking around at the land, he didn't say anything. This was all fertile land, and planting wouldn't be difficult. A few days ago, when the weather warmed up, he had already started to arrange for the land to be turned over.

"Let's separate these fruit trees first. Don't plant different varieties together, and don't plant them too densely. These aren't enough; we'll have to buy more at the market later."

Looking at the current situation, the previous plan can only be broken and needs to be adjusted. Yingxiang can accept this. In the end, it's all about making money.

Having lived for so many years, she knows in her heart that some things are one thing when you imagine them, but quite another when you actually do them, and she can accept that calmly.

"Are any of them literate?"

"That guy named Erhu was originally a tutor to the young master of a wealthy family. He studied with him for several years, but then that family had a misfortune, and he was sold off."

Following Jiang Xian's direction, Yingxiang looked over and saw that the man named Erhu had a decent appearance.

"Call him over."

"yes."

When Erhu came over, Yingxiang looked at him and asked, "You can read, but can you write?"

"I can write, shopkeeper. I had a few years of schooling before, and I can do not only write, but also do arithmetic."

"Alright, you won't have to do these tasks from now on. You'll just need to keep the books. You need to remember everything about the inbound and outbound shipments, and write down the daily time clearly, such as the date, time of the inbound shipment, and how much was sold. I will check it later."

Erhu nodded. It was an easy job, and he was capable of it and would do it well. It was better than tilling the land.

"Starting tomorrow, you will go to the warehouse."

It's called a warehouse, but it's just an empty room that was chosen later. It's enough for now, and it's used to store the eggs we've collected. The other livestock haven't produced much yet.

After Yingxiang finished speaking, she looked at Jiang Xian and said, "Everything must be done according to the rules. The items sold must first be put into the warehouse before being released from the warehouse. This process must be followed."

"Don't worry, shopkeeper."

Many of the lambs we brought back last year have grown quite a bit and will be ready to be sold soon. We won't sell the good breeding ewes; they'll be used for breeding and will produce new lambs. The same applies to the pigsty. It would be best if we could have an internal circulation system; otherwise, we won't make much money just by profiting from the price difference.

Once a farm has some scale of production, restaurant owners will likely come to take a look, since they need these things most when running a restaurant. If the price is right, they can cooperate in the long term.

Goat milk can be sold, but the price isn't that high, and there's no need to sell it. It's better to let the mother goat keep it to feed the lambs.

For the next month, Yingxiang focused all her attention on this area, leaving early and returning late. The smell in the breeding area was very strong, but fortunately, it was getting warmer, so she could take a shower every day without any inconvenience.

Later, she bought a lot of fruit seedlings at the market and started planting in the area.

She had also bought ducks and fish fry. The farm was already in place, and the layout was very clear. Now all she had to do was wait for the produce to come out.

It doesn't look quite right now, but with careful care, it shouldn't be long before it's ready.

With enough manpower, planting went smoothly. Many people had done this before, so they were very familiar with it. Most of the crops were cash crops such as fruit trees.

Right now, food isn't worth that much, so although these things are troublesome, they can make money.

That evening, Yingxiang took out all these contracts of indenture and went to Wenshi's study to retrieve some of the papers he had cut and bound them together.

Afterwards, she wrote down all these people's names and made a booklet, which would be more convenient in the future.

These people each receive one tael of silver per month, which adds up to more than five hundred taels a year. They also do a lot of work, so she can't refuse to pay them a single penny.

There's also food and lodging. At the teahouse, several of the actors are veterans, so there's no need for newcomers; they already know how to act.

After Yingxiang finished writing, she counted on her fingers that she had saved a lot of money since she didn't have to give Granny Yang any money. These people's monthly wages were not much, but they were not little either. Anyway, they all had to work for at least five years before they could be redeemed.

Including the rent for the two shops, her stable annual expenses will definitely be over a thousand taels, probably around one thousand two or three thousand, with some fluctuations being normal.

Once the livestock on the farm are ready for market, they can be sold for money, and the profits will only increase. Right now, the only stable output is eggs. Of course, after the spring, she bought some chicks to raise. There is enough space and people to take care of them, so it's naturally better to have more.

Yingxiang felt happy just thinking about these things.

In the evening, Wen Leqian returned home. He excitedly took out the four characters he had written that day from his book box and handed them to Wen Shi and Yingxiang to see.

The child wrote large characters, but they were indeed quite good. Yingxiang felt very good about it and praised him a few times. Wenshi carefully checked it again and praised him a few times as well.

In the blink of an eye, this child is in his third year of school. From the beginning, when he started school and learned two characters a day, to later learning all the characters and starting to learn and recite ancient poems, to now writing and practicing calligraphy, the next step should be to recite articles, learn arithmetic, and then study the Four Books and Five Classics, laws and regulations, etc.

At night, the couple lay in bed when Wen Shi suddenly said, "Once he has a solid foundation, the school will no longer be suitable for him. It would be better to send him to an academy."

"It's still early."

He smiled and kissed his wife's fair cheek.

"It's not too early, at most two or three more years."

“He’s already six years old. He started his education early and has learned everything he was supposed to. With a good foundation, he can learn even more. The teachers at the school can’t teach him too much, and he also needs to learn to live independently. When he goes to the academy, he will definitely live there, which will be more convenient.”

“He doesn’t have to start from scratch. The provincial examination isn’t easy either. There’s also the metropolitan examination and the palace examination. He’ll have to start taking those exams when he’s sixteen or eighteen.”

"Before that, we also need to start arranging marriages for him, the so-called 'settle down before establishing a career'."

It would still be some time before what Wen Shi had said was realized. Yingxiang thought about it and suddenly sat up. It didn't seem like many years had passed. She touched her face in disbelief.

To be honest, she never imagined that day would come; she always felt that these things were still very far away.

"It's not too late to arrange a marriage for him after he turns eighteen. Don't start too early. Let him focus on his studies."

Wen Shi was still somewhat traditional. He got married late because his family was not wealthy, but he certainly didn't want his son to be like that.

These days, it's common for fourteen- or fifteen-year-olds to get married, but deep down, Yingxiang finds it hard to accept.