Chapter 471: Chapter 244 Tools_2
"Manman, this work is much more tiring than I thought. Just you, my sister, and our mother, how many days will it take to finish this?"
"You two hurry off to school, don’t worry about these things. This vegetable patch, without you two, we three women can definitely get it done." Lady Zhang also paused momentarily to say.
"Mom, I know you’re capable," Wu Lang said, "but we just don’t have enough time. Look, we still have a pile of chickens and ducks at home, there’s a ton of work to do in the shop both morning and evening, and you need to cook three meals a day for the people building the house. Even someone as strong as my dad would be overwhelmed by opening up this plot of land."
Wu Lang’s point was very practical. Lian Manman looked around. Apart from the plot intended for the future site of their house and the thicket of mixed trees they wanted to keep untouched, she planned to cultivate all of the land they had bought.
However, according to the intensity of the labor required, it would really take many days for the three of them to complete the task.
Time was one issue, but there was another more important one: just as Wu Lang had said, they were not made of iron. The daily chores at home, on top of this work, would exhaust both their time and energy.
"Mom, it looks like we need to hire some help," Lian Manman quickly faced reality and suggested a solution.
"Right," Wu Lang agreed, "Mom, you see, the shop can’t do without you. Manman needs to do the accounts, handle the laundry business, and all the housework depends on my sister. With the added task of opening up the vegetable plot, we simply won’t be able to handle it all."
Lian Manman nodded. An early morning shop and taking in laundry were ways to make money, neither of which could be neglected. In other words, their labor was very valuable and should be used to create greater value, meaning earning more money, instead of being tied down to work in the fields.
"Now, for this vegetable plot and eventually the work in the fields, we’ll probably need to hire some help," Lian Manman thought for a moment and said.
They now had thirty-one acres of land, with only Lian Shouxin and Lady Zhang as capable laborers in the family. To cultivate all this land, they clearly didn’t have enough hands. Moreover, she still had some silver and planned to buy more land before spring plowing.
"Mom, what’s that?" While Lian Manman was making her calculations, her gaze swept over the official road, and suddenly she noticed something, pointing it out to Lady Zhang.
An old farmer was leading a yellow ox along the road at a slow pace. The ox was harnessed and was dragging a plow. The farmer held a whip in one hand, and his other hand rested on the plow handle, slightly lifting the plow blade above the ground.
"A plow!" Lady Zhang realized at once, "Manman, are you thinking of hiring a plow to help us turn this land over?"
Using a plow to turn the land would mean that all they’d need to do was follow behind and remove any roots and debris, thus saving both effort and time. They could definitely afford to pay for plow service now.
"Mom, I think we should buy our own plow," Lian Manman said slowly, "and an ox, we should buy one of those too."
...
Using an ox to pull the plow instead of human labor would greatly increase productivity and reduce human labor intensity. But whether it was an ox or a plow, both were quite expensive tools that not every farmstead could afford.
The Lian family didn’t have an ox or a plow.
Lian Manman hadn’t experienced the past events of the Lian family herself; she had only heard about them from Lian Shouxin and Lady Zhang. Even when the Lian family had been at its wealthiest, the Old Master Lian bought a house and land in Thirty Mile Camp, the family didn’t immediately move back. All the land they bought was rented out for others to cultivate.
Later, Old Master Lian moved back with his family, but they didn’t get their land back all at once. As time went on, and because of high expenses, he started selling land and then started to reclaim the land for his own family to till but was reluctant to buy oxen and ploughs.
As time passed and the Lian family had enough male labor, but also less land, they did everything themselves, which meant they could not afford and also did not want to buy these things.
Buying oxen and ploughs was a major expense, and it was also a significant event for tenant farmers’ households. So after dinner, the Lian Manman family sat down to discuss this matter.
"Manman, have you calculated whether we have enough money?" Lian Shouxin asked Lian Manman.
The new breakfast shop needed to be built before planting season, along with tables, chairs, bowls, pots, spatulas, and so on, all of which needed to be purchased. Lian Manman, following the budget, set aside some money for these expenses. The breakfast shop also needed a reserve of working capital, and in addition, Lian Manman also saved some money intended for the expenses of farming. Of course, beyond this, Lian Manman had set aside some silver for unforeseen emergencies. These four sums of money were untouchable.
As for their daily living expenses and the cost of Wu Lang and Xiao Qi’s schooling, the daily profits from the breakfast shop were now fully sufficient to cover them.
"In that case, we still have ninety taels of silver we can use," Lian Manman said. These ninety taels were what Lian Manman planned to use to buy more fields before the spring planting session.
"We really need to buy the oxen and ploughs," Wu Lang thought for a moment, then said.
Lian Shouxin nodded in agreement.
"Let’s buy the oxen and ploughs first, then buy less land if necessary," Lian Shouxin said.
There were priorities in everything, and since they already had thirty-one acres of land, the urgency to acquire more land fell behind the necessity to purchase essential farming tools.
Once the family agreed that they needed to make the purchase, the next step was to discuss how to go about it.
"We’ve never dealt with such things before, and I don’t understand them, so we need to find someone knowledgeable to do the buying for us," Lian Shouxin said.
"There’s a market tomorrow at Back Mountain Village, and didn’t Wang Shiliu tell you that he was going to the market?" Lady Zhang spoke up, "I’ll send word with him to your uncle’s eldest son, asking my father to help us buy."
Compared to the larger market at Qingyang Town, Back Mountain Village’s market was even bigger and more bustling, particularly in the mule and horse trade. Zhang Qingshan’s family currently had oxen, sheep, and mules, as well as ploughs. He had traded horses in the past and was very familiar with large livestock such as cattle, horses, and mules. Even now, he had passed these skills on to Zhang Qingnian, and sometimes he would still personally go to Back Mountain Village’s mule and horse market, helping people choose livestock and acting as a middleman in transactions.
There was no one more suitable than Zhang Qingshan to help the Lian Manman family buy these items.
"Mother," Lian Manman quickly clutched Lady Zhang, with two big sparkling eyes, she said, "Besides buying the oxen and ploughs, let’s ask Grandpa to help us with some other things too!"
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