Transmigrated into a seven-year-old child, my fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens.

At the dinner table, Zhao Lian talked to everyone about something, specifically the issue of farming.

In early December, the potatoes and sweet potato seedlings began to wilt due to the cold weather and frost.

Seeing that these things couldn't survive in the ground, everyone had no choice but to dig them up as soon as possible.

After all, they planted at the wrong time, and with the cold weather, the first harvest of the three brothers was not good.

In comparison, the few acres of land that Zhaolian planted were quite good; the potatoes and sweet potatoes were relatively large, and the yield per acre was also high.

The yield per mu was about 500 jin higher than that of Liu Jinzhu and his group. This fully proves that the fermented farmyard manure in Zhaolian's experiment is indeed effective.

Zhao Lian thought that each of the three brothers owned 30 mu of land, which was quite a lot. It would be very tiring for them to cultivate it all themselves.

So Zhaolian gave them a suggestion: hire someone to turn the soil and plant the crops.

Hearing this, Liu Jinzhu put down his chopsticks: "Zhaolian, your uncle has inquired about it, but hiring people isn't cheap. If it's calculated by the acre, it would cost 150 coins per acre. But if it's calculated by the day, I'm afraid they'll slack off."

Liu Jinzhu had previously inquired about the market price. If he were to hire someone to cultivate the land, it would cost at least 150 wen per mu. Based on this calculation, 30 mu of land would cost nearly 5 taels of silver.

Each of the three brothers had 30 mu of land, which would amount to 14 taels of silver.

Upon hearing this, Yan Guihua refused to agree and cursed Liu Jinzhu and his family for being wasteful.

"You good-for-nothings! We've come all this way through so much trouble, and we're finally getting a decent meal. You've already forgotten the days we went hungry and thirsty on the road."

"No way! Mother absolutely refuses! Money shouldn't be spent like this. Wouldn't it be better to keep this money for ourselves? Why do we have to hire someone?"

“If you brothers work from dawn till dusk and hurry up, you can save this money. Let’s do it this way.”

Yan Guihua had been living a life of poverty for a long time, and now that she had finally turned her life around and could eat her fill, she naturally wanted to save money wherever possible.

Liu Laogen spoke up: "Your mother is right. There is no such thing as a life without blessings, only endless suffering. Only by enduring hardship and suffering can one live a good life."

Liu Jinzhu lowered his head: "Father and Mother are right!"

The brothers thought about it and agreed. In the past, their whole family couldn't even earn two taels of silver a year. They couldn't afford to spend money recklessly now that they had a little.

Besides, you can't make that much money every day in business. What if business is bad one day? You'll end up with nothing to show for it again.

So, after much thought, Liu Jinzhu and his team decided to take advantage of the workshop's holiday for the Lunar New Year and start working in the fields after the second day of the Lunar New Year to plow the land so that they could plant seeds on time in the spring.

People in the countryside believe that you shouldn't do farm work on the first day of the Lunar New Year, because it's the first day of the new year, and they say that if you work on the first day, you'll be working yourself to death all year.

So on the first day of the Lunar New Year, people rested at home. The second day of the Lunar New Year was traditionally for visiting relatives and friends, and for married women to return to their parents' home.

But since they were refugees who had fled here and had no other relatives or friends, they didn't need to visit any relatives at all.

That's why they planned to go to work in the fields on the second day of the Lunar New Year.

Watching her uncles discuss going to the fields on the second day of the Lunar New Year, Zhao Lian suddenly had an idea: "Uncle, I have an idea. Since hiring people costs a lot of money, why don't we change our approach and buy more servants? What do you think?"

"This is good, but buying servants will cost a lot of money." Liu Yinzhu hesitated again.

Zheng Xiuzhen had a different opinion: "I think Zhao Lian's idea is not bad. You only need to spend money once, and the person you buy will be obedient to you in the future."

Yan Guihua rolled her eyes at her second daughter-in-law: "You think it's so easy. We have to feed this servant we bought; one more person means one more mouth to feed in the family."

"And these dozens of acres of land, how many slaves do you plan to buy? People like us are destined to be slaves anyway, and to actually follow others and buy slaves, isn't that a sin?"

Everyone fell silent after hearing Yan Guihua's words.

However, Zhao Lian was not happy about it. She blinked her big eyes and said stubbornly, "Grandmother, who said we were born to be servants? I don't believe it."

“I’ve even been to the palace. The emperor even offered me an official position, but I don’t care. We should spend the money we need to spend. That’s called getting big results with little money.”

“This land needs to be cultivated, and the workshop needs to be opened. My uncles can also help me with the work and earn wages and commissions. I'll take care of the matter of buying servants, so you don't need to worry about it.”

Zhao Lian realized that Yan Guihua was just afraid of spending money. She had already planned to buy a few servants herself, pay for their food and drink, and they could also help her uncle and the others with their work.

"Alright! Then I'll do as you say." Seeing that Zhao Lian had already said this much, Yan Guihua didn't say anything more.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Zhao Lian prepared several gift boxes, planning to first visit Song Ting's place, then the Qiao family, and while she was there, she would also check if the brokerage firm was open and buy a few servants.

As for Song Wenjie, Zhao Lian guessed that he must be with Song Ting right now, which was good, saving her from having to make another trip.

"Little sister, how about I go with you?"

Knowing that Zhao Lian was going out, Zhao Di immediately perked up. She hadn't been anywhere else since she arrived!

"Okay! Then you can come with me."

Zhao Lian didn't object and agreed to let Zhao Di follow her.

佟府

Festive couplets were pasted on the gate of the Tong residence, and two large red lanterns hung above the gate, with a "福" (good fortune) character pasted on them.

Looking at the grand and imposing house in front of her, Zhao Di felt a little nervous.

Happy New Year, Uncle!

After knocking on the door, Zhao Lian greeted the doorman with New Year's greetings.

Upon seeing Zhao Lian, the doorman's eyes lit up: "You must be Miss Zhao Lian!"

Zhang Ling looked surprised and immediately asked, "How did you know?"

"Madam has been talking about you since early this morning, and she specifically told me to open the door for you!"

Zhao Lian felt a warmth in her heart; it turned out that Song Ting had already guessed that she was coming.

Butler Wu took Zhaolian to the flower hall and then announced the arrival of the guests.

Upon hearing that Zhao Lian had arrived, Song Ting was overjoyed and quickly came out of the side room, followed by an eighty- or ninety-year-old boy.

Song Ting was fair-skinned and beautiful, with features that resembled her godmother Yang Mei. Upon seeing Zhao Lian, she immediately smiled and said, "Zhao Lian, I've been waiting for you! Your brother Song has something to do today and won't be coming back. I thought you weren't coming either."

"Happy New Year, elder sister! I wish you a prosperous business and good fortune. I also wish you beauty every day and good health!" Zhao Lian imitated the way modern people greet others for the New Year, saying all the nice things.

Song Ting laughed heartily: "Haha~ You little rascal, you really know how to talk."