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

Chapter 277: One Word, Absolute!

Three years is impossible to be three years.

In the past, there was no way to reward or promote, and it had to be kept hidden because the papermaking technique couldn’t be known to be from Sang Luo. Now that Sang Luo has demonstrated her talent in agriculture, how could the emperor possibly allow her to remain in Shezhou?

By October, it was considered to bring her to the capital with the tribute convoy, but the twins from the Shen family were still too young at the moment.

There was no choice; very young children required meticulous care. He wanted to use Sang Luo, but he couldn’t ignore the Shen family’s situation. He could wait for eight or nine months.

Or rather, the more the emperor valued a person or a matter, the more patience and thoroughness he would show.

Zeng Ziqian quickly realized this and was happy for the Shen family, although he wouldn’t be able to report good news every few months anymore.

Ah, the feeling was so pleasant; it was quite disappointing to lose it after having tasted it.

However, thinking about the potential benefits Sang Luo might bring to the Da Qi after entering the capital, this bit of disappointment was nothing to worry about!

The court meeting was still ongoing, discussing the proposal from Yunyang County about building public toilets in various states and counties of the Da Qi, and the proposal to add officials specifically tasked with researching planting methods, and how to implement these ideas.

Sang Luo, the Yunyang County, already had a name in the court even though she was unaware of it. The two suggestions she casually made became the key topics of discussion among the civil and military officials.

…

In Daxing Village, Sang Luo was still unaware of the affairs in the capital. It had been just twenty days since she started the school on the fifteenth of the first lunar month. Shen Ning, Xu Wenyin, Chen Xiaoya, and Shi Qiaoer had set up a brush-making workshop.

It turned out that the business of Sang Luo’s specialty shop in Daxing Village had expanded into nearby states. The pork jerky and pork floss were selling well, and even cold rabbit dishes were starting to be ordered. The amount of pig hair and rabbit hair had increased significantly compared to before.

Unfortunately, Shen Ning and the others were quite busy. Not only did they teach, but Shen Ning and Chen Xiaoya also managed their own accounts, so they had less time to make brushes. With Sang Luo’s fan workshop ahead, the four girls came together and decided to set up a brush-making workshop. They also planned to have the trading apprentices of Shen Jin in the merchant team help find distributors in other states and counties.

Of course, Shen Ning is quite experienced in handling such matters these days. Her sister-in-law covers the transportation costs, so it’s not quite appropriate to use her sister-in-law’s people for free. Instead, they discussed splitting a part of the transportation cost with their brush workshop and also planned to take a commission on the sold brushes.

The workshop is still in the same room that the Xu family used for making brushes, but with a few additional workstations.

The bamboo pen handles are outsourced to a few local farmers skilled in bamboo crafting. They receive samples and set prices accordingly. The brush heads are produced by breaking down a wall in the new school and employing a few diligent young girls from the students who listen to classes outside. They’re paid by piece.

The business model is quite systematic.

Sang Luo had to give it a thumbs up.

For the school, this is clearly a positive development. Young girls, who usually handle household chores like feeding chickens and cooking, are getting jobs after just twenty days of schooling.

As news spread, the concept of the value of education was reinforced among the villagers around Daxing Village, leading to an increase in students attending evening classes.

This was a positive reaction. What Sang Luo didn’t expect was a negative one.

In fact, the aggrieved party hadn’t voiced any complaints to her. Sang Luo learned about it from Mrs. Feng Liuniang, who came by with her child.

The Lu family’s eldest branch is splitting.

The cause was Lu Dalang’s intention to remarry. Without informing his family, he sent a matchmaker to propose to the Zheng family, who refused. A few days later, Zheng Daniu, who attended night school, was followed by Lu Dalang.

Zheng Daniu attended night classes with the wife of Gan Erlang and the Feng family. There was a distance between the Gan and Feng families and the Zheng family, so Zheng Daniu and her nephew were the only ones left for the last part of the journey home.

It was then that Lu Dalang appeared, asking Zheng Daniu why she refused the marriage proposal. He claimed he had inquired and found that Zheng Daniu was a widow and he was a widower, making them a perfect match. He questioned why she looked down on him.

For others, it might have been a matter of a few sharp words, but Zheng Daniu had previously endured some unpleasant experiences and was much more timid. With a man following her in the dark, Lu Dalang’s hoarse voice frightened her greatly.

Fortunately, sensing something wrong, Zheng Daniu’s father had been quietly following her for the past twenty days, and when he noticed something was off, he intervened. He identified himself, apologized, and dragged Lu Dalang away.

Zheng Daniu recognized Lu Shuangzhu as a classmate from the school, which reassured her.

She said nothing more, but her brothers came to Daxing Village and gave Lu Dalang a good beating!

“Not confronting you was giving you face. Don’t you see your own age and reputation? How dare you come to my house to propose! After being rejected, you still dared to follow my sister at night! Scaring my sister! How dare you scare my sister!”

It was a real beating!

The Lu family’s eldest branch lived in the most remote area. Zheng Daniu’s brothers were regular visitors to Daxing Village, helping Sang Luo slaughter pigs from time to time, so no one paid much attention when they came to the village. Aside from the Lu family, no one else knew about Lu Dalang’s beating.

“My mother was furious. Shuangzhu is nineteen and Tiezhu is seventeen. Because of past events, Shuangzhu has difficulty finding a match, and Tiezhu and Shuangzhu’s marriages are still uncertain. But he’s already thinking about remarrying himself.”

