Farm Girl's Manor

The preparation of cotton and grain was in order, and Mo Yan had also purchased a batch of coarse cotton and hemp fabric from the Cloth Shop. Peasants often engaged in heavy labor and, except for visiting relatives during festivals and holidays, they rarely wore good clothes, so the coarse cotton and hemp were just right.

A grain of rice of benevolence, a bucket of rice of grudge! Although Mo Yan was willing to help others, she was by no means a soft touch. If the villagers of Liu Yang Village urgently needed grain and clothing to keep out the cold, she was willing to provide it, but she wouldn’t give it away for free. Moreover, she hadn’t priced these goods at market rates—strictly speaking, she was the one "at a loss."

Lizhong volunteered to draft the written contract, which could be considered an ancient version of an employment contract. The terms outlined in the document were clear and very equitable.

Since they were unsure how many people would be willing to do this, Mo Qingze and Lizhong prepared only fifty copies of the contract. Once everything was ready, in the afternoon, Mo Yan couldn’t wait to call several ox carts and take a portion of the cotton fabrics and grain to Liu Yang Village.

The children had never been there before, and seeing that the adults were all going, they begged to go along to see the place. It was a trivial matter for the three members of the Mo Family, so they spent a few more copper coins to hire a donkey cart with a canopy that could shield them from the wind, and they headed to Liu Yang Village, leading a procession of carts.

The once-quiet Liu Yang Village became bustling after welcoming over a hundred households.

Many villagers swarmed the mountains to cut wood and build houses. The small path from the village to the mountain had been widened considerably from being trodden on. Along the way, villagers carrying wood together were a common sight. A gust of cold wind brought with it the sounds of conversation, sawing of wood...