Chapter 580: Chapter 580: Harvest
Zheng Ying risked revealing this news to him, so after reading the letter, Gu Jin’an burned it immediately.
After hearing what Gu Jin’an said, Gu Jinli asked, "Big Brother, are you still planning to pursue official positions?"
Gu Jin’an smiled, "Of course, service is one thing, but an official position is a good thing, very useful for our family."
With an official position, he could better protect his family.
Gu Jinli also smiled, "Big Brother is a wise man, I feel relieved."
And their families would not participate in the labor service; with silver at home, they could simply pay to be exempted.
The next day, several of their families went to Village Chief He and gave him the silver to replace their labor services.
Mrs. Chen was quite distressed and cursed, "Ten taels of silver, that’s twice as expensive as previous years, it’s utterly inhuman, are they trying to drive us to death?"
"Shut your mouth!" Gu Dagui scolded, "Does our family lack these ten taels of silver now?"
Such talk, do you have a death wish?
Mrs. Chen, with her neck outstretched, said, "We lack it, we still need to build a house, how can we not lack it?"
Gu Dagui was stumped, truly unable to handle this fierce woman.
Old Mrs. Yan was also distressed, but thankfully, with Xiao Yu around, life had become better for them, and they could get by without these ten taels of silver. She knew the hardships of labor service; back in her hometown, almost every household had someone die because of it.
But other families weren’t so lucky.
The village was gloomy for several days; aside from those working in Gu Jinli’s workshop, and households like Village Chief He’s house, He Dasu’s Family, He Wanli’s Family, He Laotian’s family, He Wazi’s Family, and a few other well-off families who used silver to replace labor service, others chose to serve.
Third Grandma thought people from the village would come to their family to borrow money, worrying whether to lend it or not, but no one came.
Third Grandpa said, "Ten taels of silver per person, so expensive it’s outrageous. Even if they could borrow, it would be hard to repay. Rather than carrying such a large debt, it’s better to serve the labor duty."
He Daqian and Fourth Son He, these two impoverished families, actually wanted to borrow money, but Village Chief He suppressed them; they couldn’t even enter the outskirts of the village.
On the day before departure, many families in the village cooked meat dishes, offering a feast for the men going to perform the labor service.
The government, worried about civilians escaping their service, sent government officials to the villages a day in advance to monitor and immediately capture anyone attempting to flee.
Da Feng Village was better off, with no government officials entering the village, all because Qin San Lang had returned. He was the small Section Leader of the county soldiers escorting the civilians, and he came back to bid farewell to his family, planning to escort the civilians from Da Feng Village to the county the next day.
Gu Jinli knew he had returned, and specifically made a large bag of jerky and fried fish to send to him.
Qin San Lang accepted them and then took out two taels of silver to give her.
Gu Jinli looked at the two taels of silver and frowned, "Are you trying to pay? But it’s not enough."
Though the cost of the meat was less than two taels, the labor she put into making it was worth more!
Gu Jinli was a bit angry now; how dare this boy calculate costs with her, she wasn’t giving him food out of greed for his silver.
"Does a rich lady like her lack these two taels of silver?"
Qin San Lang explained, "It’s not the money for buying dried meat, this is my pay... I saved up the previous ones, and this is all I have left. I’ll keep it for you."
Worried that she would find it too little, he added, "When I earn more money later, I will give you more silver."
Gu Jinli looked at him and asked, "Are you sick? What nonsense are you talking about? Why would I take your money? Just keep it for yourself."
What does it mean for her to keep his silver saved up?
Qin San Lang also felt that his behavior just now was like that of a sick person, silently putting the silver away, "Xiao Yu is right, I’ll keep the silver for now. When we get to Linhe Prefecture, I’ll use it to buy you some fresh food to bring back."
Gu Jinli nodded, "Hmm, just buy something cheap, Linhe Prefecture is the capital of Jianghuai, things are expensive there."
After speaking a few words with Qin San Lang, she went back home. Qin San Lang, following his usual habit, walked her home until he saw her enter before he turned back.
The next day before dawn, Qin San Lang took the villagers who were conscripted for labor duty and hurried to the county government to meet up. After joining up with Squad Leader Yang, who brought a group of government officials, and he leading a troop of county soldiers, they together escorted the laborers to Linhe Prefecture.
Qin San Lang and the county soldiers didn’t need to stay long in Linhe Prefecture; they could return after delivering the people. Squad Leader Yang and his group, however, had to stay and watch over the laborers until the end of their service.
Once the men serving labor duty left, every household in the county started to burn incense, praying to God to bless their men and sons to return safely.
County Magistrate Xu was relieved to see the laborers sent off smoothly. He was really worried that the people would refuse to serve the labor duty because of County Magistrate Zou trafficking those serving labor duty, and that troubles would arise from it.
Once busy with the conscription affair, it was then time for the rice harvest. Households with rice paddies began preparations, waiting to descend to their fields to harvest rice.
This year, Gu Jinli’s house had purchased quite a lot of rice paddies, and they too were preparing to harvest rice.
Elder Mi and his wife arrived at the house three days before the harvest, telling Gu Jinli, "The rice can be harvested now. We’ve hired thirty farmers who don’t own rice paddies. They are all experienced and can work well. The payment is as the Young Master stipulated, calculated per mu, one hundred and thirty copper coins per mu, including three meals."
Gu Jinli noticed that Elder Mi spoke a lot more respectfully this time. Previously, his words were always brief and carried an air of arrogance. What changed?
Elder Mi didn’t keep Gu Jinli guessing for long and directly said, "My spouse and I have thought it over. The Young Master is a kind person. Since he’s willing to provide for our old age, we should stop putting on airs."
He took out their household registry and handed it over to Gu Jinli, "We wish to sell ourselves into servitude to the Gu Family, and be servants of the Gu Family from now on. That way, the Young Master can also feel more at ease when using us to oversee the manor."
Old Lady Mi was also worried that Gu Jinli might not want them, considering they were so old, close to entering the earth at any time, and buying them would be a loss.
Gu Jinli did not look down on them. After consulting Gu Dashan and Mrs. Cui, she took the household registry of Elder Mi’s family, "My father will go to the county government another day to process your indenture."
She withdrew six taels of silver and gave it to Elder Mi and his wife, "This is the money for your sale into servitude."
Elder Mi did not refuse, accepting the silver, and took the braised meat prepared by Mrs. Cui and returned to Songzi Manor.
Three days later, households with rice paddies from various villages gathered at the field heads, began harvesting the rice, knocking down the stalks, tying them with straw ropes, and carrying them back to the threshing grounds in the village to dry for three days. After the rice dried up limp, they began threshing.
In ancient times, without threshing machines, it was done with rakes or by shaking the heads of grain to thresh, and some directly used hands to rub, which was very hard. However, everyone was happy, as it was a good harvest. What farm folks cared most about was their food. For a bite of food, they were willing to bear any hardship.
Mrs. Chen exclaimed, "Our families are in luck. Not to mention how cheaply we bought the rice paddies, but at the time of purchase, there was already a crop growing in them. Now we’ve effectively gained a season of grain for free. Aiyo, once the grain is in the barn, I must slaughter a chicken to give thanks to God, it’s all by his blessing that we managed to buy these crop-planted paddies."