Chapter 118: Protecting the Calf_1
Following that was the harvest of corn, peanuts, and sweet potatoes, with Qian Yeejin taking a three-day break from farm work. Now, Lady Wu and Qian Manxia, along with Qian Yeejin, no longer needed to work the fields themselves; they merely had to give some guidance from the side. It didn’t take long for the two strong men, Huang Tie and Qian Hua, to finish the work on just two acres of land.
After the harvest was over, the land was not rented out, but instead kept for planting winter wheat for the family’s own consumption in the coming days.
Then, the fields of Mengxi Village were also handed over. That day, Qian Sangui, accompanied by Huang Tie and Qian Hua, went to Mengxi Village to sign the tenancy agreement with the tenant farmers there, who even called him Master Qian. From then on, sixty percent of the produce from these fields would belong to their own family, and Qian Sangui’s face flushed with excitement.
On the way home, passing through the entrance of Mengxi Village, he told Qian Hua to get off the cart to buy two jin of pork while he waited on the ox-cart.
He could hear the passing villagers discussing how Landlord Qian was this and that. Qian Sangui could not help but laugh; in the mouths of others, he had now become a Landlord Qian, just like Landlord Zhang and Landlord Fang. It all felt like a dream.
After returning home, he had someone invite Old woman Qian, Qian Dagui, and Qian Ergui over for drinks and meat, with Huang Tie and Qian Hua sitting at a small table beside them to join the drinking.
Lady Wu, who had become the landlady, was also pleased. Thinking that from next year on, most of the produce from the fields would belong to their own family, the saying that a surplus in the granary means an ease of mind truly applied.
As the season entered into autumn, the weather gradually became cooler. Yixiu now only had two sets of clothes she could wear, one set in peach blossoms shaded clothes and a blue coarse cloth one, both newly made this summer. In planning for the long term, both were made slightly larger so she could still wear them if she grew taller or gained weight. And if it got cold, she could wear them with an old piece of clothing underneath.
But old clothes were a bit small and uncomfortable to wear, and patches over patches made them look really shabby. She had mentioned several times before that she wanted to make two new sets of clothes. However, Lady Wu did not agree, saying that aside from Jinwa, she had the most new clothes at home. Qian Manxia’s clothes didn’t cost any money, while Qian Sangui, Lady Wu, and Cheng Yue each only had one set of newly made coarse cloth clothes.