Chapter 77 The Body is the Capital of Revolution
The autumn harvest lasted for more than half a month. Today, Gu Yan collected the rent from the last household, leaving enough for his own food and letting the grain store take away the rest.
Finally, he stored half of what he had left in the cellar, and had the remaining half pushed into the yard.
"Alright, put the food here first. You've been tired for half a month, so go back and rest.
Lin Mu, give each person a half-dollar reward." Gu Yan said.
"Thank you, boss"
"Thank you, boss."
…
Seeing the farmhand taking the reward money and leaving with many thanks, Gu Yan said to Lin Mu, "Master Lin, you have worked hard. I will add an extra five taels of silver to your account as a reward. You can go back and have a good rest."
"Thank you, sir. I'll get busy now." Lin Mu bowed and left.
Li Wanqing saw that everyone had left and came out of the house. "Have you collected the rent? I think there must be several thousand kilograms of grain in the yard, right?"
"Yes, there are. There are 6,300 kilograms of rice in total. I put half of it in the cellar. It's all here.
By the way, I had someone grind a thousand kilograms of rice for the remaining half. I will drive a horse-drawn carriage and pretend to deliver it these two days. You can put it into the space on the way.
I kept 5,000 kilograms of wheat, half of which I put in the cellar, and also ground 1,000 kilograms of flour.
We've also prepared some other grains, not much, but enough for us to eat," Gu Yan explained.
"It will take several trips to get so much food. So, let's start tomorrow. You transport the food to the foot of the mountain first, and I will put it into the space when no one is around." Li Wanqing said.
"Okay, once the food issue is resolved, I'll arrange to plow the land and plant winter wheat.
Let’s plant rapeseed in the place where rice was originally planted, so that we can have rapeseed oil to drink next year.” Gu Yan said.
"Did you buy rapeseed?" Li Wanqing really didn't know that there was rapeseed in this era.
"I bought it. Rapeseed matures in March. Harvesting rapeseed is the right time to plant rice." Gu Yan learned this from an old farmer. Otherwise, how would a hunter like him know when to harvest and when to plant rice?
"I didn't expect you knew all this. It seems like all your hard work recently was in vain. You really learned a lot about farming." Li Wanqing said.
"Of course. I've said it before. Even if I can't do it, I at least have to understand it and can't be fooled." Gu Yan said proudly.
"You're awesome, okay? Go take a shower! I made some cold noodles. If you don't eat them soon, you'll get lumpy.
After dinner, let's rest early today, as we still have a lot to do tomorrow." Li Wanqing smiled and patted Gu Yan's arm.
"Okay, I'll go right away. I'm really hungry after working for half a day." After saying that, Gu Yan took his clothes and went to take a shower.
After breakfast the next day, Gu Yan took Lin Mu and loaded a carriage with rice and left with Li Wanqing.
What Lin Mu was told was that someone in the county wanted these grains, but Gu Yan had to deliver them personally.
In fact, Gu Yan drove the carriage directly to a sparsely populated area at the foot of the mountain and asked Li Wanqing to put it directly into the space.
"Okay, I'll wait for you here. You can go back and continue transporting the food." Li Wanqing asked Gu Yan to stay for a while longer before letting him go back and continue transporting the food.
They worked for a whole day before they managed to store all the food into the space.
On the last trip, Li Wanqing also followed him back to the farm.
Li Wanqing didn't cook in the evening, but just roasted some donkey meat and ate it.
After dinner, Li Wanqing asked Gu Yan to rest while she went to wash the dishes and clothes.
Nothing happened that night, and the next day Gu Yan was busy organizing people to plow the soil. There was no machine assistance here, and it was entirely done by manpower.
It took four full days to plow the fifty acres of land.
Next came sowing, which took another five days. This was only possible because Gu Yan rented two cows to complete the task so quickly.
The wheat seeds have been planted and will need to be watered in a few days, but Gu Yan can come over later.
Even if you don't come, Lin Zhuangtou is here. So there's no need to worry too much.
The land was planted, and Gu Yan and Li Wanqing were ready to go back to the mountains.
This time it wasn’t Li Wanqing who wanted to go back, but Gu Yan who wanted to go back quickly to dig medicinal herbs and make money.
"Why are you in such a hurry to go back? You look so tired and dark and thin. Wouldn't it be better for you to rest here for a few days?" Li Wanqing didn't know why Gu Yan was in such a hurry to go back.
"I want to go back and dig up more herbs to earn more money before it snows. Don't you want to make cured chicken and rabbit? I'll also take advantage of this time to catch more.
It's September now, and winter comes early here, so it might snow someday," Gu Yan explained.
"Let it snow. Our family is not short of money. Why are you in such a hurry to make money?" Li Wanqing said indifferently.
"I just want to buy two cows. Look at how much land we have. It would be so hard to cultivate it with just manpower.
I've been thinking about it for several days and I think it's better to buy two cows.
Think about it, without livestock, we would have to hire more farmhands, or rent livestock.
At first glance, hiring people and renting animals may seem cheaper than buying cattle, but the account cannot be calculated in this way.
We don't just plant crops in this land once a year, but every year.
The cost of renting cattle and hiring more people this year is less than the cost of buying cattle yourself, but if you add it up over several years, it will be a huge amount.
After much thought, I think it's more cost-effective for us to buy the cows ourselves." Gu Yan told Li Wanqing his plan.
"If you want to buy a cow, just go ahead and buy it. We are not short of money. Here, here, is fifty taels enough?" Li Wanqing generously took out a fifty-tael silver note and handed it over.
“No, the land has been planted now, there is no need to buy it now.
Besides, didn’t we agree on this money? We won’t touch the money we earned last time. We can use the money we earn from digging medicinal herbs to pay for our family expenses.
I'll go back and dig for herbs, and if that doesn't work, I'll just go hunt a couple of wild boars." Gu Yan said.
"Well, that's just what I said. We don't have big expenses normally, so digging up some herbs and selling them is enough.
Now you want to buy a cow, which is a serious matter. Isn't it normal to use your savings? Listen to me, take this banknote and go buy the cow first.
Are you stupid? Don't you know how much money your family has? Are you willing to go back now just for this little money, regardless of your health?
I tell you, your health is the capital of revolution. If you wear yourself out, no amount of money can buy it back." Li Wanqing was also angry that he didn't take care of his body.
Gu Yan was not annoyed by his wife's complaints and nagging. He just listened with a smile.
He hasn't heard anyone nagging him for many years since his grandmother passed away.
He knew that his wife was worried about him and was doing this for his own good.
He likes to hear his wife care about him.
Li Wanqing muttered for a while, then found no one answering. She turned around and saw someone sitting on the kang, tilting his head and looking at her.
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