Chapter 79
Before spring plowing officially began, the Yichun military settlement entered a busy period.
There is no way not to be busy. This year, many households in the settlement have rented a lot of private land from the military. On average, a family of five rents about 20 mu of land.
The able-bodied laborers of these families would go out to work every day, tending the public fields and earning their share. The elderly, children, and women would work on the private fields. These people weren't as hardworking as the able-bodied laborers, but they were all incredibly diligent.
This busyness is spontaneous and positive. Although everyone is working very hard, their eyes are bright and their faces are happy and relaxed.
Just as the day broke, the gates of the houses in the military family area were quietly opened, and strong laborers came out of their homes in twos and threes and walked towards the public fields.
As Father Qi and his two sons were leaving the house, they ran into their next-door neighbor, who immediately greeted them, "Old Li, are you and your two sons working today?"
Old Li nodded and said, "Well, the three of us will go to the public fields to work. We can earn more work points and pay back the work points owed to the military settlement sooner."
Father Qi agreed, "Brother, I understand. It's not a pleasant feeling to be in debt."
Old Li remained silent. His family had fled famine to Yichun the previous winter, with nothing but a few thin layers of clothing. The military settlement had taken him in because his two eldest sons were tall and looked good as soldiers. As soon as they arrived, his two eldest sons enlisted. Then, those still able to work were assigned to work and earn work points. They arrived late, and didn't earn many work points, by the time the military settlement was complete. When houses were distributed, they were given one, but because they didn't have enough work points to pay for it, they owed the military settlement a certain amount. The settlement allowed them to repay the debt gradually.
There were many families like theirs in the military settlement, including the Qi family next door. The Qi family had more people, a bigger house than the Li family, and a considerable amount of work points owed.
Now, with a roof over their heads and food to eat, and no cold or hunger, the Li family was content. The unpaid work points were easy to deal with; it was just farming, wasn't it? Why would farmers be afraid of that? But Old Li secretly wanted to pay it back as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, his two sons who had enlisted in the army were of average talent, unlike the four children of the old Qi family, who were all exceptionally skilled. A while ago, the third son of the Qi family had accompanied General Meng on a mission, and upon his return, he had earned a large sum of merit points. This merit point should be enough to allow the old Qi family to immediately pay off their outstanding work points owed to the military settlement. Now, the Qi family was debt-free. Well, he would have to tell his two sons to work harder in the army.
"Your Qi family doesn't owe any debts anymore, right?" asked Old Li.
"I still owe it." Old Man Qi replied slowly.
"Hmm? Didn't your third son get a lot of merit points this time? I heard there were fifty or sixty."
Old Man Qi made an eight gesture with his fingers, "Eighty." He was obviously very satisfied that Third Brother Qi had obtained eighty merit points for just one mission.
Old Li was puzzled. With so much money, it should be enough to pay off the debt and have some left over.
"My fourth child said that merit points are very useful, so he told my third child to save them and not touch them yet. Because in the exchange building, some of the more valuable items can't be exchanged for work points, so they can only be exchanged for merit points."
Hearing this, Old Li nodded and said, "These merit points and work points are good things." So how can they not be diligent?
"Of course, the exchange building in our military settlement is better. You can exchange anything there."
"Many things are not available for sale outside, and can only be exchanged in our exchange building."
If Yao Chunnuan heard their conversation, she would definitely burst out laughing. This was just the beginning. Although she put all the good stuff in the exchange building, and even the spoils brought back by the general last time were plundered and filled with the spoils, the variety was still too limited.
"Well, even the salt is two or three cents cheaper than outside."
Although the items in the redemption building can only be redeemed with work points and merit points, ordinary people have their own simple calculation methods and they can probably figure out the value of a work point.
Because she was a major trader, she had her own caravan, traveling extensively, bringing back a wealth of goods every month, both rare and popular. The rare goods were kept on the second floor, requiring merit points to redeem, while the popular goods were slightly cheaper than those sold outside, making them more accessible to the general public.
"Oh, right, my fourth son said that we can exchange oxen for use at the exchange building." Old Man Qi suddenly thought, "But there are not enough oxen in the military settlement. The exchange building can only exchange the use rights of 100 oxen per day, and they can only be exchanged with merit points. Using oxen costs two merit points per day."
Old Li was dumbfounded, "This can be exchanged?" Crazy.
Father Qi laughed and said, "That's nothing. In the future, when our army goes on more expeditions and captures more prisoners, we can even exchange them for slaves."
He thought to himself, his family rented 50 mu of private land, and his three grandsons were in the army. Ah Shan couldn't do heavy work. If the family had an ox to work the land, it would save them a lot of work and they wouldn't have to work so hard. He also had two merit points.
"You have to get used to it. In the future, there will be more and more items in our exchange building, and work points and merit points will become more and more useful." This is what his Ah Shan told him.
Old Li nodded randomly. When he heard him mention his fourth child, he couldn't help but ask, "By the way, how is your fourth child's leg?"
"We're ready to treat it." It took a while, which they didn't expect.
