The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 382 - 371: Please the Women

Chapter 382: Chapter 371: Please the Women

Bai Shanbao and Manbao looked at him, and Bai Erlang said languidly, "The people who come to our house to haul grain every year are all very wealthy."

Manbao: "Are they grain merchants?"

"Aren’t grain merchants people?"

Bai Shanbao & Manbao: ...

However, both of them were very tired at the moment. When people get tired, their brains are reluctant to work, so such a difficult question was temporarily set aside by the two of them.

Staring blankly, Manbao watched the hired workers laboring back and forth. They had already planted far off, leaving just a few rows here for the three children.

In the eyes of the hired workers, the three young masters were only interested in farming because they were full and had nothing better to do.

At their age in the countryside, they would normally be able to work the land, capable of being half a laborer, but these three clearly had not farmed much before, so their pace wasn’t fast.

Therefore, the hired workers didn’t exactly appreciate their help.

Manbao probably also knew they were being disdained, so she just blankly watched them thinking, and did not follow them around anymore, mainly because she was very tired now, had limited energy, and didn’t want to hustle over and join the fuss anymore.

Watching and watching, she finally noticed something amiss.

"Why are all the day laborers we hired men?"

Bai Erlang shook his head.

Bai Shanbao then thought for a moment and said, "I remember my cousin would also hire only men as day laborers every year, at least that has been the case in the two years since I arrived."

"That’s right, Old Master Bai always only hired my brothers and Third Brother. My sisters-in-law never worked at Old Master Bai’s house." Manbao’s brain, almost on strike due to fatigue, made an effort to churn, and she said: "Actually, my sisters-in-law are also quite good at working. They aren’t inferior to my brothers."

She continued, "Of course, plowing is something my brothers do, but tasks like spreading manure, sowing seeds, and ridging are actually done better by my sisters-in-law, even better than my brothers."

Bai Shanbao thoughtfully said, "I remember the teacher saying that individual fields are only allotted to those who are Cheng Ding, and women do not have land of their own. Then shouldn’t they be even more inclined to work for wages?"

Manbao nodded, "Exactly."

Exchanging a glance, Bai Shanbao immediately said, "I will talk to my grandmother this afternoon and ask her to hire some women as day laborers."

Manbao nodded in strong agreement, "Let’s free up a room for them among the long-term workers for them to live in if they can’t go home. They can just stay here."

The day laborers they had invited were temporarily living in some thatched huts at the foot of the hill.

It was only early spring now and although the weather had turned warmer, there could still be cold spells. Manbao always felt that women were weaker than men, so they needed better accommodations.

In the surrounding ten or eight villages, not to mention the rural landlords, even those in the town did not specially hire women as laborers.

Even in the kitchen helping with the cooking, it was mostly men who were chosen. What kind of jobs would seek women?

They could be selected to serve in the rear courtyards, but such opportunities were rare.

And if such opportunities did arise, it would be younger girls who would be considered first. Who would want an older woman with rough hands and big feet?

Even Ms. Liu was stunned for a good while upon hearing about it until her grandson repeated it for the second time. Ms. Liu then agreed but couldn’t help asking, "Why hire women?"

"Because we can’t find any men. Didn’t grandmother say that it’s hard to find day laborers now during the farming rush? Manbao said that women are not inferior to men in farming, and in some aspects, they are even faster and better."

Ms. Liu nodded with a smile, "It is a bit hard to find laborers. Since women are not inferior, let’s hire a few more."

But actually, it was not easy to hire women either, since very few came out to work as laborers. Suddenly asking women to work might also cause them to have doubts.

So Ms. Liu thought about it and had someone from Dali Village go invite the Land Officer’s wife to speak with them.

In less than two days, the news had spread through the nearby villages that Old Madam Bai’s family, new to Qili Village, wanted to hire hardworking women skilled in farming to work the land, offering the same wages as the men, eighteen coins a day with two meals included.

Even Ms. Qian, busy with her own planting, had heard about it.

Indeed, after six years, Ms. Qian was working the fields again, which greatly surprised the villagers of Qili Village who gathered around her to exclaim, "Heaven Master really works wonders, things turned out just as he said they would."

Ms. Qian nodded in strong agreement, "It’s all thanks to our Manbao’s blessing."

Then someone had an idea and proposed, "Sister-in-law, why not have Manbao sit on the large stone under the banyan tree tomorrow so we can worship her and make wishes?"

Ms. Qian’s brows knitted as she scolded, "Nonsense, even if Manbao is a reincarnation of a fairy, she is now a mortal, a member of our Zhou family. If you, as her uncle, worship her, do you want to cut her life short?"

"Right, right, right, we can’t just worship anyone. She’s young and can’t bear that."

The man shrank into his collar and said no more.

The matter was thus dropped, and the conversation turned back to the Bai Family hiring laborers, "It’s Manbao from your Xiao Tian Manor that’s hiring women to farm, right? They really pay eighteen coins a day?"

"If it’s true, I could go back to my family and let my cousin’s wife know. Her family doesn’t have much land, and she and her daughters could all come over to help."

"I also have a cousin who could come; her family has sold their land."

"Why don’t they rent land?"

"The land in their village isn’t good for renting; the landlord asks for sixty percent of the harvest. The landlord is picky, and if the family doesn’t have many male laborers, he doesn’t even want to lease it, afraid that his own land will be ruined."

"Compared to that, our Old Master Bai is much better."

"Indeed, although Old Master Bai is also stingy, as long as you rent his land, even if all the men in the family die off halfway through, the women can continue to rent."

"By the way, weren’t we talking about hiring laborers? Auntie Qian, is this true?"

Ms. Qian waited for them to finish before saying, "I’ll ask Manbao when I go back, but since it’s a message from the Land Officer’s household, it’s probably true."

"We’d feel more at ease with a few more questions. People outside can be very deceptive; who knows if it’s a case of a mistaken rumor spreading?"

Ms. Qian took a special trip to the ridge area during her lunch break. It was early spring, and even the midday sun wasn’t too harsh, but staying out too long could still lead to darkening of the skin and dizziness.

And the three children had gotten used to taking a nap at noon.

So after lunch, they skillfully went to a drafty thatched shed and lay down on a simple wooden bed to sleep soundly.

When Ms. Qian came to look for her, Manbao was sleeping so deeply, her little belly rising and falling, her cheeks flushed, clearly sleeping very sweetly.

Ms. Qian touched Manbao’s cheek, smiled gently, and tucked her hands and feet into the blanket, then found Daji sitting outside the shed to talk.

Until Manbao woke up, she didn’t even know Ms. Qian had been there.

But the whole of Qili Village now knew that the information circulating outside was true, and that afternoon many young people left their homes, following their family elders’ instructions to visit various relatives.

If it had been any other household hiring women laborers, the people of Qili Village wouldn’t dare let their relatives go. But this work was in Qili Village.

And the ones hiring were the familiar Bai Family and the incredibly familiar Manbao from the Zhou family.

So, of course, they had to come early to secure a place.

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