Zhong Niangzi Wanfu

Chapter 16 Supervisor Zhonglan
一
After experiencing the divorce of the You family, Zhong Lan is no longer entangled. After sending the letter, he no longer wants to be stuck in this clueless matter.

So after two days of depression, she put on brown clothes and went to the outskirts of the city to take care of her crops.

After all, she is also a young lady from the Zhong family, so naturally it is not her turn to do the farm work. She is only responsible for supervising the work.

After touring the 150 acres of fertile farmland in the eastern suburbs of his home, Zhong Lan sat in a pergola in the field to enjoy the cool air.

"Second Miss, use some watermelons." A simple-looking man who looked over fifty years old came forward with a watermelon. It was Zhong Ren, the steward in charge of Zhong's field farmer.

"Thank you, Uncle Ren." Zhong Lan pursed his lips and smiled.

Suddenly seeing Zhongren's leg limping, he quickly asked: "What's wrong with Uncle Ren's leg?"

Zhong Ren cut the watermelon open and carefully handed the piece with the fewest seeds to Zhong Lan. He smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern, Miss Second. I fell down while patrolling the land in the west of the city a few days ago. It's not a big deal. "

"Then you should take a good rest." Zhong Lai worriedly asked, "Is it possible that the eldest aunt won't allow it? Supervising the work is hard, and it will be even more difficult like this. I will go and ask the eldest aunt for help."

"No, no, no, it's none of your business, Madam." Zhongren quickly explained, "It's just those long-term workers who slip up and get lazy when no one is watching them. They can't do it without old slaves."

"Surely it's not a case of cheating like this, right?" Zhong Lan handed a petal to Chang Huan, and then handed another to Zhongren.

Zhong Ren nodded: "The land does not belong to my family, and the results will not be visible in a short time. Therefore, the money per mu will not change, and I will become lazy when I start work."

"And the supervisors should not recruit too many workers. For example, the old slave is a branch of the Zhong family and thinks he is somewhat loyal. However, the supervisors recruited from outside are a mixed bag. If you are not careful, it is easy to collude with the long-term workers and secretly plot the gold and silver of the master's family."

Zhong Lan was silent, but he began to make calculations in his mind.

The next day, Zhonglan sent Chang Huan to convey a message to Zhongren, asking him to summon all the long-term workers of the more than 1000 acres of land owned by the second wife of the Zhong family within three days. Even if they were far away, they would send stewards.

Zhong Ren didn't know, so he went in, but Zhong Yan took care of some farm household affairs with the old man of the Zhong family.

So Zhongren still did as Zhonglan said.

He worked diligently and summoned more than 200 people together within three days.

Zhonglan paid for the person to be accommodated in a small inn on the outskirts of the city.

two

At first, Zhong Lan left them to dry for two days.On the third day, she boldly booked the entire inn and summoned everyone to the inn hall for discussion.

Zhong Ren welcomed Zhong Lan to the table and introduced everyone to her one by one.

The tenants just thought it was the whim of the host's lady and saluted Zhong Lan with a smile.

Some smooth women exaggeratedly praised Zhong Lan's appearance and figure, and also told some past events that Zhong Lan did not remember at all and had nothing to do with right or wrong.

"Okay." Zhong Lan looked serious and waved his hand, "I called you here not only to ask you to pay my respects."

"It's just that in the past two days when I came back from Wen's house, I found someone cheating and sneaking around. I guess this is not an exception. I specially asked you to come over and ask questions."

When everyone heard this, there were countless people who harbored grievances, and some even kowtowed to Zhong Min in a hurry to express their loyalty.

"Don't be pretentious." Zhong Lan smiled and stopped everyone's actions.

"I no longer intend to pursue the past. But now there is a solution. I wonder if you would listen to me?"

Everyone looked at each other and lowered their heads in response.

"From now on, the wages of long-term workers in the second house of the Zhong family will be reduced by [-]% per mu of land."

As soon as Zhong Lan finished speaking, everyone started crying and shouting that their wives, children, and children had no support at home, and some women fell to the ground and acted violently, spitting and wanting to drown Zhong Lan.

