I’m the Farmgirl You Can’t Mess With
Chapter 987 - Chapter 987 Left Waiting

Chapter 987: Left Waiting Chapter 987: Left Waiting Editor: Atlas Studios Ma Dafu’s eyes were slightly red as he said, “In the past, when our family was so poor that we nearly couldn’t survive, we asked him to go out and make a living.

All these years, he has been working as a servant outside.

It was only because of his boss’s grace that he was able to redeem himself and come back.

His previous boss had a large orchard and could earn a lot of money every year just by selling fruits.

My son only suggested clearing the mountain to plant fruit trees in the interest of the Prince’s estate.” “Who was his previous boss?

Where did he come from?

What did his family do for a living?” Ma Dafu opened his mouth wide and couldn’t answer.

Sneering, Mu Yangling said, “Do you think servants can be redeemed so easily?” Many slaves had to risk their lives to convert back into an ordinary civilian.

How many people had followed Qi Haoran through life and death?

Yet until now, only Fei Bai could break away from his status as a slave.

Was he not benevolent?

No, Qi Haoran was considered a benevolent person in Great Qi.

However, even he did not easily release those who signed the irrevocable contract in the residence from their slave status.

If it was a revocable contract, so long as the servant paid enough money, they could redeem themselves.

However, it was very difficult for those who signed a revocable contract to get good jobs, let alone serve by their master’s side.

Without any rewards, even if they saved all their wages up without eating or drinking, they would not be able to redeem themselves in less than ten years.

Whether it was a boy or a girl, it was impossible for them to live without spending a single cent.

Girls had to buy cosmetics when they grew up, and boys had to socialize.

Most importantly, the servants who signed a revocable contract would have their parents and family come looking for them from time to time to ask for money.

Mu Yangling had never encountered anyone who could ruthlessly reject their parents and family and manage to save up all their money.

Therefore, those who signed an irrevocable contract were likely never going to be released, and those who signed a revocable contract couldn’t save up enough money to redeem themselves.

This resulted in a situation where it was difficult for the slaves to regain freedom.

Otherwise, why would there be more and more slaves?

As the number of slaves would only increase, Qi Xiuyuan ordered a region to release slaves every year and a half.

He even ordered the local county office to pay for the slaves to restore their status as ordinary civilians, and also give them some fields to give them a new start.

Ma Xiang had been sold as a slave.

Be it a revocable contract or an irrevocable contract, it was impossible for him to return to his hometown in merely eight years unless he had made a great contribution to his boss in a short period of time and did not know many secrets.

Or perhaps, he was a slave who had escaped!

Either way, he definitely hadn’t received much training.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have butted into the conversation at the residence entrance like that, let alone said that about his father.

Not only did he not know the rules, but it was also off-putting.

Seeing that Ma Dafu didn’t know more, Mu Yangling waved her hand and asked him to wait outside.

She said to Spring, “Let everyone rest.

I’ll go to the farm in the afternoon to take a look.” At the thought that the four children were still going wild in the forest, she said, “Get the kitchen to make the young masters some easily-digestible foods and get the guards to send it to them.

Don’t let them barbecue wild game there.

As the children’s stomachs are weak, it’s not a good idea for them to eat too much barbecued food.” Spring agreed and quickly went out to instruct Summer.

With a pout, Summer asked, “Estate Manager Ma is still waiting there.

Just now, he said that he wanted to go down the mountain to prepare, but I didn’t agree.

Sister, what if he mentions it again later?” Spring snorted coldly and said, “Of course we can’t let him go down the mountain to tip his son off.

Her Highness deliberately left him waiting and got someone to bring him to the side courtyard in front and hand him over to Steward Wang to watch over.

You don’t have to bother with him.

Steward Wang will keep a close eye on him.” “It’s really a dogfight.

Steward Wang looked quite sensible in the past, but who knew that he would be so muddle-headed?” “Alright.” Spring interrupted her complaints.

“Hurry up and get to work.

After Autumn tidies up Her Highness’s room, get someone to inform her.

I’ll attend to Her Highness while she rests.” Summer quickly agreed.

Looking at her back, Spring sighed slightly.

In the past, Rain alone could arrange these things in an orderly and quick manner.

After Rain got married, Summer and Autumn took over, but even the two of them added up couldn’t compare to Rain alone.

