Except for Chunxiao, people in the village have started to harvest soybeans one after another. All the soybeans in the houses are piled up in the yard next to the houses. The yard is specially reserved for threshing soybeans. Wangzu and Wangfu are responsible for threshing, and Xingfu and Meiman are responsible for drying them.
With her household affairs in order and the work divided, she found time to visit the farm. It was harvest time, and she felt uneasy if she didn't go. Harvest had already begun in Lu Village, and when she arrived, everyone was busy in the fields outside the yard.
Before she even got there, someone saw her and started calling out, "Boss."
Dongsheng also saw her and ran over with a machete in hand. "Sister Chunxiao, I took a look and the harvest is good. We harvested one acre yesterday and threshed more than 200 kilograms. I'm afraid the warehouse will be full after harvesting so much."
"Have you bought enough sacks?"
"As you said, we bought them directly from several families who made bags. We bought hundreds of them."
Chun Xiao nodded. "Next time, just order 1,000 to 2,000 of them and put them away. It seems to cost several taels of silver now, but if you divide it up, there won't be much left. We can't go short of the things we need."
She walked to the field and asked, "How is the cotton growing?" She would go and see it herself later.
"They have sprouted a long time ago and are now as tall as a palm. I'll take you to see them later. After the land is harvested, we can quickly fertilize them and then transplant them." After saying that, he looked at Chunxiao, seeming to be hesitant to speak.
Chunxiao smiled and said, "Don't worry about the land at home. The soybeans have been harvested. Your father has been busy threshing them these days. After the beans are harvested, we can work together to till the land."
Dongsheng smiled embarrassedly and said, "Thank you, Sister Chunxiao." He was worried that his father could not finish the housework by himself. Now that he heard Chunxiao's words, he finally felt relieved.
"How much can you collect in a day? You need to hire someone to help you. If you want to hire someone, ask Wang Shiwen to go to the village to find someone. The wages will be paid in one lump sum when the time comes."
"Nowadays, we can harvest more than 10 mu (approximately 16 acres) a day, and the harvest will be completed in about 10 days. Then we will divide the workers into two groups, one to sort the soybeans, and the other to apply fertilizer. By the beginning of March, the cotton should be ready for transplanting. By then, we will also have to plant wheat and rice, so we will probably need to hire more people by then."
Hiring help was originally part of her plan. She was thinking about whether to borrow the help from her elder and second brothers. Anyway, the only thing left to do on the farm was transplanting. But after thinking about it, she decided to forget it and do it a few days later.
Watching the busy figures of the people in the fields, she went to the fields herself. The cotton seedlings were growing well indeed. Although no winnowing basket was used this year, they were growing no worse than last year. Perhaps the winnowing basket was not of much use. Last time, she brought all 50 winnowing baskets from home and ordered dozens more from a bamboo craftsman. In short, the things she used were increasing little by little. Seeing that everything was arranged well as usual in the farm, she hurried back to the village.
Because there were so many people in the village, the soybean harvest went quickly. Afterward, everyone began digging up the soybean stalks in preparation for the soil, and the fertilizer was already fermenting in the fields. Chunxiao and Xingfu Meiman worked day after day, drying and sifting the soybeans, packing them into bags. In the end, they harvested over 4,900 kilograms from their 19 mu (approximately 1,000 hectares) of soybeans. They stored all of it next to the grain in the warehouse.
At the end of February, the village head began collecting taxes from each household. Chunxiao's 13 mu of land wasn't taxable land, but rather homestead land, so she only had to pay 300 kilograms of tax for 6 mu. She had already sent the soybeans to Dashan's house and asked Zhou to pay them together. Early that morning, she had Xingfu drive her to town in an oxcart. After delivering the soybeans, she headed straight for the farm, where everyone had already started applying base fertilizer to the remaining land.
She was a little surprised that so much land, which needed to be harvested and plowed, had already been tidied up. She called Dongsheng and Wang Shiwen over.
"Although I want to speed up the progress, I'm not so cruel as to treat people like cattle. Are you working non-stop? If you tire yourself out, I'll be the one who suffers."
"I didn't force them, but everyone got up and started working as soon as the rooster crowed." Dongsheng looked at her awkwardly, "Since they got up, I got up naturally too, and we all did it together." He spoke in a lower and lower voice.
"Boss, don't blame Manager Xu. This is all voluntary. We all have enough to eat every day, so what's the point of doing some work? Besides, the government office notified all the farms a while ago, announcing the tax payment date. So Suo should work faster. Everyone agrees on this."
Chunxiao sighed, "Don't do this again. Our village is here to stay for a long time. They are all mine, and I don't want anything to happen to anyone." She looked towards the warehouse and asked, "How much is the harvest?"
"Jin, 8,400 jin of tax grain have been paid, and there are still jins left." Dongsheng reported the number to her.
Chunxiao nodded and asked, "Have you asked the government how much they charge for soybeans?"
"They said it was six cents. They told us to sell it and then carry it to the town hall."
The price of grain outside has already risen, but the purchase price remains the same. She should be thankful that they didn't reduce the price or force the requisition. She has already calculated it well. If she doesn't sell so many soybeans, if the war spreads further, she can't say whether they will be asked to donate them. Besides, it would not be good if the warehouse is occupied. She calculated in her mind, "How about this, tomorrow you make a few more trips and bring 25,000 catties to the town government office. The remaining 3,000 catties can be mixed with the grain brought in last time for your own consumption. The money for the purchase should be 150 taels. Dongsheng, you keep it first."
"Sister Chunxiao, I went to the town to ask last time. The price of grain is very expensive now. Do you really want to sell so much for 6 cents?" Dongsheng felt that it was not cost-effective.
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