Chapter 170 Grange Head
Xia Zihan's arrival gave the farm owners and farmers in the village a big surprise.
It had been three years, it had been three years since they finally met the emperor's personally appointed county head.
It's not easy.
The head of the farm was so happy that he immediately asked the farmer to kill a deer and ordered the kitchen to make venison dumplings for the young owner to eat.
"We raise more types of game in our village than others, including wild boars, monkeys, mountain deer, gray rabbits, golden pheasants, pheasants and wild ducks. The young master can tell me what he wants to eat."
After welcoming Xia Zihan to the lobby, the head of the farm said with a smile.
Xia Zihan saw that he was covered in dust, not only on him, but also on other farmers, so he asked curiously, "What were you doing just now?"
"Uh... I'm taking off food," the head of the farm said.
"Shouldn't the grain be sold as soon as it comes out and the moisture is high? Why is it threshed?"
The freshly harvested grain has a high moisture content and weighs heavily, so Zhuangzi will sell the grain as soon as it lands.
There are many people selling grain, and merchants who collect grain will take the opportunity to lower prices, so selling grain at this time will not get you much benefit.
The head of the farm has been doing farm work and selling grain all his life. He has long found some tips and found that selling threshed grain is more valuable than selling it now.
The price of grain is high, and the money paid to their farmers is also high. The farmers under the head of the farm have been with him for many years. Of course, he would like to see them earn more.
The more they earn, the more he earns, and the small business owner also earns more. This is a good thing, but he and the farmers are more tired than before.
But it doesn't matter. As long as you have money to earn, it's okay to endure more hardships. Anyway, it's the end of the year and there is no life in the fields. Being idle is also idle.
Xia Zihan showed a clear expression, and looked at the head of the farm with an admiring look in his eyes, "How many farmers are there in total here?"
"There are seven families in total. There are mothers, children, and parents in each family. We work together on weekdays. The old men do all the work in the fields, orchards, and the work of raising wild animals is left to the women. Some odd jobs are left to the elderly and children. ”
"We all came from poor times. We are all honest and honest people. We are not scheming, cunning or lazy. No one does more or less. We have been together for many years and our relationship is better than that of real brothers. Not bad.”
As soon as Tian Zhuangtou's words were opened, there seemed to be some unstoppable momentum. He wanted to tell Xia Zihan everything about Zhuangzi, hoping that Xia Zihan would recognize his ability.
"There are several older children who can now help with land preparation and field work, and they are also helping to remove grain."
"It's cold in the winter, and the women and children live in the same room, and we, the old men, live in the same room. There is a heated kang in the room. We gather together to take off food and it doesn't feel cold. We work hard and our bodies stay warm."
"We who are used to farm work can't stay idle. I don't have any other skills in my old field, and I can only do some farm work."
Selling grain, selling game, selling fruit to merchants, and competing on price with that group of cunning merchants, he couldn't learn such profound things.
He was promoted to the head of Zhuangzi after he returned to the imperial family.
Those people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs saw that he was honest and honest, easy to fool, but a good hand at work, so they deliberately promoted him to be the head of the farm. Every year, people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs came to sell grain and other things.
As for the money from selling grain, he has never seen it.
Later, he accidentally found out that the people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs deliberately mentioned him, an honest man who couldn't read a word and didn't know how to do business, as the head of the bank because he was easy to fool, so that they could benefit from it.
For example, they harvested 10,000 jins of grain in a year, but only sold 5,000 jins. Those five thousand jins were stolen by their partners.
Even though he didn't know how to write the documents for selling grain, he did so obediently when people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs asked him to put his fingerprints on them.
Later, Zhuangzi was rewarded by the emperor to the county master of Chuyu. He was once afraid that the county master would replace the village head and farmers. This was the usual style of Zhuangzi's new owner. No one was willing to use the old owner to retain his property. People coming down.
If you are not one of your own, who would dare to use it with confidence?
Later it turned out that his fear was unnecessary. Mr. Chu Ge passed away, and the little boss had no intention of taking care of Zhuangzi at all, so he sent an old nanny and Manager Cui over to take a look.
Later, the little boss left Beijing for three years without even showing his face. The village was completely handed over to Cui Cui to supervise it.
Manager Cui is also a good person. In the past three years, Manager Cui will take him with him to find merchants every summer.
He followed the whole process of negotiating prices, looking at grains, transporting grains and weighing them, etc. If he didn't understand something, he would ask Manager Cui, and Manager Cui would teach him. Over time, he understood a lot, but it was limited.
Now that the little boss is back, he is both happy and scared. He is afraid that the little boss will look down on him, a village head who cannot read a word.
You know, among the seven villages here, he is the only one who comes from a farmer's background and is illiterate. Everyone who comes from a managerial background or a shopkeeper's background can do accounting and write, but he can't.
