Remembering the discussions in the village, Li Laoshi quickly said, "They said everyone should raise money to buy it."
The cattle dealer wanted five taels of silver a head, which was too high, and Gensheng was still haggling with him to try and lower the price. The piglets were more expensive than before, costing one hundred and fifty coins each. The lambs were expensive too…”
With Li Laoshi's tip, Jiang Zhi quickly learned of Tian Gui and his group's plans.
A single household cannot afford to raise a cow, so several households have to raise it together.
It is common for farmers to raise cattle together, with money paid per acre of land and cattle paid per day.
They are fed in turns during normal times and plowed in turns during the busy farming season, hence the name "rotating cows".
Now Tian Gui and his friends are preparing to raise money to buy a cow.
Needless to say, the Jiang family owns the most land, so they will definitely need oxen.
The busy farming season only lasts a few days, and she plans to raise them together like everyone else, instead of buying them individually.
I've already told Errui about these things, so there's no need to bring them up again.
But when Jiang Zhi heard that the livestock dealer had also brought a mule, her heart skipped a beat; she was even more excited than if she had heard that a handsome man was going on a blind date with her.
Mules are great!
Although it's not as handsome as a horse or as strong as an ox, it's better than a horse for walking on mountain roads and faster than an ox; it's practically an all-terrain off-road vehicle.
More importantly, once we have mules, they can handle all the rough and tiring work, so we won't have to rely on human labor to carry things on our shoulders and backs anymore.
Grandpa Xiaoman also said, "Honestly, you must buy the mule. In the future, you won't need to carry anything up and down the mountain, and you can ride it to Lihua Town and Pingchuan County!"
"If you don't have enough money, bring all the silver from my family!" Xiaomanye didn't know how much silver Jiangzhi earned selling medicine prescriptions, nor had he asked. He only knew how many taels he earned selling mosquito coils and tender corn.
Now that we've built the house, we still need to buy cows and mules, which probably won't be enough.
Jiang Zhi smiled and said, "Uncle Chang Geng, I still have enough money to buy a mule. What kind of mule do you want to raise?"
Without even thinking, Chunfeng said directly, "Besides raising pigs, we also need to raise sheep!"
There is such a big mountain, and she wants to raise two sheep, not to let them roam freely, but to keep them tied up with ropes.
Each time I go to the field, I can lead the sheep to the hillside to feed them grass, and then bring them back after work. The weeds in the field can also be used to feed the sheep.
Jiang Zhi looked worried: "Chunfeng, you have too much work to do."
Chunfeng laughed happily: "Auntie, for the family to have thriving livestock, you definitely need to have chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep, rabbits, and cattle all together."
Grandpa Xiaoman also said, "Okay, while my wife and I can still move our legs these next two years, let's raise more livestock."
Xu Dazhu also said, "Auntie, raising these animals is just a piece of cake for us, it won't interfere with making mosquito coils and wood ear mushrooms."
Besides farming, the couple also grows wood ear mushrooms. Now they make mosquito coils and raise pigs and sheep.
Xu Dazhu supports himself with his hands every day, and although going up and down slopes is a bit troublesome, he does just as much as the average person.
Jiang Zhi could easily imagine how strong and capable this couple would be if Xu Dazhu hadn't been injured and had a healthy body.
It can only be said that fate plays tricks on people!
Because the livestock dealers were still waiting in the village, Errui, Xiaoman, and Jiangzhi took their money and went down the mountain together.
Having bought a mule early on, I now have my own means of transportation, but there's still a lot to do.
Meanwhile, in Xujia Village, today is probably the most lively and exciting day for the villagers.
Tian Gui and his family looked after the calves, the women looked after the piglets, and the children preferred the bleating lambs. Each family was calculating what they could buy.
The character “家” (jiā) represents a pig under a thatched hut.
The fields are now covered with lush green grass, and all kinds of vegetables are growing just right; there's not enough food for one person to eat.
