Chapter 1640: Broken Promise (January Monthly Ticket Plus 5)
Old Madam Liu booked two courtyards of an inn to stay in. They would stay there for one night and watch the Lantern Festival before returning.
When Manbao and his friends arrived, Old Madam Liu and her friends had already sat down in two private rooms, divided into male and female guests, and were waiting for them to arrive and have dinner.
Seeing that they were exhausted, Old Lady Liu pointed at a few little girls and said, "Go to the kitchen and get them some hot water to wash up."
He then asked the servants to take them back to their rooms to wash and change clothes.
The three people were hungry and were about to sit down and eat, but they had to turn around and go to their guest room.
Zhou Lijun ran after him because she was the one who brought Manbao's clothes.
She found a set of clothes for her aunt and asked, "Aunt, have the people in Pu Village agreed to rent the house?"
Manbao nodded and said, "I agree. We have recorded the number of acres of land that each household wants to rent. The day after tomorrow we can go to the village to sign and formalize the contract."
Manbao turned around and said to Zhou Lijun with a smile: "I will give you some money later, specifically for the expenses of the official land."
Zhou Lijun said nonchalantly, "Let's take it out from the public. Are the crops grown on these lands all ours?"
Manbao thought for a moment and said, "Of the 40% rent, I'll split 10% with Bai Shan, Bai Cheng, and the others, and the rest will go to the family."
Manbao paused and lowered his voice to ask her, "Have you heard your grandparents say whether to stay in the capital or go back home?"
Zhou Lijun also lowered his voice, "Grandpa wouldn't think of that. He's just thinking about taking us to tidy up the fields after Mid-Autumn Festival and plant the winter wheat first. Grandma did mention it, and I can see that Grandpa is very anxious. He's sad that the fields have been ruined, but he also can't bear to leave home. He wasn't very happy coming to Yongzhou City today."
Manbao said: "I can see that, what about my elder brother and sister-in-law?"
"My aunt is worried about my eldest sister and wants to go home, but my uncle wants to stay here to look after my eldest brother. I overheard my uncle saying to my aunt, 'My eldest brother is old enough but still hasn't gotten engaged. Why don't you stay here for two years and go back after he gets married?'"
Zhou Lijun looked at his aunt, and then looked at her again.
Manbao looked puzzled. "Just say it, why are you looking at me?"
"My uncle also said that my aunt is not young anymore and is engaged to my uncle-in-law. If everything goes well, they might get married in two years. Once my aunt gets married, it will be even harder for us to see our family. He said that if my aunt loves my aunt, she can stay in the capital for two more years." Zhou Lijun lowered his voice and said, "I see that my aunt has been silent for a while, and her attitude has softened."
Manbao immediately said, "I'll send something back to Daya when I return to the capital."
Zhou Lijun covered his mouth and laughed.
It has been decided that my grandparents and my uncle and aunt will stay in the capital.
Manbao was delighted and said to Zhou Lijun, "Since our family takes the lion's share, let's pay from the public treasury. I promised the tenant farmers that we would pay half of the cost of the grain. Also, I've seen their farm tools, and they're not very good. I remember our village replaced the curved plow a long time ago, but they still use a straight plow here, so the farm tools also need to be remade..."
Zhou Lijun was stunned when he heard this and quickly stopped her, "Auntie, what about these one hundred households? Are you going to make a hundred plows?"
She did a quick mental calculation and said, "That's definitely not going to work. With one plow per family, 40% of our annual rent would go into it. It's like we're working so hard and getting nothing in return."
Manbao thought for a moment and said, "How about leasing it? We make the plow, and they rent it from us. We repay it annually with grain. After a certain number of years, the plow will be completely theirs. As for the specific amount, you can calculate it later. We don't want interest. The plow is good and saves labor, so we're making a profit, right?"
Zhou Lijun: "Why do we earn their labor?"
"There's so much we can do," Manbao said as he changed his clothes and tied his belt. "When we were little, Bai Shan and I wrote an article about how we could make full use of the ecological cycle if we had enough land. I hope farming only takes up half of their energy. I can use the remaining half for other purposes."
Zhou Lijun was stunned when he heard this and asked, "Aunt, what is ecological recycling?"
"It's about using straw and fodder to feed livestock, and using their manure to fertilize the land. The feed can also be used to raise fish. So you have to build a large water conservancy pond, where you can raise fish and ducks, irrigate during droughts, and drain during floods. It's a lot of knowledge, and I can't explain it all in one go."
When Zhou Lijun heard about the need to build a large water conservancy pond, she felt her wallet visibly deflate. She took two deep breaths before finding her voice. "Auntie, this is official land. If you don't hold an official position or get demoted, it will be taken back. This isn't our land. How can you spend so much money on it?"
Manbao: "That's why I didn't ask you to spend money right away to build the water conservancy pond."
Zhou Lijun finally breathed a sigh of relief, then heard Manbao say, "You should pay for some chicks first. Look at all the grass and grasshoppers in that field. It would be a shame not to use them. Buy the chicks and raise them. When they grow up, the eggs they lay and the meat will be split 40% and 60%."
Zhou Lijun couldn't breathe out.
"Auntie, just tell me how much money you've decided to invest in this farm."
Manbao chuckled and said, "I don't know. I'll tell you after I ask Bai Shan."
This matter obviously cannot be decided in a short time, and nothing is more important than eating, so Manbao changed into clean clothes and took Zhou Lijun to eat.
Zhou Lijun muttered quietly, "Grandpa must not know that you plan to spend so much money on the official land."
The two walked around the bustling front hall and went up to the third floor. The waiter knew they were distinguished guests who had booked the two guest rooms in the back, so he led them there and introduced them, "Ladies, are you here to see the lanterns? The Li family has set up a flower shed on the main street tonight. Ladies, you can go over and take a look."
Speaking of the flower shed, Manbao remembered something. When he passed by Bai Shan and his friends' box, he stopped and said to Bai Shan and Bai Erlang, "It's over. We promised Yin Huo to go to his flower shed to watch the lanterns."
Bai Shan: ...I really forgot about this.
Bai Shan and Bai Erlang looked at each other and both felt that something bad was going to happen.
Bai Erlang swallowed and asked, "Didn't you tell Yin Huo that we were going away?"
"I only told him that we were on leave until the 21st."
Meanwhile, Yin Huo and Liu Huan had just been escorted out of Zhou's residence by Master Bai. They boarded the carriage with smiles on their faces, but their smiles faded as they got in. Liu Huan said unhappily, "Why didn't they tell us they were going to Yongzhou? They even said they wanted to enjoy the lanterns together tonight."
Yin Huo looked out at the gradually bustling streets and said, "Yongzhou isn't far from here. It'll only take about two hours by official road, or three if you're not too slow."
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Well, that's it. Good night.
(End of this chapter)
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