The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 260 - 249: Brocade Folder

Chapter 260: Chapter 249: Brocade Folder

With Manbao’s single sentence, those who would run off their feet were naturally her older brothers and sisters-in-law. However, this matter was not urgent; the summer harvest had not even started yet. The pressing issue was to repair the roof.

The next day, Zhou Erlang and his group went to the village chief’s house to borrow a cart.

When the villagers knew they were going to the city to buy tiles to fix their house, several families who had previously taken money, rice, and eggs from the Zhou Family followed suit.

If there was no cart available, they would carry large bamboo baskets. This way, they could carry the items back directly and avoid making several trips.

Old Zhou went to discuss the planting of winter wheat with the village chief and the village elders.

Although it was still early, such preparations needed to be made in advance, like considering manure, which had to start being prepared from now.

Farming is different from other tasks; it’s always better to have more people doing it, and to cultivate larger continuous plots of land.

In fact, there were quite a few people with such thoughts, but they had not yet made up their minds, hence no one in the village had brought it up until now.

Now that the Zhou Family had brought it up, many were tempted, but there were also doubts, "If we plant winter wheat, will there be enough soil fertility for rice to grow next year?"

As rice production has always been slightly higher than that of wheat, naturally, if they could only grow one crop, everyone would choose to plant rice.

"We’ll just have to work harder and prepare more manure," said Old Zhou. "Otherwise, what can we do? Although we haven’t harvested this year’s rice and wheat, we can already see what the yield will be. I’m afraid that after the autumn tax is paid, there won’t be much left. Are we going to survive on beans until next summer’s harvest?"

The village chief said, "Moreover, we don’t know what next year will be like. If it’s like this year, will we even survive?"

After some discussion, a decision was made, "Alright, let’s plant winter wheat for one season."

Once the matter was settled, people felt less conflicted and began talking about other things, "How is Dazhu’s injury?"

"He went to get two more prescriptions yesterday. The doctor said it should be all right after taking them." Then, turning to Old Zhou, they asked, "How is Dalang?"

"Almost well, but he still can’t do heavy work."

"We can’t see internal bleeding in his belly; it must be treated carefully. In my opinion, let him rest at home for half a year and wait until spring to work in the fields."

Old Zhou was thinking the same. He didn’t know much about medicine, but even thinking about it, internal bleeding must mean something inside has broken. If he overexerted himself and tore it again, the wound could reopen. And since it’s inside the body, they wouldn’t see the bleeding.

In the countryside, recovery from illness primarily relies on rest and endurance.

Zhou Dalang was only in his twenties, and Old Zhou was very afraid he might develop a chronic condition. Their family lacked many things, but not people, so he also planned to let him rest more at home and do some lighter work once he was a bit better.

For instance, harvesting wheat, beans, or rice were tasks he could do, but heavy work like carrying wheat, loosening the soil, or piling compost was out of the question.

Old Zhou then inquired about the injuries of others. Fortunately, except for Zhou Dalang, everyone else’s injuries were external and visible, and once they healed, they were fine.

Actually, the doctor really wanted to tell them that if Zhou Dalang’s internal injuries healed, he would be fine too.

But people can be frightened by their imaginations, and most prefer to trust their own judgments over others’.

Those who can easily accept and consider others’ advice are usually either seen as soft or become very influential individuals.

Like the current emperor.

Wei Zhi had not returned yet, but the memorial arrived first.

This was a very long memorial, so long that the emperor needed an hour to read it.

It not only detailed disaster relief efforts but included casualty data from the disaster areas, the money and grain spent on relief, and the conditions of the affected areas, most of which were accompanied by data.

It was evident that Wei Zhi had been very dedicated during the disaster relief effort.

Of course, his purpose for writing so much wasn’t just that; he also wanted to request tax reductions for the disaster areas.

The court had originally planned for only the counties under Yizhou to be exempt from taxation, and they had been given a generous timeframe—two years.

But Wei Zhi proposed that the counties under Yizhou be exempt for three years, to attract displaced people back to their homes, and also to draw in immigrants from outside Yizhou.

Because of the severe casualties and population loss during the Yizhou flood disaster, if they didn’t attract more people, they would have to forcibly relocate people from other areas. Otherwise, the vast fertile lands under the Kanwei Canal might be abandoned.

Outside of Yizhou, the entire Jiannan Road would be exempt from taxes for one year.

The scope of Jiannan Road was vast, meaning the court would not only lose some of its tax revenue but also need to provide support.

After all, besides submitting part of the local tax revenue to the court, local governments also retained some for their financial matters.

If there was no tax revenue, then the court would have to allocate funds downwards.

But not to exempt from taxation...

Looking at the data Wei Zhi had submitted and the conditions of the disaster areas, the emperor couldn’t help but sigh.

If they didn’t exempt taxes, by the end of winter, it was likely that more people in Jiannan Road would die or become refugees.

Collecting taxes might feel good for a moment, but rounding up refugees later would cost tenfold or even a hundredfold more effort.

And once there were refugees who turned to banditry, the damage caused would be even greater.

The emperor set down the memorial and said, "Summon the heads of the Six Ministries."

He pondered and asked, "Where has Wei Zhi reached now?"

The messenger replied, "When your servant left the capital, Lord Wei was inspecting Luojiang County. By now, he should already be on his way and will arrive at the capital shortly."

The emperor nodded slightly and waved his hand for the messenger to leave.

Meanwhile, Wei Zhi showed no signs of returning to the capital. He was in the courtyard helping the Bai Family trim their plants with a pair of scissors. Trimming away, he felt something was off and, curiously looking at the row of plants in the flowerbed, asked, "Isn’t this ginger?"

Standing by, Daji smiled and said, "Yes, my lord, it is ginger."

Wei Zhi laughed, "It’s really well grown, how does your gardener manage it?"

Wei Zhi’s family also grew vegetables, and as an essential part of daily life, they had planted ginger as well, but it never grew as well as here. He could tell that the ginger buried underneath seemed to be bigger than what he usually consumed.

Daji smiled and said, "It’s not the gardener who planted them, but our young master. He personally takes care of weeding and fertilizing them."

"Oh?" Recalling the child he had seen at yesterday’s banquet, Wei Zhi smiled slightly, "Your young master has such hobbies?"

"Yes," thinking about his young master’s hobbies, Daji paused and then smiled, "Our young master really likes planting things."

Especially things that could be sold for money.

"Then I will have to have a good conversation with him later," Wei Zhi smiled, "I also like planting things."

After one year of development, Bai Shanbao had saved many ginger blocks for seeds. This year, he had planted them not only in the flowerbeds of his courtyard but also claimed a piece of ground in front of his study and even ventured into taking over a flowerbed in the garden.

Ms. Liu was very indulgent in this regard, allowing him to plant as much as he wanted, even if it caused some odor in the house.

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