Tian Zhuangtou's heart trembled, but Xia Zihan didn't think much about it. He even admired Tian Zhuangtou. Although he was a bit honest, he was simple, down-to-earth and down-to-earth in nature.
Xia Zihan also went to the warehouse where the grain was taken off and took a look. The two huge warehouses were filled with grain. There was not much space left, which was just enough space for more than ten people to work together.
When a group of old women and children who were working saw Xia Zihan coming in, they all stood up in panic and wanted to kneel down to salute her.
County Lord, how could they normally see such a noble person? But now that they see him, that is their blessing. Xia Zihan said with a smile, "Don't be too polite. This is Zhuangzi, so we don't need to be so polite."
She had stayed in the countryside for five or six years, and knew that the villagers were not so polite. The girl's family did not bow to their elders when they saw them. Instead, they only asked people to nod, which was considered polite and considerate.
A group of old people and children had to kneel down to salute her. How could she, Xia Zihan, accept it?
Life span will be shortened.
Xia Zihan hurriedly asked the head of Tianzhuang to stop them, and the head of Tianzhuang said, "Since the little boss doesn't like it, don't kneel down, just bow."
Gianzhuangtou's words were an imperial edict here, so a group of old people and children changed their kneeling to bowing.
Xia Zihan didn't refuse this time. Sometimes too much refusal would hurt someone's feelings.
That's fine.
As for the fact that this place is full of old women and children, and the young wives are not here, it is because they have gone to the kitchen early, ready to show off their talents and prepare a sumptuous meal for Xia Zihan.
Xia Zihan went to another grain depot and saw several men and a group of old men busy threshing grains.
Eighty percent of the food here is grain. To get the rice out, you have to grind it with a stone. This is a laborious task that women cannot do.
A group of men blushed when they saw the four delicate little girls Xia Zihan, Chu Cong, Chu Fei and Nuanyu. They subconsciously wanted to kneel down and call someone, but the head of the farm stopped them. "Just bow."
Xia Zihan glanced at him appreciatively.
Well, although this village head can't read, he is quite clever and shrewd.
Drawing inferences from one example is worthy of appreciation.
Xia Zihan waved his hand and told Nuan Yu, "As a reward, each person in Zhuangzi will receive five taels of silver."
Five taels of silver, my God, they can only save less than one tael of silver after working for a whole year. These five taels of silver are enough for them to save for five or six years.
This little boss is so generous and a good person.
The bosses of other families are always trying their best to extract money and food from farmers. Although their bosses are small, they are more generous and kind than anyone else.
The moved faces of a group of men turned even redder. This time, even if the head of the farm stopped them, they knelt down and kowtowed three times to Xia Zihan.
By noon, a group of peasant women had prepared a large table of delicious dishes.
Venison dumplings, braised pheasant, wild duck soup with mushrooms, fried rabbit meat with spicy pepper, etc., all are game, and there is also a big pot of big bones stewed with sauerkraut.
Xia Zihan was very moved and took a deep breath of the aroma. Just as he was about to sit down to eat, a teenage boy came in and said, "County Master, the little stone from the village next door is here, saying that it is Prince Chu who invites the County Master." Come and eat.”
Go over there to eat, then over here... there is a big table full of good food. It can be seen that this is made with great care. If she leaves without taking a bite, wouldn't she be letting her family down? your thoughts?
Xia Zihan thought for a while and then said, "Go and tell Xiao Shitou that I will go over there for dinner in the evening."
Take a dip in the hot springs in the evening.
Chu Jingqi said that there are two hot spring rooms in his village, where men and women can bathe separately. When the time comes, he will bathe in one, and she and the girls from the Dou family will bathe in one. It will be just right.
When the two young women in the room saw that Xia Zihan would stay, their faces were full of joy. They wiped the stools again and again with joy. After wiping them until they thought they were very clean, they invited Xia Zihan to sit down and eat.
There was a large table full of dishes, and Xia Zihan was the only one eating it. She looked at Nuanyu and the others, and pointed to the stools, "You guys should sit down and eat together, otherwise it won't be good if it gets cold later." Eat.”
"Thank you, County Master." Chu Cong cheered and sat next to Xia Zihan.
Nuanyu hesitated for a moment, and she and Chu Fei were not polite and sat down against Chu Cong.
The four girls started to eat and cheered.
When Chu Jingqi came in, what he saw was the four of them eating happily together, with saliva splashing everywhere.
He said with a smile, "Ayu, if you don't go to my place to eat, it turns out there are so many delicious food here, and you don't ask me to come and eat. I haven't eaten yet."
The sad look on his face, who is it for?
Xia Zihan rolled her eyes at him, "Do you still need to be so polite? Just sit down and eat."
Chu Jingqi was really not polite and sat down next to Xia Zihan, "In winter, we can only serve game here to entertain guests. If it's summer, we can also have fresh vegetables."
(End of chapter)