Chapter 229: Building a House
Editor: Atlas Studios
In the end, neither managed to convince the other and they went back to their rooms angrily.
Qi Haoran felt that this would be a rare opportunity in the next few years. They could use Hanzhong as a stronghold and recover all the other lost land. In that case, they could not delay the matter of the cavalrymen anymore. If not for the fact that he did not have the money to buy adult horses, he would not have wanted to buy foals and slowly raise them.
On the other hand, Fan Zijin was worried that there wasn’t enough money. A foal cost about 20 taels of silver, and in each division there needed to be about 500 cavalrymen. It was a standard configuration for each person to have a horse each, plus another one for backup. Alright, even if the backup was 0.5 horse per person, they would still need 750 horses. According to the lowest price, it would cost 15,000 taels of silver, not to mention the subsequent fodder…
Fan Zijin sat in the study and calculated the money he could take out. In the end, he still felt that he was too poor.
Perhaps he shouldn’t place all his hopes on Butler Chen…
While Mu Yangling repaired the iron plow in the courtyard, Great-aunt guided her to stuff a piece of shaved wood into it. Then, she used her hand to try and break it. Feeling that it should be stable, she said, “Alright, this will work. You have to learn how to repair these things. Otherwise, if they break, you’ll have to enter the city to find someone to repair them. That’s too expensive.”
“I’ve learned it now. Great-aunt, are we going to plow the fields tomorrow?”
Great-aunt tucked her hands into her sleeves. The weather was already a little cold. Looking up at the sky, she said, “Are you really planning to plant winter wheat?”
Mu Yangling nodded. “Let’s take advantage of the fact that we don’t have any work to do now. Otherwise, we definitely won’t be able to handle it at the beginning of spring next year. Look at this spring. In a month, which one of us hasn’t lost weight? It’s fine if it’s just once or twice, but as time passes, our bodies won’t be able to take it.”
“That’s true, but we’d be farming the fields back to back. I’m afraid the land will be ruined.” This was what Madam Ma-Liu was most worried about. In the past, they would plant the land for half a year and let the land rest for half a year. This way, they could preserve the fertility of the land.
However, this year, wheat and rice was first planted on those high-grade lands. After harvesting the wheat and rice, they planted corn. Now, they were going to plant winter wheat. Under such intense farming, the fertility of the land could not keep up, and high-grade land could easily turn into medium-grade land or even low-grade land.
“I know what you mean. Don’t worry. Don’t we have four to five piles of rabbit feces on our land? I’ll go to the city to buy some night soil later and dig up some river mud to mix and dry in the sun. I’ll spread a thick layer on the ground and plow it twice. I don’t believe that the land can’t stay fertile this way.”
Madam Ma-Liu widened her eyes in shock. She had never seen such a way to preserve the fertility of the land after living for so long.
Mu Yangling stood up and shook the iron plow. Smiling, she said, “Since my father has the day off tomorrow, we can get him to help out.”
Great-aunt poked her forehead and said with a smile, “Mischievous girl, it’s not easy for your father to finally get a two-day break. Yet you’re putting him to work the moment he returns. You’re not giving him a chance to rest.”
“If my father were to rest at home, he would feel even worse.” Mu Yangling carried the things into the storeroom and closed the door. However, her movements were a little too big, causing the yellow mud on the wall to fall down.
Mu Yangling widened her eyes and stared at it for a while before reaching out to poke the wall…
“Don’t…” Just as Great-aunt spoke, Mu Yangling had already broken off a large piece of yellow mud from the wall. Feeling guilty, she threw the yellow mud away and wiped her hands on her clothes. With a chuckle, she said, “Great-aunt, my strength seems to have increased again…”
“Geez. You brat, this house is already in a bad enough state. Aren’t you afraid that the house will collapse if you continue to dismantle it?”
“Then why don’t we build a big house for our family? Great-aunt, our family doesn’t lack money now.” Mu Yangling said, “When my father comes back, I’ll speak to him about it. We’ll build a two-entry green brick tiled house. We’ll build five rooms for each entry. When the time comes, everyone will have a room. Then, we’ll build an embroidery workshop for Xiulan and my mother and a study for Bowen.”