Mrs. Feng Liuniang’s demeanor was one of pity for her nephews.

The neighbors, being people from the mountains, could guess a few things given their familiarity. The Lu family’s return from the mountains had been delayed several months, so everyone was wary.

Since last year, Old Mrs. Lu had been trying to arrange a marriage for her eldest grandson to uphold the family’s reputation. After several months of effort with no suitable match, who was to blame?

And now, Lu Dalang had the audacity to think of remarrying himself!

“He’s thirty-six, and Zheng Daniu is at most twenty-three or twenty-four. How dare he think of it?”

Sang Luo couldn’t help but laugh in anger.

Zheng Daniu was actually quite well off. At first, she appeared chubby, but she had a cheerful, round face and a fair complexion, indicating she was well-cared-for.

After being caught up in county troubles and taken away, she hadn’t gained weight over the years, and her features became more distinct.

Lu Dalang, on the other hand, was the opposite—neglecting his appearance, growing increasingly rough, and looking more like father and daughter than anything else.

Sang Luo felt like spitting.

As Tian Yi warmed up and began exploring rolling skills on the bed, Sang Luo asked Mrs. Feng Liuniang, “What happened next? Did Old Mrs. Lu propose the split?”

“No, it was Shuangzhu who suggested it. He wants to separate from Tiezhu and the others into a different household. Tiezhu and his siblings seem to agree with their elder brother.”

Sang Luo raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Mrs. Feng Liuniang smiled, “Didn’t expect that, did you?”

“No, I didn’t. Did he do something in the mountains?”

She remembered that the Lu family’s children were very filial.

It wasn’t that being filial was bad, but they were too soft. Regardless of what Lu Dalang and Wang Chunniang did, the children couldn’t stop or discipline them, and they couldn’t bear to impose harsh punishments. One step at a time, it led to the whole family being sent away.

Now, to see someone with the determination to separate and form a new household was surprising.

Mrs. Feng Liuniang shook her head, “I don’t know. After returning, he hasn’t mentioned it, but there’s some estrangement between father and son. Before suggesting the split, he seemed to have said something to his grandparents, which made the old lady very angry. She immediately went over to help mediate.”

Ah, so this was likely related to what Lu Dalang did during those years in the mountains.

“Splitting the household is also good. Both sons are at marriageable ages, and the elder one is nineteen and still hasn’t found a match. Yet he’s thinking of remarrying himself first.”

Unreliable to this extent, considering Shuangzhu, Tiezhu, and Daniu are all at the age for marriage, in an era where arranged marriages are dictated by parents and matchmakers, it really comes down to fate.

…

Sang Luo had barely finished with the Lu family’s affair when, just a couple of days later, Old Mrs. Lu made a big move.

What was it?

She had Lu Dalang sign a household separation agreement, and then she signed a land exchange contract.

Exchange land with whom?

With Tiezhu, who would only turn eighteen in a year.

She specifically asked Lu Erlang to consult Chu Qichang, inquiring whether it was possible to allocate land outside Daxing Village to Lu Tiezhu in a year and then swap it with Lu Dalang.

In other words, Lu Dalang was being directly expelled from Daxing Village.

Who is Chu Qichang? He is the official in charge of household registration and land distribution, and he has a particularly good relationship with Daxing Village. Being a shrewd person, he could guess the situation just from a few subtle inquiries. The process might be a bit troublesome, but since it was a matter of a father and son separating households, and with contracts signed and fingerprints made, it could certainly be arranged.

He even helped out by handling it smoothly, first completing the household and land exchange for Lu Dalang, and directly relocating him. The land originally belonging to Lu Dalang, which had already been cultivated, was temporarily rented out by Shuangzhu and his brothers to the government for a year, and would be allocated to Tiezhu after a year.

Sang Luo was curious, “Given Daxing Village’s location and the fact that the land is already developed, how could he agree?”

“Of course, he wasn’t willing. Thanks to your family, the people in our village live much better than those outside. To be honest, just hearing about Daxing Village, marriage proposals are much easier to negotiate than elsewhere.”

“So how did he agree?”

Mrs. Feng Liuniang’s expression was strange. “Old Mrs. Lu was determined. After consulting us and Sanlang, she took out fifteen taels of silver and slammed it on the table, saying that if he agreed, the fifteen taels would be compensation. If he didn’t agree, the fifteen taels would be the cost to hire local workers to dismantle a section of Daxing Village’s wall and rebuild it to enclose him alone outside the village. Of course, in the end, Shuangzhu covered the cost from his own share, not taking it from Old Mrs. Lu.”

Sang Luo was stunned.

Daxing Village originally belonged to the Wang family of Shezhou. For ease of management, except for the areas adjacent to the mountains, the rest of the village was enclosed by a rammed earth wall.

Also, since the Lu family’s eldest branch returned late and was not well-integrated, their land and house were located on the edge of the village.

Sang Luo thought about the location of Lu Dalang’s land. To completely enclose him would require quite a substantial wall. This wasn’t just about building a house; it involved a fair amount of work to enclose one person.

Such a task was quite unconventional and likely required labor costs.

Even considering that they grew their own rice and vegetables, just buying meat and paying for labor to enclose Lu Dalang might indeed cost around fifteen taels.

The key is, if Old Mrs. Lu actually goes through with this, Lu Dalang would gain notoriety. Even if he continues living here, he would never be able to lift his head again in the area around Shezhou for the rest of his life.

Sang Luo had only one word to describe it: “Perfect!”

This was executed flawlessly!