Even Zhong Ren persuaded him with some embarrassment: "The second girl's move may be a bit inappropriate." Zhong Yan calmly looked at the people who were acting on the scene: "I haven't finished talking, what are you anxious about, uncles and aunts? I can make everyone feel at ease Are you going to suffer for the sake of the uncles and aunts of the Zhong family?"

Her tone was sharp, and as soon as she spoke, everyone's voices gradually calmed down.

"The second family of the Zhong family relies on these [-] acres of land, and the harvest is worse than the previous year. The harvest has been bad due to drought in the past two years, but the Zhong family has never missed a penny of your monthly income."

The crowd did not speak.

Zhong Lan calmed down and said, "Zhong Lan is not talented. He went back and racked his brains and came up with a solution."

"I know that you are poor and can only work for Mr. Zhong and are not as good as those tenants. Zhong Lan thought that he would take out the personal money he has saved over the years and lend it to you to rent land, so that he can earn his own money in the future. Even if I only have one share of food, I won’t be lazy and ruin my Zhong family’s harvest.”

As soon as this remark came out, everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, and there was no sound.

"But having said that, you can only rent the land of my Zhong family and pay the grain on time and regularly like tenants. And for the money I lent you, you have to pay me back at an annual interest rate of two cents."

"As you uncles and aunts go out and ask around, you will know that borrowing money from outside for half a year is four cents. Zhong Lan is sincerely helping you."

Zhong Lan winked at Chang Huan, who understood and took out a stack of paper.

"There are two lease contracts. I will keep one and you will keep one. Children and old men are not deceived."

The opportunity to transform from a long-term laborer to a tenant farmer is presented to him, and some people are tempted.

Everyone hesitated. Firstly, they felt that there was hope for such a day, but secondly, they began to worry that they would have to give up their idle days in the future, and began to worry about the annual income.

When Zhongren saw it, he quickly stood up and called to his eldest son: "Boss, the master's girl has helped us so much, why don't you come over and sign it."

After all, it was considered a clan of the Zhong family, and Zhong Ren was not in trouble as a long-term worker. Zhong Ren's eldest son hesitated for a moment and then stepped forward to sign the contract.

Someone started, and some anxious people hurriedly came forward, speaking with a foreign accent: "I want to get a wife, and I also want my child to go to school and succeed in the future!"

The Zhong family has a private school, but it has to be handed over to study. With long-term work and monthly silver, I don't know how many years it will take to save it.

As soon as they heard about the child, more people gritted their teeth and stepped forward to sign the deed with Zhong Lan.

Zhong Lan's move was unprecedented, and he became famous in Wuding City for a while. The rumors that the engagement was broken off by the You family were gradually covered up and forgotten.

Of course, this matter naturally reached the Zhong family.

"You kid," Mrs. Chu was furious when she heard about Zhong Lan's actions, "how can you lend money to long-term workers to rent land? They have been idle for many years, most of them are alone, and they are not even afraid of seeing officials. If they don't pay back the money, you What to do with them?”

"After all, the long-term workers are not working for themselves. They are cheating and cheating. Even if there are hundreds of acres of fertile land, it is difficult to have a good harvest." Zhong Lan disagreed and blew on the soup in front of him and took a sip.

"But your father has already planned to hire some supervisors after this month, so why do you need to worry about a girl waiting to be married?" Mrs. Chu has always been in line with the eldest son, and wants Zhong Lan to become a lady like Zhong Qiao. She didn't want Zhong Lan to run to the fields all the time, and she was a bit conservative. This time Zhong Lan changed the rules, which completely angered her.

Zhong Lan chuckled softly when he heard this, put down his bowl and chopsticks and stood up: "Anyway, my words have been released. If you and my father want to get the money back, it will be difficult for you and my father to turn them back into long-term workers."

Mrs. Chu looked helplessly at Zhong Lan's back.

Zhonglan's actions also reached the ears of the great Fangyue family.

"Second Sister's method is quite interesting." Yue's hand stopped looking at the account book, and she smiled softly, "But it's still immature, and there are some things that are not considered properly."

After saying that, Mrs. Yue called to Chanjuan: "Call Zhongren over."

Chanjuan understood and exited the room.

(End of this chapter)