The happy little days of the Ye family

Unable to find anyone to open up wasteland, the Ye family had no choice but to open up wasteland themselves.

Fortunately, the stones, weeds and trees on the wasteland have been cleared away in the past few days, and now all that is needed is to build fields and dig ditches.

It's not the Lantern Festival yet, so the pier is deserted. Father Ye and Ye Donglin don't have to set up stalls. Mr. Ye, his son and two grandsons are clearing up wasteland at the foot of Xiaohou Mountain.

Father Ye and Ye Donglin Ye Xilin felt his body was hollowed out after just a few days of work, and they all missed the days of setting up a stall on the dock and the days of studying in the school.

Ye Donglin wiped the sweat from his forehead and slumped on the ground, while Ye Xilin beside him had long been lying down.

Father Ye has long been exhausted, and only Mr. Ye is still in good spirits. The three fathers and sons are completely inferior to Mr. Ye.

Mr. Ye looked at the three helpless people with contempt, "Look, how can a person be so physically weak? Even an old man like me can't compare."

The three of them looked at the mountains in the distance silently, but they didn't dare to look at Mr. Ye.

In the end, Ye Donglin looked at Father Ye helplessly, "Dad, there is so much wasteland, 55 acres of wasteland. It only depends on our family to open up wasteland until the end of the Year of the Monkey, so we should find some more people to help open up wasteland."

Father Ye was soaked all over and fanned himself with a big leaf.

Father Ye sighed and said, "Do you think I don't want to hire people? Nowadays, villages and towns across the country are busy opening up wasteland. Whoever comes out to do the work will not be able to hire people at all."

Barren hills cost [-] cents per acre, and wasteland cost [-] cents per acre. No matter how poor a family was, they could buy a few acres of barren hills or land to open up wasteland.

The people from other villages who were invited before have all gone back to clear up wasteland for their own families. Where can I find people to open up wasteland now?

Ye Xilin, who was lying on the ground, said weakly: "You can go to a distant place to invite people or go to the mountains to invite people. There is little arable land in the mountains, and there is no rush for spring plowing now."

Father Ye's eyes lit up, he patted his thigh and said, "Yeah, why didn't I think of going to the mountains to invite people?"

"In places like Dashan Village, Shanli Village and Kaoshan Village, which have many mountains and little land, there is little cultivated land and there is not much wasteland to open up. There will definitely be people willing to come here and do temporary work."

Father Ye and Mr. Ye talked about going to Dashan Village to hire people to open up wasteland, and then hurried to Dashan Village.

On the way, Father Ye thought of the hunters in Dashan Village. These hunters were all strong and strong, and were very suitable for clearing wasteland.

After winter, the wild beasts in the mountains are all skinny, and hunters generally do not hunt at this time.

Moreover, the spring plowing is the breeding season of animals, so the hunters in Dashan Village will be idle for the next few months after the New Year.

The village chief of Dashan Village was very happy when he heard Father Ye saying that he wanted to invite people from Dashan Village to Taohua Village to help open up wasteland.

Dashan Village is surrounded by mountains, and the gentler valleys or hillsides have long been cleared away.

Idle time is idle, it’s not bad to do odd jobs and earn some food back. Moreover, hunting is not allowed in the mountains during this period, so the hunters in the village are idle.

Father Ye thought that every household in the village was busy opening up wasteland. They all wanted to open up more fields before spring plowing. They could invite more people to go back. Others also needed manpower to open up wasteland.

"Village Chief Yang, every household in Taohua Village is busy clearing land. Our family alone requires 20 people. And other people in other villages also need help in prescribing. We need as many people as we have here."

The village chief was so happy that he quickly asked: "Would the women harvest it? The women in our village usually go to the mountains to hunt or collect herbs. They are very capable and no worse than the men."

"And with so many people like you opening up wasteland, we also need people to cook. Women are less powerful, so the wages can be appropriately reduced."

"Okay, women want it too. Opening up wasteland is hard work, and the wages are a little higher than ordinary odd jobs. Men are 22 cents a day, and women and boys are 18 cents a day."

"Okay, okay, I'll call the people in the village for a meeting now and take them to Taohua Village early tomorrow morning."

Village Chief Yang was very fast and brought over thirty strong men, a dozen strong women, and a dozen and a half-year-old boys early the next morning.

Ye's father left 20 strong men to open up wasteland for his family. Half of the remaining men went to Grandma Ye's house to open up wasteland, and the other half went to the village chief.

Someone was hired to open up wasteland, and finally Ye's father, Ye Donglin and Ye Xilin were liberated.

Father Ye plans to go back to the dock to set up a stall after the Lantern Festival. He has been busy taking Ye Donglin to buy goods from the grocery stall these days.

Ye Xilin and his second cousin went to the county market to set up stalls together. The second cousin set up a stall to sell cakes made by Grandma Ye, while Ye Xilin continued to set up a stall to sell red dates.

The pastries that my second cousin brought to the county include red date cakes, osmanthus cakes, millet cakes and small twists. I think there are two flavors of flowers, one is sweet and the other is salty.

These pastries are going to be set up as a stall on the pier. I will try them out at the market in the next few days to see which pastries are popular. Then I can make more.

In addition to red dates, Ye Xilin's stall also has headbands and hairbands made by Mrs. Ye.

Although these items can also be sold at the dock, they are sold in large quantities at the dock and the price is lower. If sold in bulk at the market, the price can be a few cents higher.

Old Mrs. Ye and Mother Ye thought that Ye Xilin was young and couldn't do much farm work, so they might as well just go to the market and set up a stall to sell some red dates and hair ties, and at least earn dozens of more coins a day.

Ye's father said that he wanted Ye Donglin to work for him to earn money, but in fact, he carefully taught Ye Donglin how to purchase goods and how to choose things, hoping that he would be able to take charge of his own business soon.

As for Ye Xilin's path, Ye's father has already thought about it. Ye Xilin is still young and has not decided yet. Let him set up a stall in the market and sell some small things to get some exercise.

After two years, Ye Xilin's temper has calmed down and he has his own ideas. If he wants to continue setting up a stall, he can rent another stall on the pier. If he wants to do something else, Ye's father will also support him.

The imperial court emphasized agriculture and suppressed business. The status of businessmen was low, and the descendants of businessmen were not allowed to take scientific examinations. Father Ye had no intention of letting his two sons go into business.

I still focus on my family's fields and hills, and sell some mountain products and grains produced at home. It's good to have fields and land, and a little money.

If you have money, you can buy some more houses or shops to collect rent.