The skilled widow is busy farming

Chapter 17 Asking for Sharecroppers

Uncle Li called in the tenant farmers to tidy up the land for the family, and brought people to show the old man a look.

Although the father-in-law and the second uncle had separated their families a long time ago, they still discussed family matters together, including several children getting married and having children to take exams. They were all members of the family who contributed money and effort together, regardless of each other. Over the years, the two brothers were united as one. This made the Li family's life better and better.

This time the land purchase seemed to give half of the land to the second uncle. It seemed that Xiuniang had suffered a big loss. In fact, the calculation could not be made this way.

Grandpa, as the head of the family, has his own considerations. Xiuniang, an orphan and a widowed mother, will spend her whole life in Lijia Village for her care and burial. Brother Qun and Brother Chun are still young, and they will have to study for the imperial examination in the future. They cannot do without the help and care of their second uncle and clan relatives. They are male elders, Xiu Niang is a woman and cannot travel far.

The second uncle is careful and shrewd, upright and loyal to the clan. With him taking care of Xiu Niang and her children, orphans and widowed mothers will not suffer great injustice in the future.

After all, we are a family, but Brother Qun is a nephew and grandson, and there is another layer between them. Now the second uncle is in trouble, and his children and grandchildren are all in trouble. If you don't help, you only think about eating more and occupying more. Your son will be in trouble in the future. , people can just watch and ignore it.

Grandpa is getting old, and sooner or later he will kick his legs to take the first step. After all, he can't bear to see Xiu Niang and her son being isolated and helpless. He would rather give up his wealth to pave the way for the children, so that his second uncle will remember Xiu Niang's kindness and take care of the children more in the future.

Grandpa makes baskets at home, which can be sold at the market. If the baskets are not sold, they can be used at home.

"Dad, I found some people working in the fields. Please take a look."

"Whose man, can you do the crop handle style?"

Grandpa put down what he was doing and stood up. His second uncle stepped forward and supported his father.

"The sixth son of our village, his widowed sister-in-law, is the nephew of her natal brother. She also comes from a poor background. The family does not have enough land, and her family has many sons. The six children are all grown up and have no food to eat. So they come out to work as sharecroppers. I looked at Sister-in-law Zhang. It’s easy, the child is a sensible child, and I thought it would be good for his family to do more work if I wanted to help him.”

"Oh, my fifth daughter-in-law, I remembered her maiden name is Zhang. Okay, come in."

The second uncle walked to the entrance of the courtyard and waved to the father and son waiting in the distance.

"Brother Zhang, my father asked you to come in and drink water."

"coming."

Grandma gave me sugar water.

"Hello Uncle Li, hello Aunt Li."

Three father and son arrived, tall and strong, looking a little embarrassed at the old man. They were wearing patchwork shorts, with their trousers rolled up, and the shoes on their feet were new. It was obvious that they were wearing new shoes to go out to meet guests.

"We have a lot of land and it's a bit hard to find people to work on. We can give money or food according to the market conditions. Four cents profit, four or six cents, you have four and I have six. You can choose what kind of food you want."

The grains are divided into polished rice and white flour, but if you switch to millet and chestnuts, it will be much more, and the prices are different. Farmers who are in good condition will also eat miscellaneous grains, and they will also mix it with their own food.

Xiu Niang's head was smashed, and she only ate polished rice for half a month, while Li Qing ate grains.

"Yes, that's great. It's more than what we get from working outside. You're kind and righteous, we must work hard. We only have two acres of land at home, and it's really not enough to eat, so we came out to work."

The stout man rubbed his hands and smiled happily. This condition is so good that the conscientious landlords in the market will only give you three cents of profit, and ask you to work more if you are still short of money.

"Okay, since you agree, let's sign the contract. Good job. Do you want food?"

"I don't want money, I want food. There is not enough food for my family."

The man shook his head and said he didn't want money, he just wanted food.

