Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 101 Buying Land
Land reclamation usually takes place in late autumn, because the grass has dried up and can be burned.

It is impossible to reclaim wasteland in summer. The old grass and shrubs in the wilderness cannot be cut with a sickle. If you are not careful, the sickle will hit you.

From this we can deduce that even if wasteland is reclaimed this year, it will have to be planted in the spring of next year, and then there will be a harvest of grain in the autumn of next year.

So what did the pioneers eat and drink during this year?
Humans are carbon-based creatures, not perpetual motion machines. They cannot go without a meal. Moreover, land reclamation is a physical job, and they will not have the strength if they are not full.

How could people who had come to Guandong after so much hardship have the conditions to do these things? Therefore, these people had to seek refuge with the "local households".

The local households provided food and tools to support the reclamation of wasteland.

Of course, this is not a free subsidy. Ninety-five percent of the reclaimed wasteland will be given to the land owners, and the remaining half will be theirs.

Moreover, when not reclaiming the land, one has to work for the landowners, which means one is like a long-term laborer.

This is what Liu Dongshan said.

It is sheer nonsense to expect the master and apprentice to open up the wasteland on their own.

They have money and can provide tools and food and recruit people to come and open up the wasteland. This is the most reasonable way.

"Okay, Master, I'll follow your instructions."

Qu Shaoyang seemed to understand all this, and he just did whatever Liu Dongshan said.

The centenarian Liu Dongshan refers to is actually a child who is a hundred days old.

In the past, medical conditions were poor and the neonatal mortality rate was very high. The first three months after a child is born was a difficult time.

Once this hurdle is passed, the child will basically be able to stand firm.

Therefore, when a child is 100 days old, a banquet is usually held and relatives and friends are invited to celebrate.

Because a memorial ceremony is held one hundred days after a person's death, in many places children's hundredth day celebration is not called "Bai Tian" but "Bai Sui Er".

When guests are invited to a banquet after 100 days, they are called "Centennial Man".

Liu Dongshan’s two children were born on the morning of April 19th. The younger one’s centenarian was actually celebrated on the 99th day.

Liu Dongshan checked the almanac and it was the eighth day of the seventh month.

It is now June 27th, and there is not much time left until the child turns 100.

Therefore, the master and the apprentice decided to rest at home for the near future.

I happened to be wandering around Maoer Mountain, and chose a piece of wasteland that suited my taste. I went to the government to handle the formalities first, to avoid having my land taken away by someone else.

After the master and disciple had discussed it, they went out for a walk whenever they had time. After a few days, they had chosen a place.

Just to the west of Maoer Mountain, there is a large piece of unowned wasteland, about four to five hundred acres.

The master and his disciple had inquired about it, and found out that the tax for reclaiming wasteland was three cents of silver per acre. For these four or five hundred acres of land, it was less than one hundred taels of silver.

The Dongbiandao established a sub-defense patrol at Maoer Mountain, which was under the jurisdiction of Tonghua.

In summer, it is located in Maoer Mountain, and in winter it moves to Badaojiang.

So the master and his disciple took the silver, found the relevant officials, gave them some benefits, and got the job done easily.

Afterwards, the government arranged for people to set up boundaries around the wasteland.

From then on, this piece of land belonged to Liu Dongshan and Qu Shaoyang.

After all the wasteland has been reclaimed, the government will send people to survey the land again and determine taxes based on the grade of the land.

The eighth day of July is the centenary banquet for the two children of Liu Dongshan.

Lin Ruolan was pregnant and gave birth to a child, and the neighbors helped a lot. The full month celebration should have been celebrated properly to entertain relatives and friends.

But at that time Liu Dongshan was still rafting and had not returned. It was not easy for Lin Ruolan, a woman, to take care of these things, so it was delayed until now.

Generally speaking, a baby’s third birthday, full month birthday, 100th birthday, and first birthday are all big events.

If you have the conditions, you can hold a big one. Even if you don't have the conditions, you should at least invite relatives and friends to have a meal. Given the Liu family's current conditions, it is no problem to hold a centenarian banquet, so Liu Dongshan and his wife started preparing early.

On the eighth day of July, Lao Zhou's family, Wang Jiaxiang brought his wife and children, neighbors, and the families who had gone to the mountain field with Liu Dongshan and his friends.

The doctor and midwife who delivered Lin Ruolan were all present.

"Oh, these two kids are so handsome.

Just like his father, the younger brother of the Liu family is good-looking, and these two children are also good-looking. "Old Zhou and others said immediately when they saw the children.

The two little babies of the Liu family were not very heavy when they were born, weighing only about four kilograms each.

Lin Ruolan had plenty of milk, so the two children were well fed and grew quickly. They now weigh more than ten kilograms.

The two kids are chubby and plump, with white and chubby little arms that look like lotus root nodes, which makes everyone envious.

"You are wrong, I think she looks like my brother's wife.

My sister-in-law is a real beauty, and these two children will have great futures."

Old Zhou's wife obviously disagreed with her husband's words and deliberately sang a different tune.

"Hey, Brother Zhou, sister-in-law, you two, stop fighting.

I think the two children have inherited the good qualities of Brother Liu and his wife, they are both pretty good looking and very cute.” Wang Jiaxiang acted as a peacemaker.

When the others heard this, they all laughed.

That's right, if the child doesn't take after his parents, who else can he take after? If he takes after someone else, wouldn't that cause trouble?

There were many guests, and the men spoke loudly, chatting on the north kang.

The women liked to play with the children, so they sat on the south kang for a while. When the children fell asleep, the women went to the kitchen to prepare lunch.

Centenarian banquets usually include eggs and noodles, which symbolize perfection and longevity.

Of course, those who can afford it cannot just make noodles and eggs, they also have to prepare a few other dishes.

Liu Dongshan had already ordered a lot of meat from the butcher in the market town, and he even went out of his way to buy a sheep and slaughter it.

Qu Shaoyang was also busy. He went to the Yalu River to set up nets and fish traps, and caught a lot of fish.

He also went into the woods to set traps and caught a roe deer, some rabbits, and pheasants, all of which were just enough for the banquet.

So, there is naturally nothing to choose from for today's banquet.

There are braised pork elbow, stewed river fish, rabbit meat stewed with pine mushrooms, chicken nuggets stewed with potatoes, clear-boiled lamb, stir-fried lamb with green onions, scrambled eggs with black fungus, fried peanuts, pig ears with cucumber, and roe deer meat in sauce, exactly ten dishes, both cold and hot.

In July, the weather is still quite hot and it is too stuffy to cook in the house.

So Liu Dongshan built a shed in the yard in advance and set up two pots.

Most of the dishes that need to be stewed over high heat are cooked in the yard, and a few stir-fried dishes are cooked indoors.

A lot of people came to help, and with everyone working together, the meal was ready quickly.

Before the meal started, the midwife, Mrs. Sun, brought a bowl of mutton soup, picked up the two children, and carefully fed them the mutton soup.

This is the rule passed down by the older generation. Once a child is over 100 years old, he or she can be given more food.

The first meal a baby should have is mutton soup, which is said to help smell the intestines and prevent worms from getting in the baby’s stomach in the future.

Regardless of whether there is scientific reason for this or not, it has been passed down this way for many years and everyone agrees with it.

You know what, these two kids have really big mouths. Sun used a small spoon to feed them soup, and the two kids really smacked the soup and drank it with great relish.

"Great, that's great. These two children will definitely have good food and be easier to raise in the future." Everyone laughed.

(End of this chapter)