The Daily Life of Farming and Raising Children in Ancient Mountain Residences

Chapter 211: Hiring

When Sang Luo entered the village, she learned that the large blue brick house with tiled roof and the pavilions mentioned by Shi Erniu was actually the resting place for the Wang family, the original owners of the village.

The children ran straight to the house, while the farmers like Old Man Chen’s eyes were all on the fields, despite them being overgrown with weeds.

Old Man Chen pulled aside the grass stalks, grabbed a handful of mud from the roots, and couldn’t hide his excitement: “This land is well-nourished; it’s been abandoned for over three years, yet it’s still so fertile.”

The official laughed: “Why wouldn’t it be good? This was originally Master Wang’s estate. You’ve got good fortune—this great Daxing Village is so close to the city gate. It’s near both the official road and the mountains. Where else can you find such a good place? Your descendants will have an easier life. Come, let’s measure the land for each household. Choose the plots you want. The court will also allocate one mu of garden land for every three people, so we’ll measure that for you too. You can either use the old houses or build new ones later.”

When Shen Lie first heard about the garden land allocation during his second reconnaissance, everyone was still pleased to hear it from the official.

“One mu for three people?” Mrs. Chen was overjoyed, counting on her fingers: “So our garden land will be nearly 2.7 acres?”

The Shen family’s population wasn’t large—only Shen Lie and his small family received just over one mu. However, Sang Luo was still very satisfied. According to the old measurement standards, their family of four could get garden land equivalent to over 700 square meters, which was more than enough for living—almost a dream come true.

Daxing Village was indeed vast, stretching as far as the eye could see. It was likely that there were many tenants in the past. The village had over twenty houses; besides the well-maintained, impressive house used by the Wang family when they came to rest, the rest were simple adobe houses for the tenants.

It didn’t matter much whether they chose or not. The blue brick house was directly given to the Xu family. It was clear to everyone that getting such a good place in Daxing Village was largely thanks to Xu’s help with Master Wang. This was a common understanding among them. Moreover, Sang Luo knew that this time, they should be able to settle down for real. She planned to carefully design and build her own house according to her preferences.

The village had nine households in total: the Xu family, the Wei family, the Shen family, the Chen family, the Lu family, the Shi family, the Zhou Cunzheng’s family, the Shen Jin brothers’ family, and Uncle Xu, who had been re-registered by Xu. Including Shen Jin, who hadn’t reached adulthood but was counted as a household head, there were seventeen males, totaling 680 acres of land.

The permanent fields were mostly mountainous, suitable for planting mulberry trees or vegetables and beans. The real good farmland was allocated as part of the land. So, the nine households received a total of 510 acres of good farmland, while the rest was mountain and garden land, with the mountain land allocated to the area behind the village.

The Wang family was a major household in Shezhou. The large Daxing Village had over 700 acres of good farmland, not including the uncultivated land. After measuring the land, the official said: “We won’t be settling anyone else here. When your children grow up, they’ll be able to get land; otherwise, in a few years, there might not be any land left to divide. At that point, you’ll either get mountain land or have to relocate.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. This was why nearly 200 people had to be distributed across three villages.

Old Man Lu rubbed his hands and asked the official: “I have an unworthy eldest son who’s not with us. He needs to go into the mountains to search and bring his brothers back. Will he be able to settle in this village too?”

The official glanced at him and replied, “Sure, as long as the families in your village have no objections.”

The official was efficient, measuring the land for the nine households by noon and giving each head of the household a new deed before rolling up the scrolls and leaving for the other two villages.

Shen Lie and Shopkeeper Xu accompanied him out, and back in the village, each household began moving items to their assigned houses. Sang Luo and Shen Ning carried the lighter items, while Shen An and several older boys carried the heavier ones—their master and mistress were not idle.

The advantage of living in a large family estate was having several wells. There was one next to the Shen family’s garden land, which was obviously for their use.

The land Sang Luo and her family chose had three rooms. One was a kitchen, and the other two were living quarters. The house had been abandoned for three or four years, so cleaning up took the entire afternoon, mostly dealing with weeds and dust. As for packing things, there wasn’t much to pack—they only brought essentials like bedding, pillows, a few changes of clothes, and a month’s worth of provisions. Even the weapons were carefully wrapped in animal hides before leaving the mountains.

