Chapter 391: Offer

TN: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone! Please enjoy these next few chapters and I’ll see you in the new year!

Looking over the wetlands, Lian Fang Zhou was filled with optimism and ideas. Looking at her face of intense concentration, Liu Jia, thinking she was dissatisfied, spread his hands and smiled bitterly. “These muddy ponds are indeed unpleasant, but they formed naturally so no one can remove them. How about you just take it for free, no need to pay!

“Huh?!” Lian Fang Zhou stared at him in shock, eyes wide!

Liu Jia misunderstood her surprised and hurriedly added, “If you don’t want it, that’s fine! I found several other places as well! This one fit your requirements the best, it’s just a pity that there is a muddy pond in the middle.”

Not want it?

Lian Fang Zhou was thrilled and quickly smiled: “Naturally I want this pond, shall we have it measured and add it to the land deed together?”

“Yes, yes, of course!” Liu Jia exclaimed. Measuring it would be a little troublesome but this was a big business with a regular customer, so where would he be afraid of a little trouble?

Who would fuss about a little matter like this? Not unless a pie fell from the sky!

~

The land was called Luoji mountain and covered a total of 6,660 mu. When the wetland area was removed, it was about 6,500.

In just a few purchases, she had spent over thirty thousand taels of silver.

Like the wasteland in Shitouping, which would need to be cleaned up again after the cotton harvest, Luojia mountain would also need to be cleared.

Additionally, clearing Luojia would be more troublesome than Shitouping. The wetlands would need to be managed, the pond dug up, and soil transplanted to stabilize the planted trees.

Although the fish ponds were naturally maintained by the flow of the river, the amount of work was certainly not small.

The mountainsides were both covered in a variety of trees and shrubs of all sizes. These would have to be removed, one by one.

The ravines also needed to be widened, duck sheds needed to be built, and there had to be a home for the guards. They would need to dig pits for the fruit trees, purchase more saplings, cultivate vegetable plots, get food for the fish and ducks…

There were so many things!

They would have to wait until the off seasons after the harvest and slowly finish everything.

As for the land on the outskirts of the city, this would be temporarily set aside for planning next year. The courtyard at the entrance of the village was still enough for now.

At the same time the land deeds were finalized, another 14 people were brought back from the slave market, so that Su Zi Ji had a total of 26 people.

Together with the other helpers, they could produce 70 to 80 quilts a day. This was not much but it was definitely a lot of money!

After the three day period, Su Zi Ji’s people came back to the cotton processing and since then, the quilt production had been running normally.

The amount of mature cotton in the fields increased each day. Previously, they could only harvest around 1,000 catties in a day but now they were bringing in at least four or five thousand!

This amount was so much that Lian Fang Zhou had to ask Aunt Zhang’s family and a few of the villagers to help.

Unexpectedly, Sun Ming and his parents also came to help.

Seeing him at the cotton fields, Lian Fang Zhou was surprised and immediately insisted that Sun Ming go back. However, he firmly refused. Smiling, he said: “It’s just for a little while, why shouldn’t I help?”

Sun Zhang Xing and his wife sighed inwardly when they saw this. His mother cried out in her heart ‘unjust!’ before reluctantly smiling at Lian Fang Zhou: “Don’t worry about him, Miss Lian! He is just bored with studying everyday and wants an activity to do outside. I feel that this is also good, go ahead and finish your business!”

Hadn’t the couple tried to persuade him? He was now a shengyuan, how could he still do rough work in the fields?

But Sun Ming insisted on coming and when he reached the cotton fields, he did not put on airs in front of others, working in an honest manner.

When his parents say this and heard the other workers praising him both honestly and jealously, what his parents felt in their hearts, only they knew.

This kid didn’t say a word, why hadn’t he let go of his heart? Did he really like her so much?

Seeing that the Sun family insisted, Lian Fang Zhou couldn’t say anything, so she smiled at Sun Ming ang said: “In that case, I will thank Big Brother Sun first! It’s just that Big Brother Sun should listen to my persuasion. After all, this is not suitable work for Big Brother Sun. It’s good to occasionally move your muscles and bones to adjust your spirits but don’t exhaust yourself, let alone hurt your hands. Don’t delay your schoolwork! Otherwise, I will be guilty.”

“Relax, I have a sense of measure.” Sun Ming smiled: “It’s not like I haven’t done this work before. It’s nothing! Just go ahead and continue what you were doing.”

Only Sun Ming knew that his mouth tasted bitter. After all, he had no relationship with her.

Lian Fang Zhou smiled politely and left.

Now that the cotton harvest and processing was moving smoothly, each step of the process was finally arranged. Quilts were in production and Su Jin and the weavers had already started to spin and weave.

At this time, the cotton could no longer be hidden.

Taking the two quilts, Lian Fang Zhou personally delivered them to the Country magistrate and Master Ding.

Not only did she give a quilt to each of them, she had also asked Su Jin to make them each a silk cover sheet as well.

The set with sapphire blue flowers was given the Magistrate and the one with a pattern of green peas and lotus was given to Master Ding.

After all, the cotton quilts did not look good when they were given out bare. Lian Fang Zhou wanted to make a good first impression, not allowing even the slightest flaw to be seen.

However, the ones she gave to Fang Qing and Su Jing He had been a bit different. Those were for business, so of course they had to be more natural and authentic.

Most importantly, in this way, if anyone wagged their tongues in front of the Magistrate or Master Ding in the future, she could say that she had sent them to the Su family first. Even the most disrespectful gossip would have to admit that it was best to give the quilts to family first and a specially made quilt would naturally take longer to make.

The Country magistrate’s expression was a bit funny when he heard from the land steward that a small girl from the Lian family wanted to report something to him.

He didn’t believe a word at all!

What insight could a little girl have? Obviously she was just making a fuss!

Originally, the Magistrate wanted to say that he didn’t have time to speak to her and have the land steward dismiss her. But the land steward had received a lot of benefits from Lian Fang Zhou and naturally felt a little affectionate towards her, so he helped her by saying a few good things and touching the Country Magistrate.

In the end, the Country magistrate barely agreed to receive Lian Fang Zhou.

Seeing Lian Fang Zhou untie her bag to reveal a quilt, the Country magistrate’s face sank: What was the meaning of this?!

However, after listening to Lian Fang Zhou explain the cotton quilt to him, his eyes were huge. His entire face lit up as he stepped forward to touch the quilt. Feeling the material, his eyes became even brighter, and he blurted out: “This-this is really made of cotton? You made, made a— a cotton quilt?”

If this was the case, didn’t that mean that he had made a great contribution? Promotion was just around the corner! His reputation would be greatly improved!

“Yes, Country magistrate! Please take a look!” Lian Fang Zhou smiled and unfastened the buckles of the silk cover, pulling out the cotton quilt inside.

“Good! Good! It’s great, it’s really great!” The Country magistrate was so happy he couldn’t close his mouth, grinning from ear to ear and flushed with happiness.

His laughter was so loud, it was like he had picked up one hundred and eight thousand taels of silver!