Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

After the meal, Zhang Youtie and Liu Shi escorted Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma to the small house next to the shrimp pond. They also brought them two buckets, two basins, face towels, and other items so that they could wash up temporarily.

Liu was meticulous and specifically instructed Uncle Ma to pay attention to Aunt Ma's safety. The hut was right by the pond, and there was no fence around it at the moment. Aunt Ma's eyesight wasn't good, so she had to be careful not to fall into the pond. After giving her these instructions, Zhang Youtie arranged for Uncle Ma to catch 100 catties of shrimp and put them in several buckets by dawn the next morning. He was going to deliver them to restaurants in the town and county.

Upon hearing Zhang Youtie's words, Uncle Ma said

“Master, how about I go with you tomorrow? Then you won’t have to go through all that trouble. I can deliver it every morning.”

Zhang Youtie was also somewhat tempted, but after glancing at the shrimp pond, he suddenly remembered Aunt Ma's eye condition and said, "I'll take her for the next few days. Aunt Ma's eyesight isn't good, and she's only just arrived in this new place; she's not familiar with the surroundings yet. Besides, the pond doesn't have a fence, and it's not safe for her to be here alone. Once the fences are in place and Aunt Ma is more familiar with the area, then you can take her there."

Hearing how Zhang Youtie had taken such good care of Aunt Ma, Uncle Ma was filled with gratitude. However, he was not good with words and could only silently remember the kindness his master had shown to him and his wife.

After settling Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma in, Zhang Youtie and his wife walked hand in hand back to their home. As they walked on the wasteland, they discussed some issues related to digging the pond. The most important point was that the road needed to be leveled, otherwise it would be difficult to walk on when it rained or snowed.

Back home, Xia Yu had already cleaned the kitchen. Before going to bed, the group sat down together again to discuss the things the family needed to do in the coming period. Xia Yu remembered the high-ranking official's plan to build a garden and mentioned it to his father.

“Father, the big official in town wants to build that garden. I heard the daily wage is thirty coins, not including meals. They’ve already started recruiting. We need to find someone to dig the pond, but we might not be able to find anyone for twenty-three coins a day. Maybe we should pay them more.”

"Then how much do you think is appropriate to pay a day?" Although Zhang Youtie had been busy these past few days, he had heard about the recruitment in town. However, these days they were only selecting skilled craftsmen. Ordinary workers had not been officially recruited yet, but the information released was that the daily wage was thirty coins.

"How about we give her twenty-eight coins a day, plus lunch? Xiaxia and I don't have much to do right now, and cooking lunch won't be tiring," Liu suggested.

“I think it’s a good idea. We can use wheat flour as the staple food and add more oil and water when cooking. The dishes will be more flavorful, and a meal will cost more than two coins.” Zhang Youtie agreed with Liu’s suggestion.

"Dad, how many more ponds are you planning to dig? And how many more people will you need to hire to work?" Xia Yu asked the crucial question.

“Let’s dig three more, two for shrimp ponds and one for fish ponds. We’ll also build a road while we’re at it. I’m also thinking of building two more houses for Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma. It’s okay for them to live in that thatched huts now that it’s hot, but they won’t be suitable when the weather gets cooler. We’ll hire thirty workers, I think that’ll be enough.”

Xia Yu silently calculated in her mind that although cooking lunch for over thirty people with her mother was a bit tight, she could ask her older sister and Qiu Yu to come and help, and they could manage. Most importantly, she could grow vegetables in her space, and the wheat that had just been harvested at home was still stored, so she didn't need to spend extra money on these; she could just buy some meat from the market.

“Okay, Dad. Mom and I can cook without any problem. Tomorrow, let’s find someone to build a stove for Uncle Ma’s place. Then Aunt Ma can boil the water for the workers there, saving Mom and me the trouble of delivering it. Also, don’t forget to buy a big water vat.”

"Okay, I've written it all down. I'll buy some more when I deliver the shrimp tomorrow. Let me think about what I might have forgotten." Zhang Youtie couldn't write, but he silently memorized everything his daughter and daughter-in-law said.

"Father, Mother, I have something else I want to ask you," Xia Yu said hesitantly.

"What's wrong? What's so hard about talking to your parents?" Zhang Youtie said with a smile.

"If I were to grow wheat in the space, would we have a place to dry and thresh it?" Xia Yu asked with a somewhat awkward expression.

A few days ago, when she was harvesting wheat, she planted a few grains in her spatial dimension, and they grew very well. However, there was one inconvenience: the wheat in her spatial dimension couldn't be threshed with her mind. This task had to be done manually. She had just heard her father say that they were going to eat only white flour, and she was worried that if they ran out of white flour at home, even if she grew wheat in her spatial dimension, she wouldn't be able to take it out and thresh it openly.

“Our yard is too small to thresh the wheat.” Zhang Youtie quickly understood why his daughter asked that question after hearing her words, so he smiled and said, “We haven’t sold any of our wheat this year, enough to feed us for several years. Even if we eat all wheat flour this time, we won’t finish it, so don’t worry.”

"Oh, then I'm relieved." Hearing her father say that, Xia Yu stopped worrying. Since there was enough to eat, she didn't need to worry about food anymore. She could just grow vegetables in her space.

After discussing the most important matters at hand, the group washed up and went to bed.

The next day, when Xia Yu woke up, Zhang Youtie had already taken the shrimp to the county town and surrounding villages. The night before, before going to bed, Xia Yu had scattered all sorts of vegetable seeds on the ground in her space—cucumbers, eggplants, tomatoes, green beans, and she also planted two or three bell peppers and cucumbers. Since Lord Shen hadn't replied, she dared not use all the seeds.

After eating the food that Liu had left for her in the kitchen, she picked all the ripe vegetables from her space, sorted them into baskets, took out a little of each to eat that day, and stored the rest in her space to keep them fresh.

Around nine o'clock in the morning, Zhang Youtie returned in his oxcart. He unloaded a large piece of pork from the cart.

"Dad, did you buy this from Uncle's stall?"

"Yeah, after delivering the shrimp today, I went to the West City Market and bought them from your uncle's stall. On my way back just now, I turned into the kiln and asked for a big water vat. They'll deliver it to you soon. I've already paid for it. When the person delivers it, have them take it directly to Uncle Ma's place."

"Okay, are you still going out?"

“I’m going to the village chief’s house to ask him to help me find some people,” Zhang Youtie said, unloading the cart and leading the cow into the cowshed. “Cut off two pounds of fat for me; it won’t look good if I go empty-handed.”

Hearing his father say this, Xia Yu quickly ran to the kitchen and cut off the fattier part from the large piece of pork on the counter, weighing at least two jin. While the father and daughter were busy working, Liu returned from outside, wearing a straw hat and carrying a small shovel, indicating that she had gone to work in the fields.

Seeing Zhang Youtie carrying a piece of meat skewered with straw rope, he asked him curiously what he was going to do with it.

“I went to Uncle Village Chief’s house and asked him to help me find people to do the work. It felt strange to go empty-handed, so I cut two pounds of fatty meat.”

“It doesn’t look good for you to carry it like that. Let Xiaxia go with you. Xiaxia, go and carry the small basket.” Madam Liu felt that if others saw her carrying meat to their door in broad daylight, it would inevitably cause gossip, so she let Xiayu carry the small basket with her.

"You're so thoughtful." Zhang Youtie always praised his wife.

Hearing him say that, Liu was naturally pleased. Regardless of whether he meant it sincerely, everyone likes to hear nice things. After Xia Yu carried the small basket out, Liu put the meat at the bottom of the basket, covered it with a clean floral cloth, and then saw the father and daughter out the door.