Chapter 612 Mao Sui Recommends Himself to Become Village Head

In early September, the lingering heat of late summer was still present.

The temperature was quite low in the early morning, and the villagers of Dahe Village were summoned by the village head to a meeting at the Big Locust Tree Square.

Every time there's a meeting, it's because something important is being announced. Everyone in the village comes, even the toddlers who can't walk yet are carried over.

"Everyone's busy these days, so I'll keep it short and not take up too much of your time," the village headman said loudly. "As you all know, I've been specially granted permission by the Emperor to be promoted to the ninth-rank county magistrate. Actually, I didn't want to, but I had no choice. The Emperor issued the order, and I, a commoner, can only obey..."

"I'll be studying for the next six months to try and pass the county's assessment. It's inevitable that I'll slack off on village affairs. After discussing it with Aunt Dashan, we've decided to select someone from the younger generation to be the acting village head. If they do well, they'll officially manage Dahe Village's affairs after I'm promoted. Now, everyone can nominate someone, or you can volunteer. You all probably understand what volunteering means, right? If not, ask your educated children..."

The villagers immediately started talking about it.

The position of village head is the top leader of the village. They have a voice in the village and can also receive a salary from the county. Who wouldn't want to be in that position?

But as everyone knows, managing a village is not easy. First, you need to have authority, otherwise why would the villagers obey you? Second, you need to have real ability, otherwise you simply can't handle all the things going on inside and outside Dahe Village...

The crowd was buzzing with discussion, but no one stepped forward.

Zhao Tiezhu looked around, then stepped onto the highest stone and said, "Hello everyone, grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters. I am Zhao Tiezhu, and I am volunteering to be the acting village head. Over the past year, I have assisted you in handling affairs in Dahe Village and am very familiar with all matters. I can quickly get up to speed, and I believe I am the most suitable person for this position. If I become the acting village head, I will definitely be even more demanding of myself, working hard to build a better Dahe Village and enable the people of Dahe Village to live a better life..."

Old Zhao led the applause: "Bravo!!"

Immediately afterwards, all the people with the surname Zhao also applauded.

Chief Xu originally wanted one of his grandsons to volunteer, but after seeing Tie Zhu's popularity, he gave up on the idea.

Since no one from the Xu family, the second most prominent family, stepped forward, it was even less likely that other smaller families would compete for the position of village head. As a result, only Tiezhu volunteered and was elected with a large number of votes, officially becoming the acting village head of Dahe Village.

After the meeting, the villagers went about their respective tasks.

It's cotton harvesting season now, and the fields are full of large, white cotton bolls that need to be brought home and dried promptly.

With two hundred acres of cotton fields at Cheng Wanwan's house, she was really busy. All the maids, servants, and guards in the house had to go to the fields to help harvest the cotton.

The harvested cotton was piled up in the yard, and elderly men and women in the village who were not able to work, as well as some teenagers, were asked to help peel it. After peeling, it was spread out on the roof to dry in the sun for three to five days. However, if it was cloudy or rainy, it would take longer to dry.

When the waterwheel was built, Cheng Wanwan agreed to lend money to some villages on the condition that these villages would give her priority in selling their cotton.

Therefore, after the cotton was dried, farmers brought it to Dahe Village one after another in oxcarts.

Last year, cotton cost fifty coins. This year, more people are growing cotton and the yield is also large, so Cheng Wanwan is asking for twenty coins per pound.

Some villages that didn't have waterwheels would bring their cotton to the nearest market to sell. The merchants in the market didn't dare to compete fiercely with the people of Suigong, and they would only offer twenty coins per catty, buying as much as they could... The main reason was that last year, the shopkeeper Hu, who had been competing with the people of Suigong for business, was extremely arrogant because his business was booming. After being exposed for cheating the people of Suigong, no one patronized Hu's Cloth Shop anymore. A few months ago, Hu's Cloth Shop closed down miserably, which was quite regrettable.

Cheng Wanwan had never cared about Hu's Cloth Shop.

She bought large quantities of cotton, purchasing about 300,000 jin from Dahe Village alone, and more than a million jin from other villages and households. The large amount of cotton could be used for many things.

Last year, she only used 10,000 jin to make cotton linings, which was not enough to sell. This year, she allocated 500,000 jin to make cotton linings. Although the profits from this part had to be shared with Cao Yingying's embroidery workshop, it was enough for her to make a fortune.

As for the remaining hundreds of thousands of kilograms of cotton, just like last year, a small portion was distributed to the working people who came to work in the winter, while the majority she planned to use to make quilts and winter clothing for the army, which she would then donate free of charge to the military.

.

She is now a fourth-rank official, and cotton was promoted because of her. Therefore, donating winter military supplies in her name will make her contributions to the Great Yu Dynasty more widely remembered.

With no family background or connections, she had no power to rely on; the only thing she could depend on was the support of the people.

She is not a perfect person. She has her own temper and personality, and she has a family she wants to protect. She can't always act within the rules. If she makes a mistake one day, the support of the people will be her best protection.

This busy period lasted until mid-September.

Cheng Wanwan calculated the time and realized that Xiao Zheng and Si Dan should be back from the capital. They were originally supposed to set off on the eighth day of the eighth lunar month, but they wrote that something had delayed their departure, so they would arrive home around two days later.

By now, the ratooning rice should be ready for harvest.

Before the harvest, the village head's family had a happy occasion: Zhao Tiezhu's wedding.

He is seventeen years old this year and is marrying a girl from the Fang family in Ping'an County. The Fang family is the shop where Tiezhu used to be an apprentice and learned to read and write. So initially, Tiezhu was the only one in the entire Dahe Village who could write. Now that the two children have reached the age, they took the time to hold the wedding.

The village head was in high spirits because of the happy occasion, and dressed in his newest clothes, he greeted the guests at the door.

Cheng Wanwan brought 500 coins as a gift, along with 20 eggs and a bolt of red silk cloth to offer her congratulations.

Unsurprisingly, she was once again asked to be the officiant at the wedding. Having learned from her previous experience, she was much more efficient this time. She said a lot of auspicious words, and after the two children completed their wedding ceremony, they could start the meal.

During the meal, Cheng Wanwan was surrounded by enthusiastic women from the village who asked her about Zhao Sanniu's marriage.

"Why hasn't this child come back from the capital? He'll be seventeen by the end of the year, and if he doesn't get married soon, he'll be a bachelor forever."

“I’m not going to stay single forever. As long as Da Shan’s mother approves of my daughter, I’ll let her wait for San Niu. We’ll get married whenever he comes back to the village.”

"It mainly depends on whether San Niu likes her. I remember San Niu once gave my daughter a steamed bun to eat, so maybe he likes my daughter."

"Can you stop trying to make yourself look good? With your daughter looking so shabby, how could San Niu possibly like her?"

"Hey, you can insult me, but you're not allowed to insult my daughter!"

"..."

Several women started arguing in public.

Cheng Wanwan quickly ran away; she really couldn't handle the situation.