Capítulo 1672: Chapter 1647: Your Family’s
Old Zhou was still advising the tenant farrs on raising cattle. These cattle were to be numbered and sold, so they had to be well cared for despite being used for labor.
Once he finished his advice and turned around, he naturally saw the young and strong n working on the vacant land not far away. His mory was quite good, and after thinking for a mont, he said to the chief, “I rember that used to be wasteland, with lots of scattered stones, hardly any trees growing, just wild grass. Have they laid the foundation in just a few days?”
The chief laughed and said, “The more people, the faster it gets done. Apart from craftsn invited from the city, even the young n from our village have gone over to help. Your family is generous, they pay twenty coins a day.”
Old Zhou nodded unconsciously, but halfway through he suddenly felt sothing was off and asked in confusion, “My family?”
“Yes, your family,” the chief noted his puzzled expression and hesitated a bit before looking at him and cautiously asking, “Lord Zhou bought this land early on. The next day soone ca to survey it, and by the third day, a group of people ca to plan the construction of the house. Many people from the village were hired to pick stones and dig the foundation. What, Old Master Zhou didn’t know?”
Old Zhou certainly didn’t know. He was just wondering which fool would co all the way here to build a house. Not only is this place so distance from the village, but the land is also poor, requiring lots of effort just to dig stones. Apart from being large and near the road, there’s no real advantage.
But why build a house needing such a large space?
The field in the yard can’t grow vegetables; what a waste, and it turns out it’s his family’s?
Old Zhou looked at the many people on that land and automatically calculated them into piles of money, each pile worth twenty coins…
Old Zhou clutched his chest and asked, “How many days have passed, and you’ve only dug the foundation?”
Chief: “…It’s not been many days, hasn’t it? Today’s the twenty-first, only the fourth day.”
“In our place, with so many people, we could have built a house in four days.”
The chief was taken aback before laughing, “Old Master Zhou, you’re joking. If it were a straw hut, we could build it in a day, but the manor your family is planning isn’t simple. It might take a month or two.”
He added, “Moreover, these people are just providing labor; the way to build it is guided by the craftsn invited by your estate.”
Old Zhou exclaid, “What, they hired craftsn just to build a house?”
Zhou SiLang and others also heard the shout and turned to look. Old Zhou imdiately said, “So none of you knew?”
Ms. Qian already realized and quietly glared at Old Zhou, saying, “Why are you shouting?”
She said, “I never heard Lijun ntion this. Evidently, the manor isn’t being built using family money.”
Old Zhou then said, “Manbao’s money is still money; isn’t it family money?”
He muttered, “It can’t be squandered freely. It’s just and Dalang living there. If you ask , there’s no need for the rest of you to co. Why build such a good house? A simple straw hut would suffice.”
Ms. Qian just wondered how Old Zhou beca like this?
He was lazy and loved to tinker with himself when he was young, and he was indulgent and lazy, always thinking of enjoying life, but the family had no money then, and even als were a bit hard to co by.
Now that the family has money, he suddenly thinks about being frugal and enduring hardships.
Ms. Qian half-heartedly humored him, “Alright, the land is bought, the money is spent, and the construction is already halfway through. Can you still drive people away?”
She said, “This is also Manbao’s gift to you. The reason for not telling you was to give you a surprise. Besides, having a manor here isn’t bad. It’s not far from the capital, and Manbao and the others can ride horses quickly, arriving in just over an hour, so they can co to play and visit us during breaks, isn’t that great?”
Only then did Old Zhou stop lanting.
Zhou SiLang seized the opportunity to approach, saying, “Dad, this manor isn’t entirely paid for by Manbao; Bai Shan and Young Master Bai Er also contributed.”
Old Zhou asked inexplicably, “Why did they pay?”
“They said they wanted a room left for them, that’s how brothers clear accounts,” Zhou SiLang answered.
Old Zhou felt better and said, “What’s the relationship between our families? It’s just leaving two rooms; there’s no need to specifically pay for it. It makes our family look stingy.”
Zhou SiLang responded, “Should I go and get Manbao to return the money tomorrow?”
Old Zhou slapped him on the head and angrily said, “That kind of back-and-forth hurts relationships. Besides, do they look like people short of money? Your sister knows what she’s doing, so don’t ddle with it.”
Darn it, you called them stingy, yet refuse to return the money.
Zhou SiLang rubbed his head and stepped aside, though Old Zhou’s mood was indeed much improved.
Feeling much better, he walked over to look at the house being constructed, and upon getting closer, saw that the circled land was quite a large piece, extending from this big chunk by the roadside all the way to those woods over there.
Above the woods is a mountain. Of course, having been born in the mountain valley of Qili Village, where coming and going ans crossing mountain ranges, Old Zhou didn’t regard it as a mountain, firmly believing it was just a dirt hill. Yet that dirt hill was quite large, with particularly dense trees, and their family’s tenant fields surrounded this dirt hill in the middle and stretched onward.
But the chiefs from the broad and flat lands firmly believed it was a mountain, seeing Old Zhou looking at it, they said, “This mountain is also the village’s. All the wood gathering happens here; every spring we plant seedlings to replace the trees chopped down the previous year.”
Old Zhou inwardly sneered, straightening his lips. In Qili Village, they’ve got more land and particularly more mountains.
He pointed at the land stretching to the forest’s bottom and asked, “Did Manbao buy all that?”
“Yes,” the chief laughed, “This piece of wasteland has many stones and doesn’t grow anything, it was useless, so Lord Zhou bought it all.”
Old Zhou frowned tightly, “Is all this land going to be used for building houses? How big is she planning to make it?”
The chief didn’t know, so he didn’t reply.
Old Zhou turned and loudly called Zhou Lijun, “Erya, hurry over here.”
Zhou Lijun ran over, not minding her grandfather calling her by her nickna. The whole family has switched to calling her by her full na now. Even Grandma calls her Lijun, but only Grandpa, no matter how well he agrees face to face, turns around and forgets, still calling her “Erya.”
Even Zhou Lichong and the others are like this, always sticking to their nicknas.
So they no longer try to correct it; let Grandpa call them whatever he wants.
Old Zhou pointed at this large plot of land and asked, “All of it for building houses?”
“No,” Zhou Lijun said, “We’ve examined the land, and this side is for the manor. The soil over there is softer, with fewer stones, so from there to there a pond will be dug. Later, water from that canal will be drawn here. Auntie said that if next year it’s dry again, the water from this large pond will irrigate dozens of acres on this side at the very least.”
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