Chapter 62: Planting Blessings (II)
On the fifth day of the eighth lunar month, Qian Qing was slumped in her chair in a very undignified manner. It was not until Huo Chong entered the room that she quickly stood up and said, "Big Brother."
"Thank you for your hard work." Huo Chong praised.
The tax collection was about to begin. There were only a dozen households in the village who did not participate in the "Planting Fubao" project, and even these dozen households had honestly prepared copper coins to send to Huo Chong.
Huo Chong had done the work of filing for hundreds of people, and even with computers and other equipment, he was still exhausted. Qian Qing was alone with the account book, and she was lucky that she didn't sleep on the table.
Thinking of this, Huo Chong smiled and said, "Seventh Brother, do you want me to get you a small bed so you can lie down when you are tired?"
"Really?" Qian Qing's eyes lit up. But after a moment she put away her smile and shook her head, "Big Brother, forget it."
Qian Qing was a very respectable child, and Huo Chong did not force her. He said, "Seventh Brother, I will arrange a job for you as a teacher. Children from the village can come to school, learn to read and do some arithmetic. They can help me in the future."
"Okay." Qian Qing agreed quickly. But after a moment she asked, "Big Brother, you said before that you would teach me martial arts. When will it start?"
After saying this, Huo Chong remembered the previous agreement. Seeing Qian Qing's current weak clerk appearance, Huo Chong couldn't help but touch his belly. The eight obvious abdominal muscles now felt a bit like a whole block.
"Let's wait until this is done." Huo Chong couldn't help but say what he often said when he was working in the office.
"Okay." Qian Qing immediately perked up. Looking at the girl in a fitted long skirt, Huo Chong couldn't connect this healthy but slender figure with the girl holding the overlong single-blade at the beginning.
On the tenth day of August, the tax collection was completed in just one day. Captain Li, who came over, bowed to Huo Chong and said, "Master Huo, thank you for your hard work."
"Captain Li ran for dozens of miles, it was really hard work." Huo Chong said casually.
Captain Li stretched his body, sighed comfortably, and then said, "Master Huo, County Magistrate Xu invites Master Huo to attend a banquet in the county on August 15th."
Although he didn't know what Magistrate was going to do, Huo Chong smiled and said, "I will definitely go."
After sending Captain Li away, Huo Chong immediately sent his men out to ask people from each village how many were willing to join the second phase of the Fubao planting. The rabbits were growing happily in the quiet rabbit farm and were trying their best to reproduce. The number had already exceeded 500.
As the rabbit meat and rabbit skin continued to grow, we faced a very realistic problem. Rabbits need to eat, and grass is important, but according to the rabbit farm plan, it is best to feed the rabbits some green fodder every day, such as lettuce.
But lettuce is not easy to grow, and people like to eat it. Another food is carrots.
Huo Chong's fellow apprentices are now serving as office staff, and the only people they can use are those pushed to Huo Chong's side by the village leaders. These guys are probably still close to their own family, but since they are apprentices here, Huo Chong will make good use of them.
In three days, all of them came back. Three of these guys said that their families were willing to listen to Huo Chong's arrangements, and only five of the other families were willing to listen to Huo Chong.
He found the list and counted the land. There were more than 40 mu of land in total. Adding Huo Chong's own 30 mu of land, there were nearly 80 mu of land in total. Huo Chong thought it should be enough.
But Huo Chong was still worried, so he called everyone together and asked, "I want to sign a written agreement with these people. If someone asks why we need to sign a written agreement, what should we answer?"
The young men were dumbfounded. It was obvious that more than half of them had no idea why they had to sign a document. Those who had ideas did not dare to speak. Huo Chong looked around and pointed at Zhu Xiulin, a young man of the same generation as Zhu Xiushan who had left earlier, "Xiulin, what do you think?"
Zhu Xiulin was in a dilemma. Seeing that Huo Chong had no intention of letting him go, he could only reluctantly say, "Master Huo, isn't signing a written agreement a promise of not going back on your word?"
"Yes. Then how are you going to tell them?"
Zhu Xiulin muttered, "Once you sign the agreement, you can't go back on your word."
"Xiu Lin, you have to tell them that after we signed the agreement, I..." Huo Chong pointed at his chest as he spoke, "I can't go back on my word."
When the third apprentice brother Tie Niu heard this, he was unhappy, "Big Brother, can't we regret it?"
Huo Chong began the training course, "Third brother, everyone knows that you can't go back on your word after signing a document. We have to say what we want to say, and what we want to say is that we can't go back on our word. Whether the other party goes back on their word or not is what they want to say. We can't say what they say."
Training is a very troublesome thing, but it is also not that troublesome. Huo Chong started with the key point of "not saying what others want to say". In the end, the teenagers and young people found that the core of the matter does not matter how to say it, but "whether you are willing to take risks".
The third brother was really a little anxious, "Big Brother, if something goes wrong with what you just said, won't it all be our responsibility?"
