Earning money from land wasn't as easy as earning money from guesthouse and shop, because the land still had to be reclaimed carefully. Zhang Fangyuan said that the land should be reclaimed in the autumn. When the busy autumn harvest season was over and the villagers have nothing to do, they could invite them over to help reclaim the land. By then, it would be easy to find people and the price would be lower, so it would be cost-effective.
Xu He naturally agreed.
"Then I'll go."
Zhang Fangyuan took the money and walked out the door. Xu He cleaned up the house and was about to pick up the two children. Now there were two more servants in the house, one named Gancao and the other Huangqi. He felt more relaxed than when Wen Zi was around.
Before he went to his sons' room. Gancao came over first and said, "Fulang, some people have come to our house, they're fellow villagers."
Xu He then turned around and went to the main hall, and sure enough, there were two villagers there.
"What's the matter with you guys coming here?"
The two villagers felt a little cramped when they came to the Zhang family's house. When there were many people, they just gathered in the yard and wouldn't go into the house. The house had a tall gatehouse and a spacious hall, and they felt embarrassed to go into the house when they were covered in mud and sweat.
Seeing that it wasn't Zhang Fangyuan who came out to meet the guests, they felt relieved, and one of them said directly: "When Boss Zhang brought the merchants from the city to the village, he told us that the silkworm farmers don't have to worry, and Boss Zhang will find a way when the time comes. It's autumn harvest now, and the silkworms raised earlier in the family have already spun silk into cocoons. I don't know when Boss Zhang will bring the merchants to collect them."
"After this batch of silk is collected, we will have more money on hand so that we can raise the second batch. The weather starts to get colder after autumn, and we won't be able to raise silkworms after the beginning of winter. I thought we should raise another batch while the weather is good now."
The villagers were relatively polite, but they were afraid that the Zhang family, on whom they relied, would turn against them. If that happened, they would have no choice but to take the silk to cloth shops in the city. Without connections, not only would they not be able to sell it at a good price, they might not even be able to find a shop owner to buy it, so they immediately went to the Zhang family to ask.
The couple was busy buying land some time ago and forgot to notify the families raising silkworms.
Xu He said, "Which families' silkworms have produced silk? I'll go with everyone to take a look. If the quality is good, we'll buy it directly."
The villagers were so happy when they heard this, they stood up immediately and said, "That's great. We thought the first batch of silkworms wouldn't be raised well, but this year the season is good, the crops are good, the mulberry leaves are lush, and the silkworms are also well raised. Not many are wasted."
"Every cocoon is big!"
As he was about to go with the villagers to see the silk cocoons, Ruijin and Ruili ran out of the house, and when they saw Xu He was about to go out, they started to make a fuss and wanted to go with him.
The villagers were very fond of the two cute babies and urged Xu He to take the children with him. Xu He shook his head helplessly, thinking that they would just stay in the village, so he called Huangqi, who was stronger, to go with him and take care of the children.
Ruili lay on Xu He's shoulder: "Where are we going?"
"Go and see the silkworms at aunt's house."
"What are silkworms? Can they be eaten?"
Xu He was angry when he looked at Ruili, who had his eyes wide open and a look of anticipation on his face, as if he wasn't fed enough at home.
"No, the silk produced by silkworms is used to make clothes."
"Oh~ that's a shame."
Ruili slumped on Xu He's shoulder for two seconds, then looked up and saw his silent brother being held by Huangqi. He opened his mouth and started talking to his brother again.
The cocoons of mulberry silkworms were mostly oblong in shape, with white silk covering the surface, and this layer of white fluff could be used for reeling silk.
Xu He picked up two silk cocoons and examined them for a while. This year's cocoons were big and white luster, they were indeed of good quality.
The two little ones had never seen silk cocoons before and were very curious. They wanted to break free from the adult's arms to look at the cocoons in the basket. However, the two short winter melons, even with their chins up, were not even as tall as the basket. So they had to crawl back into the adult's arms.
Xu He gave Ruili a silk cocoon. The child held the snow-white cocoon carefully, sometimes tilting his head to observe it, sometimes leaning forward to smell it, and having a lot of fun.
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