After Meng Qian made the arrangements, Li Mai began to plan what flowers she wanted the villagers to plant.
She had thought about it. Their village wasn't far from the river. They grew crops, just enough to feed their families. Even after selling the grain, they couldn't save much money for their family.
When Zhou Quan visited the Xu residence last time and saw that it was full of flowers, he told her about it. This gave her an idea: the wealthy people in this town all like to grow flowers in their mansions and set up back gardens. However, not every mansion in town is big enough to have a back garden.
If I opened another flower shop in town, the business should be about the same.
Instead, she suggested that the villagers who were willing to grow flowers should do so, and Zhou Quan could collect their flowers, which would also increase the villagers' income.
The more she thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. There really weren't any flower shops in this town. Besides, once some flowers stopped blooming, the stems and roots could be used for dyeing. She could buy those from them and increase her income.
When Zhou Quan returned, Li Mai had already written down the plan. She thought it was feasible, especially since she had met someone from her own household who used to be a flower farmer. With him guiding everyone, she felt that the success rate of this matter would be higher.
However, some flower seeds need to be bought, while others need to be dug up in the fall. Therefore, this matter should be planned from now on.
Zhou Quan said that Manager Bai had heard that someone wanted to sell it some time ago, but now they're not talking about it anymore. He went to inquire and said he would come over to let them know if there was any news.
Li Mai nodded. This matter couldn't be rushed; they could only wait patiently.
She handed the proposal to Zhou Quan to look at.
After reading it, Zhou Quan asked in surprise, "Let the villagers of our village plant it?"
“Well, our village is closest to the river, and the land is all near the village, so it’s convenient to irrigate. I’ll try to see if I can get Xiaolin to build a waterwheel, dig a few large ponds near people’s land, and then open up water channels to pump water from the river so that the villagers can use it to water their flowers.”
Zhou Quan thought for a moment, "We can give it a try. I think I've heard of waterwheels, but I've never seen one."
"Yes, I'll draw up a diagram when I have time and let Xiaolin see if he can make it." These things were in Li Mai's mind.
“Okay, I’ll go back in a few days and discuss it with Brother Shizhou. I’ll ask him to do a survey and see which families are willing to grow flowers.” Zhou Quan thought this was a feasible idea. Moreover, he was very grateful to Li Mai, who, even after becoming wealthy, did not forget to find ways to help the people in the village.
“Okay, in the next few days, we need to talk to Chen Yu more and ask where we can get the flower seeds and roots. We have to solve these problems before we can get the villagers to do it. Otherwise, if we get them excited but we can't get the seeds and roots, won't we just be letting them have nothing to show for their enthusiasm?” Li Mai pointed to the first step in the plan.
"Okay, I'll talk to Chen Yu about this. Don't worry about it. You need to rest more. If there's anything I need to do in the future, just give me more instructions. You also have the shop to manage." Starting tomorrow, Xiao Tao will have to go to her piano lessons every day, while Xiao Mai will have to go to the shop to oversee things every day.
“Well, the further along my pregnancy goes, the less I can do. I can only give instructions and tell you what to do,” Li Mai said with a smile.
"I'd gladly accept it!" Zhou Quan looked at his wife who had helped him stand up again, his heart filled with gratitude and deep love for her.
Li Mai smiled. She realized that she had been foolish before and hadn't understood Zhou Quan's feelings. In fact, every time he talked about his memories of his past life, he had a lonely look on his face, but she had carelessly overlooked it.
Fortunately, I suddenly understood yesterday why he lacked a sense of security.
In the afternoon, after delivering the wheat to the shop, Zhou Quan went to attend to his own business.
He first went to Zhou Lin's place to inquire about the preparations and arrangements at the manor, and then asked Lu Qian if there was any news. After that, the two brothers returned to Zhenbei Manor.
Zhou Lin will arrange the furniture placement himself for the areas that need to be rearranged, while Zhou Quan said that Chen Yu will come over to help arrange the replanting of flowers and trees for the areas that need to be replanted.
Feeling that he still didn't have enough manpower, Zhou Quan went and bought five more people to arrange for Zhou Lin's place. Such a large mansion needed at least some people to help with cleaning. Zhou Quan also asked Zhou Lin to move in as soon as possible in the next few days.
Zhou Lin agreed, saying he would move Nan Su over, and Zhou Quan had no objection.
Of the five servants, Zhou Quan assigned one as the steward, and the other four were in the backyard. One was a woman in her forties who was assigned to the kitchen to cook, and the other was a woman in her thirties who was assigned to clean the house and do laundry.
The other two young men in their twenties were assigned to the inner and outer courtyards of the mansion, mainly responsible for cleaning, maintaining the flowers, trees and shrubs, and going out to buy groceries.
When Zhou Quan bought these five people, he also found those who had this kind of work experience.
Zhou Quan also told them that no one would mistreat the servants here. As long as they did their job well and were loyal to their master, they would not be treated unfairly and would receive a bonus at the end of the year.
If anyone is found to have betrayed their master or embezzled money or goods from the household for personal gain, they will be handed over to the authorities directly. Their only fate will be imprisonment or death, rather than simply being sold off for wrongdoing.
But some people remain loyal. If someone is getting married, they will help with the wedding and prepare a house or courtyard. If someone wants to redeem themselves early and live a simple life as a commoner, they will also help with the procedures.
These men had worked as servants for many years and had served several masters, so they naturally understood what Zhou Quan meant by those words.
It's not that they weren't afraid, but it's impossible that they were frightened either. They were thinking that if the host was good here, the food was good, and they were in a good mood, who would want to end up betraying the host?
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