Chapter 1648 Scheming
Mr. Ma is from Baimaquan Town. He has nine daughters and only one son.
The year before last, when Manbao returned home from Yizhou City for the New Year, he overheard a conversation in which he learned that Mr. Ma wanted to ask Manbao to marry his son because Manbao had six older brothers. However, Old Zhou disliked the fact that Manbao's family only had daughters and no sons, so he was not very happy about it.
At that time, Manbao quietly listened to her sisters-in-law talking about Mr. Ma's family for a long time. It was said that because his family had nine daughters, his in-laws were spread all over Baimaquan Town, and two of his daughters were married in Luojiang County.
Manbao thought that Master Ma was powerful enough, but he didn't expect that the Cui family was even more powerful than Master Ma's family.
Only now could Bai Shan feel the power of the Cui family, or rather, the aristocratic family.
He swallowed and said to Manbao, "Let's discuss the matter of the official land. There's no rush for other things, but the chickens can be raised."
Bai Erlang said, "There aren't that many chicks."
Manbao said, "Buy some breeding eggs and hatch them. We'll pay for the eggs and buy some hens to brood."
This is what they did when they wanted to raise chickens on their small farm in the past, but they bought the breeding eggs, not the hens.
At that time, they were all handed over to the hens of Old Zhou's family to help hatch.
After Manbao stamped the documents, she handed a copy of the rent documents to the village head. Then she went to talk to her father about it, but she saw her father was already busy in the fields with others.
When Old Zhou saw Manbao, he couldn't help but complain, "Why did you rent out all the land and not leave us a single acre?"
Manbao was stunned.
Old Zhou said, "If you don't leave us land, what are we going to do here?"
Manbao was stunned for a moment, then said, "Dad, you stay and take care of them. There are a hundred tenant farmers here, and they're cultivating the 1,200 acres of land that belongs to my family and my husband. You have to keep an eye on them. By the way, should we start composting?"
Manbao looked at Baishan, who immediately said, "That's right, it's time to compost it. Uncle Zhou, look how fertile this land is. But if there's not enough fertilizer, even the best land will turn into barren crops."
Old Zhou's attention was immediately diverted, and he turned to find the tenant farmers. He wanted to ask them how much manure they had prepared for composting this year.
Old Zhou was busy with something and could no longer take care of them.
Qian glanced at his back, waved Manbao over, looked at her for a moment, then reached out and tapped her forehead. "Forget about the rest. Where will your father and his family stay when they come to look after the land?"
Manbao immediately said, "Shall I find a place to build a house for Dad?"
Qian said, "We can just build a thatched house. After all, this land is only for us to farm and is not in our name. We are not sure how many years we can farm it."
Manbao remembered the pond she was going to dig and couldn't help but look at Baishan.
The two exchanged glances for a while, then responded with a smile.
Qian looked at the two of them and said, "Having money doesn't mean you can't waste it. Although the family isn't too short of money right now, you can't spend it recklessly."
Manbao assured her, "Don't worry, Mom. When have I ever spent money recklessly?"
Qian reluctantly believed her.
Manbao turned around and discussed the purchase of land with the head of the village.
When the village head heard that Manbao wanted to buy land, he became confused and his good impression of her dropped to the lowest point.
Manbao pointed to the wasteland in the distance and said, "There's a lot of sand and gravel there. I wonder if we can buy it or rent it."
The village head was still thinking about how to refuse her. When he heard that she wanted to buy the wasteland, he couldn't help but be stunned. Then he asked cautiously: "What can Mr. Zhou do with that land?"
"Let's build a house," Manbao said. "It's no use. The houses in your village are so close together. When my family comes to take care of the farm, they'll need a place to stay. It's better to build one nearby. It takes 35 minutes to get there from the Bai family's farm."
The village head heaved a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "That's a piece of wasteland. We can build a house there. It's not expensive. Lord Zhou, just give it a little as a token of your appreciation."
Manbao rolled his eyes and asked, "What if I buy a bigger one? Where should I dig a big pond?"
The village head said, "The land isn't expensive, but digging a pond is quite expensive, and it's dry right now..."
"It's because of the drought that we need to dig ponds to store water," Manbao said. "The fields around here are all my land. I don't know what the situation will be like next year. If we can store water, it will at least alleviate the drought, right?"
She said, "Every acre of land that can be saved is an acre of land that can be saved."
The village head thought she was rich and stupid, so he smiled and said, "If Mr. Zhou thinks it's okay, then it's fine."
Then, without any psychological burden, he sold the wasteland that was of no use and too uncomfortable to walk on to Manbao.
Because he wanted to maintain a good relationship, he only took the lowest share of the money, and then issued a land deed, which he could then file with the government office.
As for the money, it is usually kept with him, and will be used from the public fund when the village needs it in the future.
The Zhou family knew nothing about this.
Old Zhoutou and Zhou Dalang followed the villagers and carefully walked half a circle of the thousand acres of land. They determined with them the number of acres of winter wheat to be planted this year, and only returned to the village after they had a rough idea of it.
Bai Shan had already begun planning how big and deep the pond should be, while Bai Erlang scribbled on a piece of paper a plan for how many houses he wanted to build for Manbao. "Even if it's gravel land, you can't just build a few houses on it. Try to serve as an official for a few more years. With such a large piece of land, we can eventually have mulberry fields, fruit trees, wheat and rice fields, and all kinds of fruits and vegetables. We can definitely come and stay here during our days off."
He drew on the paper and said, "So I need a room, Bai Shan needs one too, and you and Mr. should have one too. This garden needs some flowers and plants to make it look nice. I think we should plant roses. One plant can grow a lot, and they're easy to care for..."
Manbao said: "Don't forget my family."
"I know. We have to reserve a room for Zhou Si and his friends. He has already taken his business to Xiazhou. He has to pass through Yongzhou to get from Xiazhou to the capital. If it gets late, he can rest here and set off for the capital early the next morning, just in time to enter the city at noon. It would be nice to take his time."
"Well, then cover it a little further to the side."
Bai Shan took a moment to take a look and couldn't help but pat him, "If you build like this, I won't have room to dig a pond."
Yin Huo, who was helping them sort out their manuscripts, saw this and laughed, "How can a house be built sideways like this?"
He took a pen and helped Bai Erlang plan. Liu Huan was very bored and asked, "Why do you have to do this yourself when you can just leave it to the manager?"
Manbao said, "My family has no business."
Liu Huan pointed at Bai Shan and said, "Your family doesn't have one, but his family probably doesn't have one either? And if they don't have one, you can hire one, or buy one. Do you want me to give you one?"
Bai Erlang looked up at him and shook his head, saying, "Are you stupid? Even Bai Shan didn't send her away, but you actually sent her away."
Manbao said: "No, my eldest brother and his family can handle my family affairs, so there is no need for anyone to take care of them right now."
As soon as she hired a manager, her father could take her mother and her elder brother and his wife home.
Although her parents seemed to be living happily in the capital, they missed their hometown very much. If there was nothing for them to do, they would go back home even if they missed her very much.
There is still so much land at home.
Manbao noticed her father walking by the door and said immediately, "There's so much land, and I still have to go to the palace to work. If I can't manage it, it all depends on my father and others."
My relatives are gone, I can work harder and more tonight.
See you at 9pm
(End of this chapter)
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