Most of their belongings were still hidden in the valley, including the newly harvested grains, stored meat, vegetables, dried fruits, and the mountain chickens, rabbits, and sheep they had raised. They entrusted neighbors to take care of them, and the sheep raised at the bottom of the valley had been sown with plenty of grass seeds and provided with ample dry feed.

The environment was free of natural predators, so free-range was very safe, and they planned to handle everything once they returned.

By evening, Shen An brought back some firewood and quickly prepared a meal to fill their stomachs before settling in.

The Shen Jin brothers also had three rooms. Before they built new houses, Shen An stayed with them.

The next day, they went to the government office to collect relief grain and seeds, and each family also received a hoe. As they left the state office, a clerk called out from afar: “Master Shen.”

Shen Lie turned at the sound and saw it was the official who helped measure the land yesterday. He quickly stopped: “Sir Xing.”

The clerk, named Xing, smiled and said: “Master Shen, please wait. Our Master Chu has something to discuss with you.”

Everyone exchanged glances. In these times, no one was fearless of officials, especially people like Old Man Chen, who had little experience with officials and felt uneasy upon hearing the clerk’s words.

Shen Lie had some guesses and left the relief grain behind with Old Man Chen and others to wait for a moment before following the clerk back to the government office.

Just as he had anticipated, the General Chu was indeed eager to make a show of his achievements by having Shen Lie assist in going into the mountains to spread the word and bring people out.

Shen Lie left quickly, and Old Man Chen and the others gathered around him. “So? What did Master Chu want you for?” they asked.

As Shen Lie walked towards the city gate, he briefly explained the situation. By now, they were far from the state office. He said softly, “However, it seems Master Chu has changed his tune. Yesterday, he mentioned that I should lead the troops and officials into the mountains, but today he only wants me to find people to go into the mountains.”

Leading troops and officials into the mountains was quite different from just passing on messages to the mountain folk. It seemed that Master Chu didn’t fully believe his earlier excuses or was eager to show results, relying on those of them who had been in the mountains for years.

What Shen Lie didn’t know was that Chu Qichang had again inquired in detail about their situation from Wang Maolin, which gave him the confidence to make this bet.

Old Man Chen and the others were relieved. Shopkeeper Xu looked around to ensure no one was listening and said quietly, “It’s not impossible to agree to this. We need to go in anyway, and the surrounding villages are waiting for us to bring news.”

Everyone wants to live in peace. The mountains are nice; there’s no need to serve or pay taxes, but living in the deep mountains is far from easy. Moreover, if they left, no one would be left to hunt and clear the surrounding areas. Within two years, the wild beasts would multiply, and the available area for human activities would shrink, greatly increasing the danger.

In reality, the peace the nearby villages have enjoyed for years has largely relied on the military strength of Shen Lie and his group. The deep mountains are not so idyllic without adequate force.

“By the way, did Master Chu offer any reward for going into the mountains?” Old Man Chen asked.

Considering the land needs to be reclaimed before winter, going into the mountains was no small task. Otherwise, why wouldn’t the officials send the troops themselves? Why send Shen Lie and his group?

One needed some skill for this task.

While sending troops into the mountains was feasible, the mountains in this region are vast and deep. Without a specific target, sending a team would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. They had to rely on someone like Shen Lie, who had been in the mountains for years and knew where to find people, hoping he would make a few trips for the sake of the reward.

Shen Lie smiled and took out a money pouch from his sleeve. Pouring it into his hand, he revealed three silver ingots. “Yes, Master Chu promised us thirty taels of silver for a month’s work in the mountains. This is the payment for the first month. Additionally, for each person we bring out, we’ll be granted a certain amount of mountain land at the back of our village for twenty years.”

Wow!

Thirty taels of silver—except for those like Shopkeeper Xu and Uncle Xu who were experienced, Old Man Chen, Old Man Lu, Zhou Cunzheng, and Shi Dalang all gasped. Even the young Shen Jin knew the value of money.

Shopkeeper Xu commented, “This amount of silver sounds significant, but considering the difficulty of going into the mountains and bringing people out, it won’t be so much per person. The real value is the land.”

