"Don't be silly. I think Shitou is indeed a good person. You can live here peacefully. I'll keep the indenture for now. If he treats you badly, I can take it back at any time."
Zhao Shitou was overjoyed at the side, "Boss, boss, do you agree that I can marry Happiness?"
Chun Xiao wrinkled her nose. "You're asking the wrong person. You should ask Xing Fu if she's willing to marry you. If she has no objection, then I naturally have no objection."
"Miss, whether I marry or not, I don't want to redeem myself."
"Since you're getting married, I'll naturally register you as a good citizen. But I'll have to sign a contract with you. I can't leave you for the time being, and this contract will bind you to do things for me, or you'll have to pay me money. Are you afraid?"
Xingfu wiped away her tears and said, "Don't be afraid, then sign for 50 years." She wouldn't be around in 50 years anyway.
Chun Xiao looked at her with amusement, then looked at Zhao Shitou, "She wants to sign for 50 years, what are you going to do?"
Zhao Shitou smiled and touched his head, "She signed for 50 years, and I signed for 50 years too, I'm the same as her." Now we have no worries about food and drink, and we can live anywhere.
"You said that yourself. I didn't force you. I will sign a 50-year contract by then." The three of them laughed.
Yan Dashan came over and saw them, "What are you so happy about?"
"Brother, there's going to be a happy event in my village. Do you think it's worth celebrating?"
Yan Dashan looked at her happy and shy expression, then glanced at Zhao Shitou who was grinning beside him. What else could he not understand? "Then I'll definitely have a drink at the wedding." He smiled and sighed, "It's the new year now, Shuwen and Shufeng are 16 years old, and they're old enough to talk about marriage. I wonder if anyone in my family has found someone they like. When I think about our Shufeng getting married, I feel so reluctant."
Yes, 16 is not young. She used to marry at 16. "Brother, wait until the manor is properly arranged and a capable manager is appointed. You have to go home next year. This is a lifelong event and can't be careless."
"Of course. By the way, I came to you to ask about the staffing situation. We all buy people now, and I guess you must be buying people here too, but what about the village?"
"Originally, I was thinking that after the construction was completed, we would go back during the Spring Festival and see if there were any villagers willing to come and work. Now that I can't go back, I'm afraid I'll have to hire some people. I don't need to buy too many, just a dozen or twenty people based on their own preferences. This will make it easier to manage the village in the future. My village in Lu Village only has 27 people, and yours only has 30 people. If you're really too busy, just hire temporary workers from Huangkou Village."
"Okay, I'll go talk to them."
"Your manor is now under the care of Shuwen, so I think you can rest assured."
Speaking of Shuwen, Yan Dashan's face lit up with pride. "When I was his age, I only knew how to follow Dad around and work hard. I would do whatever Dad said. I'm not like him who has gone through so many things. He's much better than me."
On October 23rd, Chunxiao's courtyard was completed. After a round of discussions, Chunxiao revised the design: the front yard was made very large. To the left of the entrance was a stable, convenient for carriage parking. Five servants' quarters were located on each side. Opposite the door was a row of master bedrooms, with a large reception room in the middle and two large bedrooms on each side. A storage room was built behind the guest rooms, for a total of four rooms. Passing through the courtyard led to the backyard, which remained in the original design. A side door next to the kitchen led to a large vegetable patch. A well would be dug nearby.
Chunxiao looked at the yard with happiness and satisfaction as always. Yan Mingli's house would be completed in two days.
"Xingfu, go to town tomorrow and pick up the carpenters. We agreed that they would come over to work once the house is finished. We need to hurry up and make these doors and windows."
She went to check out Yan Mingli's place. The main courtyard had been completed, and the workers' quarters were currently being built. His place was a complete copy and paste of Yan Dashan's courtyard. "If I hadn't noticed, I would have thought I had entered my eldest brother's manor."
"We have a ready-made model, so we don't have to mess around. Oh, and now that the house is finished, it's time to build the courtyard wall. The perimeter is so large, I'm afraid it will take a lot of bricks."
"A few dozen taels of silver are definitely necessary. We only need to build a wall now, so it's better to build it to save trouble in the future. My eldest brother said that he wants to enclose the farm in the future, which will cost at least one or two hundred taels. My farm is too big, there's really no way to enclose it, so I can only have people watch over it."
"If you want to build a fence around your place, it will probably cost over a thousand taels. It's not necessary." Yan Dashan looked at the people working in front of him, "It feels like I've been busy building a house all year."
"Haha, being able to build houses everywhere means you have a lot of houses. What a great thing! It's a little hard work in the early stages, but you can live anywhere in the future."
"Brother, Brother Mingli, remember to help buy the things I mentioned before. Some of them will take time. Don't forget to delay important matters."
"The main courtyard is ready. When the carpenters arrive, have them make a few beds first. We'll move in soon to save the trouble of going back and forth. But I'm afraid you'll need to help prepare the cotton seeds, Chunxiao."
"Don't worry about that. The thing I have the most of right now is cotton seeds. I've been letting them pick out seeds whenever I have time."
When she returned to Zhuangzi, she looked for Xingfu, but was told that Xingfu had taken people to the town to get a quilt.
"Miss, there are two scholars in Yard No. 4 over there."
"How do you know?" Chunxiao suddenly became interested. Such a scholar is rare.
"Today, when they were leaving the city, they were stopped by two families who said they were going to the town to buy paper and ink. When they asked, they found out that those two families had two scholars."
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