My sister became the empress, but I'm still growing vegetables and raising chickens

Without waiting for lunch to be over, I went to deliver a meal to Mrs. Zhu.

I also paid attention to her thatched hut and felt that Mrs. Zhu did not accept food from others and did not cook.

He felt even more guilty. He shouldn't have asked his elder sister yesterday and insisted on delivering the meal. After all, the family didn't lack a bowl of rice now.

As for the younger sister who didn't like Mrs. Zhu, she pulled Aunt Jin and Si Xingzhi aside and repeatedly warned them not to let Mrs. Zhu get close to Xiaoxiaer.

At lunchtime, Si Muyan took out a handful of copper coins and said, "Everyone has been working so hard recently. Here's your pocket money, five coins each. Dad, give my second sister's money when you go visit Xiaoxia later. I won't give it to you since Mom won't need it for now. My little sister has done a great job, so I'll give her an extra three coins."

When Aunt Jin heard this, she quickly said, "No, no, no, how can I ask for money? This is the money you earned."

Si Muyan said: "It's just a different division of labor. Everyone in the family works hard, so how can we not give money? Take the money well. It's not much now, but when you make more money in the future, you will get more pocket money."

"This……"

My younger sister and younger brother had already convinced themselves on the way, and they smiled when they saw this: "We've earned a lot today, so Aunt Jin shouldn't refuse."

Aunt Jin was so moved that she sighed and said, "When I served Madam in the past, she would sometimes reward me with money for doing something good for me. That was a long time ago. I never thought that I would receive a reward from the eldest lady now."

Of course, the Si family was still a marquisate back then, and Shao Qin was very generous, especially to Aunt Jin, the personal maid who grew up with him. Every time Shao Qin gave her a reward, it was at least a few silver coins.

Copper coins? Aunt Jin had never seen copper coins before.

But after so many years of hardship, it was good to have a few copper coins in hand. As for silver, she hadn't seen it for many years.

Seeing that they had collected the money, Si Muyan continued, "There's one more thing. Dad, do you remember when my eldest brother was around, what was the price we paid when we hired people to work on our fields during the busy farming season?"

"I don't remember." Si Xingzhi was surprised just after he finished answering, "Sister, what do you mean? Are you planning to..."

Ask someone to collect food?

Aunt Jin was the first to object: "How can this be possible? Miss, you have only just earned a little money, and there are so many things at home that need money. How can we afford to hire someone?"

Si Muyan said: "How else can we finish it?"

Thirty acres of land, not to mention Si Xingzhi, even the second brother in ex-wife would be too busy to handle it.

At that time, in order to save money, my second brother, Aunt Jin, Si Muyan, and my second sister worked together from dawn to dusk, and often could not finish the work.

This was only possible because there were kind families in the village who were willing to lend their cattle to the Si family, and because there were families who had a good relationship with the second brother, seeing that the Si family had only women doing the work, they were willing to come and help, and the grain was barely collected.

This year, my second sister needs someone to take care of her during her confinement, and Si Muyan and the others are running their own business. Who can do the work?

Si Muyan said, "I've thought about it. Now that I've made some money, I shouldn't deal with the food myself. I'm too busy to do it."

Si Xingzhi frowned and thought for a long time before saying, "I'll go ask the village head this afternoon."

Si Muyan nodded. "Okay, ask clearly how many people are needed for how many days in our situation, and how much it will cost if we take it all out. Also, because we don't have the money to pay at the moment, we'll pay them day by day. Once everything is done, we'll give each person an extra twenty coins."

Do you want to pay more?

Aunt Jin's mouth twitched with heartache.

Si Muyan said, "Second brother worked so hard to grow so much food. We have to harvest it properly. We can't let it rot in the fields, right?"

Aunt Jin said, "But, other people's taxes are 15%, and ours is 30%..."

"Yes, if we collect it ourselves, I estimate that what we collect will only be enough to cover the taxes. Wouldn't that be even worse?"

In reality, the Si family had been exiled and reduced to commoners. Unless they were taking the imperial examination, they wouldn't be accused of being criminals. When my eldest brother was still alive, our grain tax was the same as everyone else's, at 15%. But after my eldest brother died, the authorities suddenly declared us criminals, and the tax doubled to 30%.

When talking about this matter, everyone felt heavy and uncomfortable.

During dinner, Si Xingzhi told Si Xingzhi that he had hired someone to prepare everything and that the food would be delivered in bags, which would cost two and a half taels of silver in total.

This amount is not small. If they mix brown rice and old rice, add wild vegetables, etc. and eat them sparingly, they can buy rice for half a year.

But think about it, after the rice in the fields is harvested, after paying the taxes, it can be exchanged for brown rice, which can be eaten frugally for a year.

It’s still a good deal when you calculate it this way.

Si Muyan smiled and said, "Okay, we'll work hard these few days to earn money to pay them. When the grain is harvested, we'll earn money to pay off the debt. From then on, all the money we earn will be ours."

After hearing this, everyone became excited again.

Si Xingzhi asked, "When we plant the seeds next year, will we also need to hire someone?"

Si Muyan shook her head: "Next year, let's rent out all 30 acres of land."

The village is full of farmers, and the land can't be rented out for much. Generally, land is rented out only when the young men in the family have left and there's no one to farm it. After all, for farmers, land is their lifeblood.

Those who rent land are either new movers or have not been able to buy suitable fertile land. Renting fertile land that has already been cultivated by others is also a good choice.

"Rent it out?"

Si Muyan said: "We can just grow vegetables in the future, and we won't rely on farming for a living."

For several days in a row, the porridge business was very good. White porridge, meat porridge and wonton porridge were fixed. Si Muyan added vegetables to the meat porridge, making it vegetable and meat porridge.

The remaining clay pot is used to make broth porridge in various ways: chicken porridge today, mutton porridge tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow...

In short, it’s not the same again.

Of course, the price will be much higher.

But the porridge at Si Muyan's house tastes good, and many people in the county who have money and love porridge are willing to try it.

Several days later, other porridge vendors appeared at the morning market, but their varieties were not as wide as Si Muyan's, and they did not change the porridge every day.

But it did affect the business. Before the morning market was halfway through, the Si family's porridge was almost sold out, but now they have to wait until the morning market is almost over to sell out all of it - but fortunately, it has all been sold out.

The younger sister was worried about this: "Sister, if this continues, will our business get worse?"

Si Muyan smiled and said, "It's becoming stable now. There won't be any more fluctuations. Unless the weather is bad, then we'll only do half of it."

After saying that, she looked at her stall and found that it was missing a awning.