"It would be great if he can be cured. Once he's cured, we can ask his older brothers to help find a job, and then we can get married, and then we can live a good life." Old Li felt that the military settlement was a good place. Qi Yingshan's lame leg could be broken and rehabilitated, and they could go to the military clinic to see a doctor when they were sick. Unlike before, they lived in a remote area and it was very troublesome to see a doctor. Family members had to endure minor illnesses and did not dare to go to the hospital for serious illnesses, for fear that going there would empty their family savings. It was different in the military settlement. A visit to the doctor could be offset by work points and merit points. It was really great.
"That's not necessary." Old Man Qi waved his hand.
"how?"
"He found a job on his own and the other side agreed to it. He can start working as soon as his legs and feet are well again." When talking about this, Father Qi smiled complacently.
"Great job!" Old Li gave a thumbs-up when he heard that Fourth Brother Qi had found a job for himself. Old Li didn't ask what the job was because it hadn't been confirmed yet and the other party wouldn't reveal it to be safe. However, judging by Old Man Qi's appearance, the job should be quite good. The Qi family's sons are indeed capable.
As they were talking, they arrived at the gathering place for the public fields. They found their respective team leaders, were assigned tasks, and went to the fields.
Manager Wu and Yu Chen went to the fields to inspect the progress of the land preparation. Seeing the throngs of able-bodied laborers working in the public fields, they nodded in satisfaction. It could be said that thanks to Yao Chunnuan's efforts, all the able-bodied laborers in the military family area had been turned over to the military settlement. And they were all working incredibly hard to earn the full ten work points. There was no trace of the lax, communal rationing of the past. Work points were valuable anyway: more work, more pay, less work, less. Even if you didn't want to earn them, there were plenty who did.
Spring plowing had arrived, and the new recruits only had half a day of training, and the other half was spent working in the fields. With so many people working, the speed of tilling the land was amazing.
When they got to the private fields, they saw that they were full of people working.
Only then did they understand the profound words Yao Chunnuan had said when he advocated dividing the land into public and private areas: human potential is unlimited. The military families were truly remarkable, having managed to maintain both public and private land.
Yao Chunnuan's confinement was excellent, her complexion visibly rosy thanks to the care of her mother and the others. Little Yao Xi, meanwhile, was noticeably gaining weight. Sometimes, Yao Chunnuan would pick her up and weigh her, estimating she weighed around eight or nine pounds. Gaining two or three pounds in just over two weeks was considered excellent care in ancient times. And little Yao Xi had gradually transformed from a ruddy old man into a delicate, tender-looking girl, with lotus-root-like hands and feet. Her adorable appearance often drew Yao Chunnuan's endless kisses to her belly.
Whenever this happened, little Yao Xi didn't cry. She just thought her mother was teasing her. She grinned with her toothless little mouth and laughed out loud, her eyebrows and eyes curved, so adorable. Holding her was enough to melt my heart.
During her confinement period, Yao Chunnuan was confined to her bedroom by her mother for the first half of the month. However, in the second half, she was able to walk around the house and occasionally have dinner with her family.
That day, Grandfather Yao said to her, "Ah Nuan, I've seen a young man who's good at economics. I'd like to recruit him to be my assistant. Is that okay?"
Qi Yingshan, with limited mobility, found the money exchange interesting and frequented it. Yao's grandfather, on the other hand, was the deputy manager of the money exchange. As the two interacted, they became close friends. Yao's grandfather gradually realized that this young man had considerable talent and was well-suited to working at the money exchange.
Did her grandfather discover a talent? Yao Chunnuan asked curiously, "What's that person's name? I'll have someone check it out. If he's truly capable, it wouldn't be a problem for him to be your assistant."
"That man's name is Qi Yingshan. There are more than a dozen people in his family. He has three older brothers, all of whom are serving in the military. A while ago, his third brother followed General Meng on a mission and made great contributions." Grandfather Yao regarded Qi Yingshan as a friend regardless of age difference and knew Qi Yingshan's family situation quite well.
"Then why doesn't he join the army?" His three older brothers are all in the army. Obviously, the physical fitness of this family should be quite good. His third brother was even selected by Meng Yi to go to Funing District to perform tasks. He should be the best soldier among the recruits. It is expected that his own physical fitness should be good.
"He has difficulty walking..." Then Grandfather Yao told him what he knew about the Qi family's situation.
Yao Chunnuan nodded, sounding like an economic management talent. "Don't worry, Grandfather. I can check someone quickly. After confirming that there are no problems, he can take up the position immediately."
"There's no rush for that. I just want to say hello to you first. Ah Shan needs to get his leg treated. He can't come out to work until he's healed."
Yao Chunnuan uttered a sigh of relief, unaware that the leg treatment her grandfather was talking about involved breaking the leg and resetting the bones. She'd just casually mentioned this method to the old military doctor during their initial visit to the barracks. It carried a significant risk of secondary injury, and the desired results weren't guaranteed. She'd mentioned it simply to give the old doctor a research direction.
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