The tenants had never seen a landlord bringing his children to collect rent, so they found it quite novel.
Dalang was responsible for weighing and reporting the number, while Erlang took the contract given by his father to check the number and circled the newly written bill to indicate that the house had been taken over.
Sanlang and Si Niang helped to set up their own baskets, waiting for Awang to pour the grain handed over by the tenants into their baskets and carry them onto the cart.
As for Liu Ji, the master did not have to work. He sat on the shaft of the carriage, drinking the coarse tea politely brought by the tenants, appreciating the blue sky and white clouds, and keeping a sharp eye on the grain that was handed in. If there was even one extra weed, he would lecture for a quarter of an hour.
By the way, accepting the one and a half bushels of wheat that the tenant handed over in an attempt to keep the peace was like being possessed by Zhou Baopi, and he would take as much as he could.
The corners of Awang and Dalang's mouth twitched at the same time. You look at me, I look at you, what else can you do? Just keep working.
Although Liu Ji was so extreme, there were many people who were more extreme than him.
Compared with another family next door who came with thugs to collect rent, his actions were nothing.
When people find fault, they always increase the rent by one percentage point at a time.
Mr. Liu, who could be sent away with half a bushel of rice and a cup of tea, was considered a kind man in the eyes of the tenants.
After all, throughout the year, he would only create some minor troubles at this time.
Besides, he had just agreed to let them borrow the oxen for spring plowing, and the extra one or half a bushel of pecks they paid would be considered as advance payment for the oxen rental fee.
Thinking of this, the last bit of resentment in the tenants' hearts disappeared.
Liu Ji made faces at Si Niang who was angry and said, "Look at your father's abilities. Is he that powerful?"
Si Niang snorted and didn't want to pay attention to him.
But when he turned around, he thought back to the way his father made faces just now and couldn't help laughing.
"Laugh if you want to. It's ugly to see a little girl angry."
Liu Ji came behind Si Niang at some point and pinched her chubby little face when she was not paying attention.
While the little girl was still not reacting, he picked her up and put her on the shaft of the carriage.
Then he jumped on the horse and whipped the horse, heading to the farm with the carriage already full of wheat. He temporarily dumped the grain in the yard and then returned with the empty carriage.
There were small wild flowers blooming on the roadside. Si Niang pointed at the flowers and shouted, "Dad, I want them. Please help me pick them!"
"Okay!" Liu Ji agreed readily, stopped the carriage immediately, walked to the roadside, picked a bunch of grass and flowers for his daughter and put them on her lap, then sat on the shaft and continued driving.
Suddenly, a small hand appeared beside his ear, picking small purple and white wild flowers and putting them on his head.
Liu Ji was not annoyed and asked jokingly, "Is it beautiful?"
Si Niang covered her mouth and giggled, but did not answer. She continued to use her father's head as a vase and gave full play to her artistic imagination.
However, when they were almost at the tenant's house, Liu Ji stopped her from doing that. He picked off all the messy flowers and plants on her hair, leaving only one and pinning it on her left ear, playing the role of the villain Zhou Pa Pi.
Si Niang had been playing all the way and was very satisfied. She stopped playing tricks and said that she would go home soon and pick a bunch of the most beautiful wild flowers for A Niang to decorate her room.
Liu Ji said sourly: "Isn't your father good to you? He keeps talking about your mother. Will she let you use her head as a vase?"
Si Niang crossed her arms and said with great joy, "I just love you the most!"
Liu Ji clicked his tongue twice, no longer wanting to humiliate himself, and chose to shut up.
When the father and daughter returned, Awang's ox cart was already full and ready to set off. The two carts took turns working until the evening, and finally collected all the grain handed in by the tenants in Dingjiazhuang.
There was another family near Jinshi Town. The father and his five sons cleaned up the family’s house and then hurried back home at night.
It’s not over yet.
After a night's rest, we set out again early the next morning to bring all the food back home.
Thirty acres of land were used to grow rapeseed, and 2,700 kilograms of rapeseed were harvested in the spring.
Seventy acres of high-quality farmland yielded 7,840 kilograms of wheat.
The tax rate this year is still one-fifteenth. After deducting the taxes required to be paid, there are still 2,520 kilograms of rapeseed and 7,317 kilograms of wheat left.
The government's grain tax does not include rapeseed, so the rapeseed tax must be converted into cash and paid.
For this batch of rapeseed, Liu Ji asked Liu Zhong, who often purchased rapeseed in the county, to help find an oil press factory.
A pound of rapeseed sells for two cents. If you sell them all at once and deduct taxes and loss on the way, you will get 5 taels of silver.
Five thousand kilograms of wheat were also sold. The price of wheat has stabilized this year, but because of the shortage of wheat caused by the famine in the first half of last year, the price of wheat this year is twice as high as in previous years, six cents per kilogram with shells.
I sold 5,000 jin of wheat and got 30 taels of silver.
There were more than 2,000 kilograms of wheat left, which were kept for their own use.
In addition, the ten acres of wheat in the village were harvested by hiring temporary workers, and after deducting taxes, the total harvest was 3,000 kilograms of wheat.
Adding both sides together, there are more than 5,000 kilograms of wheat. After husking, it can meet the annual food needs of a family of seven, and there will be quite a bit left over.
Since there is a warehouse for storing grain at home, there is no need to rush to sell this grain. We will wait and see the situation when the autumn harvest comes.
If you have enough food at home, you won’t panic when things go wrong.
Farmers depend on the weather for their livelihood. There is no telling if the weather will be bad next year and the output from the fields will decrease, so it is always a good idea to store more food.
The school holiday was only three days. After experiencing the joy of collecting rent with their father, Dalang and his siblings went back to school.
All subsequent matters such as sales and taxes were handled by Liu Ji alone.
After all the accounts and money were prepared, Liu Ji brought these things to the main room and handed them to Qin Yao with a smile.
"Madam, here are the rent and account books collected from this year's spring harvest. The total is 35 taels of silver and 2,317 kilograms of wheat. Please take a look."
Qin Yao has been very busy these days. Spring harvest and spring planting, two of the farmers' top priorities, happened at the same time. Many workers in the factory had taken leave and the production line needed to be adjusted. She and Yunniang were very busy. The situation has only stabilized a little in the past two days, and they had some time to go home and take a break at noon.
Qin Yao really didn't like this kind of busyness. She felt it was more tiring than leading a team out to collect supplies in her previous life.
It seems that professional things need to be done by professionals. It's time to hire a general manager to free myself.
When Liu Ji arrived, Qin Yao was holding a homemade charcoal pencil and planning what kind of general manager to look for.
Anyone would be in a good mood seeing the shiny silver bars on the tray.
Qin Yao picked up the account book and looked through it. Seeing nothing wrong with it, she put it down again, picked up the thirty-five taels of silver and put it in her pocket.
Looking up, he saw Liu Ji still standing in front of him, looking at him expectantly. He smiled at him and said, "Well done."
Liu Ji lowered his eyes in a humble manner, expecting more praise to come to him.
As a result, there was no sound.
When I looked up, Qin Yao had already stood up with a charcoal pencil and notebook, as if she was about to go out.
Liu Ji was anxious and called out, "My wife!"
Qin Yao turned around: "What are you doing?"
"Don't you have anything to say?" Liu Ji reminded, blinking his peach blossom eyes.
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