Tender, healthy leaves can be stored as dried vegetables, but yellow leaves or leaves eaten by insects are unsuitable for feeding livestock and must be discarded for composting.
The women were torn between feeling the pinch and throwing away the swill, their hearts aching with worry. They kept saying, "If only there were a pig to collect the swill! If only there were pigs to eat the vegetable leaves!"
There is an urgent need to raise some livestock at home.
In the open space, Xu Gensheng stared intently at a small yellow calf with a white spot on its forehead, smacking his lips without making a sound. But those familiar with his character knew he was sharpening his knife.
Xu Gensheng will shut up when he's really holding back something!
Finally, Xu Gensheng spoke up, and questions followed one after another: "Brother Niu, the hair on your cow looks a bit messy, is it sick?"
"And the way this cow is looking at me is weird, is there something wrong with it?"
"And it looks like there's a whorl on its butt. People grow heads, why does it have a butt? Isn't something wrong?"
The livestock dealer's surname was Niu (meaning "cow" or "ox"), he was over fifty years old, and had a shrewd look on his face. He was very good at manipulating people's hearts when he went from village to village.
He started making preparations as soon as he received the news. He knew that Xujia Village was poor, but he could always squeeze out some money. So he brought only young animals, which were cheap, but the livestock were all healthy.
An entire village needs to buy livestock; this is a big business, and the biggest fear is that selling sick cattle will ruin their reputation.
The cattle dealer wasn't afraid of people picking out sick cattle, but when he heard Xu Gensheng say that the cow's buttocks had a whorl, he immediately became agitated: "Do you even know how to look at cattle? That's clearly from when the cow just licked itself, it's formed a whorl."
There was indeed a patch of hair on the calf's rump that was curled up, just like a flower.
Upon hearing that there was a whirlpool at the cow's rear end, Tian Gui and Xu Genyou also came over.
Wherever there is a large area of hair, swirls will form according to the direction of the hair.
Just as humans have whorls on their heads, cows also have whorls on their bodies, usually one to three on their heads.
Moreover, there are specific rules regarding the number and placement of the ox-shaped spirals; different positions and quantities convey different content and meanings.
A bull with one whorl is reliable, one with two whorls is clever, and one with three whorls is short-tempered and difficult to control.
If there are waist vortexes, facing the wind, death gate, throat-killing, ear-exploding...
This will directly affect sales, no wonder cattle dealers are worried.
Farmers typically raise a cow until it dies, and rarely have the opportunity to buy livestock; they mostly hear about it from others.
Tian Gui and his companions did not know the details.
Upon hearing Xu Gensheng's boast, he panicked and began to examine the calf he had previously chosen from head to toe, but the more he looked, the less confident he became.
At this moment, men, women, and children from the village had all gathered around, and everyone was talking about it.
The cattle dealer arrived with several accomplices, who then began enthusiastically promoting their livestock.
"Look, this isn't a whirlpool! The whirlpool is on the bull's head. A bull with a whirlpool is hardworking, reliable, and obedient!"
“Our ox is still a calf. As long as we take good care of and train it now, it will be able to plow the fields and pull carts in the future.”
“Gensheng! This is not a whirlpool, you’ve mistaken me. I’ve lived for decades and have seen more cows than you have.”
Despite his illness, Xu Changming insisted on coming to see what was happening in the village.
Seeing that Tian Gui and the others were hesitant to make a decision, he couldn't help but offer his guidance.
However, Tian Gui didn't respond, Xu Genyou remained silent, and the others ignored his words.
Xu Changming was so angry that he glared and his beard bristled: "You people really don't know what's good for you. I don't think you can accomplish anything without the Jiang family!"
Wu Yang, who was also part of the group of eight, muttered from the side, "You haven't accomplished anything great either; you still dug people out of shacks!"
Xu Changming was so angry that he almost fell backward, muttering to himself as he left, clutching his back.
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