The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 129 Autumn Harvest

The death of Old Mrs. Zhou did not seem to cause any other disturbance for Chen Cui's family except for the two days of hardship they had to go back to attend the funeral.

After returning to the city, the three brothers resumed their daily school life, and Chen Cui took Sui Sui to and from the canning workshop every day.

All the chores at home are taken care of by Mrs. Mai. Chen Cui now feels that she has a lot more free time and can also teach Suisui to recite the Three Character Classic.

She felt that there were many benefits to learning from her sons. At least she could educate her youngest daughter herself without having to ask others for help.

Chen Cui will not pass on too many concepts that are not in line with the current times to Sui Sui, nor does she want her to be too independent. She just hopes that she can have independent and strong qualities, and can gain her own freedom in this era of ethical norms.

The summer heat is gradually fading away, and it is time to harvest the corn in the fields.

As early as after the last visit of the county magistrate, the eight acres of corn of Chen Cui's family and Muramasa's family were guarded by people sent by Muramasa, and there were people patrolling day and night to prevent damage.

Even the two acres of corn planted by Chen Shangen in Chenjiagou were put under the supervision of the village chief.

Chen Shangen was a little frightened at first. He never thought that growing crops would attract the attention of the government.

It was not until Chen Cui told him what had happened and said that it was a good thing, not a bad thing, that he calmed down.

When the day came to pick corn, Chen Cui returned to the village with the runners sent by the county government.

Now that everyone knew that she was the guest of honor of the county magistrate's wife, it was no longer her turn to do the work. The corn in the field would naturally be harvested by the Liu family members arranged by the village chief.

Although those people were willing to do so and felt that they were serving the county magistrate and bringing honor to the clan, Chen Cui was unwilling to take advantage of them for nothing.

She told Muramasa to pay the tribesmen according to the price for temporary workers during the busy farming season, and she would pay for it.

Liu Youcai thought about it and did not refuse. Instead, when talking about the wages to those people, he emphasized Chen Cui's contribution.

"This new grain seed was discovered by Chen in the city. The reason why it attracted the attention of the county magistrate this time was because of the friendship between Chen and the county magistrate's wife. If our village is rewarded for this, Chen should be credited with the first achievement!"

As soon as Liu Youcai finished speaking, the crowd below started talking, and most of them were praising Chen Cui. It seemed that they had forgotten that when the corn was first planted, they were the ones who were pessimistic about it.

The county government only sent two people, one went to Chenjiagou and the other came to Liujiaping.

Liu Youcai naturally had to entertain the visitors from above with great care. Not only did he provide them with delicious wine and food for every meal, but the yamen runners also lived in a house that he had specially vacated, which was kept very neatly.

There is strength in numbers. In just one day, all the corn in eight acres of land was harvested and placed on the field to dry. The strong laborers also cut down the corn stalks and collected them together. I heard that they can be kept to feed the livestock.

Although the weather is not so hot now, the sun is still scorching every day and the moisture in the corn evaporates quickly. Liu Youcai organized a group of village women to peel corn kernels on the field.

The yamen runner was supervising on a lounge chair under the shade of a tree nearby. In fact, Liu Youcai's son Liu Daqiang kept a close eye on these people every day. Before the women went home for dinner, they would ask Chen Meihua to touch their bodies to see if anyone had stolen any corn kernels.

This is something the government wants, and not a single grain can be lost.

By the time all the corn in the eight acres of land was threshed, dried and weighed again, Wang Hengzhi couldn't help but rush over.

The corn kernels filled more than forty sacks, with a total weight of 4,125 kilograms!

This was the net weight after removing the weight of the sack. Wang Hengzhi was so furious.

Good news also came from Chenjiagou. The total harvest of corn from the two acres of land yielded 1,100 kilograms!

Wang Hengzhi waved his hand and ordered everyone to transport all of these to the county government office, stating that the harvest had to be handed in to report the good news to the court and to seek credit for them!

Moreover, he also announced that the families of Chen Cui, Liu Youcai and Chen Shangen would be exempted from paying taxes for the next three years!

Although only these few families are benefiting now and the exempted taxes are not much money, people in the entire Liujiaping feel honored and cheer when they know that there may be rewards in the future!

In Chenjiagou, the villagers praised Chen Shangen for raising a good daughter, and brought honor to her family as well.

Three years of taxes are certainly enviable, but what they value more is that the daughter of the Chen family actually has a relationship with a nobleman in the county. This is too enviable and jealous.

Farmers like them who made a living from the soil had to bow and nod when they saw the tax collectors in the town, for fear of offending them, let alone the county magistrate.

They felt that he was a person so great that Yinping County would tremble if he stomped his feet, so when they saw him, they would kneel down and kowtow from a mile away, otherwise it would be disrespectful to the master!

After Wang Hengzhi visited Liujiaping last time, many people from surrounding villages even came to inquire about him.

What does the master look like? Is he majestic? Is he scary?

Villagers who had seen Wang Hengzhi described his appearance truthfully, saying that he looked similar to the handsome young men in the village.

The person who heard it didn't believe it. He thought that since he was an official, in charge of the people of a county, how could he look like this!

Because everyone was so happy, even the task of growing wheat on the acres of land belonging to Chen Cui's family was contracted. Chen Cui gave the wheat seeds to Liu Youcai, and he took care of the rest.

Although Chen Cui likes to eat pasta very much, she still grows corn in her space.

Scarcity makes things valuable. Once corn is recognized by the upper class, the seeds will become scarce. She may not have the opportunity to plant it again in a short period of time, so it is necessary for her to store some seeds privately.

The people of Liujiaping felt that Chen had brought noble people and good fortune to the village, as well as the hope of receiving rewards, but for the Liu family's old house, the opposite was true.

Liu Youliang has been bedridden since the day old Mrs. Zhou died. He managed to get out of bed during the funeral, but was so angry at Zhou Dagui's rogue behavior that he fainted. Since then, he has been bedridden.

He heard from his grandson Changrong about the series of changes that the corn grown by Chen Cui brought to the village.

Changrong was not one who could sit still. Even though he was told not to go out due to mourning, he would often sneak out when the adults weren't paying attention, so that he could get news from other children.

In fact, Changrong was not popular among the children in the village because he was domineering and selfish. Others exaggerated the affairs of Chen Cui's family and told him about them deliberately because they knew that their family was not in harmony with the second branch, just to make him jealous and uncomfortable!

Changrong accidentally let the secret slip when he was visiting his grandfather and eating snacks in his grandfather's room.

After Liu Youliang's repeated questioning, he finally told him all the news he had recently heard.