"Does Uncle Feng have an idea?"
Feng Nianen laughed." I do have an idea, but we have to wait for the fish to come up and bite the hook, right?"”
"I knew Uncle Feng was smart!" Yang Ping smiled and said with a serious expression," There's only one point. Uncle Feng has been in the South for a long time. He might not understand the difficulties of the women in the North, especially the girls…So, when Uncle Feng arranged the work, he paid attention to find a way for them to eat…In the few years that I've been here, I…"
Seeing that Yang Ping wanted to say something but hesitated, Feng Nianen frowned and nodded."I understand. It's just that your thoughts are too heavy!”
The next day, Mr. Feng waited for the fish he wanted to catch.
In the west wing of the small courtyard, Li Zheng Wang Maocai sat opposite Feng Nianen and looked at the tea in front of him, feeling uneasy. After a long time, Feng Nianen didn't say anything.
Finally, Wang Maocai mustered up the courage to speak,"" Mr. Feng…the threshold of my house has been almost flattened by people these days. Some of them are doing it for themselves, some for their relatives. They're all here to talk. Sigh-they all want to find a job…"
Feng Nianen stroked the teacup and took a sip with a smile, indicating for Wang Maocai to continue. Wang Maocai was very nervous about asking Mr. Feng for advice face to face. He felt that this was no different from forcing the other party to do something. His two hands were nervously rubbing each other between his legs.
During this period, the Yang family had recruited nearly a hundred people to work in the village, and his family had taken up four of them. Previously, Feng Nianen had considered that it would be difficult to arrange for the villagers to do the work, eat, and live in the shops in the city. Out of caution, he had given all the work to the master and let Dacheng be in charge of the docking. His second son, Chunshu, was the supervisor. In this way, the young and strong people of his family, except for his pregnant second daughter-in-law, all found jobs in the Yang family.
Moreover, his eldest grandson, Xin He, was still studying with Little Fei here. In the past few days, Wang Maocai had overheard a lot of discussions. They said that his family and Wang Fugui's family had taken advantage of the Yang family and were about to make a fortune. Wang Fugui's family had made contributions because they had taken care of the Yang family's children for a few years, but his family had relied on him as a village chief to get it…
He was a little overwhelmed.
Therefore, when the villagers came knocking on his door one by one, he braced himself and came…
Feng Nianen naturally knew the reason. He waited for Wang Maocai to get used to it before he laughed and joked,"Brother, you're giving me a difficult problem!”
"Mr. Feng is a capable person. Please take it as an old brother begging you…" Wang Maocai cupped his hands in embarrassment.
Feng Nianen didn't hold back anymore. He extended his hand and invited Wang Maocai to have some tea."Elder brother, you don't have to be so polite. My family sent me here to support my two children. The children grew up here, so the villagers here are naturally their elders.”
Wang Maocai's face was filled with joy as he said,"" Mr. Feng, you're too kind, too kind..."
Feng Nianen waved his hand and chuckled." As the old saying goes,'eat by the mountain, eat by the water'. May I ask what we should eat here, brother?"”
"…Mountain?"
"Yes, mountains! What's on the mountain?"
"What's there?" Wang Maocai was stunned. Suddenly, he remembered the work that the villagers were doing and slapped his thigh."There are rocks, trees…"
As Wang Maocai spoke, his eyes that had just lit up dimmed again. There were stones and trees all over the mountain, and those things were not worth much. Which villager would build a house and find a few people to pull a cart up the mountain and cut down a few trees? It was just to take care of the food. Only the Yang family had recruited so many people to work, provide food, and pay. Ai, it seemed that the villagers had taken advantage of the Yang family.
Feng Nianen stopped teasing him and stopped smiling."Then what if I can find a way for these stones and wood to survive?”
Wang Maocai's spirit soared again.""Brother Feng, are you saying that you want to sell these stones and trees outside the mountain?”
"Yes, not only outside the mountain, but also to Yunzhou Prefecture, Shangjing City, and some other prefectures in the south. Elder brother, do you know that the south lacks such large timber?”
"Brother Feng is really capable!" Wang Maocai slapped his thigh and stood up from his chair.""But, this, the government?"
"The government naturally won't allow quarrying and logging, but what if my family buys this mountain?”
"B-Buy it?" He had heard of landowners who bought hundreds of acres of land, but he had never heard of anyone buying mountains. Thinking of the endless Black Cloud Mountain behind him, Wang Maocai's eyes widened.
"Haha…Old brother, if you want to drink tea, the children naturally won't be able to take out such a large sum of money. We still need the help of the old family. Besides, we're only buying one or two mountains. When the Yang family comes out, the villagers will help us sell the things.”
" Oh, oh…" Wang Maocai exhaled, wiped his forehead, and sat down again.
" Not only quarrying, logging, but also planting trees. If the trees are cut down and not planted, it will cause a landslide..." Wang Maocai remembered the landslide a few years ago and frowned. He remembered that the daughter-in-law of the Yang family lost her life in the landslide. At that time, many people in the village were buried under it. No wonder the Xu family was so strict about logging. He heard from his youngest son that Mr. Feng asked them to only cut down those trees that had been marked. A few days ago, there was a small team who cut down an unmarked tree. They were immediately taught a lesson. Not only did they stop working for five days, but they were also deducted three days 'wages.
