Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 23 Budgeting carefully
Early in the morning, Beijiwu woke up to find that everyone else was already up.

Today was another tiring day. Beijiwu washed his face and then went out to fetch water with a carrying pole.

On the way, we met Zhang Da Niang's son who was out fetching water.

"Brother Wu, my wheat harvest is finished. Do you need any help?"

Zhang Laoda and Zhang Laoer offered to help, wanting to have an extra meal.

Beijiwu said, "No need, I'll be done with my work today."

Upon seeing this, the two brothers greeted each other and went home.

On his way home carrying water, Beijiwu felt that the villagers had become much more friendly, though he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination.

Although some people would avoid him when they saw him, a few households greeted him with polite smiles.

Although no greeting was given, the attitude was conveyed.

When Beijiwu returned home, Xianglan was feeding the horse grass. Gao Cong and her daughter came over to help with the work and brought back some firewood from outside.

"Brother Wu."

"Daddy!"

Seeing the two people who had come to freeload a meal, Beijiwu asked, "Did Ai Dake harvest the wheat yesterday?"

Gao Conglian said, "He went back and cooked some more wheat before going to sleep. When I came out, he was cooking."

Beijiwu thought this kind of person was hopeless; if the government didn't provide him with a wife, he would never be able to get married in his life.

After getting married and having children, his weak character will be exposed within a few years. In addition, the entanglements between villagers will become increasingly deep, and sooner or later he will be the kind of good-for-nothing who is devoured first.

"Don't worry about whether he lives or dies. If you can't bear to leave your children at home, then continue living there. If you can, then come and live with us."

Arctic Martial gave Gao Conglian a choice, but it was more of an angry response to Ai Dake's refusal to help him yesterday.

Gao Conglian hesitated for a moment, then quickly asked, "Can you bring the baby along? The baby hasn't been weaned yet."

“Sure.” Beijiwu didn’t mind; it would be a good opportunity for the girls to learn how to take care of children.

Children are both a source of labor and a helper.

Arctic Martial Arts is not worried about not understanding widows with children.

The reason they can't handle it is because they're afraid to force it; if they did, it would be the same as nothing.

If you give someone the opportunity to refuse, they will most likely refuse. For example, Gao Conglian was originally sold here and had no connection with her original family. If you insist on giving her the favor of taking care of the child, she will naturally choose to take care of the child.

Beijiwu realized that his moral standards were out of step with the times, but unable to convince himself, he continued to allow the twenty-three or twenty-four-year-old woman to take care of her unweaned child.

The food problem remains serious, and now there are three more mouths to feed.

"Just take one child. If you take another one, then you can all go back and continue your miserable lives."

Gao Conglian nodded quickly, "I know, Brother Wu, you've had it tough too. I know what's good for you. Once the child is a little older, I'll have a child for you."

Beijiwu didn't want to have children so early, and looked at this rather pretty woman with a bit of curiosity.

"You look good. Where are you from before?"

Gao Conglian looked sad and said aggrievedly, "My family used to be craftsmen in Jinzhou City, so we could at least have enough to eat. Later, the bandits even took the craftsmen, and I was left to survive. I was sold from one group to another, and finally I went with that person."

Arctic Martial asked, "What skills do you possess?"

Gao Conglian replied, "I learned to twist hemp and weave cloth from my family. I made hemp bags for transporting grain during wartime, as well as straw hats, mats, and was also diligent in washing clothes and cooking. I could also make pickled vegetables."

Arctic Martial felt somewhat better, at least the person who was eating him was indeed quite capable, able to make all sorts of things he currently needed.

"Then you can stay here and make more burlap sacks and mats."

Gao Conglian nodded and then asked, "Aren't you going to make some pickles and salted vegetables for the winter? I see there's a lot of salt in the kitchen."

Beijiwu said, "You can decide what to do. If you're too busy, have Li Hong help you take care of the children. You can also learn how to take care of children."

Li Hong came out of the house and said, "Brother, don't worry, I can take care of the children. I raised my younger brother and sister from a young age, and I can have a baby right now!"

Li Hong, who is already eighteen, is very worried about her health. She is eighteen years old and if she doesn't have a child soon, she will really be too old.

Moreover, everyone else was giving away money, but we suffered a loss because of Arctic Martial, wasting so much wheat and not getting any dowry.

Li Hong is very anxious now and wants to have a child as soon as possible to prove her worth.

Beijiwu said, "No rush, let's eat quickly, I still have to go out to work."

"Okay!" Li Hong and the others went to get the food.

Gao Conglian went back to take care of the children, while her youngest daughter, Xidan, stood obediently to the side, waiting for everyone else to finish eating before she could use an empty bowl.

Beijiwu didn't act too kind this time, otherwise all the women and children in the village would have come over to freeload a meal.

After finishing his meal, Beijiwu rode his horse off to work.

On the way, Beijiwu looked at the nearby wasteland.

"Women can also grow vegetables, and harvesting wheat and grain is just a little slower, but it's not impossible."

“I can’t pay for all their food expenses; they should also contribute a portion themselves. That’s the responsibility of family members.”

Beijiwu looked around at the nearby fields again. "It's too difficult to cultivate the fields on the mountain. The fields along the road here are much better. This year, I'll try to cultivate ten acres, and thirty acres will be just enough."

"Raise a few chickens, a few sheep, and save up for more than a year to buy a cow, and life will be comfortable."

