When Jiang Zhi returned to the village empty-handed, everyone who had been eagerly waiting for her felt their hearts sink.
They thought they could get the goods by paying the grain tax, but now it seems that the government is indeed ruthless and doesn't keep its word.
Jiang Zhi was not disappointed; she knew in her heart that taking kickbacks was perfectly normal.
When one holds power, there's no reason for anyone to benefit from it for no reason.
To put it in the local dialect: Trying to dip your finger in salt is impossible.
Even if it's Xiang Dejin, it should be resolved this way, otherwise they'll owe him a favor.
Right now, all I'm thinking about is how to raise money to buy materials; the low price that Zhao Shuli promised is for real.
So, after a brief discussion, the eight-person group gathered together for a meeting.
Everyone was very excited when they learned that this was a real matter of sending the house for repairs.
Jiang Zhi said, "Congratulations to everyone for working hard all year. This year you won't have to pay taxes, and with the addition of vegetables, you won't go hungry."
"I kept my promise when I took office as village chief. I ensured everyone had a good meal and plenty of wine during the Spring Festival. I didn't lie to anyone."
Everyone laughed.
Indeed, nowadays every household has sweet potato, corn, and vegetable porridge, whether it's thick or thin, and they can eat their fill without going hungry.
Jiang Zhi continued, "But we are still living in these thatched huts. If it rains for a while, it gets cold and damp, and we don't even have a place to store our food. So we can't delay repairing the houses any longer."
This is something everyone knows, and everyone is eagerly waiting for the next installment.
Jiang Zhi laid out the list compiled by Xia Xiucai: "Building houses is a big deal, and it can't be done by one family or one household alone. We are now planning to have the whole village help each other to build houses."
Regardless of whose house is being repaired, the homeowner doesn't need to prepare meals, only bricks and stones. Each household contributes labor points, and the work is completed over the entire winter. Then, each household is paid separately.
The crowd erupted in a commotion, but quickly quieted down as they all expressed their agreement.
Because everyone is already familiar with this method.
In the spring, Jiang Zhi lent out grain seeds and asked the whole village to help dig the ground for a large amount of work, recording work points, and then settling the accounts after the work was completed.
This account looked a bit complicated, so Xia Xiucai wrote down a separate page for each household, and even used a whole stack of scrap paper to calculate it.
Everyone kept their own accounts, and in the end, everyone paid back the money for the seeds after working hard. Those who did more work even received a few kilograms of grain.
Later, when the pond was repaired in the summer, work points were also recorded.
Although it wasn't explicitly stated that money would be paid, there were rumors circulating that once there was money in the account, all those work points would eventually be paid out.
In other words, as long as the village assigns work, there will be benefits sooner or later, and whoever has more work points will receive more money and grain.
Farmers are not afraid of hard work. They can draw water from the well endlessly and have inexhaustible strength. They might as well stay idle anyway.
However, it would require Xia Xiucai to write a large stack of draft paper, calculating the wages paid by each household and the wages he earned separately.
Farmers helping each other repair houses is a matter of goodwill, and if they can earn work points for it, they would be even more willing to do so.
As for buying materials, Jiang Zhi can help them get them at a low price, but they will have to pay for the money themselves.
Now, more than half a year has passed, and the income gap between each household has become apparent.
Tian Guiwu and his group of eight started by selling tender corn with Jiang Zhi, and they also helped with other chores. Each household earned a few taels of silver.
Xu Genbao was working in the mountains making cotton quilts. He not only sent money back twice to store, but also brought cotton from Xu Genyou into the mountains to help sell it.
All things considered, Xu Genyou's family was the wealthiest.
As for the remaining half of the households, if they sell all their grain, they can buy one or two taels of silver worth of bricks and tiles and hire craftsmen. In addition, they can use the trees they cut down to build mud-brick houses.
After selling the grain, they would have to fill their stomachs with a vegetable porridge made from oak powder for the rest of the winter.
If you miss this opportunity, you'll have to go to Pear Blossom Town to buy it yourself in the future.