“That’s true.” Great-aunt pondered and said, “I don’t know how long we can stay in this house. While your father is at home, it’s time to get someone to build a house. Anyway, it’s off-peak season now and everyone is so bored at home. I’ll call your uncle and the others to come and help out later.”
Mu Yangling was just about to heave a sigh of relief when Great-aunt said, “But even if our family is going to build a new house, you can’t pry the mud off the wall anymore. With your strength, you might just cause the house to collapse. Do you hear me?”
“I heard it, I heard it. Don’t worry, Great-aunt. I definitely won’t touch this wall again. If you don’t believe me, call Xiuhong to keep an eye on me. If I touch it, you can chop off my hand later.”
Great-aunt patted her hand and said, “Stop joking. Alright, hurry up and go play. I’m going to work on the vegetable field behind.”
Seeing that Great-aunt had left, Mu Yangling picked up a rock under her feet and crushed it. Mu Yangling looked at her hand in a daze. Why did her strength increase again?
Logically speaking, it was impossible. Her strength had not increased since she was nine years old. It had already been a year, and she thought that her strength had reached its peak. She did not expect it to suddenly increase again. Could it be because she had been practicing internal energy?
However, she had been meditating and cultivating for more than half a year. Yet, she could not even feel a trace of Qi in her dantian. Instead, all it did was make her legs turn numb and her to feel restless and sleepy.
Or could it be that one’s strength would increase with age? When would it reach its peak?
’20 to 30?’
Mu Yangling clenched her fists and thought to herself, ‘It’s a pity that the army doesn’t accept women…’
If they wanted to build a house, they had to choose a plot of land. They naturally could not choose the site which they were currently living on, so they could only choose a plot of land by the side.
No one objected. Having been promoted to a company commander, Mu Shi was currently the highest-ranking official in the village. Therefore, he quickly agreed with his section to carve out a plot of land for him beside his current house.
Liu Ting and the rest came over to help the Mu family build the house, while Mu Shi took out some money and hired nine people. He discussed with Liu Ting and the rest how to build the house. Even if he was not at home, there was Liu Ting supervising the work at the side. With the Liu clan around, they were not afraid that the other workers would think that the Mu family was slacking off just because there wasn’t a man in their prime at home.
The Mu family paid the nine workers 20 copper coins a day. This price was neither high nor low and was considered above average. When Mu Yangling flipped through the account book, she realized that Liu Ting and the rest were helping for free and weren’t paid any money.
Stunned, Mu Yangling asked, “Great-aunt, why didn’t Uncle and the others get paid?”
Without raising her head, Great-aunt said, “They’re family. Why do they need to be paid? Don’t talk nonsense. Go to the city tomorrow and buy two catties of pork belly. Buy some fatty ones and not the thin ones. Since they’re here to work for our family, we have to let them eat well. Only after eating well will they have strength.”
Whenever Ah Ling went to buy pork, other than pork belly, the meat she bought tended to have more lean meat than fats. Their family was used to eating meat and felt that it was alright. If it were anyone else, they would inevitably feel that it was not fatty enough.
Mu Yangling also knew that fatty meat was preferable in this era, so she nodded and agreed. After hesitating for a while, she said, “Aren’t you going to give Uncle and the others money? I think it’s quite hard for them to work for our family.”
This time, Great-aunt raised her head. She looked at Mu Yangling and said, “Child, don’t do anything stupid. If you dare to mention the salary matter to them, see if your uncles will ignore you in the future. It’s out of kindness that they came to help, so why would you give them a salary? I’ve never heard that one has to get paid to help your relatives build a house. Have you charged your great-uncle and the others when you helped them do work in the past?”
Mu Yangling shook her head.
“In the past, when your father and uncles went to repair my house, did they dare to mention money to me?”
Mu Yangling shook her head.
“See? Don’t worry about the house. You should start plowing tomorrow. Didn’t you say that you still have to plant winter wheat on 30 acres of medium-grade land? That land has to be plowed before it can be fertilized.”
“I can’t plow it alone…”
“That’s true.” Great-aunt frowned. “Then I’ll go with you tomorrow. With your uncles watching over the house, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