"Yes." Huo Chong answered readily, "Some people have planted some ground beans, but not many people have planted sunflowers, carrots, and peanuts. We don't know what kind of land they can grow in, and what land they can grow well in. Neither do they know. Since we are the ones taking the lead, we have to shoulder the responsibility. If we can't shoulder the responsibility, why are we taking the lead!"
The third brother said excitedly: "Big Brother, but we are responsible for the seeds and the harvest. If the crops are not good, we will still pay for the crops. We are worried too much."
Huo Chong said firmly: "Third brother, do you think this is wrong? If they really don't grow it, won't they feel bad? We will have to apologize to them then. It's embarrassing for them."
The meeting ended in a bad mood. At least the third brother obviously could not accept Huo Chong's arrangement. But Huo Chong did not want to say too much. At least the third brother was not mature enough to be responsible for a research and development project. And Huo Chong had too many projects to develop in the future. It seemed that he needed to prepare to find other candidates.
The next day was August 15th, and Huo Chong got up early in the morning and went to the county town. The gift was already prepared, a set of rabbit fur lining.
A pound of cotton sells for 60 coins in Shandong. It takes about one or two taels of silver to make three sets of clothes a year: summer clothes, spring and autumn clothes, and winter clothes. The advantage of rabbit skin lining is obvious. It can be reused and is not restricted by clothes. If there are matching parts in spring and autumn clothes, they can be used directly.
Huo Chong is very confident in his kneading technology. Even if it is not as good as modern technology that can last for ten years, it can at least last for a few years. Rabbit skin will only become softer after a few years. The cotton in a cotton-padded jacket will not last for two years.
I thought Magistrate Xu would hold a grand banquet, but when I arrived, I found that there was only one old acquaintance sitting in Magistrate Xu's house. Looking at Xu Youlin, whom I hadn't seen for a long time, Huo Chongxi said, "Brother Xu, I thought I had offended you and you didn't want to see me anymore."
Xu Youlin smiled bitterly, "Brother Huo, I just had some problems at home. I had to go back. Actually, I have to thank Brother Huo. Thanks to the money you made me earn, the problems at home were finally solved."
"What's wrong? Is there anything I can help with?" Huo Chong asked.
County Magistrate Xu had not returned yet. Xu Youlin pulled Huo Chong to sit down and sighed, "It's the same thing as last time. I don't know who told others about my being cheated. The brothers from other halls in the gang said that I couldn't be relied on and wanted to dismiss me as the hall leader. I could only bring Brother Huo up. Fortunately, Brother Huo got an official position. My relatives wrote to me, and I was finally out of trouble."
Since this matter had nothing to do with Huo Chong, Huo Chong asked about things that were related to him, "Who cheated Brother Xu? Can't you just tell me?"
Xu Youlin shook his head and talked about other topics, "Our gang's brothers in Beijing said that Brother Huo, you have become a favorite in the eyes of the Fourteenth Master?"
"What a joke." Huo Chong said with a smile: "Fourteenth Master is such a person, how could he take me seriously? All Fourteenth Master cares about is Liulihuo."
The two chatted and laughed for a while, and Huo Chong asked if he could take his goods to Jiangnan to sell. Xu Youlin sighed, "Jiangnan doesn't like Brother Huo's wine. Jiangnan likes rice wine. Liuli lamps are okay. Although Liuli fire can be sold, according to what Brother Huo said, you don't have much left now."
Huo Chong did not have much left, but he felt that if he could grow potatoes and make wine in Jiangnan, he would definitely make a lot of money. But how could he place a trustworthy person in Jiangnan? This was probably more difficult than buying land in Jiangnan.
Just as he was thinking, he heard footsteps outside. Huo Chong and Xu Youlin both stood up and waited for County Magistrate Xu to come in.
A man in official uniform strode into the living room, but Huo Chong did not recognize him at all. From his uniform, he could only tell that he was a sixth-rank official. Xu Zhixian, a seventh-rank official, followed behind him. When the sixth-rank official saw Huo Chong, he said loudly, "This must be Brother Huo."
"My name is Huo Chong. May I know what this brother's name is?" Huo Chong asked.
"We'll talk about this later. Brother Huo, I'm here on the orders of Governor Li. I want you to make another 30,000 kilograms of Glazed Fire as soon as possible."
Huo Chong was stunned, not knowing what was going on. Seeing that County Magistrate Xu had no intention of speaking, Huo Chong could only answer, "It will take some time to make 30,000 catties of colored glaze fire."
The sixth-rank official showed some sarcasm on his face. "Brother Huo, if you are worried about not being able to collect the money, you don't have to. County Magistrate Xu said that this money will be regarded as Brother Huo's tax. When Brother Huo pays taxes in the future, he can use this to offset the taxes."
When Magistrate Xu heard this, his eyes flashed with anticipation. Huo Chong did not respond to this expectation, and asked calmly, "Brother, what if I don't want to?"
