After dressing up as a stepmother, I transformed the whole family into working in the fields

After the short day's rest, Liu Ji took his living expenses and rushed back to the academy.

This time Qin Yao sent him to Jinshi Town, and then he walked to the county seat himself.

When Qin Yao returned, she bought a lot of daily necessities and asked about any news about land sales in the town.

Land is the most important asset for ordinary people, and most people are unwilling to sell it until they are desperate.

Because he bought meat frequently, and each time he bought more than two pounds, the butcher in the town already recognized Qin Yao. When he heard her asking about selling land, he asked her to go directly to the county pawn shop to ask.

"But be careful. Those guys in the pawn shop are all human beings. Be careful not to be deceived by them." The butcher warned.

Qin Yao had never thought that there was a pawn shop, so she curiously asked: "Don't pawn shops collect pawned items? Do they also sell land?"

"You don't understand this." The butcher brother said with a smile: "Think about it, what is the most valuable thing in ordinary people's homes?"

Gold, silver, and soft things can only be used by young ladies from wealthy families. What else can ordinary people pawn besides land?

Qin Yao suddenly realized that this was the case.

In this case, there must be a lot of land deeds pressed in the pawn shop.

The butcher continued: "But if someone in your village wants to sell land, it would be better to buy it with someone from the same village."

The two places that ordinary people are most taboo about going to are government offices and pawn shops. It's better not to go there if you can.

"Thank you, brother butcher." Qin Yao paid for the meat, took the three kilograms of meat she just bought, nodded gratefully to the butcher, and turned to leave.

But when Qin Yao went to Liujia Village and inquired, no one wanted to sell the land for the time being, so he put aside the matter of buying the land.

She plans to ask again before the spring of next year. In January or February, when the stored grain is used up and the wheat has not yet grown, someone may want to sell the land.

But Qin Yao doesn't want the land that is too bad. If she wants to buy it, she can buy it. At least it should be as good as the fertile land she is renting now. Whether she grows it herself or wants to sell it out of desperation, it will be more valuable.

Of course, good land is also expensive. She asked Old Man Liu that the ten acres of good land rented to her by Liu Dafu could be sold for between eighty taels and ten taels per acre.

After doing this calculation, Qin Yao found that with the one hundred taels of silver in her hand, she could only afford about ten acres.

Instead of buying it now at a high price, it is better to wait and see if there are better opportunities. At the same time, you can save more money and strive to get it right in one step.

If you buy more, you can even negotiate a wholesale price!

Having made up her mind, Qin Yao did not plan to touch the one hundred taels of silver on hand for the time being, and concentrated on running the water mill.

In a blink of an eye, half a month passed.

At the water mill, the workers have mastered the production process, and the assembly line production has begun to show results.

According to the current production speed, the thirty sets of small water mills can be delivered as scheduled in mid-October.

Carpenter Liu was also much more relaxed. Together with Qin Yao and Shunzi, who was selected by Qin Yao, he joined in the sales work and visited the town and other villages from time to time.

While maintaining old customers, we develop new customers, and we can bring back an order every two or three days.

Although it is not as good as Qin Yao's seventeen sets at once, the trickle is continuous and very stable.

Li was leading people to collect grain taxes, and the village was lively for several days.

This year is a good harvest year, and grain taxes are much lower than in the past. Reluctance is rarely seen on the faces of the people.

However, for families with a large population and little land, the one-fifteenth grain tax is still a huge pressure on them.

Qin Yao's family had little land, so they paid more than 190 kilograms of grain, and they were done with just two loads.

Old Man Liu's family has a lot. This year they planted 110 acres, with a total harvest of 24,200 jins including shells. They should pay 1,600 jins of grain tax, leaving a balance of more than 22,500 jins.

This year the county has had a bumper harvest, and grain prices have dropped extremely low. Liu Dafu's family only sold three cents per kilogram of grain, half less than last year.

Old Han Liu's family sold all the remaining food after excluding their own family's food for a year, which could be sold for forty-eight taels of silver.

There are nine people in the family, including Qiu's family soon, and ten in the next year. If there are no other taxes, then it can be considered a good life.

There are no natural or man-made disasters, and if you save for a few years, you can achieve a moderately prosperous life.

However, only the old people who have experienced it, such as Mr. Liu and Mr. Zhang, feel happy and relieved at the harvest this year.

Because they know that God is going to show his power at any time.

They didn't dare to sell all the remaining grain this year, so they only sold half of it.

After selling the grain, I got twenty-four taels of silver, but I only dared to use part of it.

Because Liu Fei has reached the age of marriage, his family needs to build an additional room as a new house.

After paying the grain tax, Qin Yao suddenly remembered that the day for the academy to take a bath had come.

I thought Liu Ji would come back before dark like last time, but unexpectedly, no one was expected that night.

Qin Yao woke up twice in the middle of the night, once when she was woken up by the barking of the new little yellow dog raised by Granny Wang, the head of the village.

Another time, Old Huang in the stable screamed, thinking that someone was passing by and he was awakened.

As a result, it was already dawn, but the person who was supposed to come back did not come back.

In the morning, Dalang asked, "Auntie, won't my father come back?"

"Maybe I was delayed because of something last night." Qin Yao replied uncertainly.

Dalang was a little worried, afraid that something would happen to his father in the city.

Qin Yao also felt a little weird. After breakfast, no one came back, so she wanted to take Old Huang out of the stable and go to the county town.

Just as he was about to take action, the tips of his ears twitched slightly, and he quickly walked to the dam in front of his house. He lowered his head and looked towards the river bank, and saw an ox cart slowly driving towards his house.

But there was no sign of Liu Ji in the car.

The coachman Qin Yao had seen it and often traveled between Xiahe Village and Kaiyang County on this road. Both she and Liu Ji had ridden in his car.

The driver parked the car at the foot of the mountain and walked up. When he saw Qin Yao waiting at the intersection, he said as he walked:

"Sorry, sorry, Mrs. Qin, are you impatient? I was supposed to come last night, but something happened at home and I was delayed. Driving at night is too dangerous, so I just waited until this morning."

When Qin Yao heard this, she had a guess in her heart, "Did Liu Jitu ask you to come?"

"Yes, yes!" The coachman nodded fiercely, "It was your Xianggong Liu who asked me to come!"

The last time he sent Qin Yao back to Liujia Village from Jinshi Town, he still remembered the scene of her husband running all the way from the mountain to the river to pick her up. The handsome man and the beautiful woman were a perfect match.

At that time, he felt that the gentleman's arrogance was different from that of ordinary people. Unexpectedly, he was actually a student in the academy and was familiar with Fan Xiucai and the others. They were all scholars, which was incredible.

Therefore, this time Liu Ji asked him to go home to help collect living expenses, and the coachman agreed very readily, and was even a bit flattering in it.

Qin Yao invited the coachman in, and the four Dalang brothers and sisters stood outside the hall door, leaning against the wall and raising their ears to listen.