The departure of Li Laoshi and Qin Shi did not cause any disturbance in Xujia Village.
When Xu Xiaogu did bad things before, the villagers could stand by and criticize her, and say a few words of justice.
Xu Dongjuan's problem lies with Xu Changming, Liu Shi, and even Xiaomanye, all members of the Xu family.
Now they are all silenced, not even daring to utter a word of complaint, lest they be dragged out and lectured by the village's grandchildren.
As December arrives, Xujia Village will be busy again, the first thing being the corvée labor.
Because Lihua Town performed well last year, it was exempted from corvée labor this year. Song Tingzhang decided that if the government wouldn't levy the taxes, he would levy them himself.
He had already tasted the sweetness of being number one; the county magistrate praised him, and he even spoke louder in front of the village chiefs.
So after receiving the news of the exemption from corvée labor, he consulted with Errui and Jiangzhi on how to achieve some political accomplishments that others could see.
There are too many projects that are visible to others and serve as a facade.
Repairing bridges and roads is real work that requires money.
Old Song meant building pagodas, donating bells, and repairing temples—things that wealthy people love to do.
After the repairs are completed, a donation stele should be erected to record who donated how much. This could also be done in Lihua Town.
Jiang Zhi denied the idea of building temples: "I learned a lot during my trip to Jincheng Prefecture. The first thing was to build schools so that children can learn more. The second thing was to build water conservancy projects. Both of these things will benefit future generations."
She wanted to mention Dujiangyan, but she didn't know if there was a physical one there. If there was, she wouldn't know how to explain it.
Old Song stroked his beard and frowned: "Water conservancy projects are time-consuming and labor-intensive, and they also require land. They can't be done casually. We need to notify the county magistrate and have the workshop survey the land before construction can begin!"
Jiang Zhi knew immediately that it was hopeless. If the county government had to take the lead, it would affect everything. Waiting for the workshop to send people to survey the area before drawing up the plans would take only a month, by which time it would be too late. She decided to stick to Xujia Village instead.
However, she still reminded Song Tingzhang: "We can set up some sunshades on the river embankment outside Lihua Town. Maybe in the summer, it can attract people to set up stalls and do some business."
The streets in Lihua Town are short and the space is small. Every time there is a market day, it is so crowded that farmers cannot even set up a stall to sell a few eggs, which is very detrimental to commercial development.
Last winter, silt was dredged from the riverbed and piled up under the trees on both banks. All that's needed is to level it out, and it will become an open-air market.
If it were paved with stone slabs, it would be a high-end shopping plaza.
Upon hearing this, Song Tingzhang thought it would be easy to handle without much expense. He could simply have someone build a bamboo shed by the river and charge an extra coin at the market.
Even if the bamboo sheds are destroyed by the summer floods, they don't feel bad; they just cut bamboo and rebuild them.
He nodded in satisfaction: "It seems I need to go out more and broaden my horizons."
The two had their own agendas and parted ways. Song, the village head, went back to find other villagers to cut down trees and build houses.
Jiang Zhi then arranged for the village to build a pond and also built two more offices for the school.
Tian Gui and his team had already finished digging up the Ophiopogon japonicus, and the ten mu of land had been fertilized again, in preparation for planting Ophiopogon japonicus again the following spring.
Ophiopogon japonicus yields 100 catties per mu, and the purchase price is 50 wen per catty. Ten mu of land will bring in a total income of 50 taels of silver over three years. Compared to the labor involved in farming, growing medicinal herbs is indeed easier and more profitable.
Tian Gui and Xu Genyou helped with the farming and management for three years, and each of them received five taels of silver.
Jiang Zhi decided to continue planting, but she had to be careful about fertilizing, since Ophiopogon japonicus was so prolific and had such a strong vitality that the soil couldn't handle it.
In the twelfth lunar month, a joyous event also occurred in Xujia Village.
After a year's delay, Wu Yang and Sister Shi's wedding is finally going to take place.
Previously, the Shi family thought that since Sister Shi earned more than 700 wen a month, they wanted to keep her at home for a few more years.
But this year, the Shi family renovated their house and raised pigs, so they can eat meat once a month, and they agreed to let Sister Shi get married.
In two months, it will be Sister Shi's sixteenth birthday. In a farming family, this age is just right for her to get married.