The men of the Zhang family are not stupid at all. Money cannot buy the same grain. Grain prices change every day. When there is a famine or flood, grain prices skyrocket. The grain in grain stores outside has to be mixed with sand to weigh it.

In addition, the size of the stone buckets used to weigh grains in each store is different, just to make money.

Therefore, the men of the Zhang family do not need money, but even if they give money, they cannot buy enough food. The family will still go hungry, which is far less cost-effective than the main family directly providing food.

"middle."

Uncle Li took out the contract he had written in advance and read it to them word for word. The Zhang family men could barely recognize the names and could not read well.

The widowed sister-in-law didn't come. Her husband had passed away and her children were studying in clan schools. He was also considered a native of Lijia Village. The man named Lin whom the sister-in-law married was very capable. His grandparents had settled here earlier. He had a very good relationship with the Li family. He thought he was Li. Treated as part of the family.

The family is not poor, the husband is very capable, and they have twenty acres of land. Sister-in-law Lin has three sons, the eldest of whom is also an apprentice, and is actually living a much better life than her parents' family.

"Medium, that's it." "Okay, press this."

The second uncle gave him ink pads and pointed out the location for him to press his fingerprints.

"Then you can come and work tomorrow. We will take care of the food and the tools are ready. You can just go home after finishing the work in the afternoon. I have a widow at home and it is not convenient for you to stay overnight."

Grandpa was straight to the point.

Now that Xiu Niang is a widow in the family, outsiders are not allowed to stay overnight, as this will affect Xiu Niang's reputation.

"Yes, thank you very much. I'll come early tomorrow morning."

"Well, let's see, second child, you go get him some food and bring it back. Counting the gifts I give to the children, they are all relatives. We should help each other, and we also have times when we ask for help."

The grandfather turned to explain to his son.

"I asked my wife to get ready, and the bullock cart will be sent back to them soon."

"No, I can't ask for your food in vain."

Brother Zhang waved his hands nervously.

"You're welcome. My land depends on your hard work. Don't worry about this."

Grandpa smiled sincerely.

"Well, then...thank you."

The eldest brother of the Zhang family clasped his fists and bowed deeply to express his gratitude. The family was still hungry, so he really couldn't say no.

Zhangjiacun is right next door, and it only takes a few miles to walk, which is very fast for farmers.

The second uncle sent the Zhang family back and brought several large bags of food, including millet, chestnuts, and rice noodles, to take home for the family to eat.

Grandpa breathed a sigh of relief after taking care of the people doing the work.

"Dad, I also asked my third daughter-in-law's family to come over and work together. I'm afraid there's too much land to work on."

"Okay, as long as we take care of the ground servant, everything else is a trivial matter."

"Yes."

"Dad, before Xiu'er said that we should use wasteland to raise animals, several clan elders agreed. They said that our family would not suffer a loss. The money to buy the cubs does not need to come from our family, but will be used from the clan's public account."

"Is it appropriate?"

"There's nothing inappropriate. It's our family's land and we have to raise it together."

Uncle Li smiled, this was not considered taking advantage.

"Okay, you have to figure it out. Our family's things and the main circle of the clan must be built and maintained separately, otherwise there will be trouble and trouble in the future."

"Zhong, I know that. Then I, Zhang Luo, will mark out the location so that we can build several pig pens."

"Don't build too small a building. Build a few more and put signs on them. If you build too many, you will easily get sick. Arrange for people to clean and feed them regularly. Do what you need to do well. Don't end up complaining about your hard work."

Grandpa patiently helps his son.

"I remember."

"Let's eat together. Your mother will make a mess and eat it."

"Then I'll stay. It's been a while since I've eaten from my mother. I've loved eating this vegetable since I was a child. When I was little, I would compete with my eldest brother to eat it."

Uncle Li couldn't help but laugh when he recalled that when he was a child, he had to fight with his elder brother for a bite of food because of poor conditions.

(End of this chapter)