They resented the Huang family, hated them—yet they still had to bow for the sake of a few bushels of rice and farm for them.
If they didn't farm, they truly wouldn't have a single bite to eat.
It wasn't that no one had thought of opening wasteland before. Da Xia had a law: reclaiming wasteland meant paying the court, four taels of silver per mu. Otherwise, why would the court just hand out land for free?
If no silver was required, everyone would fence off land and claim it as their own—chaos would ensue.
Back then, they'd been too poor to do anything but sell their land; how could they have had silver to open wasteland?
And the land available for reclamation wasn't good for growing grain either.
But now the official notice had come down: no payment required upfront—go ahead and open it, and pay later when you have silver.
With chemical fertilizer, there was nothing to worry about—of course they could grow crops.
Let the Huang family's fields sit idle. They'd go open wasteland instead.
The villages were poor and had no oxen, so opening and farming the land relied entirely on brute human strength. Earlier, several dozen oxen had been requisitioned from the north, and now the road was nearly finished. Fang Zichen had reassigned some of those oxen for the villagers to use in plowing, so they could open the wasteland faster. Otherwise, with that hard, rocky mountain soil, relying only on manual labor would take forever. First, they'd work a few mu, plant a crop of corn, and have enough grain to get through the winter.
Old and young from the village all headed up the mountain. They couldn't work as fast as young men, but they could pull weeds and gather branches well enough.
Now the Huang family's fields had no one to farm them—they couldn't hire anyone even if they tried. At this point, it wasn't just Huang Zheng—even Madam Huang was worried.
She'd been thinking optimistically earlier: even if the shops failed, they could always fall back on the village. A few hundred mu of land would keep them comfortable for life.
But now there was no one to work it. The people from all the surrounding villages resented the Huang family and wouldn't take the work. Hiring from outside—if they paid too little, no one would come; if they paid too much, it wasn't worth it. And if they did it themselves, how much could they possibly plant?
Having the land was the same as not having it!
Madam Huang wailed at the top of her lungs: "Master! What do we do? Hurry and think of something!"
Huang Zheng slumped on his stool, his mind completely blank.
When people saw the Huang family shops closing one after another, everyone understood: in Hezhou, that man named Fang was the one truly in charge.
So what if the Huang family had deep roots in Hezhou?
He still brought them down.
After dealing with Huang Zheng, Fang Zichen felt satisfied.
Anyone trying to take advantage of him—he wouldn't let a single one off.
But it wouldn't do to just promote the Wang family. He later sent people to investigate and also elevated the Ye family, who had a good reputation.
Now both families were thriving in business.
It wasn't just the grain-buying incident that made Fang Zicheng hold a grudge against the Huang family—Huang Zheng was simply far too ruthless in business. If left unchecked, even Fang Zichen himself might have been controlled by the Huang family.
After settling the Huang family matter, Fang Zichen had another stretch of leisure. During the day, he took the three children out to play everywhere. At night, Zhao Ger would personally cook his favorite dishes in the kitchen. Fang Zichen felt that life was simply wonderful.
The weather was hot now, so instead of boiling the children in a cauldron at home, Fang Zichen brought a large basin and took them to the river to bathe.
Gungun and Dandan loved playing in the water the most. With little swim rings tucked under their arms, they splashed about in the river, their arms whirling like propellers—even a water ghost would've caught a couple of slaps if it came near.
The village kids who could swim also loved playing in the water during summer, so the river was lively and bustling.
Guaizai had found his little yellow chick float again and brought it every time they came to swim. None of the village kids had ever seen anything like it, so they were completely fascinated. After Guaizai let them take turns lying on it, the little yellow chick floatie became the most popular item. The children loved it—they thought it was big and tall, like a castle on the sea. A crowd of kids loved swimming around the yellow chick, taking turns sitting on it while others pushed, or splashing water at each other—laughter and joy never stopped.
The weather was scorching, and the kids had practically taken root in the river—from dawn till dusk, they wouldn't even come home.
But summer was also when the most people drowned.
Every day, watching a bunch of children splashing and darting about in the river, Fang Zichen couldn't help but worry. The southern part of Hezhou had the most waterways, so he had no choice but to summon the constables and send them down to the villages to spread the word—reminding everyone to keep a closer eye on the little ones.
Kids love playing in water—there was no way to stop them completely. If they couldn't play in the village river, they'd probably run off to some more dangerous one farther out. So the best they could do was keep a regular watch and make sure no accidents happened.
Guaizai could swim, so Zhao Ger wasn't worried about him. He stuck with Fang Zichen, focusing on taking care of Gungun and Dandan, washing the mud off their little bottoms.
They split the work. Fang Zichen helped Gungun wash: "Stretch your neck."
The two little ones had such thick rolls of baby fat around their necks—if they didn't stretch, it was impossible to reach in and wash them properly.
Gungun lifted his head.
This kid still couldn't quite understand human speech. Fang Zichen sighed. "I said stretch your neck, not lift your head."
Gungun said in his milky little voice, "But Father, Gungun is stwetchin' his neck!"
Fang Zichen: "......So you've gotten fatter again?"
"No, Gungun is just gwowin' up, that's all."
Fang Zichen sat him in the basin, felt his belly, and counted carefully: "Four rolls of flab now. You used to have only three! That's just like Dandan. You have gotten chubby again, kiddo. Take it easy, will you? Look at your daddy—back in the day, he was thin, which is how he managed to marry such a fine man like your father. If you keep getting fatter like this, I'll have no choice but to send you off to be Old Man Ge's sow's son."
At that, Gungun immediately started yelling: "No! Gungun doesn't wanna go!"
Old Man Ge's sow was pitch-black, had a long snout, and supposedly bit people. On top of that, the pigsty stank to high heaven. Gungun looked utterly wronged: "Father meanie! Gungun not goin'!"
Fang Zichen pinched his chubby little cheek and sighed. "Then eat less, alright? Look how fat you've gotten—when you walk, the whole ground shakes!"
"But if Gungun doesn't eat, tummy goes gwumbly, and then Gungun will die!"
Fang Zichen looked at his pitiful little face and couldn't bring himself to say more. If the kid didn't get enough to eat, it hurt him right in the heart. There was no use nagging. He just washed him up, making him smell nice and clean, without complaint.
Only after they were clean did he let them go play. Some of the women were still doing laundry by the riverbank, so Fang Zichen didn’t feel right about going for a swim. He just sat on the shore with Zhao Ger and watched.
The river water was cool. Zhao Ger dangled his legs in, enjoying the refreshing chill.
Fang Zichen put his own feet in too, then lightly kicked Zhao Ger under the water.
Zhao Ger looked at him. "What?"
Fang Zichen played with Zhao Ger's hand. "I saw you grinning from ear to ear. What's got you so happy? Found some silver?"
Zhao Ger said, "Nothing like that. I'm just happy watching the kids have so much fun."
The children's laughter was infectious—just listening to it made all the worries melt away.
People from the village often came to sit by the river. One, for the cool air, and two, for exactly that reason.
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