Seeing that he had spoken sincerely with a chuckle, the old village chief stopped worrying about it.
Next, the old village chief began to make arrangements for the Forget-Worry Valley.
"Villagers of Forget-Worry Valley, here's our idea: let's cultivate and plant together this land, sow our crops early to get through the winter, and then distribute the land to each household next spring. What do you all think of this?"
Li Lanzhen originally planned to distribute the land to each household as soon as possible, so that she would have land in her own hands and could plant whatever she wanted.
However, she also felt that what the old village chief said was right. Winter was coming soon, so they should make the most of these two months to plant a batch of grain.
Let's see how well it's growing here. Also, observe the winter in the valley and see how the climate differs from that outside the valley. By accumulating this experience, next year's planting will be even smoother.
Thinking of this, she didn't say anything more.
Everyone around us agreed, so we decided to do it that way.
Then, the old village chief said, "Besides this piece of wasteland in the valley, we will collectively cultivate it, and then next spring we will grant land according to the number of people."
At this moment, an old woman stepped forward and asked cautiously, "Village chief, when the land was distributed, were boys and girls treated the same?"
It turns out this was a family in Hanjiacun. The elderly couple had a daughter and hired a traveling peddler as their son-in-law, hoping to have a son to carry on the family line.
Unexpectedly, her daughter gave birth to three daughters in a row.
So she nervously inquired about the land allocation. Back in Hanjiacun, according to the policies, the amount of land allocated to boys and girls, men and women, was different.
The old village chief glanced at Li Lanzhen and saw her standing with her hands on her hips, looking at him solemnly.
If he dared to say something like, "Men and women are different, boys and girls are different," Li Lanzhen would pounce on him and devour him.
As the old village chief thought this, a cold sweat broke out on his back.
Then he quickly added, "In Forget-Worry Valley, we implement our own policies. Men and women are treated equally, boys and girls are treated equally, young and old are treated equally. Even newborn children can be allocated land."
After the old village chief finished speaking, the valley fell silent, then erupted in even louder applause, which echoed in the air above Forget-Worry Valley for a long time!
Li Lanzhen knew that with this decision, Forget-Worry Valley would truly be worry-free!
Because there are still issues of children's education and labor allocation to consider, once we take the first step toward gender equality, everything else will fall into place naturally.
Li Lanzhen glanced at the crowd and noticed that some men were looking at the woman with disdain, and several grandmothers and mothers-in-law were also looking at their granddaughters and daughters-in-law with disgust.
It doesn't matter. In the days to come, Li Lanzhen will show them that women can hold up half the sky in Forget-Worry Valley!
At this moment, the village chief spoke up again, "This wasteland in Forget-Worry Valley was cleared by all of us together. Next spring, it will be distributed to everyone according to the population. The surrounding hillsides and the land in the mountains belong to whoever clears it. After clearing it, register it with me and then announce it in Forget-Worry Valley. That plot of land belongs to you. You can grow vegetables or grains, it's up to you to decide!"
At this point, Li Lanzhen asked the village chief.
"Village Chief, how do you plan to develop this open space in Forget-Worry Valley?"
The old village chief paused for a moment, then said, "How else can we open it? Let's all open it together."
Looking at his expression, Li Lanzhen understood and said with a smile, "Village Chief, I have a suggestion. Although we are all working together to cultivate this wasteland, in order to avoid idle work and speed up the reclamation of wasteland, why not contract the production to individual households?"
"Household responsibility system?"
The old village chief listened with a puzzled expression to this term he had never heard of before.
Li Lanzhen nodded, "Yes! To implement the household responsibility system, first measure how many acres this wasteland is, and then divide it into individual households, or you can divide it into households by the number of people."
The people clearing the land are given a set timeframe; they only need to clear the land in a few days. The village only needs to organize people to inspect the quality of the clearing.
The old village chief thought this was a good idea.
Everyone nodded in agreement, but some shrewd people spoke up.
"Village chief, if you ask me, why don't we just distribute the land directly to individual households according to the household responsibility system?"
"We'll cultivate the land ourselves, following the village's unified plan. You tell us what to plant, and we'll plant it. We'll manage it ourselves, and we'll hand over a certain amount of the harvest to the village."
Upon hearing this, Li Lanzhen realized that this person had a good idea. This approach would solve the problem once and for all, and would also fully motivate the villagers to farm.
The old village chief and a few other people in the neighborhood discussed it and agreed that this was a viable option.
He stepped forward and said, "Okay, let's implement the household responsibility system now, divide this land, cultivate it, and plant it uniformly. Each household will contribute a small amount of grain to the village for each mu of land, and the rest will belong to each family."
Laughter once again filled the Valley of Forgetfulness.
The village chief said to Li Lanzhen, "Lanzhen, take some of the grain, seeds, cotton, and winter bedding and clothing home with you!"
Li Lanzhen waved her hand and said, "No need, just divide it among the households."
I still have some leftovers from the young master of Jinfulai. It's enough.
Han Minghai stood behind Li Lanzhen, tugged at her clothes, and whispered, "Mom, we're out of things at home, where should we put them?"
Li Lanzhen whispered, "Tie Mother up in a good place, don't speak."
Han Minghai was puzzled for a long time, scratched his head, and remained silent.
Li Lanzhen felt a little guilty. Logically, she should have informed her eldest son first if something happened at home, but her second son already knew, while she was still unaware.
She thought about going home and letting her eldest son know about it.
The village chief and his team inventoried all the types and quantities of supplies and read them aloud for all villagers to supervise. Han Shunde registered them one by one.
The village chief then said to everyone, "Everyone, go back first and register everything."
After we've compiled a list of all the households, we'll distribute the land first. Everyone will draw lots to determine the location of their land, and then we'll begin distributing supplies.
As the old village chief loudly read out the types and quantities of supplies, gasps of surprise echoed through the valley.
After seeing that everything was over, Li Lanzhen said loudly, "Village chief, I'm taking our horse and this cow with me."
The village chief said, "Yes, yes, take all your horses away."
Dog Egg immediately picked out the gray donkey. This donkey had big eyes, shiny gray fur, and very strong hooves.
Dog Egg and Gray Donkey were the best along the way.
He walked up to the gray donkey, picked it up, and said loudly to the village chief, "Grandpa Village Chief, I'm moving away. Please register it properly."
The village chief chuckled and agreed, and Li Lanzhen moved the chestnut horse away.
After everyone dispersed, they all went home.
Along the way, Xue Nizi chattered on and on about what had happened in the past few days.
Tell her how many wild vegetables they found in the mountains, how many pheasants they hunted, and how many wild eggs they discovered.
They also said they found a chestnut grove, as well as wild ginger and small garlic cloves on the hillside...
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