Before she knew it, the New Year had passed, and Xichun still needed to hire people to cultivate her land. However, she was too busy to manage it herself. Xichun originally wanted to ask Uncle Zhang's family for help in finding someone, but after hearing about her troubles, Wang came to find her instead.

"Xichun, I heard you're thinking of hiring people to farm your land?"

"Yes, I don't have the energy to manage it right now, and I don't have the time to go to the fields myself. I can only try to find a reliable person to farm it." Xichun didn't hide anything. Anyway, she had made up her mind. What she wanted was a legitimate reason to farm. She could either collect rent herself or hire a long-term worker to help.

"I do have someone in mind, but I don't know if you'd like to join us, Xichun. That family is a relative of your sister-in-law Xiaoling's family. They live in the village where you bought the land. They heard you wanted to hire people and came to your sister-in-law Xiaoling to ask if you could help them with the planting. If you hire long-term workers, you'll have to pay them according to the daily rate of work. However, this method also has its drawbacks."

That is, if you don't go over to supervise often, those people will inevitably feel that you don't care, and they won't take good care of the land either. If you rent it out to them and collect a percentage of the rent, they will take good care of the land in order to get more rent.

Anyway, as long as you bring it up, they'll all agree. Your Uncle Ma and I have inquired about their family; they're honest people. It's just that they have too many children, and after paying taxes, they don't have much grain left from their crops, which is why they're thinking of renting other people's land."

"That would be even better. As long as the person is honest and doesn't try anything funny or deliberately lie about the harvest, I naturally have no objection." Xi Chun thought it would save him a lot of trouble. In the village, this would save the person who takes care of the land a lot of time and allow them to take care of their own land.

“Okay, then tomorrow your Uncle Ma and I will take you to see that family. If it works out, let them farm your land. Your Uncle Ma and I will also keep an eye on things from time to time. If they dare to cause any trouble, we can just find another family to take you.”

"Alright, I'll go see the person tomorrow. I'll trouble you to tell Uncle Ma."

"It's nothing. Anyway, there's not much going on right now. Let's take care of this in the next couple of days so you can focus on your business."

When Wang returned home and learned that Xichun had agreed, Mo Xiaoling breathed a sigh of relief. She had also inquired about Xichun's personality; she was the kind of person who would treat others better if they treated her well. If she wanted to play tricks, she was no pushover. She probably only agreed because of her mother-in-law.

“Mother, you’re really something. You have a lot to say to Xichun. We’re just outsiders, so don’t worry. I’ll definitely talk to them. If they dare to fool Xichun, they’re fooling our whole family. If they don’t appreciate our help, then don’t blame us for turning our backs on them.”

“That’s right. Xichun’s land is good land. It’s good for anyone to farm. If they try anything funny, we’re all farmers, how could we not know? Even if Xichun doesn’t say anything, I will still advise Xichun not to rent it to them.”

Wang knew about her little scheme, but as long as it didn't harm Xichun's interests, she wouldn't interfere. If the two families got along well, it would be good for both her and Xiaofeng.

The next day, accompanied by Uncle Ma and Wang, Xichun met the Li family, who were going to rent her land. The Li family was indeed large, with two elderly people and six children, including three strong laborers. It is said that a half-grown boy can eat his father to death, and this saying is really true.

The whole family was starving and emaciated. Xichun learned through conversation that they owned a total of eight mu of land. This would be considered good for other families, who could barely feed themselves, but their family was too large to manage.

Xichun checked and found that their land was also in the village, but it wasn't next to hers, though it wasn't far either. Plus, there was a large well in her land, so it would be full of water whenever it rained, making irrigation no problem.

“Uncle Li, I’m going to let you farm this land. I’ll take 30% of the rent as grain from you each year. The rest, after paying the grain tax to the government, will be yours. What do you think?” Xi Chun told him her plan.

“Oh, Miss Chen, you are such a kind person. This rent is really great for us. We will definitely agree to it and will take good care of the land to grow more crops.”

Li Laowu was originally worried that Xichun would not agree, but upon hearing this, he immediately bowed to her. The eyes of his whole family lit up, and they looked at Xichun with gratitude in their eyes.

"No need to be polite. As long as you work hard and don't lie about the harvest, I'll hand over this land to you. I'll come to check on it from time to time, and my Uncle Ma will also come to help out often. As long as our two families cooperate well, I guarantee that as long as I don't go back to live in the village, this land will remain under your family's responsibility."

However, if you think you can fool me, I'm not one to be trifled with. After all, there are many people who want to rent this land, and there aren't many landlords like me who are gentle and don't cause trouble. If I find out even once, I will not tolerate it.

If you both agree, then put your fingerprints on this contract. It details the rent sharing agreement between us, as well as the agreed terms. You can find someone literate to help you read it and see if there are any problems.

“We can definitely do what you asked for, and we believe what’s written here. But to avoid any future disputes, I’d like to have my son ask the village chief to take a look, is that alright?”

“Of course, we can sign it after we’ve checked it and made sure there are no problems.” Xi Chun nodded in agreement.

The village chief arrived quickly. After reading the contract written by Xichun, he nodded and read its contents aloud. Li Laowu then pressed his fingerprint on it, making three copies. Xichun was ready to leave after completing the matter, and Li Laowu tried to persuade them to stay for a meal, but they couldn't.

“Uncle Ma, I’ll have to trouble you to keep an eye on things for me from now on. They might not do anything underhanded in the next year or two, but I’m worried they might try to fool me later.”

"Don't worry, even if you hadn't said anything, I would have come to take a look. You spent a lot of money to buy this land, and yet others have taken advantage of you so much." Ma Dawei, who was driving the carriage ahead, nodded and said.

"Yes, Xichun, don't worry. It didn't take half an hour to get here anyway, just treat it as a walk."

With the land issue resolved, Xichun prepared to pack up and return to the city. The young men from the village who worked at Xichun Restaurant also went back with him, so for a while, quite a few parents gathered at the village entrance.

“You must behave well when you go. Don’t think that just because Xichun is easy to talk to, you can talk back to her. Xichun, if they dare to disobey, you can beat them. If they dare to run away, I will deal with them myself. Don’t be shy. I have learned a lot from you in the past six months. I just hope that the children can learn more.”

"Auntie, don't worry, I will take good care of them." Xichun promised all the parents their hopes.