It's hard for my elder sister. I rely on the mountains to farm and pay off my debts.

After Song Zhi sent the women away, she began to prepare lunch. Not long after, Wu and her uncle returned from the drying yard carrying bamboo baskets, followed by the boy who delivered the cart.

Coincidentally, when the young man entered the village to ask for directions, he happened to ask a few people who were returning home, and he happened to bring them back home.

Hearing the call from her grandmother in the yard, Song Zhi put down the dough kneading work. When she saw the boy outside the door, she immediately went back to her room to get the silver and paid the remaining balance.

"Thank you, young man. You've taken the trouble to come here. It's hot now, so I'll use this little money to treat you to some tea." After saying that, he gave the waiter another five cents.

The young man was very happy to receive the hard work fee and kept expressing gratitude.

Song Zhi said with a smile on her face, "Brother, have you seen the cement road in our village? If you have the chance to help mention the cement road in our village to others, I would be very grateful."

When the young man entered the village, he was indeed amazed by the roads there. Hearing Song Zhi's words, he subconsciously asked, "What material is this cement road made of? Why is it so smooth and flat?"

This was the first time in his life that he had seen a road better than the bluestone road in the county town!

Seeing the other party's interest, Song Zhi's smile widened as she introduced it to him, "This is called a cement road. It's paved with cement and gravel. This cement can not only make a flat road like this, but it can also be used to plaster walls and build houses. Not only are there many uses for it, but the price is also very reasonable."

"If your family needs this cement, you can come to our village to order it. The workshop that produces this cement is right here in our village. There's no other one like it anywhere else."

After all, the boy had worked in a shop before, so he smartly promised to come and buy it if he needed it.

Seeing her granddaughter taking advantage of every opportunity to promote her products, Mrs. Wu shook her head in amusement.

When Song Zhi saw her grandmother looking at her with a smile, she felt that her intentions just now were too obvious.

She scratched her head sheepishly and said, "This guy works in the city. If I introduce him to her, maybe he can bring some business to the workshop!"

Mrs. Wu didn't continue the topic, but asked, "The summer harvest is over, why are you thinking of buying a cart?"

Song Zhi replied, "It's needed anyway. We still have to go to the county to pay taxes later. Having a truck to transport the grain will save Uncle some money!"

"By the way, Grandma, when are we going to the county town to pay our taxes? I saw quite a few people queuing up to pay their taxes today!"

"The clan leader said we'll go tomorrow. This way, we can finish the job sooner rather than later and get the cement workshop up and running faster."

She sat down under the shade of a tree in the courtyard and continued, "It's better to get in line early, so you don't have to wait in front of the county government office for three or four days just to pay your grain tax. You can't leave, and the family will have to wait for two people upstairs."

Song Zhi knew that what her grandmother said was true. In her original memory, her uncle and elder brother had gone to the government to pay grain.

The grain had clearly been dried thoroughly, but the county official deliberately made things difficult for people by saying that the wheat was not dry enough and asked them to go to the drying yard to continue drying it.

Once they are deliberately made difficult for us, we won't be able to come back for three to five days. One person is definitely not enough to dry and watch the wheat. At least two people are needed to be together.

In addition, due to the frequent wars, there was already little labor in the family, and this delay would delay the farm work at home.

Because of this, Mrs. Wu was so anxious that she kept wiping away tears, but she could do nothing about it.

Song Youshan had obviously thought of something, and he wanted to comfort his mother, saying, "Mom, don't worry. The county magistrate is a good official now, and he will definitely not allow the officials under him to exploit the people as they did before."

These words really touched Wu's heart.

She stopped talking, suddenly remembering what the Wang family steward had told her before she left. "Oh, Ah Zhi, the Wang family steward just told me to tell you that his daughter wants to see you. If you go to the county tomorrow, why don't you go and see her?"

Song Zhi didn't know what Wang Wanzhi wanted to talk to her about, but she nodded to show that she understood.

After talking about some trivial matters, Song Zhi suddenly suggested: "Grandma, how about we buy all this mountain land behind our house?"

"The mountain land behind our house is not ten acres, but at least seven or eight acres. Our house is already built, so why did we buy so much more mountain land?"

Song Zhi counted on her fingers and said to Wu, "Grandma, I think our three acres of land is too little!"

"Every year we have to rent some land from the Wang family to cultivate. Although Mr. Wang has reduced the rent for our family, my uncle and elder brother work so hard all year, and now we have to give up half of it. I feel reluctant to do so."

"This mountain land is barren now, but we now have a new way to make fertilizer!"

"After this period of work is over, everyone can go to the mountains to scrape up some rotten soil and dead branches and leaves. Even if there are no fruit peels, we can still use some rotten vegetable leaves."

"This place is right next to a mountain stream, which will not only make irrigation easier, but it's also right behind our house, making it very convenient for farm management."

"The soil fertility of this mountain land is a little poor now, but if there is enough fertilizer, we can cover it with fertilizer and sow some beans. When the autumn harvest comes, we will also have a harvest."

It’s not that Song Zhi doesn’t want to buy good land. On the one hand, no one in their village is selling land, so even if she wants to buy it, she can’t.

On the other hand, Song Zhi would not be willing to buy the land if it was far away from the village.

After hearing what his niece said, Song Youshan was very excited. In fact, he was still upset about the land he had sold.

Xiaokang has not yet married and had children, but he has sold the family property. It is impossible for him not to feel sad.

What farmers value most is the one and a half mu of land at home.

But it would be extremely difficult to buy back the land that had been sold before. Not to mention whether the Wang family would be willing to sell it, even if they were willing, where would he get the dozens of taels of silver to redeem those lands?

But now his niece's words instantly opened his mind.

What's the big deal about the barren mountains? As long as there is fertilizer, everything will be fine.

Almost as soon as Song Zhi finished speaking, Song Youshan said, "I think this thing can be done. The family needs to buy some more land, and mountain land is cheap. Buying five or six acres of land will only cost more than ten taels."

"If I wanted to buy good farmland with this little money, I could only afford one acre. Comparing the two, it seems buying mountain land is a good option."

In fact, Mrs. Wu also wanted to buy more land. Just as her granddaughter said, she had to pay half of the crops she had worked so hard to harvest to the owner, and she felt reluctant to do so.

She nodded without hesitation and said, "Okay, since you all think it's worth buying, then it's settled. When you return with the grain tomorrow, I'll personally go to the clan leader to discuss this matter!"