Rebirth of a Farmhouse with Space

Wang Lan asked, "Doesn't the Monda Kingdom often offend our northern borders and do things that are worse than burning, killing, looting, and beasts? Why doesn't the court send people to kill them, but instead wants to trade with them?"

Ms. Dong shook her head. "I'm not sure about this, but I guess it must be that the northern border is far away from the imperial city, and the Monda Kingdom often invades. The court is out of reach. Instead of competing with them, it is better to open a market with them openly. They can use money to buy what they lack from us, and we can buy what we lack from them. This is better than them robbing, not paying a penny, and causing damage!"

Sister Hua and the others felt that Ms. Dong’s guess made sense. Since they couldn’t stop it, they might as well open up the trade channels and conduct fair trade!

Wang Lan asked, "You mean, we should also go to the county town to do business with the Monda people? What should we sell?"

Ms. Dong shook her head. "We don't have any goods that others must buy. It's not realistic for us to go to other places to buy goods and then trade with them. I was thinking, we are more than 20 miles away from the county town. How about we open a resting place on the official road and earn the food and accommodation money for the caravans? What do you think?"

"This...!" Sister Hua hesitated for a moment and said, "To open a shop next to the official road, you must first invest in building a shop. I only have a few taels of silver saved from selling mountain products. What can I do with it?"

Wang Lan said, "Xiangxiang, go ahead and do it. We will follow you and work for you just like Sister Chen!"

Sister Hua also said, "Yes, yes, Xiangxiang, we don't have the ability to do it ourselves, so we'll work for you!"

Ms. Dong was silent for a moment and then said, "Okay, I'll take care of this, and you just follow me! From now on, I'll give each of you three a guaranteed salary of one or two taels of silver per month, and then I'll give you commissions and bonuses. What do you three think?"

"A guaranteed minimum of one tael of silver?"

"Yes, that is, whether there is business or not, you will be paid one or two taels of silver as a guarantee. If there is business, we will give you a commission!"

"One tael of silver a month is already a lot, and there's also a commission?" Wang calculated in her mind. Her husband and two sons worked in a cement factory, and the combined wages of the three were five taels and four taels a month. If she could also earn one tael of silver a month, the family would have an income of more than six taels of silver. At this rate, it would take less than two years for the family to have enough money to marry off their eldest son!

Sister Hua also said, "Yes, isn't one tael of silver a bit too much? I heard that servants in wealthy families in the county only earn six hundred yuan a month. Why are you giving us so much?"

"It's not much. Just follow me and I will pay you as much as you can."

After listening to what Ms. Dong said, the three of them envisioned a wonderful life of making a lot of money in the future. They were very excited and couldn't wait to start working right away!

Ms. Dong continued, "Don't tell anyone about this yet. I have to report to the village chief and sell the land first."

The three of them responded in agreement and said they would not tell anyone.

"Brother Nan, these are the pastries I asked someone to buy at Xu Ji in the county town. They taste very good. You can bring some back for Xiaobao to try!" Qin Wan'er stopped Nan Chen on his way home from work and looked tenderly at him. She took the box of pastries from the maid and handed it to Nan Chen who had just returned home from working at the cement factory.

Nan Chen didn't take it. He politely refused, "No need, Miss Qin, keep it for yourself!"

These words seemed to hurt Qin Wan'er's heart. She looked sad and aggrieved. "Brother Nan, do you dislike the cakes I gave you? I just think Xiaobao is very cute. I thought of her when I bought cakes in the county town. It seems that I was just being sentimental!"

Qin Wan'er was about to cry when she said this. Nan Chen didn't know what to say. As a father, he was naturally happy that Xiaobao was liked by others. Since people bought snacks for his daughter, he should accept them and not let their kindness down. "Well, since Miss Qin likes my daughter so much, I will accept the cakes. Thank you very much!"

Hearing this, Qin Wan'er's face, which was full of tears a moment ago, became sunny and bright with a smile the next moment. She handed the cake box to Nan Chen, "Brother Nan, you are so kind!"

Nan Chen laughed helplessly, "Girl, I should be the one to say hello to you. You can remember to buy food for my little baby when you go to the county town to buy things. I have to thank you. In the future, you should come to my house often to chat with your sister-in-law. We are from the same village, so we should be closer if we visit each other more often!"

Qin Wan'er smiled shyly, "Well, I will, Brother Nan, I'm going back then!"

Before leaving, Qin Wan'er knelt down and bowed to Nanchen again. Nanchen thought to himself, this girl is too polite. She bows when meeting someone and also bows when leaving. Isn't she tired?

When she got home, Ms. Dong had just finished preparing dinner. Seeing Nan Chen coming back with a box of pastries, she asked casually, "Did you go to the county town?"

Nan Chen replied, "No, I met Miss Qin from Room 1 on the way back. She went to the county town and brought a box of cakes for our Xiaobao. Look, she asked me to bring it back!"

Ms. Dong asked in confusion, "Why would she bring cakes to our girl for no reason?"

Nancy shrugged, "How would I know? They say our little treasure is very popular!"

The first time, Ms. Dong did not think much about it. Her little baby was white and chubby and really adorable. Sister Hua, Wang Lan, and Chen never failed to praise him every time they met him.

"Okay, wash your hands and get ready for dinner! Xiaobao, stop playing, there's meat to eat!"

Braised pork is Xiaobao's favorite. When she heard that there was meat to eat, she immediately turned to the toy in her hand and followed Bai Yucheng and Nan Ye to wash her hands!

After dinner, the family sat together and chatted about trivial matters in life as usual. Nan Chen said, "Today, we have paid off all the money we owe to the village. From now on, we will be debt-free!"

This is a big deal, and Ms. Dong is very happy. "That's great. I can buy things for my home without any worries in the future!"

"Yes, next I plan to build the courtyard wall and then build two rows of brick houses in the back!"

Nan Ye replied, "Dad, bricks and tiles are too expensive, why not use stones? There are so many stones on the beach, we just need to pay the labor cost to pick up the stones and bring them back. If that doesn't work, we can also pick them up ourselves!"

"A stone house? Yeah, why didn't I think of it? There are so many large and small pebbles by the river. We can just pick them up and use them directly. They are stronger and more solid than bricks. Don't use tiles on the roof. Just use wood, yellow mud and thatch. This way, the thermal insulation is stronger and you can save a lot of money! Well, that's it!" Without buying bricks and tiles, you can save a lot of money here and the thermal insulation performance will be better.

After talking about the construction of the wall and the stone house, Ms. Dong discussed with Nanchen about the construction of a farm. Nanchen had his own plans for this matter. Not only did he want to build a farm in the back mountain, he also wanted to pave all the roads under the jurisdiction of Xiangyang Village with cement, so that merchants traveling from north to south could feel the convenience that the cement road brought to their travel. He wanted to promote his cement across the country!