Jiang Dashu was carrying a wooden bucket filled with dirty water used for washing his face, which he used to water the vegetable patch in the yard.
Jiang Shi and Yan Zi, six and five years old respectively, were already able to pick insects from the vegetables with Jiang San's son, who had just learned to run.
The insects they picked up could be used to feed the chickens. Their family spent a lot of grain to exchange for four breeding eggs from Jiang Yue's shop, which was much cheaper than buying chicks directly from the government.
Gao knew how to hatch chicks herself. With luck, all four hatched, one male and three females. After two months of raising them, they were already half-grown chickens and would be able to lay eggs in more than a month.
The children had been staring at the hen for a long time, and were more interested in picking up insects than eating.
Jiang Dashu happily watched the children picking insects, but unfortunately the vegetable patch was too small and they could not pick up many.
Gao sat on a low stool, holding Jiang Er's little son in her arms, gently rocking him back and forth with her hands to comfort him.
The second daughter-in-law was frail due to the famine, and she didn't have much to eat during her pregnancy. She suffered a lot in order to give birth to this son. Her skinny body gave birth to a boy with a big head, and she almost died of pain.
Now the child is two months old, and his mother is still lying in bed and unable to get up.
Gao was holding the child, still muttering that the old man could not even water the plants crookedly, and he didn't even pull out the weeds next to the vegetables. He was really not good at his job!
Jiang Dashu was almost annoyed to her. He had nothing to do in the city all day long and loved to nag. After nagging the children, he would nag him. He was always finding fault, as if he couldn't live without a quarrel.
"Uncle, aunt." Jiang Yue saw that the courtyard door was open and walked straight in.
Gao's stern expression instantly changed, and she turned around with a smile, "Xiaoyue, Xiaonian, you're here. Old man, quickly bring two stools."
Jiang Dashu was about to get a stool, but he rolled his eyes when she said that. Didn’t he see that he was about to go?
Jiang Yue moved closer and bent down to look at the child in Gao's arms.
Gao turned the child towards her with a happy expression. It was great to have many children and grandchildren. The neighbors on the same street must have envied their family for having so many people.
It is precisely because of so many people that her daughter was able to marry into a good family and have enough confidence in her husband's family.
"Do you want to hold the baby? Hold it more, maybe you will have one soon."
That's what the old saying goes. Actually, if you follow the old saying, it's better to take a piece of the child's diaper or old clothes and hang it on the bedside. But who made their family poor? The child was still wearing the adults' old clothes and couldn't give them away.
"We are still young, there is no need to rush. Children will come when fate allows."
Jiang Yue looked at the child's round eyes and thought he was very cute. The child had no milk to drink and only drank rice soup, so his head was big and his body was small.
She shook her head and refused Gao's offer. The baby was too soft and she had never held him before. She was afraid that her rough hands and feet would make the child uncomfortable.
Gao looked at the couple. They were so young, without an adult to look after them, and they probably didn't understand many things. If they wanted children, they should have them while they were young; having them early would help them recover faster. The couple came from a well-off family, so having three or five children wouldn't be too many; they could afford to raise them.
Jiang Yue didn't know what she was thinking, and even if she did, she wouldn't care. At this time, the emphasis was on having many children and a better life. Talking to them about eugenics and good parenting was like talking to a cow. Times were different, and concepts were different. Not wanting to have children was a sin.
Jiang Yue sat on a small stool and said to Jiang Dashu, "Uncle, I came here to ask you, are there any jobs for the eldest, second, and third brothers Jiang? I have a new farm fifty miles outside the city, and I'm looking for people to work there, clearing the land, digging fish ponds, etc."
"It might take a while. We've cleared the land now, and we'll be looking for people to plant and harvest next spring. You can come back home twice a month. You can choose to take money or grain. Food and accommodation are provided. 600 wen or 15 liters of grain per month. Do you think anyone is willing to go and work there?"
Jiang Dashu stood up halfway through listening, impatiently saying, "Yes, yes, yes! There are many people in the city who are looking for work. These days they only work half a day in the morning and go out to collect firewood in the afternoon. The second son has to stay at home to look after his wife and children, so let the eldest and third sons go!"
Gao was also happy. Jiang Yue has always been generous and is recruiting people for long-term work. Isn't this a pie in the sky?
Jiang Dashu was happy for a while, then he hesitated as he thought of something. Finally, he spoke, "Do you think I can do it? I may not be as good as the young people, but I know more than them."
He's only 42, and his wife calls him "old man" all the time, making him feel like an old man himself. This city offers nothing but good living conditions. He's been a farmer his whole life, and now he can only tend to the two rows of vegetables in his yard. He's almost suffocated.
In Jiang Yue's opinion, someone in their forties wasn't considered old, and they still had plenty of strength. The man she had hired was quite old. However, "It's going to be the scorching heat of June. Can your body handle it?"
"I can handle it! I don't want 15 liters of food either. Half of it will do."
Gao frowned at the old man, but she also knew that he was really bored in the city, so she didn't say anything.
If her back injury hadn't healed yet and she had to take care of the children, she would also like to go out to work.
Jiang Yue nodded. "Okay, we'll come pick you up and take you to the farm in a few days. And please see if anyone from Aunt Yan's family wants to go. Because we'll have to do a lot of heavy work and be away from home for a long time, we only hire men."
"Hey, okay, okay!"
Jiang Yue's words were redundant, as most of the workers recruited were men.
Jiang Dashu was overjoyed. He saw them out the door and went back inside to pack his things.
As usual, the Jiangshan brothers soon returned from outside the city collecting firewood. Li's sister-in-law also brought back a lot of wild vegetables from outside the city. Now that wild vegetables were gradually becoming scarce, their family dried a lot of them to eat in the winter.
When they heard that Jiang Yue's family was hiring, they were all overjoyed.
"When did they own a farm?"
"Who would have known? They owned the first solid house in the city, the first cloth shop, the first dried fish shop. So many things, who would have known they had quietly accumulated such a huge fortune..."
"That's incredible! They really do have the royal palace as their backing!"
Jiang Dashu slammed the table and said, "Why are you talking about all this nonsense? We have to do what the Jiang family has done for us, even if they don't pay us!"
"Yes, Dad, we haven't forgotten."
"Anyway, remember this: when you work for someone, you have to do whatever the boss says. No trying to curry favor with them!"
"What kind of relationship do we have?"
Jiang Dashu: ...Yeah, he was overthinking it.
Jiang Shan had a complicated expression. The gap between the two families was growing larger by the day, and even flattery was no match for him...
Jiang Yue didn't know what they were thinking. She had just spoken briefly and clearly. The sun was setting, but it was not dark yet, so she went to check on the situation in the store.
In the cloth shop, she unexpectedly ran into someone.
"Madam, I, I want to change a piece of cloth."
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