Chapter 167 No Problem, Leave It to Me

Although Yong'an Village is poor, the villagers have a lot of land, more than 2,000 acres, with an average of ten acres per household. Yuan Shu has signed contracts with all of them and paid the land rental fees. In the next few months, those lands will belong to Shen Xiangwan.

In addition, the 300 laborers that Shen Xiangwan wanted to hire were also confirmed. Yuan Shu saw them all with his own eyes and paid them ten days' wages in advance.

"Uncle Zhao, I told you this morning that it's a little late to start planting the second crop now. Please go back and tell everyone to start working tomorrow. We have our own oxen, so it's not difficult to plow the land. One hundred of them will pick out the grass roots and debris in the field, and the remaining two hundred will go to the mountains to collect humus soil. My two servants will tell you how to use it. I hope to plow all the land and apply fertilizer to it within three days."

After checking the contract signed by the villagers, Shen Xiangwan said seriously that she didn't know when they would be able to seize the military power of Chenzhou. As she said before, opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared. Before that, she would make all preparations.

"Okay, I will supervise them personally and make sure they don't interfere with your work."

Zhao Dashan quickly patted his chest and assured them that his family's land had been rented to them, and two of his three sons would help her farm the land. If anyone dared to make a fool of himself or slack off, he would definitely be the first one to not forgive him.

"Thank you, Uncle Zhao."

As Shen Xiangwan spoke, he took out a silver ingot that the clerk of the dental shop had given him as change and stuffed it into his pocket: "This is a small gift from me. Uncle Zhao, please don't be polite to me."

"How can this be done?"

Zhao Dashan rejected the offer without even thinking twice. She was willing to spend so much money to rent their land and hired three hundred laborers at thirty cents per person per day. It was already a great favor to them. He was not an ungrateful person, so how could he possibly take her money again?
"Why can't it be done?"

Raising an eyebrow, Shen Xiangwan stuffed another silver ingot into his hand and said, "It's so hot now, aren't you tired of helping me supervise them? Besides, I'll have plenty of things to trouble you with in the future."

"No, I can't have it..."

Zhao Dashan returned the silver to him. His face was full of rejection. He volunteered to help her supervise. How could he ask for her wages? Besides, ten taels of silver was too much.

"Uncle Zhao."

Shen Xiangwan suddenly raised her voice, and after seeing that he should have calmed down, she continued, "Uncle Zhao, what I said just now was not a polite remark. I will really trouble you with many things in the future. If you don't accept my money, how can I have the nerve to look for you again? Unless, in your heart, you don't want to help me at all."

She knew that he would not accept the silver easily, but she would not treat badly someone who was truly kind to her. Perhaps for him, ten taels of silver was already a considerable amount of money. After all, for ordinary people, a family's annual expenses would be at most one or two taels of silver. But for her, ten taels of silver was just a drop in the bucket.

"this···"

As expected, Zhao Dashan hesitated, and Shen Xiangwan took the opportunity to stuff the silver ingot into his hand again: "Okay, Uncle Zhao, just take it. I won't be polite to you in the future."

"...Okay, but Wanwan, don't do this again in the future. I am the village chief of Yong'an Village. No matter when, as long as you have something to say, just tell me. Don't be so polite."

After a brief silence, Zhao Dashan finally accepted the silver.

"it is good."

Shen Xiangwan readily agreed, and then calmly changed the subject: "Uncle Zhao, I'll trouble you with the farm work. By the way, I plan to dig a ditch outside, which requires a lot of strong laborers. If there are any extra strong laborers in the village, you can arrange for them to come over. You can find me or Yuan Xiu when the time comes. The wages are still thirty cents a day."

They have too much to do. It is really troublesome to hire people from the county town to do the work and also provide them with lunch. It would be better to just hire people from the villagers and do them a favor.

"Really? That's great. Wanwan, uncle thanks you on behalf of everyone!" Zhao Dashan jumped up excitedly. He was happier than if he had made money, which shows that he really wishes the best for the villagers.

"You're welcome. We need to hire someone anyway, so it doesn't matter who we hire."

Seeing this, Shen Xiangwan couldn't help laughing, and then he said in a deep voice: "Uncle, I still say the same thing, if you want to help me with work, do it well, don't be sneaky, if you get caught by me, I won't think about you all in the future."

"No problem, I'll take care of it."

Having said that, Zhao Dashan secretly warned himself that he would have to give further instructions after returning, as he did not want any cunning or dishonest people to appear.

Then the two discussed how to work tomorrow. When Zhao Dashan left, it was almost the evening hour. Shen Xiangwan pretended to go back to her room to put away the deeds, but actually put them into the space. Only by putting them there would she not worry about damage or loss.

"Has the land lease been settled?"

After dinner, everyone went outside for a walk as usual to help digest the food. Wei Chengyi held Shen Xiangwan's hand and found a random topic to chat with her.

"Ah."

Nodding, Shen Xiangwan looked ahead and continued, "The rent I offer is already generous enough. Anyone who is not a fool should know how to choose."

In fact, she could have grown sorghum in the space, but wouldn't the amount she needed be too much and inconvenient to take out? With the harvest outside, even if she smuggled some out in the future, no one would notice.

“Do you really want to dig a ditch in front of your house?”

Turning his head to look at her confident profile, Wei Chengyi asked about the ditch again. Yuan Xiu had already told him about it. Although he was a little confused, he still chose to believe her.

"OK."

Shen Xiangwan had expected Yuan Xiu to report to him, so he was not surprised at all: "Don't ask me how I know this. The groundwater here is very abundant. I plan to dig a river channel. I plan to go to the field tomorrow to have a look. If there is also abundant groundwater over there, I will suggest that Uncle Zhao mobilize the villagers to dig ditches. If that doesn't work, we can only divert water from here."

This matter would benefit the whole village, so she would not take on too much responsibility. Even if she wanted to divert water from this side, she would let Zhao Dashan mobilize the villagers to dig ditches on the other side. After all, they only had two acres of land. She was willing to be kind to others as much as possible within her ability, but she would not be so foolish as to be overly virtuous. She was still clear about the story of being grateful for a little bit of rice and resenting a big bit of rice.

"Well, just leave the manual work to Yuan Xiu and the others. Don't do everything yourself."

He would feel bad if you were too tired.

Stopping and looking at her, Wei Chengyi said in a deep voice.

"it is good."

Meeting his eyes, Shen Xiangwan's fair face slowly broke into a smile. She could clearly feel his affection.

【End of this chapter】

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