Chapter 167 Heading

The Zhou family discovered that the banging noises coming from Zhou Dayuan's house were louder tonight. They could hear Zhang scolding the children and Goudan and the others crying from a distance.

Little Qian was stringing yam beans with her children. When she heard the noise getting louder over there, she couldn't help but frown, "What's wrong with Mrs. Zhang? Why are you so angry tonight?"

It was almost dark, and usually by this time everyone had finished dinner and was getting ready for bed.

He scoffed and said, "Why else? It must be because our fourth uncle drew a good lot. Sister-in-law, you weren't here today, so you didn't see it. When the fourth uncle pulled out the bamboo stick, her face turned pale. The Daliang family didn't say anything, but she was still angry even though it had nothing to do with his family."

Xiao Qian snorted, put the skewered yam beans aside, and said, "Don't worry about her."

At least they got something done, didn't they? She was dissatisfied with the criticism, but in the end, she was the only one who got angry.

The Zhou family is extremely busy this year and has no time to deal with such trivial matters.

The stones on the homestead have been picked up, and the grass roots have been dug out, so we can start digging the foundation tomorrow.

The village has to cultivate 40 acres of wasteland for adults this year, so it is very busy.

They were so busy that they had no time to dig the yams. In the end, Manbao called on his friends to dig up all the ripe yams and pick all the yam beans on the vines.

Although the yams were a bit small, there were still a lot of them. Zhou Silang was eager to try them out and ran to ask his mother excitedly, "Mom, am I going to pay off my debt?"

Qian raised her eyelids and glanced at him, then said, "Well, it's almost done, but you haven't paid the two taels of money for building the house yet."

Zhou Silang's excitement faded. He hung his head, said "Oh", and ran back to find Manbao, "How much is this yam?"

"Let's sell them fresh," Manbao said. "It's too much of a loss to sell them dried to a pharmacy."

Zhou Silang also felt that he was at a disadvantage, so he rolled up his sleeves and said, "I'll go sell it myself. Manbao, you have to help me speak well of it in front of my parents."

Zhou Wulang was not happy and said, "I'll just sell it on my way to sell ginger. Why do you need to go?"

"You know what? I know a few friends who can sell to us faster. We need to save more seeds this year. Next year, we'll choose a better and more fertile land to plant them. We'll definitely harvest more. What will we do if our county can't eat all the yams by then? We'll have to ship them out."

Manbao cheered up and said immediately, "Yes, we should export it. I was thinking of talking to Dad about this. We should save more seeds this year and choose some fertile and breathable land to plant them next year."

Zhou Wulang scratched his head and asked, "Then, do we still get a share?"

"It's gone." Manbao said, "That's not Fourth Brother's own land, it's our family's land."

Manbao knows that only what he grows on the land he has created belongs to him.

Zhou Wulang immediately looked at Zhou Silang and asked, "Fourth Brother, what are you going to do with that piece of wasteland?"

Zhou Silang had no need to think about the Dingtian that he got, as it belonged to the entire family. Unless the family split up, Zhou Silang would not have actual control over it.

Now, the only land that truly belongs to Zhou Silang is the one they created through their concerted efforts.

Zhou Silang rolled his eyes and said, "I think growing ginger is better than growing yams."

Zhou Wulang agreed, "I think so too."

Then the two of them looked at Manbao together.

Manbao nodded seriously, "Then let's save some more ginger seeds this year."

There is no need to worry about selling ginger, and its shelf life is also very long. As long as it is buried in sand, it can be preserved for five or six months without any problem. It can also be dried into ginger and sold to pharmacies. In short, they feel that they will not lose money.

They also told Old Zhou about this idea. Old Zhou thought for a while while smoking a cigarette, "Yam and ginger seem to make money, but we can't eat much of them at home. If people outside stop buying them one day, we'll be left with nothing. So we still have to grow more food. I think we should use two acres of land to grow yams and another two acres to grow ginger."

Old Zhou said, "I don't care about the two pieces of wasteland that Lao Si and Xi opened up. You can do whatever you want with them."

He said, "Any of you who have the ability to open up wasteland can cultivate it as you wish, but I'm telling you this: if you want to cultivate wasteland, you must first finish your work at home."

Once these words were spoken, it meant that they would be allowed to open up the wasteland, and the Zhou brothers were all tempted.

Especially Zhou Sanlang, he is the least capable among the adult brothers and earns the least. The only thing he is good at is farming.

But the harvest from farming belongs to the public and cannot be used as private money.

Unlike the first and second wives who had extra income, the third wife's private money was mostly earned by Zhou Sanlang working as a helper in Mr. Bai's house. Last year and this year, he earned some extra money because he had to cook for the servants. Otherwise, he might not have been able to pay the two taels of silver for the last share of the money.

So as soon as Old Zhou made the announcement, he wanted to clear a piece of wasteland and grow some ginger, hoping he could earn a little more next year.

He thought so too.

But you still have to get the seeds from Manbao.

So, as soon as the meeting was over, Zhou Sanlang found Manbao and told her about this matter.

Manbao had no problem at all and agreed immediately, "Okay, Third Brother, how much land do you want to open up and how many seeds do you need?"

Zhou Sanlang thought about it and realized that there were too many to take care of. He still had so much land to cultivate at home, so he said, "Just open up a piece similar to Silang's, about 70% to 80%. By the time we plant all the ginger, there will be a lot left."

Manbao said it was no problem, and patted his chest and said, "Then Third Brother, go and choose a piece of land. Once you have chosen, I will help you open up the wasteland."

Zhou Sanlang was happy, patted her little head and said, "There's no need for you."

Zhou Silang's land needed to be reclaimed, and the Zhou family had to provide at least one laborer. Old Zhou sent Zhou Silang to do it, because it was his own land after all.

Then all the other brothers, except the fifth and sixth, had to stay at home and build a house.

So Zhou Silang was ultimately unable to completely take over the yam business, but he still took Zhou Wulang to the county town and sold a small portion of the yams at home.

Most of the remaining food was kept as seeds, and the rest was sold in small quantities by Zhou Wulang and his men.

But in the county town, not many people really know about yam and can eat it. Its audience is not as large as that of ginger, so it is a bit difficult to sell.

However, as long as they found the right customer base, Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang's business trips went smoothly. Every day, the brothers could bring back 500 to 600 coins from the county town.

Zhou Sanlang watched and became even more determined to open up the wasteland.

Even Zhou Dalang was tempted and discussed with Xiao Qianshi about opening up a piece of land.

Little Qian said, "Didn't the third brother say he wanted to open one? If you do, will all the housework fall on the second brother?"

Although Xiao Qian was also tempted, she said, "Dad won't agree. The fourth child is already three years old, and I think my third brother's wife will have another child. By then, the family business will be too big to take care of. Wouldn't it be a waste?"

(End of this chapter)