After Mu Yangling’s nap, she went down the mountain wearing a veiled hat.

She didn’t wear the veiled hat properly though and simply rolled up the veil to the top of the hat, adding a hint of valiance to her appearance.

Ma Dafu followed behind her, his already bent back now even more bent.

As it was the end of summer at this moment, the tenant farmers in the farm were manually harvesting corn and drying it in a hurried manner.

When they saw the Princess Consort and the others coming from afar, they hurriedly ran out of the field and stood properly.

Mu Yangling waved her hand and said, “Go do whatever you need to do.

There’s no need to wait upon me.” Seeing that the Princess Consort was as kind as ever, the tenant farmers relaxed a little and turned around to resume their work.

They were used to seeing the Princess Consort go into the fields to personally harvest corn, but Ma Xiang, who was jogging over, widened his eyes.

How could a pampered Princess Consort personally harvest the corn?

Didn’t she find it dirty?

Didn’t she find the dark fields disgusting?

Mu Yangling peeled off the outer leaves of the corn and saw that the corn kernels inside were plump and big, and the corn cobs were not small.

She nodded in satisfaction and looked at the corn on the ground, then asked the tenant farmers, “How’s the harvest of corn this year?” The tenant farmer was all smiles.

“The harvest is excellent.

We have privately estimated that after drying this acre of corn, there will be seven to eight bags weighing more than 600 catties.” “As the land was barren until recently, the yield per acre is still a little low.

When the land becomes more fertile, and if God be willing, the yield per acre should reach 700 to 800 catties.” The tenant farmer nodded repeatedly.

“This is all thanks to Your Highnesses.” Mu Yangling only smiled.

She threw down the corncob and turned to look at the rice in the paddy field.

At this moment, the leaves of the rice crops had already begun to turn yellow.

Thus, it would probably be ready for harvest in half a month.

Mu Yangling pinched a grain and looked at it, then nodded in satisfaction.

Although there was little land in Guangzhou, the soil was very suitable for planting rice, especially in the depressions at the foot of the mountain.

The soil below was black and very fertile, not at all like newly converted land at all.

Therefore, the farmstead could be considered to have a bumper harvest this year.

When the tenant farmer saw Ma Dafu following behind dejectedly, he did not go forward to explain.

Seeing that the Princess Consort only asked the tenant farmers questions and ignored Ma Dafu, the tenant farmer knew that Ma Dafu had offended the Princess Consort for some reason.

Wanting to present himself well in front of the Princess Consort, he said, “At present, not only is there corn and rice being planted at the farm, but each family also planted two to three acres of peanuts as well as some sweet potatoes at the foot of the mountain.” After saying that, he smiled foolishly and said, “It’s only because we feared Your Highness didn’t fancy such coarse grains that we didn’t dare to offer some.” “Peanuts can be squeezed into oil and are considered a treasure.

As for sweet potatoes, can you preserve them?” The tenant farmer hurriedly replied, “We plant sweet potatoes because the sweet potato vines can be fed to pigs.

The pigs raised in the farmstead love eating those vines.

As for the sweet potatoes harvested in autumn and winter, even if humans can’t finish them, they can be fed to pigs.

We can slice up some and dry them to keep as snacks.

Sweet potatoes aren’t picky about soil and water conditions, so we can set aside a plot of land at the foot of the mountain to plant them.

As such, it won’t occupy fields that can be used to grow other crops.” “I heard that the Jiangnan area already knows how to use sweet potato flour to make sweet potato flour.

It’s very delicious.

Not only can it be preserved, but it’s also rather filling.

It’s similar to the corn flour sold in grain stores.

Perhaps you guys can give it a try.” Mu Yangling was talking about the small village where she and Li Jinghua had taken refuge.

Back then, in order to prevent a famine, she had gotten someone to source sweet potatoes from Fujian to let them plant.

Later on, when they left and after Qi Xiuyuan ascended the throne, the villagers were handsomely rewarded for their part in protecting the two families.

As the villagers were grateful because she had recommended they plant sweet potatoes, they had been planting them and had slowly figured out various ways to eat sweet potatoes.

After they figured out how to turn corn kernels into corn flour and corn meal, they also came up with sweet potato flour and sweet potato strips.

These days, these things could be preserved for a long time.

Surprise flashed across the tenant farmer’s eyes and he decided to dig up a few sweet potatoes to try tomorrow.

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