Chapter 355 Lost (June Monthly Ticket 1000 plus more)
Zhou Erlang was puzzled. "Didn't you say you gave me the blueprints?"
"Yes, it's from the agricultural book."
Zhou Dalang's eyes sparkled, and he asked, "Then can we make one at home?"
Manbao nodded and waved his little hand, "Anyone can do it."
Now that they have taught the carpenter, can they still stop the carpenter from doing it?
What Old Zhou was more concerned about was, "Is the cost high?"
Manbao looked at Bai Shanbao, and Bai Shanbao turned to look at Daji.
Daji, Daji looked around, and finally found that there was no one to look at, so he said: "The carpenter doesn't want to come to the house, young master, please wait a moment, I will go and find the boy who brought the plow back."
"Because this plow is being made for the first time, the carpenter spent a long time preparing it. He provided the wood himself, and the labor cost him nine hundred coins."
Old Zhou and others were shocked. Isn’t this too expensive?
The servant continued, "But before he came back, he said that if we wanted to make a second one, since we already knew how to make it and could provide the wood ourselves, the labor would only be eight hundred coins. If the quantity was large, seven hundred or fifty coins would also be acceptable."
Old Zhou's expression finally softened, because they usually earned about 700 coins for making plows.
He first looked at Mr. Bai and asked with a smile, "Does Mr. Bai want to change the plow?"
Mr. Bai's eyes flashed slightly. He didn't understand how the new plow was better than the old one. After all, although he knew about farming, he didn't really go to the fields to plow, so naturally he didn't know the difference.
But he knew Old Zhou.
Old Zhoutou wouldn't be the most stingy person in Qili Village, but he is somewhat famous. The most important thing is that farmers rarely replace such large farm tools.
Because each one costs a lot of money.
But Old Zhou didn't hesitate for long before asking him. Apparently, the plow was really good, so good that even a stingy old farmer with little money left at home was tempted by it.
Mr. Bai smiled and nodded, "I'm planning to replace some plows. I'll probably need about ten."
Although he was sure that the item was good, he still decided to be cautious and buy the cross to try it out first. If it was good, he would buy more.
Old Zhou smiled and said, "Then my family will make an agreement with Mr. Bai and get a new plow as well."
Manbao shouted from the side, "We want four too, so that will make five."
Old Zhou patted her head and said, "Why buy so many plows for no reason? Two plows are enough for your 100-plus mu of land."
Manbao looked at Bai Shanbao unconvinced.
Bai Shanbao picked a number in the middle and said, "Let's buy two more, so that we have three in total."
Daji wrote down these numbers and reported them to the carpenter.
Mr. Bai said, "We have ordered a lot of plows. We should hire a carpenter to do it here. This will make it easier to transport the wood and we can supervise the work."
Old Zhou nodded in agreement. That's right, that's right. Important things like plows must be kept under close watch. But a plow takes several days to make. They can't go to the county town every day to keep an eye on it, right?
Of course, the Bai family was the one to do this. It just so happened that Bai Shanbao and Manbao were also very interested in carpentry, so when the old carpenter brought his two sons to the Bai family, they were warmly welcomed and surrounded by Manbao and others.
The carpenter, his father, and his two sons were a little confused when they were welcomed. Manbao asked him, "Is the plow easy to make?"
"It's okay," the old carpenter said hesitantly, "The drawings the boss gave me are quite clear, and there are data on them. It just takes a little more time to figure it out, but it's not particularly difficult."
Manbao decided to go back home that night and give the poor graduate student another handful of dirt.
Now that we have the plow, the next step is to plow the land.
The three of them didn't have to worry about it. Liu directly asked someone to buy three cows for them, all of which were bulls.
Old Zhou was so jealous that he couldn't help but grumble to Qian, "How could they be willing to spend so much on three children?"
What else could you do with this money?
Qian glanced at him and asked, "Didn't you also give Manbao sixty acres of land?"
"There's no use keeping that 40-mu mountain. As for the 20-mu land, except for a few acres that are still presentable, the rest is poor soil. We haven't taken care of it much in previous years. We just plowed it, dug a hole and dropped the seeds in, and didn't even remove the weeds. The annual yield is not much, so we just gave it away."
Old Zhou said, "But the Bai family is responsible for the manpower and material resources for the young master. Let's not talk about it when it comes to farming. Look at it now, buying plows, buying cattle, and hiring temporary workers. How much does it cost every day?"
Old Zhou felt heartbroken just thinking about it.
Qian closed her eyes and said, "It's not your money that's being spent, why are you so sad?"
"But it's my daughter who's spending the money," Old Zhou managed to come up with an excuse. "You think Manbao is spoiled over there? Will she spend money so lavishly when she comes back?"
"Your daughter is not stupid. This is the difference between the two families. She is considerate and won't think that way."
Qian has stopped taking medicine now and her health has improved a lot. It’s just that there is no farm work to do in winter, otherwise she could go to the fields to work.
She said, "Okay, go to sleep. Your daughter knows that the soil needs to be turned over in winter, but don't you know how to plan it?"
"Let's wait a few more days," said Old Zhou. "We can plow the land after the new plow arrives. You know what, the plow Manbao brought out is really useful. I pulled it a little and it saved me a lot of effort."
"If the headman hasn't notified me in a couple of days, I probably won't have to serve this year. We can slowly do the work in the fields."
With so many fields at home, it is impossible to turn over every one of them, otherwise it would be exhausting, so the Zhou family only turns over the most fertile fields every year.
Twenty acres of land were used to plant wheat this year, and there was even less left, so Old Zhou was not in a hurry at all.
He was waiting to see if he would have to serve in the military this year. If he did, the eldest brother would go, and then the sixth brother would be taken to learn how to hold the plow.
While Old Zhou was thinking about this, Manbao received a letter from the county town.
The letter was brought back by Zhou Wulang. He went to the county town to sell ginger today. When he went to the county magistrate's house, the maid inside gave her the letter.
Manbao has been very busy today and only now has time to sit at the table and read the letter by the oil lamp.
The letter was written by Miss Fu Er, who told Manbao that her father had been appointed as the magistrate of Taining County and had to return to the capital to report on his work before taking up the post. In addition, he had not been home for the New Year for several years, so the Ministry of Personnel approved him for 20 days of annual leave.
Taking into account the annual leave and the time to report back to Beijing, the Fu family decided to leave Luojiang County on October 18th, first go to Beijing, and then return home for the New Year.
There are still three days left, and Miss Fu Er hopes Manbao can go and see her off.
Manbao was a little worried. Although she felt that she and Sister Fu Er would meet again, she couldn't help but feel confused about the future and didn't know when they would see each other again.
Even though he was saying optimistic words, Manbao couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
