"Boss, I heard that we won the battle and we won't fight anymore. Many people came back to the village not long ago."
"Are you back already?" I didn't expect it to be so soon. I'll just send you off along the way.
"Well, I'm back. The villagers were so happy a while ago. Seeing how happy they were, I even gave them a holiday in turn. Boss, isn't our Fangzhou farm quite close to where the war was taking place? You didn't know this."
"How could I not know? The war also burned half of our cotton. I was heartbroken. Fortunately, we won in the end."
Everyone was shocked when they heard this, "Boss, what happened? Can you tell us how it could burn our cotton farm? It would be a waste if it burned!" This was too big a matter. Half of the cotton was burned. If it were them, they would probably cry to death.
Chunxiao then told them about the village over there, including how the road was blocked when they went there, how the village was blocked when they arrived, and finally how they evacuated and received land as compensation from the county government before leaving. He roughly recounted the entire process.
Everyone listening sighed, "I didn't expect so many things to happen over there. Fortunately, everything is going smoothly here."
Speaking of this, Nineteen became excited, "Boss, guess how much we harvested here."
"I just heard on the carriage that this year's tax on cotton was over 50,000 kilograms, and even the county magistrate came to see it, right?"
Nineteen grinned, "They're just too quick to talk. Yes, the county magistrate has come to our farm. We harvested over 600,000 catties of cotton this year, and we sold it all. But the price was cheaper than Pengdong's, at an average of 110 wen. I'll show you the account book later. We haven't sold any grain yet."
"For so much cotton, 110 wen is already a very high price. I'm afraid the price of cotton will fall sharply tomorrow. We can be considered to have made a fortune now."
"I've made a fortune." Nineteen's heart was still trembling when he thought of the money.
"Has all the cotton been sold out? There's nothing left. Didn't the villagers ask you to buy cotton?"
"Yes, of course not!" A sister-in-law interrupted, "Just like when we were in Pengdong, we sold it to them at 80 wen per catty."
"We had sold all our cotton initially, but when we pulled out the stalks we harvested another 8,000 kilograms. We kept them in the warehouse and didn't sell them."
There are still more than 8,000 kilograms, not too little. I originally wanted to send some cotton to the villagers, but now it's snowing, and I'm afraid it's too late. "So, wait until the snow stops and tell each village to give them a bonus of one or two taels of silver at the end of the year. They have helped a lot this year, so we should at least show some appreciation. If they don't want the silver, I will give them 15 kilograms of cotton. It's up to them to choose."
"Okay, I'll go tell them when the snow stops. I'm afraid they'll be so happy. They were originally worried about not getting paid in November and December."
"The manager of our village will give you 10 taels each. You are 19 and you will get 15 taels. You can withdraw it from the account later."
Everyone was instantly excited when they heard this. The boss had said before that he would give out bonuses. They originally thought it would be just a few taels of silver, but they didn't expect that each person would get 10 taels. How could they not be happy? They were bought servants, different from those farmhands who were paid wages.
"Is there enough cash in the manor? If not, we can exchange it and send it out when the time comes."
"That's enough, Boss. Although most of the cotton was sold in silver notes, I received nearly several thousand taels of silver in cash. It's all locked in your room. I'll get you the account book later and show it to you."
"No rush. Seeing the weather, I won't be able to leave in the next few days. I'll take my time. When I have time, does Zhuangzi have anything else to do?"
"By the way, Mr. Fu from Guangming Town has come to look for you several times. He even wanted to go up the mountain to look at our cotton, but we turned him away."
"Mr. Fu?" Chun Xiao didn't know who to look at.
"Boss, don't you remember Fu Zongming, the man who competed with us for this piece of land when we went to the county town to buy it?"
"Oh, him." Chun Xiao finally remembered, "What does he want me to do?" The man was from Liquan County, Qingzhou, and was her fellow villager.
"He grows cotton himself, too. He's always trying to find out about our cotton. He's come three or four times, even though you're not around anymore."
"He's a colleague. He must have heard that our cotton harvest is good and wanted to come and take a look."
"That's right. He came when we were picking the first round. He was speechless looking at our cotton mountain and insisted on seeing you. I told him you weren't there, but he still insisted on going up the mountain. This guy is not easy to deal with."
"Just stop them next time, but be polite. Those with good eyesight won't bother you any more."
"I think we are just too polite, otherwise he wouldn't come three or four times." Nineteen muttered.
"I'm a little surprised to come here today. You built a road that leads directly to the village, which is quite convenient."
Nineteen smiled and said, "That was the suggestion of those cotton merchants. When they came to discuss the deal, they said it was inconvenient to transport goods. So I asked the villagers to help build a straight road leading out of the village. Although it takes up some of our land, I think if you were here, you would probably agree."
"Of course I agree. Not only do I agree, I even want to praise you. Our Zhuangzi's stewardship is to cultivate this ability to make independent decisions. If I have to make decisions on such trivial matters, I would be uneasy wherever I go."
"As long as you agree."
Several people sat around the stove, warming themselves by the fire and chatting about family matters.
"It's time for the village to slaughter pigs now."
"It started a few days ago. People came to the village to sell pigs, and many families sold whole pigs."
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