321 Zhang Family Recognizes Relatives
Ping'an spent the next two days in Jia'an Village. The rice had been harvested. With 160 to 170 acres of land, and a yield of only 300 to 400 kilograms per acre, they still harvested more than 50,000 kilograms of rice.
This is because he holds an official position and is not required to collect taxes on a hundred acres of land. I originally thought that the empty position was useless, but now it seems to be a good thing.
Part of Jiashun Village's land was left fallow this year and no one had time to plant crops, but we still harvested 20,000 to 30,000 kilograms of rice. If we subtract 30% of this rice, we can still harvest 50,000 kilograms of rice.
There are now about 80 people in the two villages combined, and they need 20,000 kilograms of food a year. Ping An simply exchanged 20,000 kilograms of rice for 30,000 kilograms of broken rice. In this way, more than half of the rice and broken rice were stored in the village, and not a single kilogram was sold.
The wheat and sweet potatoes harvested from the dry land were piled up in several large cellars. Since the end of the war in the past two years, the price of grain has almost fallen back to normal and is only slightly higher than in previous years.
Ping An doesn't think highly of this income. Ten thousand kilograms of rice, at the current price, is less than two hundred taels. It would be better for him to stockpile it and feel more at ease so that his subordinates can have enough food and three meals a day.
Since the master and the gentleman have said not to do the skin care products for the time being, then let him not do it. There is no need for him to interfere in the liquor business, as the master's people will do it.
Only the bottom of the two hills in the village have some medicinal plants planted, and the rest have not bloomed. It's just right to use the free months in the second half of the year to let the farmers bloom the hills so that they can all be planted with medicinal plants next spring.
Medicinal herbs are still very profitable, and there is no need to worry about sales.
Master Qin and his wife Xiaoshan moved into the new yard. They were in a very good mood and lived a real family life.
He took the initiative to find Ping'an and was willing to be responsible for the medicinal materials on the farm. Some of the medicinal materials could be made into pills and sold to Baicaotang. Baicaotang could consume as many pills as possible, and he could also help Qingshi and others make medicine, killing two birds with one stone.
Ping An is of course willing.
The master has officially handed over Master Qin's contract to Ping'an. He has handed over the medicinal materials of the two villages to Master Qin. The village head has to listen to his orders. No one knows better than him what kind of medicine to plant.
Leng Yue, Leng Shui and Tong Miao do not have to go to the clinic every day. If necessary, the clinic will send someone to the village to pick them up. Ping An thinks this is the best way as it does not waste manpower and they can still help at the village in the remaining time.
Qingshi, Wujun, Xiaochen and Wenzhu are all medical students. They have basically studied medicine for five or six years and can be said to be no worse than ordinary doctors. The master asked them to work in pairs and take turns to be the doctors at Baicaotang.
Most common diseases can be cured, but the truly serious and difficult to treat ones will be treated by experienced doctors.
Ping An was very satisfied with this arrangement.
Yuan Qing was arranged to study in a college near his house. He could not enter the Imperial College. How far he could go in the future depended on himself.
Yuanqing studied very hard, but he was not very talented. His teacher said that he was only talented, but it would be difficult for him to make further progress.
However, Ping An knew that he was particularly enthusiastic about accounting, so he let him take on the role of accounting for the village. It wouldn't take much time and it would give him a chance to practice.
Why not?
For those who practice martial arts like Erqiang, Ping'an only needs two of them to be with him every day. The rest of them can help out in the village and assist Master Qin and others. With the big and small Wu brothers to practice kung fu, his life will be busy and fulfilling.
After arranging these matters at the farm, Ping An returned to the city. Sun Sicheng arranged a small party for Huo Zhi, Mingxuan, Changqing, Zhang Ce, Wang Qing and several other students from the Imperial College, to have dinner together and talk about the Imperial College.
Zhang Ce is the son of Zhang Jinping. He is fifteen years old this year and is also a scholar.
Among so many people, only Ping'an is a student, and the rest are scholars.
I have to say that this party arranged by the master was very useful. Ping An and Huo Zhi had not yet entered the Imperial College, but after the party, they knew almost everything that was going on inside.
September 14th.
It was the day when Ping'an went to Zhang's house with his father and stepmother to recognize his relatives.
The master prepared gifts for him the day before.
The gift for the old man of the Zhang family was a nice green jade ornament. All the three larger ornaments of Ping An were gone, so the one given to the Zhang family this time was the master’s collection.
Two baskets of the best fruits were given to Zhang Jinping and his wife. The master said that he was still a child and there was no need to give him expensive gifts. Ping'an thought about it and agreed. On the surface, he did not have much income.
Too much is as bad as too little.
Zhang Jinping had two children. He had already met his son Zhang Ce, but he still prepared a nice set of writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone for him. His daughter was one year younger than Awu, so he gave her a small jade item.
The second son of the Zhang family, Zhang Jinan, is working in another place with his wife and children and has not been able to come back for several years.
To be honest, it was not easy for officials at that time. They started working after the 15th day of the first lunar month, had one day off every ten days, and worked from the end of the year to after the Little New Year. If their hometown was far away, it was normal for them not to be able to go back for five or ten years.
This is also the reason why Ping An wants to take the imperial examination but is unwilling to become an official.
It was the same as his husband Sun Wen who passed the imperial examination but was unwilling to give up his position as Sun Sicheng's chief accountant.
People who have been instilled by their families since childhood to study hard, become high-ranking officials, and bring honor to the family in the future have a different mentality. They have never experienced a long period of free life, and have been following a routine from childhood to adulthood. Becoming an official is naturally a good choice.
He is the same as the master. The master is in his thirties this year. He has been traveling around the country with his master over the years and is free. Even though he passed the imperial examination, he is unwilling to live a restrained life.
He himself had never been to academy for even a single day in the past fourteen years. He started receiving one-on-one instruction from a teacher when he was just over seven years old, and he had also been traveling all over Da Zhou for the past six or seven years.
Ping'an did not spend the night at his father's house the previous night. Early in the morning of Shisi, he took Xiaowu and Lin Feng to the Chang family courtyard.
Zhang Jinyu told him with a smile that the whole family would be able to move into the new house in early October. The small courtyard had already been reserved and the price was not bad. With the money, they could buy a small farm or some land, and earn more income every year.
Ping An hurriedly said yes.
My stepmother probably doesn't have much income. I guess she just bought some property and collected some rent. Add to that the monthly salary from my father and the thousand-plus yuan he earned from writing storybooks, and she really can't save much.
Daily expenses are not large, but social interactions are the biggest expense. Better things can easily cost dozens or even hundreds of taels, which is unaffordable.
For example, when he goes to some places and comes across good local specialties, the master will buy a lot of them. After all, they are much cheaper locally than in shops outside. It is like one is wholesale and the other is retail.
But he was unwilling to buy it at that time, thinking it was troublesome and of no practical use.
When I arrived in the capital, I wanted to look presentable when visiting someone, but I didn't know what to bring. I could buy some at a shop, but the price was extremely expensive.
It seems that he still needs to learn a little from his master in this regard in the future.
Chang Chunfeng looked at his son with a smile. He was as beautiful as an orchid and a jade tree, and was perfect in every way. He was sure that there were not many young men in the capital who were better than his son.
"Let's go when you're ready."
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