A tragic journey through ancient times, trying to make money

"I remember that a family in the village also bought wasteland. At that time, wasteland was 2 taels of silver per mu. The wasteland on the west side was quite large, probably about ten mu."

"Grandpa, let's buy all of these ten acres of land. It will be convenient even if we need to expand or something in the future."

Father Zhang: "Father, I agree to buy them all, otherwise I'm afraid some people in the village will have other ideas in the future. Let's take precautions in advance."

Grandpa Zhang: "Okay, I'll go ask the village chief later."

"Oh, Grandpa, we should build this house out of adobe, wood, or brick. After all, everything will be stored there. Also, the warehouse must be built big, otherwise there won't be enough peppers to store. If it rains heavily, they will all be flooded, which will be a huge loss."

"I suggest building a brick house. If you don't have a deposit of 200 taels, then you can only build an adobe house. Since we have enough money now, let's just build it. A brick house will cost about to taels. What do you think?"

Zhang Yunyue nodded. If we are going to build one, we should build the best one. A brick house can last for at least several decades. "I think so too. When the time comes, we will find more people from the village and build the workshop as soon as possible."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Mother, let's go to the earthenware workshop in Qiaojia Village tomorrow to order the pottery jars first. When the pottery jars are ready, the house will probably be ready soon. Second Aunt, I won't go to sell mung bean jelly tomorrow. My eldest brother will go with you then."

Zhang's mother: "Okay, we'll go early tomorrow morning."

Zhu: "It's okay. The family will be busy soon. You know what needs to be done at home. Just stay at home. We can go to town. Don't worry."

"The family will be busy next. We need to buy raw materials such as peppers, spices, and vegetable oil. Now let the news of buying peppers and peanuts go out. The price is the price in town. Fortunately, the peppers will be harvested soon. We have to stock up more peppers this year, otherwise we won't be able to make chili oil next year.

If we cooperate with the oil mill in town, we should be able to get a lower price for rapeseed oil. I will plan my family affairs in the next two days and go to town to discuss it in a few days."

"Okay, I'll go find the village chief and ask about the wasteland. Once it's confirmed, I'll go ask for help this afternoon. I'll buy bricks tomorrow and start work as soon as possible. Fortunately, there's still more than a month before the busy farming season, otherwise I wouldn't be able to find anyone."

"Grandpa, just pay the workers 20 cents a day. There are too many people, and food will be a big issue. We are short-handed at home and have to go to town. Just pay a little more and we won't provide food."

Grandpa Zhang nodded, then took the silver and walked towards the village chief's house.

The village chief's house.

"Village chief, village chief, are you home?" Grandpa Zhang shouted outside the yard.

The village head's wife heard someone calling outside the door and came over to open the door: "Who is it? It's Uncle Zhang. Come in, please sit down first. I'll go find my head of the family."

"I have something to discuss with the village chief." Grandpa Zhang said.

The village chief's wife called the village chief, who was chatting under the big banyan tree in the center of the village, back home, "Grandpa Yueyue wants to see you for something, he's waiting at home!"

"Uncle Zhang, I'm sorry. We were just chatting outside. Is there anything you want to talk to me about today?" said Village Chief Zhang.

"That's right, Village Chief. You know that my family has been making mung bean jelly recently, and the people in the town like it very much, especially the chili oil in the mung bean jelly. We then sold the chili oil separately.

Unexpectedly, it turned out to be quite popular. The owner of Tianxianglou in the town ordered chili oil from us. Because the quantity is large and there is not enough space at home, he wants to buy a piece of land in the village to build a chili workshop. If the workshop needs people, he will also find people in the village. "

After hearing what Grandpa Zhang said, Village Chief Zhang was surprised. He thought that a workshop was going to be built in the village and people were to be recruited.

"Uncle Zhang, are you serious? You really want to build a workshop in the village and hire people."

"Have you ever seen your Uncle Zhang lie? It must be true. I plan to ask the villagers to plant more peppers in the future. We will harvest as many as we can.

But let’s not talk about this for now. The wasteland to the west of my house has no owner. I looked at about 10 acres of land and I want to buy it.”

Village Chief Zhang thought about the wasteland west of his home that Grandpa Zhang mentioned, "Oh, the wasteland Uncle Zhang mentioned, that has no owner. How big is it exactly? Wait a minute, I'll go check it out."

After saying that, Village Chief Zhang went into the house, took out the book that recorded the land of Zhangjia Village from the inner room, went to the yard, and then found the wasteland that Grandpa Zhang mentioned.

"Uncle Zhang, the wasteland is actually 11 acres according to the book. If you are sure you want to buy that land, we will remeasure it later. I will go to the town to get the land deed for you tomorrow."

"Okay, by the way, Village Chief, how much is one acre of wasteland now?"

"Now wasteland is 2 taels of silver per mu, and it also takes 2 taels of silver to get a land deed."

"Okay, let's go measure it now. It won't waste time. We are in a hurry to build a workshop."

Then Grandpa Zhang followed Village Chief Zhang to the wasteland, measured the area, which was actually 11 and a half acres, and then returned to Village Chief Zhang's house.

"Uncle Zhang, the measurement shows that there are 11 and a half acres. Since the book says 11 acres, I will still calculate it based on 11 acres, a total of 22 taels of silver, plus 2 taels of silver for the land deed, a total of 24 taels of silver."

Grandpa Zhang took out the silver in his hand and gave 25 taels of silver to the village chief.

"Uncle Zhang, you..."

"Take it. Use the remaining money to buy some wine. Oh, and I'll ask you to help me recruit 30 or 40 people from the village. They should be hardworking and not cunning. Once the land deed is issued, we can speed up the construction of the house."

Village Chief Zhang knew that Grandpa Zhang would not take back the extra money, so he took it without hesitation. "Don't worry, Uncle Zhang, I will go and find you some people in a while, and you can start the work tomorrow. I will bring the land deed back to you at noon, so it won't be a problem."

"Okay, that's troublesome. Just find some good people and ask them to come to the wasteland early tomorrow morning. They will dig the foundation first, and I will buy the bricks and tiles tomorrow.

The town is hiring workers for 15 wen a day, but there are too many people and it is troublesome to cook, so we will hire people for 20 wen a day. The village chief will let them know when the time comes. "

"Okay, I'll tell them then, but they should be very happy."

"Then I'll go back first. I have a lot of things to do at home."

As soon as Grandpa Zhang left, Village Chief Zhang went to every household in the village looking for him.

"Yueyue, I have already discussed the wasteland with the village chief. The wasteland is 11 and a half acres, and the village chief calculated the 11 acres. The money has been paid. In addition, the village chief said that we can start the construction first, and the land deed can be returned tomorrow at noon. As for the recruitment, I have also asked the village chief to find people. The village chief can find them today, and we will gather directly at the wasteland tomorrow."