Old Man Chen nodded repeatedly. “Exactly, the land is a great deal. This job is worth doing!”

Free mountain land for twenty years!

For old folks like them, having twenty more years of life was equivalent to receiving a share of the state’s land.

Even if it’s mountainous land, it has its uses. They had lived in the mountains before.

Old Man Lu, Zhou Cunzheng, Shi Dalang, Shopkeeper Xu, and Uncle Xu were all eager.

They knew the mountains and the people in them well. Even if not everyone came out, just a part of them could yield many more mountain peaks for their village.

They were already planning to transport goods from the mountains and deliver news to nearby villages. It was only natural for them to consider this opportunity.

Now, with the government offering wages and a generous reward, they wouldn’t be working for nothing!

Excited, they walked briskly, and soon reached Daxing Village. Chen Youtian was busy repairing the village gate with a group of young men, while the women were clearing and opening land nearby. Old Man Chen couldn’t contain his excitement and immediately shared the news upon entering the village.

Mrs. Chen beamed, “Such good news?”

She tossed aside the hoe and asked, “Are we really getting mountain land?”

Shen Lie smiled. “What Master Chu promised should be true. Besides, the mountains here are not valuable to the court.”

There’s too much of it.

If it were money, the state office might not be willing to part with too much. But for mountain land, they wouldn’t mind giving it away if it meant getting people out.

Chen Youtian was pleased. “Mountain land is great. It’s perfect for growing yam, which thrives in mountainous conditions!”

Sang Luo also smiled. Mountain land has more uses than just growing yam.

“Go ahead, leave a part of the team to clear land and reclaim fields. Pick a few good hands to go into the mountains. Besides the area where we used to live, explore horizontally as well. You might even find relatives of Aunt Shi. Just be cautious with those who only have strong men and women, and avoid bringing such people back here.”

Shen Lie nodded with a smile. “One person from each family will go—myself, Dashan, Uncle Lu, Uncle Shi, Changjian, and Wenqing. Six of us should be enough, taking fewer people each time but making multiple trips.”

He was not comfortable leaving only women and children in the village.

Once the plan was set, he took out the money pouch and said, “The thirty taels are for a month’s work in the mountains. Let’s divide it, five taels each.”

He handed the silver to Zhou Sanlang and Xu Wenqing, who had some extra funds in their families. He instructed them to share it with Lu Erlang and Shi Dalang. He kept the last portion for himself and told Chen Dashan, “I’ll give you five taels later.”

Before heading into the mountains, he still had more than ten taels left at home and could spare five taels in small change for Chen Dashan.

Mrs. Chen smiled widely, “This money comes at just the right time. If we save up, we might even build a blue brick house in three to five years.”

As she spoke, she glanced at the house the Xu family was living in, her eyes squinting with pleasure. “If I could live in such a house in my old age, oh, my life would have been worthwhile!”

This made Sang Luo chuckle. “Grandma, you won’t need three to five years.”

Mrs. Chen responded, “Well, wouldn’t that be even better? I’d get to enjoy many more years of comfort.”

This made Mrs. Xu and Wei Lingzhen laugh as well.

Just as they were laughing, Wei Qinghe and Shen An returned from investigating the county academy. They brought good news: “Brother-in-law, the county academy is enrolling students. The exam is on December 9th. The top forty will be admitted, and you can start next spring!”

Everyone’s attention was drawn to them. Shopkeeper Xu asked, “Do you know what the exam will cover?”

Wei Qinghe replied, “The exam will be on two of the Nine Classics, specifically on the Classics of Filial Piety and the Book of Rites.”

Shen Lie was taken aback. It seemed too easy.

Sang Luo was also surprised but soon understood that this was for county academy admission, so she turned to Shen Lie and asked, “Are you going to try?”

Shen Lie had been studying continuously for years. If the exam was on two of the Nine Classics, particularly the Classics of Filial Piety and the Book of Rites, he could give it a shot.

After a moment’s thought, Shen Lie shook his head. “No, let Xiao An try instead.”

He couldn’t afford to go back to studying; leaving the family’s affairs entirely to Sang Luo wasn’t something he could do. It wasn’t right to have Sang Luo earn money to support him.