Chapter 231: Chapter 231: A Father Must Listen to His Daughter

“Spring is just around the corner, and many of our village’s plans need to start soon.”

“Let me first talk about what we need to do next!”

Qi Quanjin looked at the villagers and loudly explained the upcoming arrangements to everyone.

The first thing is tree felling.

Trees are very important, especially since they plan to build a wall and several families need to build houses, so they can’t do without wood.

The wood they stored last year was all used for building wooden houses. If they don’t hurry and fell more to dry, they won’t have time after spring plowing.

Once spring plowing is over, summer will arrive, and regardless of the amount of rain, no one will have a lot of free time.

If there’s too much rain, the newly felled wood can’t be dried.

If there’s too little rain, they will certainly need to carry water to irrigate the fields, leaving no time to cut trees!

The second thing is arranging labor for spring plowing.

This involves not only the period of spring plowing but also the subsequent maintenance.

Except for the Qi Family and three other families, others have very little or no farmland.

So arranging work for these people who aren’t farming is a problem.

The Qi Family needs a lot of hands to tend the crops, so it’s better to use villagers than to hire outsiders.

Firstly, it’s convenient since everyone lives in the same village.

Secondly, it can provide some extra income for the villagers.

The third thing is building the wall after spring plowing ends.

But this needs to be decided after people in the village have finished building their houses.

Overall, there are three things, but many details can be further divided.

The villagers listened in amazement.

The Zhou, Wang, and Sun families were fine, the old junior scholar and Ji Hu quickly understood too.

But the later arrivals to the village couldn’t comprehend it.

Someone bravely raised their hand and asked, “Village chief, do you mean to say that we don’t have to go to town to find work, and we can earn wages right here in the village?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”

Qi Quanjin nodded, “But the work of clearing and farming is the Qi Family’s, so the wages and food for meals will be provided by our Qi Family.”

“But for the work done for our village, the wages will come from the village’s funds. These expenses will be recorded clearly and shown to everyone after the autumn harvest.”

Qi Quanjin’s voice was loud, and it resonated like drumbeats in everyone’s ears, shaking their spirits.

They truly hadn’t expected to find work without going to town.

With this decision made, villagers who were originally planning to look for work in town no longer thought about leaving.

But some still felt that the Qi Family’s wages were low and wanted to go to town.

For such people, after Qi Quanjin and Yi Meng discussed it, Yi Meng simply said, “Everyone has their own way of doing things. If they want to go outside, let them go; we won’t stop them.”

After a pause, Yi Meng added, “Brother Jin, I’m not in a position to hold onto the accounts anymore. Talk to the old junior scholar and Ji Hu, and see who can take over!”

Yi Meng knew herself well, she wasn’t the type to manage big affairs.

She preferred a quiet, peaceful life, and now that she was pregnant, she wanted even less involvement in management.

Qi Quanjin didn’t want his wife to be overworked, so he readily agreed.

After finalizing the list of workers, Yongping Village became bustling with activity.

Soon it was time for spring plowing, and because last year’s wasteland wasn’t fully reclaimed, they continued reclaiming the remaining Qi Family’s land this year.

When the timing seemed right, they called everyone to start planting.

The few original families had already prepared seedlings in advance, which they could plant directly.

But most were still spreading seeds onto the land in traditional ways.

People noticed the Qi Family provided seeds they had never seen before, and some curiously asked about them.

Qi Quanjin simply said they were experimental and might not succeed, and if not, it would waste a year.

This quickly discouraged those who had wanted to try new things like the Qi Family.

They couldn’t compare to the Qi Family, and wasting a year might mean starving next year.

Time passed as everyone busied themselves, and soon July arrived.

The weather was hot, but fortunately, there was plenty of rain this year, sparing much effort for watering.

One day, Qi Quanjin was just about to go to town, taking some family members to tidy up the second courtyard, when suddenly he heard a loud scream from Qi Manman.

The little girl had been playing with mud in the courtyard with Qi Shilang, and her sudden scream startled everyone inside.

Mrs. Qi, who was tidying inside, hurriedly came down from the floor, running outside without even putting on shoes.

Qi Quanjin quickly ran to his daughter and picked up the crying little girl, “Manbao, what’s wrong?”

“Dad, sob, sob, don’t go to town, okay?”

Qi Manman’s big eyes were filled with tears, clutching Qi Quanjin’s neck and pleading pitifully.

Qi Quanjin had never seen his daughter like this before, and for a moment, he didn’t know how to respond.

At that moment, Qi Zheng also came over, just in time to hear his granddaughter’s words, and said immediately, “No one is allowed to go to town today! Stay put at home!”

Qi Zheng’s heart was anxious at this time.

It was as if his granddaughter’s words were prophetic, making him worry that letting family members go to town would lead to a major disaster today.

Qi Quanjin looked at his father, “Dad, the weather today is fine…”

“No matter how good the weather is, it doesn’t matter! No one is going out today, stay in the courtyard!”

Qi Zheng’s attitude was firm.

Mrs. Qi ran out and asked, “What happened? Why is Manbao crying?”

“Mom, Manbao doesn’t want us to go to town.”

Qi Quanjin could only look for help from his mother.

They were supposed to fertilize the fields tomorrow, and if they didn’t go to town today, it would be several days before they could.

Unexpectedly, Mrs. Qi said sharply, “If Manbao doesn’t want you to go to town, then stay home obediently!”

With that, Mrs. Qi ran up and grabbed her beloved granddaughter into her arms, “My Manbao says something, and you, the father, don’t listen? What, do you want to defy the heavens?”

Qi Quanjin: …

He’d never heard of fathers having to listen to their daughters.

But that’s how it seemed in the Qi Family.

“Fine, we won’t go out then. But Dad, Mom, there’s nothing to do at home, can we at least go check the fields at the back?”

Qi Quanjin couldn’t sit still. If they couldn’t go to town, checking the fields would pass the time.

The fields were now a lush green patch, soothing to the eye.

“You little rascal, don’t you understand people? I, your father, said everyone stays in the courtyard. What, just because you’re the village chief, you don’t listen anymore?”

Qi Zheng was angry, bending down to take off his shoe to smack his fourth son.

However, at that moment, a sudden scream came from Qi Quanjin’s room…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep