Country Maiden: Fields and Fortune

37, Come Prepared

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Pork was stewed in large pieces and boiled in plain water in small ones. Once cooked, it was scooped out, sliced, and shortly after stir-fried with a bowl of green vegetables and an egg and chive dish, making a sumptuous dinner.

The main hall.

Old Man Yuan had invited everyone mainly to discuss the matter of buying land and building a house. He hoped his clan would help out without taking wages, just providing meals.

But with work still to do in the fields, they might not necessarily have the time.

When Old Mrs. Ni brought over the tea, she glanced at Old Man Yuan before speaking, “According to Zhinuan, we should pay people to help!”

Zhinuan had no relation to these people, who would scarcely volunteer to help for free; the old man oversimplified human nature.

“Did Zhinuan say that?” Old Man Yuan asked.

The clan leader, Village Head, and others also looked at Old Mrs. Ni.

If they were truly to be paid for building the house, they were willing to participate.

As the dishes were served, saliva inevitably dripped from hungry mouths, all the while thinking how nice it would be if they were paid and also offered meals.

Old Mrs. Ni went back to the kitchen to talk to Xie Zhinuan about this, “You can’t blame them…”

“I understand, Grandma, don’t worry. I won’t mind!”

There were no ties between them anyway. It was only fair for them to work for her money, and without any debt of gratitude, even better.

As the saying goes, a problem that can be solved with money isn’t a problem at all.

Seeing it was still early, Xie Zhinuan went to survey the land. The area she was interested in was full of disorderly rocks, unfit for crops. She marked off a large swath for three taels of silver-four acres in size. According to Old Man Yuan, it would cost fifty wen a day without meals, but two buns were included.

That evening, many people came over, expressing their interest in working.

Xie Zhinuan then realized that, in these times, there weren’t many opportunities to work for money, and labor was quite cheap. The wages she offered were already quite high for the countryside.

Old Man Yuan chose thirty people, all from the Yuan Family or relatives. He would supervise the work, and they would start the next day moving or smashing the scattered rocks for later use in building the courtyard walls.

Many villagers speculated about Xie Zhinuan’s background; having gone out briefly, she had come back able to build a house, rumored to be using blue bricks and tiles.

Just as they had sorted the rocks, someone from the Governor’s Office arrived. The villagers looked on in amazement. The Village Head and clan leader rushed over, only to discover that a wealthy lord planned to buy land and build a residence in Xiaohe Village, located opposite Xie Zhinuan’s new house. He purchased ten acres and compensated any affected villagers with twenty taels of silver per acre. To put it in perspective, farmland was only worth twelve taels an acre, yet no one objected.

This wealthy lord was truly rich, bringing in renowned labor teams from the county town with blue bricks and black tiles by the mule cartload. The wood and other materials were of the finest quality, making the villagers envious but none daring to make trouble-after all, the black-clad guards looked daunting.

When Old Man Yuan came home and talked about this, Xie Zhinuan, holding her needle and thread, was silent for a moment, “I’ll go take a look. If possible, let’s see if we can buy some blue bricks and black tiles from them. That way we won’t have to go out of our way to purchase them!”

Old Man Yuan nodded, “I’ve seen those people over there; they seem quite fierce.”

“…” Xie Zhinuan was silent for a good while before she put away her needle and thread.

Yuanbao had been waiting for many days before Xie Zhinuan finally arrived. Seeing her, he approached with a smile, “Miss Xie, we meet again!”

Xie Zhinuan looked at Yuanbao and gave a cold laugh, “Hah!”

She instantly understood why Yuanbao had come.

Of course, it was because he wanted something she made that could please his master.@@novelbin@@

She had intended to discuss the blue bricks and black tiles, but it turned out he had come fully prepared.

“Miss Xie, please don’t be angry!”

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Chapter 39