Wang Maocai listened to Feng Nianen continue." I'll pay the person responsible for planting the trees the same amount as the one who felled the trees. There will also be a reward for planting a tree."”
"Yes!"
"These are all jobs done by men and women. Do you want to hear it, brother?”
"Women can work too?"
"Yes!" "What did you say our land produces?" Feng Nianen asked as he sipped his tea.”
"In the ground?" Wang Maocai waved his hand sadly." Brother Feng, don't mention it. Our mountainous area produces little. After paying the official tax every year, the remaining grain is not even enough to make ends meet. Sigh, we can only rely on sweet potatoes to fill our stomachs…"
"Then Brother Wang didn't think of using this sweet potato to do anything?”
"What are you doing? Are you talking about dried sweet potatoes? Hey, why not? At this time, every household has dried the sweet potatoes and dried them in the sun. After drying them, they can be stored for half a year. When the time comes, they can be steamed or boiled…"
"Brother, what if we come up with a recipe to process this sweet potato into fine powder and sell it? How many sweet potatoes can you harvest? Bring some people to process it, and I'll take all the fine powder that has been dried for 20 copper coins per catty!”
"Fine, fine powder? Can it be eaten?"
"Delicious-"
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Aiya, that's easy. Every family has sweet potatoes. There are sweet potatoes in the village, and there are also sweet potatoes in other villages!”
“……”
The two of them discussed for a long time. The quarrying and logging work had to be delayed. After all, after collecting the wood and stone materials for the Yang family's new house, there was still the school to be built. He patted his chest and said that he would bring the young and old men to build the school without paying. After all this was done, the snow would seal the mountain. Moreover, the Yang family would not buy the mountain in a short period of time.
However, the construction of the fine powder workshop could be carried out immediately. Mr. Feng said that he would first use wood to build a few large sheds. When there were no sweet potatoes next summer, he would build a few houses and chisel a few large millstones. It would be done as long as there was a pot and water. Wang Maocai left the small courtyard happily. He wanted to find a place to find more people and start working!
Mr. Feng had said that the fine powder workshop was owned by the village, and the Yang family was responsible for the prescription, materials, and sales. In addition to paying everyone who worked on a monthly basis, he would take 60% of the money earned and the remaining 40% would be given to the village. The village could use this money to take care of orphans and widows, provide education for children, set up clan fields, or distribute it to the villagers.
What Mr. Feng didn't say was that Yang Ping had made the decision to give 10% of the family's 60% to the Wang family. The care that the Wang family had given to the three siblings during the crisis could not be measured with money. Even now, other than the monthly money that they had agreed to give to Dacheng, Uncle Wang and his wife were busy every day and did not want a single cent. Their feelings were commendable.
Wang Maocai felt that he had returned to his youth. At that time, he had also excitedly wanted to lead the villagers to live a good life. However, ten or twenty years had passed. Every year, he watched the villagers work and harvest the tax grain, but in the end, the grain hoard always pretended to be full. Then, every year, he watched everyone dig wild vegetables in the spring and pick mountain mushrooms in the summer. Every household's pot could not see meat twice a year. Day after day, he became numb. He didn't even know what kind of days were good days. Until recently, almost every family in the village had a few living money in their hands. Every family's man could take an egg back at night and let the children take a bite. Thinking of the smiles on the old people's faces and the smoke rising from the roof, Wang Maocai felt his breathing quicken. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. He felt that he should grab onto something and do something!
Xu Changqing's journey was quite smooth.
Mu San 'er, whose name was Mu Shaofeng, was the escort leader of this escort mission. He was the third son of another chief steward of the Ji family, Mu Yang. Usually, he would only follow the escort mission for particularly important missions. This time, he was naturally escorting Xu Changqing's uncle and nephew.
Yi 'er was already tired from the continuous journey. Fortunately, Amelia accompanied her along the way, allowing her to persist until now. On this day, the group finally entered Yuzhou City. Xu Changqing wanted to stay in Yuzhou for two days to rest.
The carriage drove into the towering city gate tower. The little girl could not help but lift a corner of the curtain to reveal an eye that looked out like a rat stealing food. Xu Changqing laughed and urged the horse to approach her."Yi 'er wants to come out and take a look?"
The little girl's black eyes widened.""Can I?"
" Haha…" Uncle Xu stroked her hair and chuckled."Little Yi, bear with it for a while longer. Uncle will bring you to the biggest restaurant for a meal, okay? The Eight Treasures Duck there is the most authentic. Then, we will stay here for two days!”
"Really?" The little girl's eyes widened even more. She hugged Amelia's neck as if she was about to jump up.
One of the riders in the convoy rushed over to report the news. When they arrived at First-grade Restaurant, Shopkeeper Hou was already waiting at the door with his men. He said that First-grade Restaurant was a restaurant, but in fact, it was more like a courtyard. The wood-colored door was hidden in the verdant green, and there were only three big words carved on a simple bluestone beside the door," First-grade Restaurant ".
After entering the ancient gate, he saw a path with high parasol trees, with a small stream on one side. Across the stream was a short fence made of sparse bamboo. The stone path was folded several times, stringing up countless courtyards of various sizes, guarding each other and independent of each other.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]