The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 362 - 351 Contract Documents

Chapter 362: Chapter 351 Contract Documents

Old Zhou eventually agreed to exchange a full twenty acres of land on that plot for Manbao, plus the forty acres of mountain land under Zhou Silang’s name, making a total of sixty acres for Manbao.

It sounded like a lot, but everyone knew the so-called divided fields were practically useless. Seeing Old Zhou repeatedly emphasizing how his family had offered sixty acres, Zhou Dalang and his brothers despised Old Zhou in their hearts, thinking their father was quite dishonest. Yet, they dared not voice it.

Once Manbao got Old Zhou’s tentative approval, she skipped merrily back home with her schoolbag after school the next day to discuss it with Bai Shanbao.

When Old Master Bai heard that the Zhou Family was willing to give twenty acres of land and a mountain, he looked at her in astonishment.

Their family could afford to let children play with lands because they had a lot of it—discounting other places, just within White Horse Pass town, Old Master Bai’s family owned nearly ten hectares.

As for the Zhou Family, well, it couldn’t be said they were in difficulty, but they definitely weren’t wealthy.

Old Master Bai couldn’t help but sigh, thinking how spoiled the children were in their family.

He then looked at Ms. Liu.

Ms. Liu smiled and said, "This shows good will. Your family offers sixty acres, plus the agricultural book in your hands, Erlang’s family will provide a hundred acres, Shanbao will contribute manpower and material resources, and the profits can be divided evenly into three parts, how does that sound?"

Ms. Liu said this while looking at Old Master Bai.

Because it seemed that he was getting the short end of the stick.

Old Master Bai just smiled and said, "I have no objections."

Of course, he had no objections, since the land was meant for Erlang to play with anyway. Moreover, as parents knew their own child best, ultimately, it would be Bai Shanbao and Manbao who would worry and toil over this land.

Especially since the agricultural book belonged to Manbao.

Yes, it was true that both families’ books were always open for the children to read; logically, reading Manbao’s books was within reason.

But outside these three families, Old Master Bai had a profound understanding of how precious and exclusive knowledge was.

When he was young, traveling with Bai Qi to study, sometimes for a single book, they had to exhaust all means, possibly only getting a chance to see it after much effort, and most often, they didn’t even have the opportunity to look.

Not everyone was willing to share their private collection with others.

Especially a technical book that could be applied in practical situations.

Old Master Bai thought that it was good for them to have earnings, and it didn’t matter if they lost some; it was only a few years of rights to use a hundred acres of land. If it could improve his son’s education, the expense was well worthwhile.

With a smile on his face, Old Master Bai watched Bai Shanbao and Manbao draft a contract, then had his foolishly naïve son sign it.

His foolishly naïve son didn’t even look at it once, directly picked up the pen, and signed his name.

Bai Shanbao and Manbao also wrote down their names.

Of course, there were three copies of the contract, and Bai Shanbao, too lazy to copy, spread out the single copy and told the two buddies, "You copy it yourself, and after that, we’ll sign together."

Bai Erlang didn’t have any issue, but Manbao said, "I also wrote in the contract just now, you have to help write half."

"Just write it down in one go, it’s only two pages of paper."

"No way," Manbao said, "I have homework to do. I’ve lost a lot of time today; you have to help me write one page."

Bai Shanbao reluctantly agreed.

Dazedly, Bai Er by the side only then realized, "I... I also have homework."

The two paid him no mind, and after he repeated himself, Manbao encouraged him, "You can do it; your house has so many oil lamps, and you can stay up late."

Old Master Bai: ...What to do, at this moment I sort of wish my son would be tricked by these two strangers. It’s a contract for heaven’s sake, and not only do you not read it, but when you finally have the chance to copy it yourself, you even push it away.

After the contract was signed, Old Master Bai said with a smile, "The hundred acres given to you are all in the Daying area. There’s more dry land there, fewer rice paddies, and many mountains, so the soil is poor. That’s why this year, we only planted over twenty acres of wheat there, and the rest of the land is empty. Do you want it now, or shall we wait until after the spring?"

This season, although Old Master Bai had also planted winter wheat, not all fields got planted, as he only chose fields with thicker soil and sufficient manure.

The Zhou Family and others in the village did the same.

After all, they only saw this season’s winter wheat as food for the green and yellow months of April and May next year and didn’t intend to profit from it.

The cost of wheat seeds was considerable too, twenty pounds per acre.

The Zhou Family had only planted twenty acres of wheat, mainly in fields near the village entrance and the Dawan area that had thicker soil and were easier to irrigate.

Therefore, the fields around Daying were also left empty.

Essentially, nobody besides Old Master Bai had planted winter wheat around Daying because the soil there was so poor, and it was far from the village, wasn’t it?

It wasn’t until her father took her to find someone to exchange lands that Manbao gradually realized Old Master Bai’s cunning.

A hundred acres of poor, distant land—what did it matter if it was given to them to play with?

Unable to help herself, Manbao, now full of pride after exchanging lands, asked Old Zhou, "Dad, if Old Master Bai gave us the hundred acres near Dawan to play with, would you be willing to give me twenty acres near Dawan to play with?"

"No way!" scoffed Old Zhou as he glanced at her, "Your dad has been farming that land for over twenty years; I’ve nourished it so well, how could I just give it away for playing?"

"Oh." Sure enough, all adults are cunning, humph!

Old Zhou chose over six acres of poor land in another place, only closer to the village than Daying. He followed the villagers in exchanging land with the ones near Old Master Bai’s, adding up to twenty acres for Manbao.

In the village, selling Yongye Fields could be a hassle, involving getting a sales document from the government office. However, exchanging land was much easier. Basically, both parties would agree on the swap and then notify the village head and land officer, recording it officially.

Poor land for poor land—of course, there would be no objections if you wished to exchange richer land for poorer.

That is why land sales couldn’t be completely prohibited.

After exchanging lands, the three friends took the time to visit the land that belonged to them.

Zhou Si was responsible for guiding them. Upon arrival, he pointed to the dense forest and said, "Look, that mountain there is mine, but since the mountain isn’t forty acres, the wasteland around its base also belongs to me."

The three children looked at the wild, weed-infested, stone-strewn foot of the mountain curiously and asked, "What can we do with this land?"

Zhou Si replied very seriously, "It can be used for resting. Daying is too far from the village. See here, when everyone comes to work on their plots, and they get tired, they can rest under the miscellaneous trees on my wasteland, and if they’re hungry, they can eat on the large stones on my land."

The three children: ...

The trees were indeed very miscellaneous; the trees at the foot of the mountain were mostly shrubs, but they also grew quite tall, with branches stretching out and covering some of the stones, allowing for a clearing where people could sit down to rest in the shade that was also clean.

Manbao nodded, "This place is good; we can even find flat stones to do our homework on."

Bai Erlang said, "Playing hide and seek here, nobody would definitely be able to find us."

Bai Shanbao pondered, "If we raise chickens in these mountains, wouldn’t they turn into wild chickens and fly away?"

Zhou Si: ...Can these three kids really farm?

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