"With more and more women in the family, the burden is getting heavier and heavier, and sooner or later there will be a day when we can't hold on anymore."

"They need to be made to work. They can cook, wash clothes, tidy up the house, weave cloth, raise chickens, or carry water to make some handicrafts and linen that can be sold." "A burlap sack is worth twenty copper coins, which is equivalent to more than ten catties of millet."

"A pair of straw sandals costs three coins a day, and the economic value of a pair is about one tael of grain per year. If you eat two jin of grain every day, then seven hundred jin of grain a year would only amount to less than two taels of grain."

"It's still a bit of a loss..."

Beijiwu pondered that the value provided by each girl must be higher than five coins to justify the three meals a day.

"That's right. Besides weaving straw sandals, they can also wash clothes, cook, dig wild vegetables, collect wild fruits in the mountains, and collect rush and hemp to make hemp ropes and other tools."

"You can also serve me."

Beijiwu thought about his four daughters, one wife and one daughter. Although he would also have to raise someone else's son, he could eventually raise cattle to work for him, the landlord.

"When I have more land in the future, I will definitely need to hire people to work for me. Consider this an investment."

Being alone is indeed boring. Beijiwu feels that although he is a bit tired now, he has something to do and can live a comfortable life when he goes home.

Especially in winter when heavy snow closes off the mountains, it's more lively when there are more women in the house.

"Make sure to get more blankets too."

Thinking about the future, Beijiwu sat down and, without being urged, walked back to the familiar Wen family mansion.

When the maid of the Wen family saw Beiji Wu arrive, she politely greeted him, "Master Wu, this way please."

Beijiwu dismounted and entered the house, where he immediately saw the young mistress, Qiuyue.

"Brother Wu, you're here. Come in and have some water."

Seeing the young mistress staring intently at him, Beijiwu quickly refused, saying, "No, let's get to work early and not delay the farm work."

He already has a lot on his plate, and Beijiwu would rather raise someone else's son than have someone else raise his son for him.

Gao Qiuyue couldn't be too direct, and seeing that Beijiwu had returned the horse and was leaving, she could only wait until noon to talk about it.

Beijiwu worked diligently, and after eating his lunch, he would go outside to hide. After finishing his work in the afternoon, he would not ride the horse or the woman, but would simply take the money and leave.

"He's a true hero." The Wen Zhaohu family watched Beiji Wu leave, marveling at his honest character.

Madam Wen also sighed, "This young man is not only handsome, but also upright and honest. He is a reliable person and someone I can befriend."

Young mistress Qiuyue felt both disappointed and relieved, looking at the upright man carrying grain home with a complicated expression.

Wen Jinglun didn't mind his wife's behavior in this matter. It was originally his parents' idea, and his father even agreed to buy him another concubine to have children.

After a few years of marriage, even the most beautiful woman becomes tiresome, and Qiuyue is like a block of wood; from the very first day of our marriage, I've felt it was all meaningless.

"We'll ask him to come and help again next year. He's so poor that he can't afford wheat, but he'll still have to work for our family in the end."

Although Wen Jinglun looked down on the Arctic warriors, he knew they were a valuable source of labor. With so many fields at home, whether it was plowing or harvesting wheat, strong laborers were needed.

Even the oxen used for plowing the fields are too busy. An ox can plow two or three mu of land a day at most. The busy farming season lasts about ten days, which is about the same as the wheat harvest, or about twenty or thirty mu.

The Wen family needs five oxen just to barely make ends meet, so as not to exhaust them to death.

Beitian Village, where Beijiwu lives, currently has fewer than 30 households, and only two families own cattle, both of which have names starting with "Bei".

The cattle and the land were issued by the imperial court, but it was unknown where the court obtained them.

The rules were pretty much the same throughout history.

Five people are assigned one soldier, one soldier has fifty mu of land, and two soldiers have one ox.

The cattle belonging to the Beiji Wu family were sold by his brother to a fortune teller in the county at a low price.

Horses are more expensive than cattle and are more delicate. Horses like those of the Kitada and Kitamiya families were sold off through corruption in the military settlements, and they were usually old horses that were about to retire.

Beijiwu was carrying grain home when he suddenly heard a sound coming from the nearby bushes.

Since he hadn't brought a sickle and didn't have any suitable weapon on him, Beijiwu picked up a rock and used it as a makeshift weapon.

Wild birds?

people?
Beijiwu, too lazy to investigate the truth, quickly left the place.

I had only taken a dozen or so steps when I heard the sound of running behind me.

Beijiwu turned his head and saw a gray wild boar, about a meter tall, charging towards him with grunts.

"Damn! You're here for breeding?"

The wild boar had no tusks, but it looked very fierce and lunged at the Arctic warrior carrying the rice sack.

Arctic Martial raised his foot and stomped the pig's head on the ground.

The inertia caused the sow's rear end to stick up, but Arctic Martial single-handedly pressed it back down onto the muddy ground.

"So it was the smell of rice."

Beiji Wu grabbed the wild boar by the hind leg with one hand, dragged the boar with the other, and carried the rice sack with the other as he walked back.

Under the bright sunlight, it is indeed very dangerous for a person to carry a sack of rice on a country road.

If it were an orphan and a widow, they would be dying here today.

"It was pretty much the same road last time."

Beijiwu muttered something and walked towards the village entrance not far away.

(End of this chapter)