So, the people who were just happy to have someone help repair their house for free are now having headaches about buying bricks, stones, and timber.
Each household needs to plan and prepare the funds themselves before making a unified purchase.
Jiang Zhi's current focus is on discussing with everyone who should repair the damage first and who should repair it later.
Jiang Zhi said, "The order will be determined by drawing lots. After the draw, if you feel that you don't have enough money to repair it temporarily, you can exchange places."
He then took out bamboo strips that had been arranged in advance and asked each household to draw lots. After buying the materials, they lined up to repair their houses.
The crowd immediately became chaotic, with people politely offering to let others draw first.
After waiting for so long, some people want their houses repaired as soon as possible so they can move into their new homes and celebrate the New Year.
Some people feel that they don't know how to fix it yet, so they want to stay behind and see how others do it.
There are only twenty households in the village. There are twenty bamboo strips inserted in the bamboo tube in front of Jiang Zhi, with numbers written on the downward end.
Each household in the village takes one stick, and the number indicates which number is being repaired.
At this moment, Xia Xiucai was sitting next to Jiang Zhi. Just as everyone was politely deferring to each other and not going forward, he silently pulled out a bamboo strip.
Jiang Zhi looked: Number Seven!
Tian Gui and Xu Genqing urgently needed to repair their house, and they each drew a bamboo slip: number three and number ten!
Everyone else, whether rich or poor, drew bamboo slips and exchanged them. The first house to be repaired was actually the Stone Monkey's house, the Jiang Zhi's house was nineteenth, and the last one was Li Laoshi.
The Stone Monkey family is a very special family.
While others wandered away from home alone, unwilling to return, the Shi family consisted of two brothers, each with their own wives and children, who refused to go back.
The reason is simple: both brothers are too honest, and their wives aren't very bright. Since they didn't separate their households, they were often bullied by their neighbors back in their hometown.
This time, I followed someone out in a daze and left all my valuables with my neighbor. As a result, the neighbor disappeared without me even realizing it.
The brothers and their family followed the refugees to Yuzhou Prefecture, and then arrived here in a daze. In the end, they couldn't even find their way home and had no choice but to stay.
Knowing that his family was the first to repair their house, Stone Monkey's father, Stone Boss, kept a straight face, his expression revealing neither joy nor sorrow.
Jiang Zhi asked, "Brother Shi, how much money do you have at home? Go to the post station right away to buy bricks and stones so we can arrange for people to repair your house."
Boss Shi shook his head: "We have no money!"
This is to be expected, as the Shi family is one of the less active families in the village.
The two brothers did not actively earn work points, nor did they seek additional income.
For example, in summer people pick mushrooms, cut reeds, in autumn they collect tung seeds, and they also gather medicinal herbs to exchange for money.
The Shi family simply cultivated four mu of land, planting corn and sweet potatoes.
The two families were not lazy; they collected firewood every day, and within a year, they had piled up a mountain of firewood outside their houses.
Now she's been picking up oak leaves every day, piling them up outdoors, and Jiang Zhi is starting to worry that they'll sprout when it gets wet.
If the Shi family wants to repair their house, they can only do so by selling grain.
Jiang Zhi said, "If you want to repair the house, sell your grain first to buy materials..."
Old Shi shook his head vigorously: "No, no, we'll just stay in our current house and dry the bricks ourselves, it won't cost us any money."
Xu Gensheng chimed in, "Village Chief Jiang, Old Master Shi's family is already breaking bricks themselves. Since they're not buying or repairing the house, let's just scrap their number one and use number two directly!"
Number two is his house. If the Shi family gives up, then it will naturally be his house.
Jiang Zhi asked Boss Shi again, "Are you really unwilling to repair it now, and want to wait until later?"
Old Master Shi couldn't bear to part with the grain and money, so he decided not to make the repairs.
Jiang Zhi didn't force him. Li Laoshi always called himself an honest man, but in fact, the Shi family were the truly honest people.
For the sake of immediate gains, honest people are willing to suffer losses and give up long-term plans. When they want to repair their houses later, it will be difficult to buy materials.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com