Chapter 543: Plan
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The fish could not be fetched with a net, because the fish carried in the net were mostly on the verge of dying, thus not being able to live on. If they passed away in the pond, pollution might be generated.
So, they had to use the scoop net.
But there were many kinds of fish in this era, and the fish and shrimps were for themselves to eat, not to be sold. So they did not need to worry about it.
The fish and shrimps, when raised in the pond, might reproduce many more after a couple of days.
Qiao Xuan believed that she would need to pick the good ones to be raised in the pond.
When the planting of lotus roots was done, Qiao Xuan and Shao Yunduan, together with Ding Erzhu, took the three families to have a look around their home.
The transplanted tea trees were growing well, and had started to bud as well. The creeping figs were looking good too. By the time summer came, there was going to be a large patch of green.
The creeping figs grew the fastest.
With Qiao Xuan’s superpower helping along the way, the speed was raised by three or four times.
Qiao Xuan visited the tea trees in the morning at their home as well. She used some superpower when they first budded, so they were flourishing, and had grown tall to more than one foot. Qiao Xuan planned to wait for one more rain so that she could do the transplantation.
After Qiao Xuan and Shao Yunduan checked the tea forest and the creeping figs, they returned to the yard and told Lin Mian and the others about what they ought to do.
The paddy fields did not need to be managed by them, and were planted by the tenants. They were responsible for taking care of the tea groves and scallops, including scheduling inspections every day, and reporting problems in time.
They were also responsible for weeding, pruning and fertilizing.
They all had some half- grown children so they bought six bulls for them to manage.
The six bulls were bought for the tenants’ convenience. Moreover, bull dung was also used to fertilize rice fields. It was not good if they had none.
The fields would turn too useless, as years went by, without the bulls.
The tenants did not use them for free. They would rent them at a low price. A bull was calculated on the basis of three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon, and the rent was only three wen per day.
The cost was so low that it made tenants almost mental. Everyone was very willing to rent it.
When all the trivialities were done, it was already lunchtime.
Ms. Zhou and her mother made lunch for Shao Yunduan and Qiao Xuan, who were very well received. “It is a casual lunch, please but the food is very clean.”
When the construction of the house was built, Qiao Xuan had noticed that she was a very nice, friendly, and warm, more social than Ms. Zhou. So, she hired her too by paying her one liang a month. In this way, she could be of some help as well.
She was not restricted by too much work and could go home if she wanted to.
Madame Zhou was very happy to accept the position.
So, she moved in with her grandchildren.
She could plant her own vegetables, raise chicken and ducks. All she needed to do was bring some grains. One liang a month was a lot for her. Only fools would turn down the offer.
Qiao Xuan and Shao Yunduan were not picky people. So, they accepted the offer and ate lunch.
There was one plate of scrambled eggs with chives, one plate of steamed sausage, and one plate of fried smoked meat with garlic sprouts. Simple and clean, the ingredients were good and the taste was not bad.
The couple ate lunch and hurried into the town to buy meat.
They had smoked meat, sausage, fish and duck, pickles, salted and preserved eggs at home. All they needed was fresh meat.
Qiao Xuan was greedy for mutton kebabs. So was everyone else. They decided to have a huge dinner that night.
They bought 10 kgs of mutton with both fat and normal meat, two sheep’s feet, four pigs feet, a rib, and a piece of pork belly. The pork belly would be made into twice-cooked pork and braised pork the next day, and the rest would be marinated tonight itself..