They bought two more cows that were producing milk and kept them in the backyard of the shop.
Yan Xia is preparing to start making new pastries with buffalo milk.
Instead of buying from cattle farmers every day, she prefers to produce and sell her own cattle.
However, with such a large sum of money, Yan Xia lost half of her savings.
The carriage was big enough that her son, daughter, and daughter-in-law all came to help at the shop, so Yan Xia had some free time. She estimated the time and went to Shoucheng Village in the morning, where the grain should have been harvested and dried.
Because it was nearby, they didn't drive a horse-drawn carriage, but simply took an ox and, with their youngest son, pulled the oxcart there.
After arriving at Shoucheng Village, Yan Xia went to her own field first.
The farmland of Shoucheng Village is also at the end of the village. Compared with the sparse houses, a large area of continuous field ridges comes into view, densely packed.
The land beneath her feet belonged to her.
There are no crops left in the fields.
Only a few clumps of weeds, swaying in the wind, took root in the vast land.
"Oh, isn't this Landlord Yan? You've come to collect the grain? I'll go home and get it right away. By the way, should I inform the other tenants for you?"
Suddenly, a familiar-looking man came to Yan Xia's side.
It was Liu Ershuan who rented her 10 mu of land.
"Okay, I don't recognize any of them anyway, so please accept them all here."
Yan Xia answered him with a smile, looking very kind.
"Okay, you rest, I'll take care of it right away."
Liu Ershuan was also an impatient person. After he finished speaking, he left in a hurry and disappeared in no time.
For the first time harvesting grain, Yan Xia prepared a special grain scale for the area, which was a square wooden vat, slightly wider at the bottom and narrower at the top.
One can hold a hundred catties, waiting for the tenants who are delivering grain to arrive.
Then they could be allowed to pour the grain, bag by bag, into the wooden vat.
A short while later, Liu Ershuan and his family carried a cart toward Yan Xia, followed by a group of people.
They were all pushing carts or carrying sacks.
"Landlord Yan, we've arrived! This year has been a bumper harvest. Each mu of the land we rented yielded 500 jin. Based on 30%, I need to give you 1,500 jin of rice. Please weigh it."
Liu Ershuan was surrounded by six or seven men who looked very much like him; they were probably his brothers and sons.
No wonder he rented 10 acres of land at once; he had too many able-bodied men in his family.
"Alright, everyone line up one by one, don't fight. Liu Ershuan, you go first. Jinlu, bring the wooden vat down!"
Yan Xia instructed her youngest son to do the work.
Liu Ershuan and the others didn't just stand there dumbfounded. As soon as the wooden vat was lifted down, they took their own burlap sacks and filled them with rice, one sack at a time, before emptying them out.
The burlap sacks here weigh exactly 100 jin (50 kg), so weighing them is very convenient, and one sack is just enough to fill the wooden vat.
After the fifteen bags were inspected, Liu Ershuan's family helped carry the bags onto the oxcart and put them away.
"Alright, your quantity is correct. Are you planting again next year? If so, I'll make a note of it."
"We'll plant, we'll plant. My family has a lot of people, about twenty mouths to feed every day. Next year we want to plant another 10 mu. My four sons are all of marriageable age. Next year we'll work hard so they can get married in one go."
"Alright, then I'll keep the 10 mu. If you're going to grow vegetables on this land in the winter, just give me 10% of it. Take good care of the land yourselves. It's a waste to leave such fertile land unused. Keep an eye on it and weed regularly, understand?"
Good fields will lose nutrients if they are not properly protected. It can take several years for a field overgrown with weeds to recover to its original state.
"It's our duty, even if you didn't say anything, Landlord Yan, we would still take good care of things."
Liu Ershuan nodded repeatedly, speaking with a somewhat obsequious expression.
After the two men pressed their handprints, he took his son and brothers back home.
"Jinlu, take the grain from the oxcart back to the shop first, otherwise there won't be enough room."
"good."
Jinlu obediently drove the oxcart away.
Fortunately, the shop wasn't far away, and the round trip, including carrying the grain, would take at most twenty minutes.
Yan Xia then weighed herself.
Basically, every household renewed their lease. They had little or no land in Shoucheng Village, and if they didn't renew, their families would starve to death next year. The yield of these 100 mu of land was very high. Due to different care, the amount of grain each household paid varied. Some yielded about 400 jin per mu, while others yielded a little over 500 jin, but they were all roughly the same and would not exceed 80 jin per mu.
She was busy until noon, when many villagers had finished their lunch and were taking a nap, but she still hadn't finished.
The onlookers all disappeared.
Only two companies remain.
“Landlord Yan, my family has rented five mu of land. This is the grain we are paying. Please take a look.”
"Okay, put it in."
Yan Xia was a little tired. She nodded slightly, indicating that the person in front of her should do it themselves.
"good!"
Li Changtao and his two nephews started unpacking and packing the sacks. They didn't put them down until they were all weighed. The oxcart hadn't arrived yet, so they had to leave them on the ground for now.
"There are 10 mu of land left. Your family rented 5 mu this year. Do you want to renew the lease tomorrow?"
"To be continued, to be continued—"
No sooner had Yan Xia finished speaking than Li Changtao eagerly chimed in.
His family has more than a dozen members. Although they are original residents of Shoucheng Village, they are poor. His grandparents are still alive and frail and take medicine all year round. His parents are also getting old and can no longer do heavy work in the fields. He is the youngest son. His eldest brother died early, leaving behind his sister-in-law, three nephews and two nieces. In order to support his family, Li Changtao did not get married until he was 24. Naturally, his two sons were born late. He is already 35 years old, and his two sons are not even 10 years old.
Li Changtao's nephews and nieces have grown up and can help with the farm work, but they need to get married. So, Li Changtao, who was struggling to breathe under the weight of the heavy tank, started renting land last year. His family's life has improved a bit, and they can finally eat their fill. But they still can't raise enough money to get wives for their three nephews.
Because it was difficult for daughters to get married at an older age, but it didn't matter for sons, Li Changtao gave each of his nieces two taels of silver as a dowry and married them off to good families nearby. He only asked for two taels of silver as a bride price, which meant he didn't earn a penny. He was doing right by his elder brother. Before renting the land, his family was considered lucky if they didn't fall into debt after deducting their living expenses and their grandparents' medical expenses.
They couldn't save any money at all; it was only after renting the land that they had a surplus of two taels of silver per year.
I should be able to save up 4 taels last year and this year, first to get my eldest and second nephews married, and then try harder next year to get my third nephew married.
Li Changtao was thinking that his eldest son would be 10 years old next year and able to do some work, so he planned to rent another five mu. However, the landlord Yan said that there were only 10 mu left, so he was a little hesitant to ask.
Aunt Sun will definitely renew her lease later.
But there's no land left to rent in Shoucheng Village. If you want to rent land, you have to go to Taohua Village, which is ten miles away, and the landowners there take 50% of the profits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
