Chapter 1642 Gift Giving
Manbao and the other two were so surprised that they surrounded them and asked, "Why are you in Yongzhou too?"
He added, "We were in such a hurry to leave that we forgot to tell you. We were so worried."
Yin Huo and Liu Huan didn't believe it. It was just a matter of a word. They couldn't come to inform in person. What was wrong with asking the servants to pass on a message or send a letter?
It can be seen that I still don’t take them to heart.
The two of them were angry for a while, and the three of them bowed and apologized. It took a long time to coax them into peace. So they didn't go to the upper room they had just booked, but went directly to the yard they rented, and washed and rested in Bai Shan and Bai Erlang's room.
The things that Bai Shan and Bai Erlang used were all brought from home, so they were naturally very good. Yin Huo and Liu Huan did not mind them. They washed, changed their clothes, and went to greet Old Lady Liu and others. After informing them of their arrival, they went back to the house.
Bai Shan and the others had originally wanted to go shopping, but now they decided not to go out. They asked the waiter to bring them food and they sat together in Bai Shan's room, eating and talking.
Yin Huo ate some, but he had a small appetite and was full quickly. Then he leaned on the couch with his hands and fell asleep.
Manbao wrote a prescription, dried it, and handed it to Changshou, asking him to get the medicine for his young master to drink.
Yin Huo was just a little tired and had no other problems, but he forgot to bring his medicine and it was time for him to take it.
Changshou took the medicine so that he could go out, but he didn't actually need to go. As soon as he went out, the servant of the Bai family came forward, took the list and went out.
Changshou turned around and stood up again.
Yin Huo moved, waved his hand to let Changshou and Qingyu go downstairs to eat, then looked at the four people with great appetites, yawned and asked, "How come you can eat so much?"
Manbao looked at his empty bowl, ate the last bite of his steamed bun, and said, "We should eat less, as we still have to go shopping tonight."
Liu Huan hadn't taken a nap either, and was feeling a bit sleepy at this point. He yawned and asked, "It won't be dark until after the hour of Xu, right? There's no light if you go out now."
Bai Shan responded and said, "So you guys go to sleep, we'll wait for you to wake up and then go out together."
After hearing what he said, the two of them immediately went to rest with peace of mind, not caring at all that they had just eaten and couldn't sleep well.
But who cares? The two of them didn't go to their upper room, but directly occupied Bai Shan and Bai Erlang's beds. Liu Huan kicked off his shoes and fell asleep.
Yin was better. With Changshou's help, he loosened his clothes and slept in his underwear, which was quite comfortable.
They slept until sunset. When they woke up, the room was already dark. There was still light outside, but it was estimated that it would be completely dark in less than two quarters of an hour.
They both quickly got up, washed, and dressed.
Bai Shan and the others were sitting in the yard chatting. There were pens and ink on the table, on which were written and drawn many words, all about the planning of official fields.
Hearing the sound of them waking up, Bai Shan finished calculating the data in his hand, wrote it down, and was about to pack it up.
Yin Huo came out while putting on his coat. He caught a glimpse of their manuscripts. There happened to be a square picture on the top. He couldn't tell what it was. So he asked in confusion, "What is this?"
Bai Shan smiled and said, "Nothing much, just a picture of Man Bao Zhi Tian."
Yin Huo then remembered to ask, "So you came here this time to see Manbao's official fields?"
The three of them nodded together.
Yin Huo took out the picture and looked at it. He found that there was a river marked on it and a circle drawn on one side of the river, as if it was going to be a pond or something.
He wondered, "Can I dig a pond on my official land?"
"No," Manbao said, "This isn't part of my official land, but on the edge. It's a wasteland, mostly sandy. I think it shouldn't be difficult to rent or buy it."
"What if your job site is no longer here in the future?"
Manbao smiled and said, "Then you can sell the pond to someone else, or rent it out."
Yin Huo laughed and said, "What if no one buys it and no one rents it?"
"That's no big deal. Bai Shan's family has a farm nearby, so it's the same thing if we hand it over to his family's farmers."
It was based on this consideration that they dared to plan to spend so much money to dig the pond.
Yin Huo couldn't help but flip through their draft. It not only listed the planned number of chickens and ducks, but also the number of fruit trees to be planted. He asked in surprise, "How did you calculate all this?"
"It's calculated using arithmetic," Bai Erlang could explain this to him. "The north is better. The terrain is flat, and the land is basically divided into acres. Manbao's 1,000 acres and Mr. Zhuang's 100 acres are almost connected. Even if there's a gap in the middle, it's only a few acres. If it's not connected here, there's still some connected there, so it's easy to calculate."
"These are all cultivated lands. It would be a waste to use them to plant fruit trees. Therefore, the fruit trees and mulberry trees are planted on the ridges. We have calculated the distances. Except for the ridges that must be divided among the tenant farmers, we can use the rest to plant fruit trees."
Yin Huo was curious, "Why must the land be divided among the tenant farmers?"
Bai Erlang choked and then asked, "If we don't give them land, how can they grow mulberry and hemp? They have to pay cloth and cotton to the court."
Yin Huo, who had no idea what was going on, asked, "Don't they have land to grow mulberry and hemp?"
Bai Shan said, "Most of that land is government-owned farmland. If you want to grow mulberry and hemp, you can only plant it on wasteland. However, it is overgrown with weeds, shrubs, and waste rocks. It would take a lot of manpower and resources. It would be better to plant it between the ridges."
Manbao nodded.
Yin Huo was silent for a moment, then asked, "Will you get any harvest from planting fruit trees between the ridges? I've heard that children in the countryside steal the fruit."
Manbao smiled and said, "We're not counting on making money from these fruits. We'll just give them the fruits when the time comes. If the fruits are good, we'll give them to them during festivals along with chickens and ducks. We'll save money, and they'll enjoy the food, right?"
Liu Huan, who had just finished dressing, laughed and said, "I've only ever heard of Zhuangzi giving gifts to the master, but never heard of the master giving gifts to the tenants. Are you rebelling?"
Manbao scratched his head and asked, "Is it the opposite? But when we were at home, we sent gifts to the farmhands every year, and Grandma Liu and the others never said anything."
Bai Shan: "No, it's all written in the book. During the New Year and other festivals, you should give your subordinates thoughtful gifts so that they can feel more at home. There is a whole book about how to win over your subordinates."
Yin Huo was curious, "What kind of book is this?"
Bai Shan was about to say the title of the book when he thought of something and smiled, "It's a miscellaneous book that I read when I was very young. I don't know where it is now."
Liu Huan still didn't believe it. "Every year, the manager of my farm sends gifts to my house, but I've never seen my family give gifts to our tenant farmers. If you don't believe me, ask Qingyu."
See you at 9pm
(End of this chapter)
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