The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 407 - 396: Taking Advantage

Chapter 407: Chapter 396: Taking Advantage

"Three trees!" Zhou Dalang frowned, "Isn’t that a bit too much?"

"He only asks for eight hundred copper coins for his labor," Old Zhou also felt it was a lot, but that was the price he had managed to haggle after much effort, muttering, "This ox cart is almost as expensive as half an ox."

Previously, they only needed to plow the fields, and the plowing tools could be carried by hand, so it was okay not having an ox cart, and their own ox had an easier time.

But now it was time to harvest the wheat, and of course, it would be better to have an ox cart.

An ox cart could last many years, and if there were no accidents, its lifespan could be even longer than that of an ox; from the wheels to the body, everything was made of wood, so it was not at all cheap.

Usually, hiring a carpenter from Dali Village to make an ox cart, in addition to two trees, would cost around one thousand copper coins in labor. The main reason was that building an ox cart took a considerable amount of time.

Upon close consideration, it might take two to three months, which was more time-consuming than making plowing tools.

However, not just anyone could make plowing tools, as they required great precision, and the carpenters from Dali Village couldn’t make them.

The reason he was willing to give Old Zhou such a big discount and only ask for one more tree was that he had an ox cart on hand at the moment.

It was a business deal made before last year’s disaster. The agreed labor fee was one thousand and two hundred copper coins, and the provided timber was very good, so the carpenter put a lot of effort into building it.

Who would have thought that as soon as it was ready, the client was struck by disaster and couldn’t come up with the money at the time. Even though the carpenter was willing to provide the cart on credit, the client wasn’t eager to take it. Of course, they also didn’t want the two trees from the client’s family, considering them as a gift to the carpenter.

The carpenter was quite upset, and the completed cart just ended up sitting at his house.

When Manbao had just led the ox back, Old Zhou remembered this incident because it had caused quite a stir in the nearby villages, almost leading to a fight between the two families.

So, he was particularly well-informed about it.

A cart made of good wood...

Labor fees of one thousand and two hundred copper coins...

Old Zhou had taken the opportunity during less busy periods to visit Dali Village a few times. After several back-and-forths, he finally managed to lower the price to eight hundred copper coins, of course, on the condition that the carpenter would give the cart another round of polishing to ensure it was in better condition.

That very afternoon, Old Zhou led Zhou Dalang up the mountain to find three decent trees. After the father and son had chopped them down and transported them down the mountain, the next morning Ms. Qian, along with Junior Ms. Qian and others, went to harvest the wheat, while Old Zhou led a few sons, carrying the wood and leading the ox, to Dali Village to claim the ox cart.

Before noon, Old Zhou arrived in the field pulling the ox cart. At that moment, their family was the only one harvesting.

It wasn’t until the ox had hauled a cart full of wheat back that the villagers found out the Zhou Family had bought a cart. They all gathered around to watch.

A sigh suddenly emerged from the noisy crowd, "Let’s start reaping in our family this afternoon."

Someone said, "This weather looks like it will be clear for several days, why not wait a bit more? The wheat ears can ripen a bit more."

"It’s already yellowish; it should be about right. After harvesting the wheat, we still need to plant the rice seedlings."

As soon as these words were spoken, many villagers felt their backs and waists ache. It had indeed been a particularly busy and exhausting year. Whenever there was work to be done, it was non-stop, day and night. Just when they had a short break from one busy period, they had to start on another round of work.

The villagers asked about the price of the cart and, after having their fill of the spectacle, started to disperse. As they moved away, they happened to see Manbao returning with the Small book box on her back. They couldn’t resist teasing, "Manbao, why are you home from school? Is it time to harvest at your Little Manor too?"

"Yes," replied Manbao, "our teacher will go to the ridge this afternoon to give us lessons, so I came back early for lunch."

"Manbao, is the wheat seed used at your manor also from your own home? I passed by yesterday and noticed that your wheat is much better than ours, almost like the one from your own home."

Manbao just gave him an honest smile.

Her mother had said before, for questions she didn’t want to answer, just smile.

The person who asked the question took it as if he had received an answer and didn’t inquire further.

Once the Zhou Family had set the precedent, the villagers of Qili Village, as if stimulated, began their harvesting as well.

Old Master Bai’s family and Manbao’s Little Manor naturally joined in.

Manbao had never cut wheat in her own family’s fields, let alone in the Little Manor. Mr. Zhuang took them to a shed for classes, and they would put on straw hats to pick up fallen wheat ears during breaks.

Mr. Zhuang might not have seen other benefits, but now, Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang no longer wasted food during communal meals.

They would finish their half-eaten buns, unlike before when they would leave them uneaten as soon as they felt full.

Mr. Zhuang was very pleased. It seemed there were some benefits to holding classes by the fields.

After lunch, the four of them – the teacher and his disciples – sat on a bed in the breeze, chatting, as Bai Shanbao casually poured a cup of tea for everyone. Each held a tea cup in one hand and propped themselves up with the other, comfortably watching the intermingled green and yellow of the fields.

At this time, the sun was a bit intense. The hired short-term workers and the regular workers were taking a rest under the shade of the trees, waiting for the sun to go down a bit in the afternoon before they went back to work in the fields.

Mr. Zhuang, feeling the breeze on his face, began to doze off, and Manbao and the others also felt sleepy. As they took a nap, tea cups set aside, Mr. Zhuang suddenly asked, "Why do I feel that the wheat in your fields is much better than what’s in Old Master Bai’s fields?"

Manbao shifted her body, lying on her back, her small belly rising and falling and she hummed, "It is indeed better."

Mr. Zhuang asked, "Why is that?"

Mr. Zhuang asked this question because he had noticed that the wheat in the Little Manor was not just a little better than in Old Master Bai’s fields, but significantly better.

Initially, he hadn’t noticed, but the wheat ears the children had picked were stored in the shed and after a day or two, he couldn’t help but see them.

Heavy wheat ears, full to the touch; he thought that the workers in the manor were negligent, leaving behind the better wheat ears, but upon inspection in the fields, he found that the other wheat ears were also of good quality.

One could say that these were even better than the select wheat ears they had chosen for seeds.

The workers hired for the harvest merely felt happy that the wheat grew well, considering it a good harvest, but Mr. Zhuang couldn’t help but think more about it.

Manbao’s family had planted about twenty or so acres of winter wheat, divided into several plots, and the conditions of the wheat in these plots were all similar. What did this imply?

It implied that the harvest was very even across all the wheat.

If it were Doctor D, she would say that the plants’ genes were very stable and could be propagated on a large scale.

Mr. Zhuang didn’t have that kind of knowledge, but he understood the principle.

So today, he had asked plenty about how they had planted the winter wheat, including how they had cared for it over the past half year.

But the three children were only involved in decision-making; the actual work was done by the hired laborers.

What they did was no different from other farmers, nothing extraordinary, which is why Mr. Zhuang couldn’t resist asking them if they knew the reason behind their wheat’s rich yield.

Little did he expect Manbao to provide an answer immediately, as she drowsily said, "Because our seeds are good, obviously."

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