Kang Yueran refused without a second thought, "No, I used tens of thousands of kilograms of sweet potatoes to cultivate these sweet potato seedlings. I didn't take a penny just to let the people remember the good things about Qingping Village.
If the people find it too far to come, they don't have to plant. I won't ask them to. "Spending money to buy reputation is fine, but spending money to buy reputation for the court is not!
Guo Tong also guessed that Kang Yueran might not agree, "Okay, okay, I'll listen to you!"
"I'll only take care of the sweet potato seedlings this year, and I won't be involved next year. No, to be more precise, I'll give you the sweet potato seedlings and teach you how to plant them, and then I'll stop taking care of them. I'll have to trouble Master Guo to coordinate the autumn harvest."
Guo Tong also knew that one cannot become fat in one bite. "Okay, you take care of the planting, and I'll take care of the harvest."
Mao Qiang is enough to watch over the place, so Kang Yueran called Guo Tong and Xu Jiushi to go to Shuangxi Village together.
The soy sauce workshop was located between Kaoshan Village and Shuangxi Village. Kang Yueran's face darkened as he asked, "Master Guo, when you asked me to build the workshop here, did you intend for me to build a house in Shuangxi Village?"
That's true! Guo Tong sighed, "The villages nearby are all poor. If you build a workshop here, you can at least recruit some villagers to work, and their lives will be better."
Xu Jiushi has been here several times. "Shuangxi Village is very poor, with shabby buildings everywhere."
Guo Tong pointed around and said, "It's a little poor, but the place is big."
Shuangxi Village was not rich to begin with, and after the flood, broken tiles and ruins were everywhere.
Seeing this, Kang Yueran's face darkened even further, and he asked, "How many households are there in this village? Why is it so poor?"
"Just like Kaoshan Village, the land is full of rocks, and the grain production is not as high as that of sandy land. The people have to pay taxes for farming. Farming here also requires the court to pay grain when collecting taxes, so no one farmed anymore.
Without farming, the people are even poorer. The young people are leaving, and those who have made a name for themselves take their families with them. There are only 23 households left in the village, mostly the elderly, the weak, women, and children.
An old man at the entrance of the village had been watching them. When he saw them coming towards the village, he quickly ran over and asked from a distance, "Are you from Qingping Village?"
When he got closer, she asked again, "Are you from Qingping Village? Are you here to build a house?"
Guo Tong asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm the head of Shuangxi Village, Jiang Liuzhu. A few days ago, someone from the imperial court came to inform me that Qingpingzhuang would come to build a house. Are you from Qingpingzhuang?"
Xu Jiushi replied, "Yes! This is Mr. Guo, the clerk of the Household Department. This is Mr. Kang, the head of our Qingping Manor. My surname is Xu, and I am the manager of Qingping Manor."
Jiang Liuzhu opened his mouth and burst into tears.
Guo Tong was puzzled. The yamen runner told him that the people of Shuangxi Village were almost crazy with joy when they heard that Qingpingzhuang was going to build houses. Could it be fake? "W-why are you crying?"
Jiang Liuzhu cried so hard that she started to hiccup. "I'm so, so happy."
"Happy yet crying?"
"I'm really happy. I've been waiting for you to get better for several days." Ever since the bailiff told him this, he squatted at the entrance of the village waiting every day.
Everyone in their village had heard about the situation in Kaoshan Village, so when the yamen runners told them that Qingping Village was going to build a house, the whole village was almost crazy with joy.
Xu Jiushi comforted him: "Jiang Lizheng, stop crying and tell us about the situation in the village."
Jiang Liuzhu wiped his tears with the back of his hand and said, "There are only more than 20 households in the village, with a total of 135 people, more than 30 of whom are young and strong, and the rest are old and weak.
There are few people in the village, but they are all honest people and will never cause trouble for Manager Xu."
The four of them walked towards the village while talking.
Some villagers saw them and shouted in the village. Soon, all the villagers came out.
The villagers were all skinny and bony, and they looked cautious when they saw Kang Yueran and the others.
A little boy who looked about four or five years old ran up to Kang Yueran, raised his head and asked her with a smile, "Am I going to have big white steamed buns to eat?"
The little boy's mother was startled by him. She took two steps forward and then stopped. "Wuduo, stop talking nonsense and come back!"
Guo Tong said, "This is the headmistress of Qingping Village. She will soon be building a house in Shuangxi Village. From now on, you will work under the headmistress Kang, and you will definitely have big white steamed buns to eat."
Well! Kang Yueran, a disaster victim from Kaoshan Village, hadn't even been settled yet, and Guo Tong had already pushed another group of disaster victims onto her. Indeed, the people of Shuangxi Village were no different from the disaster victims. "As long as you work hard, you'll eventually be able to make a living."
She touched the little boy's head and replied gently, "You're right. You'll have big white steamed buns to eat soon."
Jiang Liuzhu was overwhelmed with joy and asked, "Boss, we are all willing to work hard. Will you let us work in the workshop as well?"
"That's something that Manager Xu has to arrange. All matters in the workshop are under the overall management of Manager Xu."
Xu Jiushi smiled and said, "Don't rush to go to the workshop to work. We need to build the house first. I'll come back tomorrow and ask the heads of several nearby villages to come and discuss it. We'll first see how many people we have and then decide how to allocate them."
Jiang Liuzhu immediately continued, "No need to wait until tomorrow. I'll send someone to invite the village heads from several nearby villages."
Xu Jiushi shook his head and laughed, "Okay, then you can ask someone to invite them!"
Jiang Liuzhu pointed out a few young people and asked them to go and hire someone quickly.
Then he said, "Master Guo, Master Kang, and Manager Xu, please come to my house and have a seat. They will be here soon."
Guo Tong nodded immediately, "Okay, then go sit down! Big Boss, let's go!"
Kang Yueran looked at Guo Tong suspiciously, leaned over and asked in a low voice, "What's your conspiracy?"
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