Chapter 65: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 65: Well-Intentioned Reminder
Upon arriving at Liu Yang Village, the father and daughter headed straight to the greenhouse.
Today's weather was nice, and all the oilcloth covers in the field had been removed. At first glance, all that could be seen were lush green vegetables, which stood out prominently in the barren wilderness of withered grass and trees. A gentle breeze swept through, creating waves of green.
The peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and others had grown to about a foot tall. The deep green leaves looked very pleasing to the eye. In about ten days, they would probably start flowering and fruiting. The tomatoes needed to be supported with wooden sticks; otherwise, the fruits would weigh down the main stem and break it. The cucumbers and loofahs also needed wooden frames to prevent the fruits from rotting on the ground.
Several old farmers were carrying wooden buckets and watering cans, watering the vegetables. When they saw the landlord approaching, they quickly stopped their work and gathered around.
"Landlord, did the vegetables we sent today sell well?" The first to approach was Old Lin, nervously rubbing his hands as he cautiously asked Mo Qingze.
Mo Qingze smiled and nodded, "All three carts of vegetables were sold out! We came today to ask you to prepare six more carts of vegetables. We'll come to pick them up early tomorrow morning."
"Great! Great! That's wonderful! We'll go pick the vegetables right away."
Adding six more carts of vegetables made Old Lin extremely happy. The wrinkles on his forehead deepened as he smiled.
These vegetables sold well, which meant the landlord would continue to grow them, and they would have work to do. This kind of job was even better than farming. He really didn't want to lose such a good opportunity.
The other people hurried over and heard Mo Qingze's words. They all smiled happily, as if their own vegetables had sold well.
Mo Yan and her father could guess what was on their minds. Mo Yan took the opportunity to encourage them, "Uncles, please rest assured. As long as these greenhouses don't encounter any problems, our family will give you additional rewards at the end of each month! However, now that these vegetables can be sold for money, I'm afraid some people might be envious and have bad intentions. So, please take extra care tonight!"
After saying this, she bowed to the group of people.
Seeing this, the group of people hurriedly stepped back, avoiding her, and said, "Landlord, rest assured, we will take turns guarding the fields at night, ensuring that not a single leaf is stolen."
These were things they should do anyway. If something went wrong with these valuable vegetables, it wouldn't just be a matter of not getting a reward or losing money; they couldn't afford to lose such a good job.
Mo Yan smiled and thanked them again, then gave a few more instructions. Seeing that there was nothing else to do here, she let them go about their own business. Together with Mo Qingze, they went to the village to find Lin Yong to help find reliable people to help sell the vegetables.
The reason they asked Lin Yong for help was also to repay him. Previously, when Mo Qingze was falsely accused by Bu Shiren, if it weren't for Lin Yong finding a way to get the Wuan Mansion of the Treasure Pavilion to intervene, the Mo family would have suffered even more.
The 660 taels of "compensation silver" given by the Wuan Mansion was originally intended to be given to Lin Yong. However, Lin Yong refused to accept it no matter what, and even denied that it was his credit.
Mo Yan had no choice but to give up. Later, when hiring workers, they tried to prioritize Lin's family as a way of repaying Lin Yong.
After hearing the purpose of the father and daughter's visit, Lin Yong thought for a moment and came up with a few candidates. He mentioned their names: "These few people are quite clever; they should be able to handle the vegetable sales. Why not let them try tomorrow?"
The father and daughter thanked him repeatedly. Lin Yong was not one to make empty promises. If he said "they should be able to," it meant "they definitely can."
With the matter resolved so easily, both of them breathed a sigh of relief. On the way here, they had been somewhat worried. Besides the East Market, they also had to set up stalls in the South Market and West Market tomorrow. With just the two of them, it was impossible to manage all three stalls, so they needed to find someone reliable to handle the third one.
When Lin Yong called the candidates over, there were a total of four men and two women.
Mo Yan knew all five of these people. They were all people she had seen before in the refugee camp. Among them was Lin Da, who had a good relationship with Lin Yong. The other three men had also eaten at her house before. The older one was named Lin Meng, the stronger one was named Lin Song, and the other one was named Lin An. As for the two women, she had only seen them and was not familiar with them, but they were introduced by Lin Yong, so their character should be reliable.
Mo Yan immediately made arrangements for these five people. Since she didn't know the sales situation in the South Market and West Market, she decided to assign two people to guard there first.
Although they were all from the same village, it was better to separate men and women to avoid any suspicion. Therefore, when making arrangements, she assigned the clever and quick-thinking Lin Da to guard the West Market with Lin Song. Mo Qingze would take Lin An to guard the South Market, while the remaining three, Lin Meng, Xiong Shi, and Zhou Shi, would guard the East Market with Mo Yan.
"The wages are thirty wen per day, paid daily; starting from tomorrow morning, there will be ox carts coming to the village to transport the vegetables. You can take the carts together. If you have something urgent at home and can't come, just let me know in advance..."
Mo Yan explained the wage and other matters in detail, then looked at the six people attentively and asked, "Do any of you have any questions?"
The six people shook their heads in unison. With such generous wages and not having to work from morning till night, only a fool would have questions.
With the matters in Liu Yang Village settled for the time being, the father and daughter hurried back to the city.
Mo Yan asked Mo Qingze to go home first and waited on the street for someone. After a while, she saw Uncle Meng driving his mule cart slowly approaching.
"What's wrong, girl? Are you waiting for this old man here?"
Uncle Meng approached and realized it was Mo Yan, so he quickly stopped the mule cart by pulling the reins.
Mo Yan took the reins and helped Uncle Meng park the cart by the roadside before saying, "Uncle Meng, my family will need six more carts of vegetables tomorrow. Can you help find six more carts?"
Today, besides Uncle Meng's mule cart, there were also two ox carts helping with the vegetable transportation. Since both of them had some kinship with Uncle Meng, it was better to ask people they were familiar with to help.
"Sure! You think highly of this old man. I'll definitely find you some reliable carts." Uncle Meng smiled happily when he heard this, "It seems your greenhouse vegetables are selling well. But there's one thing I have to remind you, which you may not like to hear."
As he finished speaking, Uncle Meng paused, looking at Mo Yan with a hesitant expression in his eyes.
Seeing Uncle Meng's cautiousness, Mo Yan knew that what he was about to say must be very important, so she restrained her smile and said seriously, "Uncle Meng, you are experienced and knowledgeable. What you say must be for my own good. Why wouldn't I want to hear it?"
Upon hearing this, Uncle Meng felt even more that the girl was mature and sensible beyond her years. Without further ado, he voiced his concerns:
"In our village, there are people who work for wealthy families. It's said that those wealthy families also build greenhouses in winter to grow vegetables for themselves. The cost of building these greenhouses is something ordinary families can't earn in their entire lives, but the quality of the vegetables grown is not necessarily better. I've seen the vegetables grown in your greenhouse. They look better than seasonal vegetables, but the greenhouse itself is quite simple. Winter vegetables are so precious, and many wealthy families are tempted by the benefits. If someone forces your family to hand over the greenhouse vegetables, you won't be able to resist at all!"
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