So, the stone monkey went to Jiang Zhi and asked if he could slaughter a pig for his elder sister and the family in Wuhan to hold a banquet.
Most families in Xujia Village raise pigs, but the pigs raised by the few fools in the Shi family are the best.
The pigs here are truly native pigs, and they even have wild boar genes. Without improved hybrid breeds, they don't grow fast. Even after a year of feeding them with oak meal, wild vegetables, and bran, they only weigh about 140 to 150 pounds, but they are all plump and fat.
This is also thanks in no small part to the stone monkey.
He checks the pigsty every day to make sure it's clean and hygienic. If he sees any pigs that are dirty or hungry, he won't eat or sleep, which scares his family so they get up and start working.
Now that the pigs are ready, Stone Monkey wants to kill one, sell most of the pork to the village, and use the rest for two families to hold a banquet.
Jiang Zhi naturally agreed, as the Shi family also had a share in the profits.
The two houses are next to each other, and the drinks are simply laid out, since everything on the table is shared. The first meal is the bride's welcoming drink, and the next meal is the groom's wedding drink.
Whether to choose men's or women's wine for the meal, the villagers only gave one gift.
Jiang Zhi is probably the one who will suffer the most, since she has to attend banquets hosted by two different families and therefore has to give generous gifts to both.
Other families give fifty coins, but she has to give two hundred coins, and there are two families involved, so she needs four hundred coins.
When Sister Shi got married, the Shi family prepared a pair of large red wooden cabinets that could hold several hundred kilograms of grain, as well as several cotton quilts on the gift chest. This was the standard dowry for a daughter of Ba County, and Shi Houzi had asked other people in the village for the information.
When Wang Xiaoju's two older brothers came to Xujia Village to reconcile with their siblings, they brought a pair of the sturdiest large mahogany cabinets.
Bamboo poles were tied to the gift box cabinet, and Xu Gensheng and his group carried it around the bamboo forest. Before a string of firecrackers had even finished going off, they arrived at Wu Yang's house.
Sister Shi changed into a bright red coat and followed behind the dowry, her face, painted with rouge and powder, was full of a simple and excited smile.
Seeing everyone around her laughing made her very happy. Moreover, the stone monkey was wearing new clothes today, which she had bought for her younger brother with the money she earned at the pharmacy.
The Wu family had already prepared a room, a new bed, and clean bedding, and were waiting for everyone to come and make merry in the bridal chamber that evening, eating wedding candy and melon seeds. That would mark the end of the wedding for both families.
The pharmacy gave the couple a three-day wedding leave. Before the red paper scraps from the firecrackers could be soaked in the mud by the rain, the village was already preparing for the New Year.
This year, everyone bought meat from Shijiazhuang and cured it with salt to eat during the Spring Festival.
Shijiazhuang is finally able to slaughter pigs and enjoy stewed bones and meat to their heart's content this year.
Shi Laoda and Shi Laoer, dressed in brand-new coarse cloth clothes, sat at the dining table counting their copper coins. These coins were from selling pork, the money received from the wedding banquet, and Shi Dajie's wages for more than a year.
The five strings of copper coins that had been separated were piled up on the table. The two brothers couldn't count them every day. They felt that there was just too much money. They had never seen so much money in their entire lives.
Boss Shi said to Monkey Shi, who was sitting to the side writing on the table with his finger dipped in water, "Monkey, save all this money for you. We can raise pigs again. You also have two older sisters. You'll have more money than you can spend in the future."
The pigs in the pen are gradually being released. The butchers in Lihua Town have negotiated with Jiang Zhi to buy one pig at each market day.
Three pig farms a month, enough pigs in the pen to sell for three months.
Jiang Zhi agreed, saying that would work too, as the market in Lihua Town has limited consumption and can only sell one or two pigs at each market.
The empty pens were just enough to bring the piglets down from the mountain.
Upon hearing his uncle mention "two more older sisters," Shi Houzi replied without looking up, "My second sister is still young. Don't arrange a marriage for her. Let her stay home and raise pigs for a few more years."
Sister Shi is thirteen years old this year, and people have already come to propose marriage to her.
However, the stone monkey refused because the man from another village was a mentally challenged man who was almost thirty years old and only wanted to get married and have children.
The stone monkey wanted to personally choose a husband for his older sister, someone like his brother-in-law Wu Yang, who at least wouldn't hit his sister.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com