The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 127: The Plan

Chapter 127: Chapter 127: The Plan

Wang Laozhu took a deep drag on his cigarette, "What’s the matter?"

"I’ve been thinking, waiting for the Li Family to sell off their land and house, who knows how long that will take, and surely some people are waiting to drive the price down, won’t that just benefit others? I’m thinking, why not give up on the silver left by the Li Family, and instead have them use their house and land as collateral, mortgaged to us, what do you think?"

Old Granny Zhang naturally had plans, given the current situation at home, life would probably be hard in the future. No matter how much money you have in hand, it will run out eventually.

For peasants, land is the most reliable asset.

Instead of letting others benefit, it’s better to take the land into our own hands, with land in possession, one won’t starve to death! Moreover, she could take this opportunity to secretly buy a couple of acres of land for her daughter and set it aside, otherwise she feared that all the silver would be spent on the eldest son.

She would never let her daughter suffer for the sake of the eldest son.

Wang Laozhu hadn’t expected Old Granny Zhang’s intention was to stealthily acquire some land for their eldest daughter’s dowry. He really gave it some thought, calculating the Li Family’s paddy fields and dry land.

A peasant’s family loves nothing more than their fields, only with land do they feel secure.

The Li Family, although Li Dagui was cunning, both of his sons and daughters-in-law were good workers, aside from a few acres of good paddy fields, many were dry fields they had cleared themselves.

If all these fields were compensated to the Wang Family, then...

Wang Laozhu suddenly felt an overwhelming excitement, and couldn’t sit still.

He paced around the house a few times, unable to calm down, and then rushed off to the Clan Leader’s House. This was a matter that affected future generations. If he could produce a Scholar son in his lifetime, and leave several good acres of land for his descendants, he could meet his ancestors with his head held high in death.

Once Wang Laozhu had left, Old Granny Zhang stuffed the thumb ring into Wang Yongzhu’s hands: "Zhu’er, feel this, it’s a fine object given to your Third Brother by the County Magistrate, a treasure that only the wealthy families in the city can afford! I’ve heard it said, ’While gold has a price, jade is priceless,’ I estimate it must be worth at least five taels of silver, right? With such a fine thing, we couldn’t buy it even with money! Feel it, it’s so smooth and cool to the touch, truly a precious item."

Wang Yongzhu went with the flow and felt it, then returned it to Old Granny Zhang: "Mother, keep this precious item safe."

Old Granny Zhang carefully pulled out a handkerchief to wrap the thumb ring, brimming with joy she said, "I will certainly keep it safe, and one day it will be part of your dowry. With such a fine thing, who would dare look down on you?"

Wang Yongzhu was completely speechless, anyway, no matter what valuable things the family had, Old Granny Zhang always planned to save them for her dowry.

The love she felt for her daughter, she truly couldn’t resist, and could only force herself not to indulge too much in it, lest she become the former Wang Yongzhu.

Moreover, given the current state of the family, she really wasn’t in the mood for marriage, and besides, thinking about the "love mission" given by the damned System gave her a headache.

Thus, she had no choice but to change the subject, and when it came to changing the subject, she reckoned she had maxed out that skill.

"Mother, I don’t want to get married yet, I still want to spend more time with you! Besides, with our family in such a mess, I’m not in the right frame of mind, let’s wait until our family situation improves! Keep these valuables for yourself!" Those were truly Wang Yongzhu’s heartfelt words.

Since she had become Wang Yongzhu, a member of the Wang Family, even just for the sincerely caring Old Granny Zhang, she had to make the Wang Family’s days better.

Old Granny Zhang took her daughter’s words as shyness, but what her daughter said was also true, with the current situation at home, even if they got the compensation from the Li Family, the fact remained that the eldest son, a strong labourer, was now disabled.

In a peasant family, if one wants to live well, one needs men and strong labourers in abundance to sustain and feed the family.

With the eldest son compromised, the family’s future days were likely not to be as good as they were now.

The older folks at home are aged, and the younger ones are still small. In the future, when it’s time to work the fields, there won’t be enough hands, and hiring help will definitely cost money. With the household income being meager and expenses high, even a substantial family fortune won’t withstand such strain.

If her own family can’t provide support, how can she secure a good match for her daughter?

Thinking this way made Old Granny Zhang terribly anxious. She thought her daughter was excellent in every way and deserved no less than the son of the Heavenly Emperor’s Father. If her daughter’s marriage prospects were ruined because of the family’s situation, she wouldn’t forgive anyone responsible.

She felt indignant on behalf of her wonderful daughter, believing that her potential was being wasted by her family. Why should her precious girl suffer because of those ungrateful wretches?

Old Granny Zhang’s mind was racing with countless thoughts, but she kept her composure and comforted Wang Yongzhu, "Zhuzhu, don’t worry. Your mother is here for you, rest assured—" she said and leaned in to whisper her plan to buy land as a wedding dowry to Wang Yongzhu.

Seeing her daughter’s shocked expression, Old Granny Zhang thought she was so overjoyed that she was dumbfounded. She patted her head, "Only the two of us should know about this, not even your father, understand? Bring out the money I gave you earlier. I’ll go back to our room and figure out how to buy you a couple more acres of land."

After she spoke, she took the copper coins that Wang Yongzhu had handed over and hurried back to her room.

Wang Yongzhu was left holding her forehead and sighing deeply before she gathered her spirits and went to the firewood shed to check on the yellow pine mushrooms.

Money was the root of all the family’s troubles. If they had money, Old Granny Zhang wouldn’t need to pinch pennies from her other sons to provide for her daughter.

If she could earn money, and a lot of it, Old Granny Zhang would naturally look beyond the meager offerings of her other sons.

In the end, it was up to her to stand on her own and earn money.

Now, their only hope lay with the yellow pine mushrooms.

Upon entering the firewood shed and lifting the cloth off the cultivation bed, to her delight, she found that the mushrooms had indeed sprouted from the soil overnight without fail. Dozens of mushroom heads crowded together, a sight to behold.

Wang Yongzhu was thrilled and without delay went to find Old Granny Zhang.

Old Granny Zhang was sitting cross-legged on the kang bed inside the house, counting their possessions and figuring out how much she could set aside to buy land for her daughter.

Hearing the door, she hurriedly scooped all the silver into her bosom, tucked her skirt around it, and looked up ready to scold. But when she saw it was her elder daughter, she relaxed, "What’s wrong? Why are you in such a rush?"

Wang Yongzhu didn’t say a word and just pulled Old Granny Zhang outside.

Old Granny Zhang, not even having time to put on her shoes and still clutching her skirt full of silver, was unwilling to step out, "My dear, slow down! Don’t tear your mother’s old bones apart. Just let me get this sorted, and I’ll follow you out, alright?"

With swift movements, she locked all the silver in a chest, put on her shoes, and then followed Wang Yongzhu to the firewood shed.

Upon seeing the mushrooms that had sprung up, she was at a loss for words.

It took her a long while before she managed to utter, "Daughter, you... you really grew them..."

Wang Yongzhu nodded excitedly; she too hadn’t expected to succeed on her first attempt. Indeed, she had a talent! No matter where, a top student is always a top student!

Old Granny Zhang rubbed her hands together in excitement, "Oh my, how much silver would this fetch? It looks to weigh two or three catties, right? Those last ones sold for five taels of silver; so much older, shouldn’t they fetch a good dozen or so taels?"