The sunset glow gradually faded away, and the cool evening breeze blew through the fenced yard into the noisy main room.
Lin Mo took Su Mu's fair, slender hand. Su Mu didn't know why, but after rubbing it for a while, he pulled it apart. The village chief was sitting at the door, taking a breath of fresh air. He saw the two of them from a distance.
The village chief waved at the two of them, said hello, and began to call them into the house.
The gradually darkening sky made the entire Linjia Village somewhat silent. Lin Mo and Su Mu sat together on a long bench in the village chief's house.
The village chief asked his wife to light two oil lamps. Under the flickering light, the outlines of several people became clearer.
Liu Da's face was filled with a smile that could not be concealed. He even brewed a pot of warm tea for the two of them and said earnestly, "Sanlang, Mu'er, have a sip of tea first to moisten your throat. It's dry in autumn, and drinking something hot will make you feel better."
Of course, he had to be polite. He was very optimistic about Lin Mo. He thought that in the future, Lin Mo could lead the whole village to prosperity. Thinking that his family could also be arranged, he could find some work behind Lin Mo and make a lot of money. Thinking of this, Liu Da was so happy that the wrinkles on his face tightened.
Lin Mo took the teacup with a smile, took a sip, and set it down. Su Mu, on the other hand, held the teacup and drank slowly, his deer eyes occasionally glancing at Lin Mo. From the moment he entered the room to the moment he sat down, his gaze never left him.
Perhaps because he had been stared at for too long, Lin Mo noticed the fiery gazes coming from beside him. In front of the village chief, he blatantly flirted with Su Mu in return.
This scared Su Mu a lot. You are showing your affection so blatantly in front of outsiders. Are you trying to kill yourself?
Su Mu's face flushed instantly, and her ears were particularly red. If it weren't for the steamy tea vapor, Su Mu might have wanted to find a hole to crawl into to calm down.
"Ahem, ahem..."
The village chief took the opportunity to cough twice, interrupting the delicate atmosphere between the two.
Since they were going to talk about serious matters, Lin Mo finally restrained himself. He straightened his posture and said sincerely, "Uncle Liu, I came here to discuss with you the matter I mentioned before."
"The autumn harvest is almost over in the village, and every household is starting to relax. The preliminary matters for opening the factory are also ready. I came here today to ask Uncle Liu to help talk to everyone about the factory recruitment.
Right now, the factory needs a group of laborers to reclaim land and plant crops such as peppers. You don't have to worry about wages. No matter how much you are paid outside, we will not pay you less. As long as you work in our house, you will have enough food.
This way, everyone won't have to worry about finding suitable jobs after the autumn harvest, forcing the whole family to live frugally. Furthermore, the villagers who own their own land can grow chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, and peanuts, which are the raw materials needed by the factory. They can also provide us with a long-term supply. We will pay the market price, not a penny less. Uncle Liu, do you think this arrangement is appropriate?"
At this moment, everyone seemed to be on mute, staring at each other, and no one stood up to speak.
Lin Mo looked at the village chief and his family sitting upright and said with a smile, "Uncle Liu, what I just said, you can talk to everyone in the village tomorrow. If they think it's okay, go find my Xiao Wu and Mr. Fu to register their names tomorrow. You can rest assured that I, Lin Mo, will never default on my debt."
The village chief, the head of the village who was invited over later, and other bystanders looked at each other in confusion, and everyone was muttering and struggling in their hearts.
The village chief even twisted his already thin eyebrows into a big "川" shape. He thought Lin Mo came today to talk about his factory recruiting people, but he didn't expect Lin Mo to say that he wanted to ask the villagers to help with growing crops.
He knew very well that Lin Mo's actions were all for the whole village, whether the villagers were helping Lin Mo to grow crops or plowing the fields and growing rapeseed on their own.
As long as you work hard, you will make money next year.
Village chief Liu Da pushed the glass of water in front of Lin Mo. His old, dark face no longer held the attitude of an elder. Instead, he spoke more warmly and attentively than ever before, "Sanlang, uncle knows that you are doing this for the good of the villagers. You have a good conscience. Even after making a fortune, you still remember to help the village. As the village chief, I am extremely grateful to you, but..."
The village chief looked embarrassed. He knew Lin Mo was making money, but he didn't know how much. He could only say politely, "We in the village usually grow peppers and peanuts for our own consumption. I heard that there are people in the town and even the county who specialize in growing these things. The Sichuan peppercorns you mentioned are even rarer. I've never even heard of them."
The village head also echoed: "Yes, Sanlang, you are courageous and have achieved so much at such a young age, but you are still young. You are willing to help our village. We uncles and aunts are grateful to you, but the villagers grow their own rapeseed, and every year they have special people to harvest it. Even so, they can't harvest all the rapeseed in the village..."
The head of the village and the village chief spoke one by one, and Lin Mo quickly understood what they meant.
Linjia Village has a large population and quite a bit of land. The villagers are all hardworking. As long as it can increase the family's income, they will not let the land sit idle.
After the autumn harvest, whether you plant rapeseed or other crops, even if someone comes to the village to harvest them, it will not be enough to harvest them all.
Many families have to carry the fruits to the town and sell them slowly. Lin Mo wants them to grow chili and peanuts. If Lin Mo does not harvest them or cannot harvest them all, they can sell them in the town at a lower price.
But in this way, the income will be much lower than growing rapeseed.
For them, it is not cost-effective, not to mention the peppercorns and other things. They don’t even know what they are used for, and it is still a question whether they can sell them.
To put it bluntly, the head of the village and the village chief were worried that Lin Mo did not have that much money and that the villagers were all honest farmers.
They are all stubborn and straightforward people. Unless they understand that they can make money, and the money they earn is no less than that of growing rapeseed, no one will waste time turning the soil for you to plant.
Lin Mo frowned slightly. He was not sure how many able-bodied laborers there were in the village, nor how much land the villagers had. He only knew that Maolin Village had many sloping lands and the soil was relatively good, making it very suitable for growing peppercorns.
Su Mu turned his head to look at Lin Mo who was in deep thought. Seeing him frowning, Su Mu took a deep breath quietly.
He mustered up the courage to speak in front of the two elders he respected most in the village: "Uncle Village Chief, Uncle Village Head, there are so many people in our village that even the buyers can't harvest all the rapeseed we plant after the autumn harvest every year."
"Instead of letting everyone in the village waste food, why not let them help Amo grow food? There are more than a hundred households in our village. Even if every household helps to grow food, Amo can still eat it all."
"It will never happen like with rapeseed farming, where buyers can't harvest all the rapeseed, and everyone in the village has to work hard to carry it back to town to sell it."
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