"They say your aunt is a good cotton farmer and can make a lot of money."
"What's so surprising about this? Many people in the village know that our cotton is well grown. When we go out to graze the cattle, many people, young and old, ask us about it. They ask how many kilograms of cotton your aunt has harvested from her field, and how she managed to grow such good cotton. They ask all kinds of questions, and I just say I don't know." She went into the main room and poured a glass of water for Pan'er.
Zhou was shocked, "How did they know?"
"Hey, grandma, I did ask you that question, and I also asked how you knew it! They said that when they went up the mountain to chop firewood, they could see a patch of white on our aunt's side of the mountain. If it wasn't for good planting, how could it be so white?"
Zhou finally breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that she had seen it on the mountain. She had been staying here every day during this period and had not talked to the villagers very often.
"Next time someone asks you, just say you don't know."
In the evening, when the men came back from work, Zhou and the others told them about the cotton production. The Yan family, father and son, had known for a long time that the cotton production was high, but they were still surprised when they saw the specific numbers. Zhou did not avoid Wangzu and Dongsheng when she said this. After working together for more than half a year, they knew a lot about the family. They couldn't hide it since they worked together every day. She just told them not to tell anyone about the family's harvest.
After work, the two men found Chunxiao and asked Chunxiao if their family could also grow cotton next year. They would not tell anyone the specific details of the planting, not even to their family members. They would just take care of it themselves when they had time, since they didn't have much land at home anyway.
Chunxiao was not a stingy person and agreed readily. The two of them did not have high hopes at first. After all, it was a planting technology developed by others. Why should they give it to you to make money? They just asked with the mentality of giving it a try. Unexpectedly, Chunxiao agreed so quickly, which made the two of them very happy. If the harvest was really more than ten taels per mu, even if there were only two mu of land, it would be twenty or thirty taels, and they would not have to worry about their lives.
After the farmhands left, Yan Bingfa began to discuss the wedding banquet.
After discussing with his two sons, Yan Bingfa set the date for five days later, which was September 23. If the family wanted to be truly free, it could only be during the cold winter months, but it would not be good to wait too long, so they decided to choose the day when the long-term workers had received their wages.
The men at home were busy applying base fertilizer these days, so Chunxiao had to organize Zhou, Tian and three children to start pulling out the cotton stalks in the cotton field. It has been sunny recently and the stalks are a little dry. It is not difficult to pull them out, but there are so many of them. These cotton stalks can be used as firewood. Such a large area is enough for them to burn for several months, which saves them the effort of going up the mountain to chop firewood.
After work that afternoon, Dongsheng came to see her again, saying he wanted two or three days off. He and his father wanted to take his mother to the county town. Chunxiao naturally agreed and gave him a task: to find out where there were cotton buyers in the county town and inquire about the prices. It would be best if he could ask around. Dongsheng nodded solemnly. Wages were due in two days, so Chunxiao gave him 700 wen in advance and lent him five taels of silver.
"I'm lending you this money. It's not easy to go to the county town. Although you've saved some money, it's always troublesome if you don't have enough. It's convenient to have it in hand, and I'm not afraid that you'll run away."
Dongsheng silently took the money, said thank you and left.
The next day was the day to divide the money. Now that the weather was not hot, the time for braising the meat returned to normal during the day. After delivering the goods, everyone sat together to divide the money. The Dashan and Dahe families still got about 50 taels, and Chunxiao got more than 60 taels and close to 70 taels.
"With so much money coming in every month, this house is like getting it for free. If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have been so stingy as to pave the front yard with flagstones." Dashan felt a little regretful.
"Paving stone slabs is not difficult. You can buy the materials and lay them yourself. Now our family has about 200 taels of silver. I am thinking about buying some land and planting cotton next spring. That way, money can make money."
Yan Bingfa was impressed. "Erhe's words hit the nail on the head. This money isn't safe to keep. If buying the land is the right way, we don't need to buy good land. 200 taels can buy dozens of acres. A small farm is only a few acres."
"We really want to be landlords." Chunxiao laughed.
"That business might end at any time, but the land has a title deed and I can't run away."
Chun Xiao thought about it and realized, "If I could really buy a farm and find some people to work, that would be really great."
"I've been asking around lately, asking around in nearby villages, in distant villages, big and small. Dahe, you can go to town every day and ask the land brokers; they must have quite a bit of land."
"I understand, Dad."
The base fertilizer for the wheat field had been applied, and Yan Bangfa and the others began to pull out the cotton stalks. With the addition of five more men, the speed was much faster. In the past, they could only pull out one acre a day at most, but now they could pull out three acres in half a day. It would probably take another two days to finish. All the cotton stalks were piled up in the yard behind Chunxiao's house. If the shed couldn't hold them all, they were piled directly in the yard outside.
On the 22nd, Chunxiao and Zhou followed Dahe to the town. They would have a banquet at home tomorrow, so they had to purchase oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, meat and vegetables in advance today. They also placed orders for vegetables in advance from the vegetable sellers in the village. In addition to buying vegetables, they also had to buy drinks and snacks. Since they were going to have a banquet, the more decent it was, the better.
Along the way, Zhou was talking about entertaining guests tomorrow, "How about we serve a portion of braised meat to each table tomorrow? There will be about 5 tables, and 5 bowls will not take up many pounds of meat. Some time ago, someone said they wanted to taste our meat, but they were reluctant to buy it. How about letting them have a taste this time?" She looked at Chunxiao.
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