Chapter 453: Chapter 235: Farmstead Plan_2
Due to objective constraints, only dry toilets could be built, but they looked much neater and cleaner than the usual toilets in the farmstead houses.
Since all the workers were familiar faces from the village and didn’t ask for wages, the Lian Family only had to provide three meals a day. Lian Shouxin was generous by nature and willing to spend money on food, ensuring that the helpers were well fed and worked energetically. Within a few days, the toilets were completed.
Looking at the newly built toilets, people had different things to say.
"My goodness, it’s built better than some people’s houses, isn’t this a waste of money?"
"Look at them willing to spend money; they’re people who will live a good life in the future."
"The Fourth Child of the Lian Family is no simple character; mark my words, in the future, our village will count them as number one."
No matter what people said, everyone had a nature that craved novelty and was curious about new things. The toilets had just been completed, and many villagers came to visit and "commemorate" the occasion. Not to mention the passersby from the official road, though, of course, most visitors were from the mountain areas.
A few days later, when the novelty wore off, the toilets still saw a steady flow of users, including many villagers. No matter the time, where there was someone diligent, there was someone lazy. These people had their own toilets at home, but cleaning them was a bothersome task, and at the public toilets, they didn’t have to worry about maintenance.
This brought up another issue: maintaining the cleanliness of the toilets required someone’s attention. In the beginning, it was Lian Shouxin who cleaned them.
"Dad, Mom, let’s hire someone," Lian Manman suggested. Lian Shouxin had more important matters to attend to, and cleaning the toilets was something that could easily be done by paying someone else.
After months of experience, Lian Shouxin had fully accepted the idea of hiring workers and had become quite adept at handling it.
In the end, Lian Shouxin employed an old man in his fifties surnamed Wu from the village. The Lian Family provided cleaning tools like brooms and agreed to pay a wage of one coin per day, with additional meat and wine on holidays. Old Man Wu was responsible for cleaning the toilets three times a day, morning, noon, and night, ensuring their cleanliness.
After the toilet matter was settled, there was no time to rest as Lady Zhang brought up her long-considered idea of pig rearing.
Pig rearing was the most important source of income for farmstead families, aside from their main occupation of farming. It virtually covered all expenses other than food grains. Without keeping pigs, a farmstead household could hardly be said to be living properly.
As the head woman of a household, when Lady Zhang had some money in hand, her first thought was to raise several piglets.
The front courtyard of the Lian Family Old Mansion was almost symmetrical. Below the east wing room was the vegetable garden, followed by the pigsty. Between the pigsty and the main gate wall, there was an alley for piling up firewood and other miscellaneous items. The half courtyard on the west side belonging to Lian Manman’s family had the same layout, but where the pigsty should be, firewood and miscellaneous items were piled up instead.
"If we move the firewood out to air it and then clean up inside and fix the walls, wouldn’t that make a ready-made pigsty?" Lady Zhang seemed to have thought it through for a long time and had it all planned out. "We don’t have a pig trough, but that’s not difficult. I sent a message to my father a few days ago saying we wanted to rear pigs, and he replied that he’d find us a large stone on the mountain to carve into a stone trough for us. When his uncle goes to market, he will arrange for someone to bring it over to us."
"I’ve thought it through. When we split the family, we agreed on provisions, and that was all. We’ll have to buy bran for feeding the pigs ourselves. Rearing pigs can also make money; we run a shop, don’t we? If we don’t use the food waste to feed pigs, we’re losing out," Lady Zhang continued, "...in previous years before the family split, I fed most of the pigs. This year I’m going to raise a few more myself..." and they would definitely be fatter and better than those raised by Lady Zhou and the others.
Of course, Lady Zhang didn’t overtly say this last part.
"Our land has increased this year, and with Wu Lang and Xiao Qi going to school, it’s hard to manage everything," Lian Shouxin added.
"I won’t rear too many, just the same three little piglets his grandpa just caught yesterday," Lady Zhang said.
Lady Zhang was very enthusiastic, and Lian Shouxin didn’t want to dampen her spirits.
"Dad, Mom, when Xiao Qi and I get out of school, we can dig up wild vegetables on the way back from the fields. Leave the task of gathering vegetables for the pigs to Xiao Qi and me," Wu Lang offered.
"You two should focus on your studies. We have plenty of hands to do these chores at home," Lady Zhang responded.
"Mom, digging up vegetables isn’t hard; it’s like playing," Wu Lang said, "Xiao Qi and I have discussed it, we need to study hard, but we can’t become like my big uncle and brother Jizu, unable to do any farm work; that would make us useless."
"Keep your voices down." Lady Zhang quickly got up and looked outside.
"Mom, we’re inside the shop; no one can hear us," Lian Manman said with a smile.
Lady Zhang then sat back down.
"We should keep these thoughts to ourselves, don’t let them slip out." Lady Zhang instructed the children, "And say nothing else, your grandpa would feel terrible if he heard."
The children all nodded.
"Mom, let’s hurry up and buy those little piglets," Lian Manman suggested, "Are we going to the market to buy them tomorrow?"
"I don’t think we need to wait for market day," Lady Zhang glanced at Lian Shouxin and said, "Wang Shiliu’s Family at the east end of the village just has piglets for sale."
"Weren’t the three piglets grandpa caught from Wang Shiliu’s Family?" Lian Shouxin asked.
"I’ve seen their pigs and they are good. I already spoke to Wang Shiliu’s Wife and asked her to save three for me," Lady Zhang said.
"You had it all figured out already?" Lian Shouxin looked at Lady Zhang.
"Yeah," Lady Zhang candidly admitted, "Dear, you still need to go and have a look. Once you approve, we can bring the piglets home."
The Upper Room bought pigs from Wang Shiliu’s Family, and Lady Zhang had also set her sights on the pigs from Wang Shiliu’s Family. The Upper Room bought three, and Lady Zhang wanted to raise three as well. Lian Manman watched Lady Zhang with a smile, wondering if she was trying to one-up Lady Zhou!
***...****
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