After the county magistrate's incognito visit, there was no more afterward.
Large-scale cultivation of watermelons cannot be achieved overnight.
The land is the farmer's root; every seed planted is crucial to the family's survival. No matter how valuable a watermelon is, for most farmers, it's not as important as grain. It's not that they stubbornly dislike money, but rather that they fear going hungry.
The county magistrate will not take any action for the time being. He needs to see how the Mu siblings' second batch of watermelons fared. Only with concrete data can he consider what to do next.
Mu Yi'an was unusually relaxed. Uncle Li was in charge of the melon patch, and she only needed to go over occasionally to check on things and keep an eye on the general direction.
At home, Li Sao was an exceptionally capable person. Not only was she a good cook and a skilled seamstress, but she also doubled as a housekeeper, managing their little household perfectly together with Li Hong.
Mu Yi'an suddenly realized why women in ancient times, confined to their homes, were so fond of infighting. Aside from the objective imbalance of supply and demand, the biggest reason was simply that they had too much free time. As depicted in TV dramas, each mistress of the house had several capable stewardesses by her side.
Each of them was proficient in all sorts of skills and had a hundred or eighty tricks up their sleeves; in modern times, they would definitely be workplace elites.
With nothing else to do, Mu Yi'an let her child play freely.
I played football with Shao Yun and Chu Yue in the yard, made some early literacy flashcards, taught Shao Yun to recognize characters, count, and write down the characters from the Three Character Classic and the Thousand Character Classic, and made them into flashcards.
In the afternoon, Shao Ming didn't have to go to school. Mu Yi'an and Jiang Qi took the three siblings, along with Sister Li's youngest son, to the countryside.
Sometimes we'd go to the melon patch to check on the melons, sometimes we'd go to the stream, bringing a piece of coarse linen and a basket full of food for a picnic. What child doesn't love playing in the water? Their innocent laughter was truly therapeutic.
Mu Yi'an is now enjoying her time with her children. Unlike the unruly children in her previous life, her children are all quite sensible, so she doesn't feel any resistance towards them.
Even more so than Mu Yi'an was Jiang Qi, who never knew that parents and children could be so close and have such a good time together.
Mu Yi'an wouldn't teach them knowledge from outside this era; that would harm them. Having lived two lives, she knew one thing best: adapt to the circumstances and don't try to change the rules unless you reach a certain level and gain control of the discourse.
Mu Yi'an was having a great time with the child, but she wondered how Jiang Shuyun was doing in the prefectural city, and whether she had passed the assessment. There were no cell phones at this time, otherwise, she could have just made a call and found out everything.
Also, the provincial examination is about to begin, Mu Ziyi and
Mu Ziyu and Brother Jiang both participated, but we don't know how it went.
Instead of receiving news about Jiang Shuyun, we received news about the land brought by Second Brother Mu.
"A village?"
"Yes, it's not far from the county town. It takes less than half an hour to travel by carriage. It's only about ten miles outside the city gate."
Mu Ziwu heard from his elder brother that his younger sister wanted to buy land and that he should keep an eye out for it. Recently, because of the watermelon planting, the county magistrate had been giving him a lot of help and was subtly hinting that he should learn from the county lieutenant.
Although it wasn't explicitly stated, he knew the county magistrate might be considering grooming him, and he didn't intend to miss this opportunity. He felt even more grateful to his sister. His elder brother had said that his sister had learned the watermelon-growing technique from a book, but in the end, he was the one who benefited.
"How big is the estate? What are its specific details? Why is it being sold off?"
Mu Yi'an was tempted; it was so close to the county seat, making management much easier.
"The village has 500 mu of dry land, 100 mu of paddy fields, and a small hill covering about 600 mu. There is a small courtyard in the village, with six main rooms, five rooms each in the east and west wing rooms, and a storeroom."
Mu Erge went to see it and thought the estate was really nice and suitable for his sister.
"Second brother, why was this estate sold?"
"This is the estate of the county magistrate's in-laws. They are going to develop their careers in the capital. For us, this kind of estate is very big and good, but for them, it's just a burden."
The capital is so far away, and this small estate is more trouble than it's worth. His family not only sold the estate, but also some farmland, which his elder brother plans to buy.
Mu Erge explained to his sister that such a manor was not something that aristocratic families would look down on, and ordinary people couldn't afford it.
When he inquired about land, the county magistrate overheard him and, coincidentally, there was such a village, so he told him about it.
"Second brother, how much is the estate for?"
“Currently, dry land is generally five taels of silver per mu, paddy fields are ten taels of silver per mu, and woodland is one tael of silver per mu. That adds up to four thousand one hundred taels, but the seller is in a hurry to leave, and because of the county magistrate, he is asking for four thousand taels. The courtyard in the estate will not be charged separately.”
Mu Yi'an did the math in her head and thought it wasn't expensive; it was already considered cheap.
The reason they don't fetch a good price is because there are few paddy fields and many dry lands in the village.
"What's the latest time for the transaction? Shuyun went to the prefectural city and I don't know when he'll be back. I was thinking of discussing it with him."
"It seems too late. They're in a hurry to leave, and they've sold almost all of their property, except for this estate. If you're interested, you need to go to the county government office tomorrow to transfer the ownership."
“Alright, second brother, come with me to take a look. I need to see the specifics of the estate.”
“Okay, I’m going back to the county town anyway.”
Mu Yi'an gave Jiang Qi some instructions and then called out to Uncle Li, who had previously been in charge of the estate and knew more about many things than Mu Yi'an.
The group boarded the carriage driven by Uncle Wang, visited the estate, and then escorted Brother Mu back to the county town. They would return later, and Mu Yi'an would go to the county town to buy some food for the children.
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