Chapter 119: Start (1)

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Liu Jia smiled and said, “Master Zhao, the two officials, and I will wait here. It’s proper that you go and invite Li Zheng to come. We’ll  be able to go back early if we finish our work quickly!”

Master Zhao smiled and agreed.

Originally, Lian Fang Zhou was wondering whether or not to invite them to sit in the house. She was hesitant and troubled. After all, there was no elder in the family, and she didn’t know how to entertain them.

Moreover, Third Aunt was at home, cooking for the helpers. Should they asked to stay for dinner? If they stayed, it would seem too simple and casual if no one else joined them. If they didn’t ask them to stay, they would still see the food with their own eyes, it’s not like she could hide it!”

By saying this, Liu Jia was helping Lian Fang Zhou solve a major problem. Lian Fang Zhou was grateful, but did not show it on her face, otherwise Master Zhao and the others might misunderstand in their hearts. She smiled and agreed, jumping out of the car and hurrying away.

Zhang Li Zheng already knew about the matter and came as soon as Lian Fang Zhou called him.

When Zhang Li Zheng arrived, with a few words of courtesy, Master Zhao led two officers to measure the total amount of 26 acres and after rounding up the final count, it was 64 taels of silver.

Lian Fang Zhou paid on the spot and thanked them with a generous red envelope. Zhang Li Zheng also gave them each a silver or two.

Zhang Li Zheng declined her envelope slightly before accepting it. Seeing that they still had some things to discuss, Zhang Li Zheng said goodbye first.

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“It’s the same as before, I’ll bring you the official deed in three days!” Liu Jia told Lian Fang Zhou with a smile.

“Alright!” Lian Fang Zhou smiled and nodded, and said to Liu Jia: “This time, I really have troubled you, Uncle Liu! It’s not convenient at home, so I won’t keep you for dinner! These two taels of silver will count as me being a host, please go back to town to have a casual meal! I’ll leave it to Uncle Liu to organize!”

Lian Fang Zhou said with a smile and handed two taels of silver to Liu Jia.

With two taels of silver, you can get a table of noodles in any decent restaurant. Seeing that she didn’t forget this matter, Liu Jia smiled happily.

Lian Fang Zhou’s words were not unreasonable and Master Zhao was very understanding. Zhao Liu smiled and joked: “I’m so dazzled by you today!”

Everyone who heard that laughed. Lian Fang Zhou hurriedly smiled and said, “It’s not like that, there will be trouble for Uncle Zhao in the future!”

Zhao Liu smiled and said: “What else is there to say, Miss Lian is a refreshing person, better than many masters! Just tell me something! If these dozens of people are lazy at work, be sure to let me know. They won’t even think about working in Yu He County from now on!”

Lian Fang Zhou hurriedly smiled and thanked him, she didn’t mind agreeing to this.

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Master Zhao and others got in the cart while Liu Jia sat in front. He said to Lian Fang Zhou, “I will come again tomorrow and take Miss Lian to see those 60 mu of paddy fields!”

Lian Fang Zhou had been thinking about how to bring up the charcoal, so she nodded and smiled while taking advantage of the situation: “I happen to have something to trouble Uncle Liu! I’ll talk more about it tomorrow when Uncle Liu comes!”

Liu Jia want to ask, talk about what? But hearing Lian Fang Zhou’s tone, he knew that it must be a matter of importance, so he nodded and left with a smile.

Lian Fang Zhou walked briskly to the village, first to Aunt Zhang’s house, telling Aunt Zhang that Liu Jia would come again tomorrow, and then home to see how Third Aunt and the two little ones were cooking.

The work was not too difficult. After breakfast, they put the big bones in the pot and boiled the soup. Then they made the noodles, prepared the vegetables, and then made the pancakes. After the pancakes were half-baked, you could steam the noodles on the buns before finishing the pancakes. After this, fry the dishes for the burritos*.

Lian Fang Qing and Lian Che helped to maintain the fire, wash the vegetables, and stir the dishes. Although they were busy, they were not messy.

When Lian Fang Zhou came back, Third Aunt was cooking, and she said, “You just came back! This dish will be ready immediately!”

Lian Fang Qing came over and smiled, saying, “Sister, sister! Third brother** and I have been helping, I haven’t been lazy!”

“You are both good kids!” Lian Fang Zhou touched her head before smiling at Third Aunt: “I will put the soup, steamed buns, and pancakes on the cart! It’s best to send it when it’s still hot!”

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Third Aunt agreed and then said: “Save us some so we won’t need to cook another meal at noon. You should also eat some before giving it away! The soup hasn’t been salted yet, please add some!”

Lian Fang Zhou added the salt and tasted it. Cutting the washed coriander into small pieces, she sprinkled them in, stirred, and smiled at Third Aunt: “I will send it to the fields first and eat later. Anyway, I will have to bring the dishes back!”

Third Aunt said “Oh” and stopped insisting, but said: “Then we won’t wait for you!”

Naturally, Lian Fang Zhou had no objection and she filled two large clean baskets full of steamed buns and pancakes, covering them with clean white gauze. Then she poured the fragrant big bone soup into the two large tin pots she had bought earlier.

She took two big bamboo side bags and tied them with brown ropes to firmly fastened them one by one on the back of the donkey. These two large bamboo side bags were purchased when she had bought the donkey cart. They could be hung on the back of the donkey on each side to carry things.

Next, she carefully put the two big tin pots into two big bamboo baskets and then put the basket with the steamed buns and pancakes inside. Thirty clean empty bowls and a large handful of chopsticks wrapped in cloth were also put in. She just needed to wait for the last few dishes Third Aunt was working on.

The bowls and utensils had all been bought yesterday. Lian Fang Zhou thought with so much land, it was inevitable that she would have to find workers again in the future. These things would come in handy, so she had gone out to purchase them.

Third Aunt fried the vegetables and filled the two large bowls, covering them with lids, which were also placed in a basket.

After everything was cleaned up, Lian Fang Zhou spoke briefly with Third Aunt and took the donkey out.

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First, she stopped by where Ah Jian was doing road repair. After half a day of work on the road, they had finished more than two miles and another half a day should be enough. This was because the small roads already had a foundation and the terrain was relatively flat, which was very convenient.

Ah Jian took the reins from Lian Fang Zhou’s hand and called everyone to go to the end of the field for lunch.

The smell of the food drifted out of the baskets, the scent of broth and fried meat was particularly salivating. Everyone was a little tired after working for a long time, and they all smiled like patient Taoist masters.

Lian Fang Zhou joked with a few polite words, and then chatted with Ah Jian rest the way.

At the field, the line of fire was about to be finished. Some of the road work team said: “Let’s help finish this first before eating. It won’t take long!”

They had all been hired to do the same job, this section just hadn’t been finished yet. Obviously, they would have to wait to eat until it was done, so it was better to help them finish quickly so that they could all eat and rest.

Everyone smiled and agreed, not waiting for Lian Fang Zhou and Ah Jian to instruct them.

TN: *Burritos is probably not accurate but I don’t know what else 卷饼 should translate to, google is very insistent that its burrito.

** I think she considered Ah Jian to be eldest brother now? I’m not sure.

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