The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 403 - 392: Reasons for Poverty

Chapter 403: Chapter 392: Reasons for Poverty

The three long-term laborers didn’t just lack wives; they seldom even went home anymore.

They were driven out of their homes to earn a living through work, and after two years as temporary laborers, they finally settled down with the Bai Family. They did go home during that time.

But back in their hometowns, they either had no land or very little, and life was tough. It was better for them to work as long-term laborers for the Bai Family.

Basically, as long as one wasn’t exceptionally lazy, they wouldn’t be driven away. Without being sent away, they had food every day and could survive.

They wouldn’t become rich, but even in years of disaster, their lives were still better than those of the average poor family because, at the very least, they wouldn’t die of starvation, nor would they have to become refugees.

Now, the eldest of these three long-term laborers had reached twenty-four years of age.

In Qili Village, children of that age could already work the fields.

Like Zhou ErLang and Zhou SanLang at that age.

The youngest was also twenty-two, and none of the three had the means to marry.

Yang Heshu was excited and quickly sent someone to call the three long-term laborers over. He was very curious about how they had lost their land.

In front of the county official, the three long-term laborers were somewhat restrained, and Yang Heshu’s question bewildered them too.

When they left home, they were not young, and they didn’t know much about their family matters, let alone how their families lost the land.

The three of them thought for a moment, and the first laborer said, "It seems my grandfather was ill, and my dad sold a piece of land to buy medicine. But he didn’t recover completely and got worse."

He thought for a moment and added, "I don’t remember who my dad borrowed money from, but later when people came to our house to collect debts, they took most of our good farmland. With so little land left, it couldn’t support us all, so my parents drove me and my second brother out to fend for ourselves."

The second laborer said, "It was dry where I lived, and the fields yielded nothing, so my parents ate all the seeds we had saved, and then they took us out begging."

Yang Heshu: ...

Manbao: ...

"I don’t even know where my parents took my younger brother, all I know is when I went back home, they never returned. The land lay fallow and the village chief said I could have a share of the Yongye Fields if I returned, but I figured that as a single man, without farming tools or seeds, I’d have to borrow money just to buy those. To even farm that land, not to mention daily expenses, it seemed better to stay as a long-term laborer."

Yang Heshu then turned to look at the third laborer.

With an honest smile, the third laborer said, "Our family had very little land for the three brothers, and none of us had been married. My parents thought this couldn’t go on, so they sold my share of the Yongye Fields to marry off my eldest brother, telling me to go out and make a living."

Yang Heshu was shocked, as were Manbao and Bai Erlang from Bai Shanbao’s family, who widened their eyes and asked in unison, "You agreed to this?"

As if it were normal, the third laborer replied, "Someone in the family must carry on the lineage. Better for someone to go out than for all three brothers to stay home unable to marry."

Yang Heshu felt a twinge of discomfort, something sour and swelling, a sentiment he found somewhat strange. He paused before asking, "Then, have you gone home?"

"No, why go back when I’ve already left?" The third Laborer said with a naïve smile, "Going back costs travel money."

"What if you had the travel money, would you go back then?"

After thinking, the third laborer still shook his head, "Still no. If I could save up the travel money, it means I could have saved enough to get married by then, and of course I’ll choose to get married first. After that, I still need to save money to buy things for my wife and children..."

So this endless cycle of saving and spending money, who knows when they would have enough to go back?

Yang Heshu sighed inwardly.

Manbao, on the other hand, looked the third laborer up and down and asked, "What did you do with your money?"

The third laborer’s face reddened slightly, and he said in a low voice, "I ate it all."

Having endured hunger before, with extra money and no one overseeing, of course he couldn’t resist eating whenever he could.

He had tried to save before, but he just couldn’t manage to keep any; whenever he was hungry, he couldn’t stop himself from buying something to eat.

Yang Heshu was worried about their self-control, "With this attitude, how are you ever going to get married?"

The three long-term laborers hung their heads.

Manbao spoke up, "After getting married, you just give the money to your wife to manage. That’s what my fourth brother does."

After a thought, she added, "My eldest and second brothers used to be unable to save money either, but after they married my eldest and second sisters-in-law, the money started to stay saved."

The three long-term laborers immediately looked at Yang Heshu with hope in their eyes.

Manbao also looked at Yang Heshu with hope, "Lord Yang, would you find them wives?"

Yang Heshu: ... So is he expected to go from being a county magistrate to playing matchmaker?

Old Master Bai, who had been cautiously observing the situation, promptly came over in time to extricate County Magistrate Yang.

The three children looked on regretfully as County Magistrate Yang walked away.

Manbao said, "We were so close; we wouldn’t have had to go to the trouble of hiring long-term laborers."

Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang nodded in agreement, their faces showing disappointment.

Old Master Bai was beyond words with the three mischievous kids, and together with the Land Officer and village chief, accompanied County Magistrate Yang throughout the village to understand the progress of sowing and farming conditions, before holding a small and simple meeting.

Those attending were only the adults who had been following County Magistrate Yang around. Manbao and the other two youngsters, disdaining such a dull meeting, politely declined the invitation to join, citing heavy schoolwork.

The arrival of County Magistrate Yang certainly had an impact on Qili Village, and not a minor one. The most direct effect was that the day after he left, the Land Officer brought in a batch of bean and rice seeds to be distributed, allocated per capita.

The amount wasn’t large, but it was said to be seeds acquired from other regions by the County Governmental Office, and the quality was fairly good.

Since the three children were friends of County Magistrate Yang, the Land Officer exceptionally gave them a share as well.

Manbao and the others had already planted their beans, so after discussing it, they divided the bean seeds evenly and took them home.

After seeing the bean seeds, Old Zhou selected a plot of land to try planting them to see what the yield would be.

The reason it was just one plot was that there weren’t many seeds to begin with, roughly two jin per person, which wasn’t enough to sow a large area.

As for the rice seeds, they were kept for later. After some time, they would sow rice seeds again; once the winter wheat was harvested, the later-sown rice seeds would be just right to grow into seedlings.

Seeds were distributed to every household, and some even received farming tools.

Like rakes, hoes, etc.

These were personally delivered by the Land Officer. Curiously, the tools went to the three poorest households in Qili Village.

Such changes were the talk of the villagers, who even after washing up in the evening and exhausted from the day, would still gather under the banyan tree at the entrance of the village to chat. They’d agree among themselves, "This new county magistrate, although young, is a good man, seems even better than County Magistrate Fu."

"Yes, yes, it’s been so many years since our village received seeds and farming tools from the county office."

"In the past, adults didn’t like to visit our village since the roads were rough and the place was poor."

"Yeah, yeah, things got a bit better after Old Master Bai came, I remember..."

Manbao was engrossed in listening to the adults, and had Old Zhou not pulled her away, she would have wanted to continue listening.

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