Chapter 929 Happy New Year to all the elders and fellow villagers
Erya's mother blushed, "Prince Erbao, Little Princess Nanbao... Yes, I'm sorry..."
Jiang Lianzhu interrupted, "Thank you for being polite, fellow villagers. They are still young and have lived here before. You elders are their elders. There is no need to be so polite. Just call them by their nicknames."
The old uncle, the village head, said sternly, "My Lord Princess, you can't say that. Friendship is friendship, but we still have to follow the rules and respect the hierarchy."
Everyone insisted, so Jiang Lianzhu let them call her.
Not being allowed to scream made them even more terrified. They were all from the countryside and had never seen the world. They were terrified of the minor officials in the town's yamen, and it was impossible for them to relax in front of the existence of princes and princesses.
The villagers paid their respects to Jiang Lianzhu's family. Jiang Lianzhu had to persuade them not to kneel down and asked them to stand while talking.
Liao Jiu is a handsome man. He is good-looking and noble, and now he has reached the eighth level of martial arts. The aura of a strong man is even more obvious.
If you look at it for a second, you will feel oppressed.
Liao Jiuyi bowed and said, "Happy New Year to all the elders and fellow villagers."
Everyone almost knelt down and hurriedly returned the greeting.
Jiang Lianzhu wore casual clothes and tried to look as simple as possible when she returned to her hometown so as not to be out of place with her fellow villagers, but it still couldn't conceal her brilliance.
The two little ones are more like the dolls in New Year pictures, blessed, smart and cute.
Recruiting people is rare.
"It's so cold, be careful not to freeze your little princess if you stand outside and talk. Let's go inside and talk!"
The village head, holding his big pipe happily, entered the house first.
"Yes, yes, yes, come inside and talk and have some hot tea."
A group of people entered the house.
Jiang Lianzhu took a quick look and saw that the snow at the door had been swept clean and the house was in good order, looking very comfortable.
The saplings planted in the yard have grown tall.
The stone tables and chairs were polished to a shine. The corridor outside the kitchen was filled with neatly stacked firewood stalks, and the aroma of wood filled the air.
Erya's mother is really a hardworking woman.
After entering the house, Erya's mother served hot tea. Jiang Lianzhu and her family sat at the top, with the village head uncle sitting at the bottom. The villagers could stand or sit inside the house. If there was no room inside, they would sit outside or in the yard, craning their necks to listen to what people in the house were saying.
Originally, Jiang Lianzhu and her friends came back today to visit the village head and the villagers of Wangjia Village.
It’s not too lively.
Jiang Lianzhu asked about the situation in the village, asking how the autumn pear paste was doing and whether there were any families without food.
Everyone was in high spirits, and the village head answered Jiang Lianzhu's questions in unison.
"This year, every household in Wangjia Village has escaped poverty, all thanks to the autumn pear paste. Lin's Trading Company buys autumn pear paste. They buy as much as our village makes, and they don't let our village suffer a loss in terms of price. No family has gone hungry, and everyone has extra money to send their children to the Zhishu School in town..."
Jiang Lianzhu smiled, "That's good!"
The village head was happy and talked enthusiastically. "This year's harvest is good. There are a lot of wild pears on the mountain. Although people from several neighboring villages also come to grab them, they don't know how to make autumn pear paste. They pick them and sell them to our village. In addition, our own pear trees in the village have started to bear fruit, so we don't have to worry about pears anymore."
Jiang Lianzhu said, "Now that our village is rich, we must not forget to help the people in other surrounding villages. Together we can become richer and live a better life."
The uncle who heads the village echoed, "That's right, we know that too. We plan to develop a few friendly villages to make autumn pear paste together next year. In fact, other villages also imitated the autumn pear paste this year, but they didn't have our recipe, and it didn't taste very good. Lin's Trading Company didn't buy it at all, and other trading companies paid low prices for theirs, so they couldn't make much money. It's not a good thing for our village to be rich alone. We're afraid of being robbed when we go out, so we have to help everyone get rich together. Some people in the village disagree, and I'm still trying to persuade them. We should all learn from the princess. Only those with such broad minds and magnanimity can accomplish great things!"
Well, Jiang Lianzhu is praised again.
Liao Jiu looked around and asked, "Why does it feel like there are more people in the village this year?"
The old uncle, the village head, replied respectfully, "To answer the Lord Regent, there are many more. First, the men who went out to do odd jobs to make a living have returned to the village to make autumn pear paste.
The second is the brides-to-be and sons-in-law who are willing to come to our Wangjia Village this year. The autumn pear paste of our Wangjia Village is distributed according to the number of people. This year, no girl in Wangjia Village got married. All of them were sons-in-law who came to the village.
Thirdly, for those immigrants from other places who are really struggling to make ends meet and have nothing to eat, I have selected some with good character and taken them in. This will also help to strengthen our Wangjia Village. As our village grows, we need people to look after and care for the pear trees in the mountains. Also, as our village becomes richer, we are afraid of bandits coming to rob us, so we need to set up an armed militia or something like that..."
Jiang Lianzhu nodded as she listened. "Uncle, you're very thoughtful. I was wondering why some of the faces looked unfamiliar. I see. That's good."
At the end of the year, Wangjia Village distributed silver per person, ten taels per person, regardless of gender. If a family had more than ten or twenty people, that would be one or two hundred taels!
Would you have dared to think of this in the past?
In the past, if a well-off family could earn a total of ten taels of silver after working hard on the farm for a year, it would be considered a good harvest.
It can support the whole family and still have some surplus.
Now, just relying on the dividends issued by the village, there are so many, regardless of gender. Those families who used to favor boys over girls now have a much better attitude towards girls. No wonder Wangjia Village is full of live-in sons-in-law this year. Once you marry into the family, you will have no worries about food and clothing!
Not only that, if you work for the village, the village will also pay you wages, and the more you work, the more you earn.
Wangjia Village is probably a popular place in the surrounding area, so we really need to be on guard against bandits and robbers.
This reminded Jiang Lianzhu that she should improve the security level of the government office in Shili Town and transfer troops to be stationed there permanently.
While chatting with the villagers, the women in the village spontaneously organized themselves. In the past, Granny Lu was the leader and they prepared banquets for a hundred people and big pot meals. These were during the New Year holidays, and the villagers had plenty of spare New Year goods at home. Every family could take out some, and they would prepare a sumptuous meal quickly.
It was placed in the open space in front of Jiang Lianzhu's house. Jiang Lianzhu and her husband were not particular about details, so they had a banquet for a hundred people with everyone.
Erbao and Nanbao feasted on the familiar flavor of smoked chicken and mountain products, as well as various simple dishes that can only be found in the countryside.
Liao Jiu didn't show any disgust and ate and drank with the villagers.
The chief clerk of Shili Town heard about it and also caught up with the feast. He wished Jiang Lianzhu and her husband a happy new year and dined together. What they ate was not important, but who they ate with was important...
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