Zhu Qiang said, "Madam, we don't need to rest. We'll all be celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival together, so we don't need to prepare anything extra."
We'll continue tilling the land tomorrow morning, and in the afternoon, the others will help you cook while we, the able-bodied men, continue working.
Li Si chimed in, "Yes, Madam. Everyone's used to being busy. Now that we're suddenly resting, we don't know what to do. Instead, we feel bored and have nothing to do. It's better to go work in the fields!"
Granny Zhao also spoke up, "Madam, since everyone has nothing to do anyway, why don't we take a break?"
Besides, the work in the fields isn't strenuous. Although it's harvest time, we don't have much land, and there are many people working. We can even rest for a while at noon each day, and there's no need to rush while working, so it's not tiring.
Granny Ma then added, "Our work now is so much easier than before, there's really no need to waste a day resting."
Seeing that everyone was saying the same thing, Xu Han didn't want to suggest that everyone continue resting, so she nodded in agreement.
At the same time, I was deeply moved by their hard work. I just wanted them to remember my kindness.
Of course, Xu Han wasn't the kind of person who exploited laborers. They were so sensible, she had to be able to see it herself.
There's no need to give a reward right now; doing so would seem a bit contrived. There's plenty of time in the future, so just remember it yourself.
No one else had any objections to this, so the arrangements for tomorrow were finalized.
When Lu Chuan and Xu Han returned to their room that evening, Xu Han brought up the matter of distributing gifts for the Mid-Autumn Festival the next day.
The couple had decided to give each other holiday gifts long ago. Although the gifts were small, they represented their family's goodwill.
However, the servants don't know this yet. It's not too late to give it to them tomorrow. Anyway, they all live very close by. Giving them a surprise tomorrow would be nice.
Lu Chuan asked, "What are you planning to give them? I think giving them money directly would be fine, since money is probably what they need most right now."
Xu Han thought for a moment and said, "That's fine, but they're stuck deep in the mountains and can't get out. We might as well give them something else, food would be the most suitable."
Although we are covering all their food, clothing, accommodation and transportation, everyone eats the same food every day and we can't take anything away. Sometimes if we get hungry in the middle of the night, there's nothing to eat.
How about we give them some mooncakes? I saw they really enjoyed them today. I even made extra specifically for them.
Lu Chuan chimed in, "I think that's a good idea. They don't need clothes or fabric right now. The light shirts are all new this year, and the winter clothes are in the works. Even if we release some materials now, it won't be of much use. It would be better to just give them money and food."
Xu Han looked up at Lu Chuan and asked, "How much should we give? We said before that fifty coins wouldn't include food, but now that we've added food, how much should we give?"
Lu Chuan thought for a moment and replied, "How about we give them another fifty coins? After all, their wages are only one hundred coins now, so giving them a little more won't hurt. It's not much money anyway."
"Alright, then let's give them fifty coins, plus four mooncakes, eight pears, eight pomegranates, and a live chicken for each person. I was originally thinking of making braised chicken for them, but it's too hot now and it won't keep."
If we also cover their dinner tomorrow, they'll have even less to eat.
It would be better to just give them live chickens. Then we can catch them and raise them in the valley. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, they can cook for themselves.
"Give them live chickens, and they can eat them whenever they want. There's no waste."
Lu Chuan nodded after listening, feeling that Xu Han's arrangements were very good and comprehensive, and he had nothing more to say.
"Okay, let's do it this way. This is already quite a generous gift. Even ordinary families don't give such a generous gift when visiting relatives during the Mid-Autumn Festival. It's quite a lot. Just prepare it tomorrow morning and give it to them at breakfast."
Xu Han took out the copper coins from her spatial storage and said, "I'll string the copper coins together first, so I won't be too busy tomorrow."
Lu Chuan took the copper coins Xu Han took out and said, "I'll help you string them. It'll be faster if two people string them together. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can go to sleep."
The two quickly got to work, stringing 19 strings together, each worth fifty coins, for a total of 950 coins, almost a tael of silver, which was quite a sum.
Xu Han put all the strung copper coins into the box on her dressing table for easy retrieval the next morning. After Xu Han lay down, Lu Chuan turned and blew out the lamp.
A good night's sleep...
The next morning, the servants got up early as usual to work in the fields, and no one chose to rest because it was the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Early in the morning, Xu Han had prepared all the things to be distributed that day. When Granny Ma was cleaning, she saw Xu Han organizing things but didn't ask any questions. Instead, she paused her work and helped Xu Han sort and organize the items.
After breakfast, Xu Han saw that they were about to go to work in the fields again, so she quickly called out to them, "Wait a moment. Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, so I have prepared some gifts for you. Take them with you when you leave."
Everyone was taken aback by what they heard, and looked at Xu Han and Lu Chuan in confusion. Lu Chuan said, "The things are all inside the main room. You two go and help move them out first."
Everyone looked at each other, and for a moment no one dared to move. Although they had heard what the master said, they still didn't quite understand what he meant.
After all, life is already so good now, no one dares to ask for anything else. You should know that even servants in wealthy families don't have the concept of holiday gifts.
However, some generous owners will give holiday gifts to the people who work in the shop.
The festival gifts they gave out were very ordinary things, worth at most a dozen or so coins. People had only heard of them, but had never actually seen them. Those who sold themselves into slavery received none of these.
Granny Ma had helped Xu Han organize the festival gifts the whole time, so she knew exactly what was in them.
The others could probably guess what would be in the gifts, after all, they had all gone to the orchard together to catch a rooster before breakfast.
Putting aside everything else, a chicken alone is already quite expensive. Given the host's temperament, if they're going to give out festival gifts, it definitely won't just be a chicken; there will definitely be other things as well.
That's why everyone stood there, unsure whether they should accept these things, since the host had already been kind enough to them.
Seeing that everyone was standing still and didn't dare to move, Xu Han said, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up! Don't we still need to go to the fields? Don't waste time."
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