Back at the residence, Chunxiao called Shuwen and Xingfu into a room and said, "Xingfu, you went with me to the place where we bought the land today. I have something very important for you to do."
"Miss, please tell me."
"Today is the 26th, and we have to raise seedlings at the end of January. The schedule is too tight and we don't have time to look for seeds. I'd like you to go back and bring me more than 4,000 kilograms of seeds from Lu Village. Tell my father to let my mother help me look after the land at the end of the village and help plant cotton at the beginning of the year. It's time to hire someone, and you should bring Meiman with you." The two of them have now mastered the entire process of planting cotton. Only with them around can things here run smoothly.
Xingfu had never traveled so far alone before. Now that Chunxiao had entrusted her with such an important task, she suddenly realized her own importance. "Don't worry, Miss. I will definitely go there and come back soon."
Chun Xiao patted her arm and said, "It's been hard this year, but next year it won't be so hard once I've trained capable people."
"Miss, these are what I should do. I am very lucky to be with you. There is no hardship at all. If you have anything to ask, just tell me. I am willing to run for you."
Chunxiao took out a 100-liang silver note and 20-liang silver change and handed them to her, "Keep this money with you for your travels. Tomorrow you will follow the yamen runner's carriage to the county town. Remember to find the horse-drawn carriage and return along the same route. Don't do stupid things to save money. There are a lot of goods when you come here, so you can hire a few more carriages. Just spend the money and you can always earn it back." The travel expenses were indeed a big expense, but he couldn't feel sorry for spending these dozens of liang of silver at the moment.
Xingfu nodded solemnly, "Miss, please wait for us to come back."
"Shuwen, tomorrow we may have to rent a small courtyard with complete furniture in town to live in for a while. You go and take care of this. It's the New Year now, and it's only for one month. The more expensive it is, the better. You have to carefully buy mattresses and quilt covers if you don't have them. These things will be needed in the future. It would be best if we can move in at night. If you can't find one, then we can only stay in an inn." After saying that, she suddenly turned to happiness, "If it's convenient, bring me 200 kilograms of cotton from home." The cotton here is really too expensive. 200 kilograms of cotton can make 40 5-kilogram mattresses.
"I understand, Auntie!"
"Got it, miss!"
"Then aunt, if I rent a house, should I come to the township government to find you?"
"Of course. When you buy it, think about everything. Pots, pans, wash basins and buckets are essential. We don't have time to waste on this. I'll talk to the headman tomorrow and ask him to help me sell an ox cart first. This will make it more convenient for us to travel back and forth. We can't always trouble the township government. After all, this is our own land."
It would be nice to have a carriage. I don’t know if I can buy one. I’ll ask tomorrow.
"I understand, auntie."
After that, everyone went to sleep.
The next morning, Xingfu said goodbye to Chunxiao reluctantly and got on the carriage to the county town with his luggage.
Chunxiao told Fang Tingzhang that she needed a means of transportation, and in a disguised way asked for a horse-drawn carriage. Fang Tingzhang actually agreed readily. He said that it would be no problem to ask the county government to register one, but horse-drawn carriages were expensive, and a set would probably cost more than 40 taels of silver.
The pavilion chief was straightforward, so was Chun Xiao. She immediately gave him 50 taels of silver and asked him to help buy it back. She also said that the extra money would be considered as his hard work fee. The pavilion chief took the silver and went to the government office. Not long after, four officials came over and said, "Miss Yan, we will assist you with your work today. We will help you find the person you need when we get to the place you are looking for. Let's go now."
The township government arranged another carriage today. The two of them sat outside the carriage to drive it. She sat on one side and the other two sat on the other side. It was quite spacious.
As the car drove along, Chunxiao looked outside. The terrain here looked like a plain, but there were mountains. The mountains were not sloping like the ones they had over there. They were all towering cliffs, and the view seemed vast.
There are not many villages along the way, but from time to time you can see many buildings hidden behind the land.
As she looked around, she arrived at the destination without realizing it.
"Miss Yan, please wait here for a moment. We're going to look for someone. But you need to tell us what the requirements are for the hire and how the wages will be settled, so we can discuss this with the various villages. The master said that the wages will be 30 wen a day from today until the fifteenth day of the lunar year. You need to bring your own dry food for lunch."
"Yes, and you have to bring your own tools, like hoes and machetes. The age requirement is the same as for conscription, between 15 and 50, but men and women are welcome. As long as they work diligently, we'll pay them every 10 days. It's more convenient. It would be best if each village had a fixed number of people, and someone in charge would count the number of people coming in and leaving work, so it would be easier to pay them when the time comes."
"Okay, with you around, it'll be easier for us to find someone. We'll go find someone, and you can look around first."
She had been wandering around the field for about three incense sticks of time when the first group of people arrived. There were 92 people in total, including men, women, young and old. The yamen runner said they were from Zhicun. From now on, Zhicun would have 92 fixed workers. Chunxiao wrote down their names and everyone started to work spontaneously.
Then 73 people came from Sujia Village, and finally 45 people came from Pinfu Village. The yamen runner said that the original number was 35, but 10 more people came secretly. Chunxiao said that 10 more people were enough, and more people would make the work faster.
The villagers were obviously very satisfied with the wages and worked very hard.
Chunxiao divided these people into 5 groups and took them to 5 places, asking them to clean up these places first. These were the places where she had planned to build houses. Once these places were cleaned up, the masonry team could start work immediately after arriving.
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