novelraw Chapter 1659 - Capítulo 1659: 1634: Schemes
Chapter 1659 - Capítulo 1659: 1634: Schemes
Capítulo 1659: Chapter 1634: Schemes
Old Master Ma is from White Horse Pass Town, and he has nine daughters and only one son.
The year before last, when Manbao returned home from Yizhou City for the New Year, she overheard that Old Master Bai wanted to propose marriage between his son and Manbao. The reason was that Manbao had six older brothers, but Old Zhou disliked his family for having only daughters and no sons, so he was not very willing.
At that time, Manbao quietly listened to her sisters-in-law discuss the affairs of Old Master Ma’s family. It was said that because his family had nine daughters, their in-laws were spread throughout the entire White Horse Pass Town, and two daughters were even married off to Luojiang County.
Manbao thought Old Master Ma was impressive, but she didn’t expect Ms. Cui’s family to be even more formidable than his.
Bai Shan could only now feel the power of Ms. Cui’s family, or rather, the influence of aristocratic families.
He swallowed and said to Manbao, “We should still discuss this farmland matter; other things aren’t urgent, but the chickens can be raised.”
Bai Erlang said, “There aren’t that many small chickens.”
Manbao said, “Buy hatching eggs and hatch them. We can cover the cost of the eggs and buy some brooding hens.”
In the past, when their Little Manor raised chickens, that’s what they did. They bought the eggs, but the hens were not theirs.
At that time, they were all handed over to the Zhou Family’s hens to help hatch.
After stamping her seal, Manbao handed a copy of the tenant leasing contracts to the Chief, and then went to find her father to discuss the matter, only to see her father already busy in the fields with others.
Old Zhou, seeing Manbao, couldn’t help but start nagging, “Why did you lease out all the land without leaving us a single acre?”
Manbao was stunned.
Old Zhou said, “If you don’t leave us any land, what are we doing staying here?”
Manbao was at a loss, and after a while, said, “Dad, you should stay to manage them. There are a hundred tenant farmers here, and they’re cultivating twelve hundred acres of land that belong to our family and the young master. You need to oversee them. Oh, right, should we start preparing fertilizer?”
Manbao looked at Bai Shan, and Bai Shan immediately said, “That’s right, it’s time to prepare fertilizer. Uncle Zhou, look how fertile the land is, but if there’s not enough fertilizer, even good land will become barren.”
Old Zhou was immediately distracted and turned to find those tenant farmers; he needed to ask how much manure they had prepared for fertilizing this year.
Old Zhou had something to busy himself with and couldn’t bother them anymore.
Ms. Qian looked at his departing figure, waved Manbao over, looked at her for a while, then reached out and tapped her on the forehead, saying, “Other things are fine, but in the future, where will your father and the others stay when they come to inspect the land?”
Manbao immediately said, “Shall I find a place to build a house for Dad?”
Ms. Qian said, “Just put up a thatched hut, after all, this land is only for us to cultivate, it’s not under our name, and who knows how many years we can farm it.”
Manbao, however, thought of the pond she wanted to dig and couldn’t help but look at Bai Shan.
The two exchanged glances for a while, then smiled and agreed.
Ms. Qian looked at them and said, “You shouldn’t spend money frivolously, even though the family isn’t lacking money now, you can’t just spend recklessly.”
Manbao assured, “Don’t worry, Mom. When have I ever spent money recklessly?”
Ms. Qian reluctantly believed her.
Manbao turned and began discussing the matter of buying land with the Chief.
When the Chief heard that Manbao wanted to buy land, he felt dizzy, and his goodwill towards her plummeted.
Manbao pointed to a distant barren land, “That land has a lot of gravel; I wonder if it can be bought or rented.”
The Chief was thinking about how to refuse her when he heard she wanted to buy that barren land. He couldn’t help but pause, then cautiously asked, “What does Lord Zhou plan to do with that land?”
“Build a house,” Manbao said, “I can’t help it. The houses in your village are all so close together, and in the future, when my family comes to manage the manor, they’ll need a place to stay. It’s better to be nearby; it takes three quarters of an hour to come from the Bai family manor.”
The Chief relaxed and smiled, “That’s barren land, it can be used to build a house, and it’s not expensive. Lord Zhou, just offer a nominal sum.”
Manbao’s eyes sparkled, and she asked, “What if I buy a bigger piece and dig a large pond there?”
The Chief said, “The land is not expensive, but digging a pond could be costly, especially in this drought…”
“It’s precisely because of the drought that we need to dig a pond to store water,” Manbao said, “These nearby fields are my allocated farmland, and who knows how conditions will be next year. If we can store water, we can alleviate some of the drought, right?”
She said, “Saving one acre is one acre.”
The Chief thought she was rich and foolish, so he smiled, “If Lord Zhou thinks it’s a good idea, then it’s good.”
Without any mental burden, he sold that useless piece of barren and rocky land to Manbao.
To foster a good relationship, he only took the minimum amount of money and then made a land deed so that it could be filed with the yamen later.
As for the money, it was generally kept by him and would be used for communal needs in the village in the future.
The Zhou Family knew nothing about these dealings.
Old Zhou and Zhou Dalang, along with the villagers, seriously walked around half of the thousand acres of land, confirmed the number of acres to be sown with winter wheat this year, and returned to the manor with a rough idea in mind.
Bai Shan was already planning how big and deep the pond should be, while Bai Erlang was scribbling plans for how many rooms to build on paper for Manbao, “Even if it’s on gravel land, you can’t just build a few bare rooms. Try to hold your official position for a few more years. With such a large piece of land, there will be mulberry fields, orchards, wheat fields, rice paddies, and all sorts of fruits and vegetables. We can come live here during breaks.”
He was drawing on the paper, saying, “So I need a room, Bai Shan also needs a room, and for you and the young master, this garden needs to have some flowers and plants to look nice. I think we should plant some rosebushes; with one bush, you can get many, and they’re easy to take care of…”
Manbao said, “Don’t forget about my family.”
“I know. We’ll need to reserve rooms for Fourth Brother Zhou and them. He’s doing business all the way to Xiazhou now, and from Xiazhou to the capital, he has to pass through Yongzhou. If it gets late, he can rest here overnight, set off for the capital the next morning, and arrive in the city before lunchtime, calmly and comfortably, which is great.”
“Hmm, then we’ll build a bit more on the side.”
Bai Shan glanced over, couldn’t help but hit him, “If you build like this, there won’t be any space left for my pond.”
Yin Huo, who was helping them organize their manuscripts, laughed and said, “Who builds houses horizontally like that?”
He took the pen and helped Bai Erlang plan, while Liu Huan, feeling bored, asked, “This kind of thing can be left to a manager. Why bother doing it yourself?”
Manbao said, “My family doesn’t have a manager.”
Liu Huan pointed to Bai Shan and said, “If your family doesn’t have one, his family should, right? And if they don’t, just hire one, or buy one. Do you want me to gift you one?”
Bai Erlang looked up at him, shook his head, “Are you dumb or what, even Bai Shan won’t give her someone, and yet you want to give her one.”
Manbao said, “No need, my big brother and the rest can handle our family affairs. We don’t need a manager right now.”
If she hired a manager now, her father would take her mother and eldest brother and sister-in-law back home.
Although her parents seemed to be enjoying themselves in the capital, they missed their hometown dearly. If they had nothing to do, despite missing her, they would go back home.
There is still so much land back home.
Manbao keenly spotted her father’s figure passing by outside the door and immediately said, “With so much land, I still have to work in the palace and can’t manage it. I’m counting on my dad and the others for everything.”