Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 168 Mo Chunyue and Spouse Visit

"Having them sign the indenture, holding their life and death in our hands, would deter them from doing wrong. If an adult had thought of this, Mo Chunyue wouldn’t be surprised, but Gu Jinli was just a girl under eleven years old."

He Sanlai said indignantly, "She’s not just smart; she’s cunning to the extreme, blocking all our ways. She’s also ruthless, if we sold ourselves to her and made any mistakes, she would indeed beat us to death."

While speaking the last sentence, He Sanlai felt a chill recalling how he was viciously beaten by Gu Jinli and threatened to be thrown to the wolves in the mountains, involuntarily shivering.

Seeing this, Mo Chunyue asked, "What’s wrong? Are you cold?"

Seeing the ragged state of He Sanlai’s clothes, she turned around, took out a sewing basket given by Granny He, pulled out some string, measured He Sanlai’s body, and tied knots to mark the measurements.

After she finished measuring, she took out cotton fabric given by Granny He, cut the cloth and started making clothes for He Sanlai.

He Sanlai was very excited, nervously asking her, "You, you’re making clothes for me?"

Mo Chunyue nodded, "Yes, while it’s still early, I’ll rush to make a set of clothes for you, so you’re ready to visit the Gu Family tomorrow."

Hearing this, He Sanlai was so scared that he was no longer moved and exclaimed in alarm, "You want to visit the Gu Family? Who are you visiting? Gu Xiaoyu?"

Mo Chunyue corrected him, "We are going to visit the Gu Family. Naturally, we will visit the head of the Gu Family, and also Gu Xiaoyu."

He Sanlai said, "That girl doesn’t like us; if we go without notifying, she might just kick us out."

That girl was fierce and ruthless; given her temper, it was indeed possible for her to kick guests out.

Mo Chunyue said, "Even if she kicks us out, we still need to make the visit, otherwise how will we survive?"

While talking, Mo Chunyue quickly cut out two pieces of cotton fabric.

He Sanlai knew she was determined to ask Gu Jinli for a job, but worriedly said, "What if she doesn’t agree, and we end up having to sell ourselves?"

Mo Chunyue paused, then replied, "Let’s beg first and see; if that fails, then we’ll think of something else."

He Sanlai wanted to persuade her but hearing her say she was hungry, he swallowed his words and rushed to the kitchen to make a bowl of meat porridge for Mo Chunyue.

...

In the afternoon, He Laoguo and others had finally managed to clear the wasteland of the Qin, Gu, and Luotian families. They called out Third Grandpa and other respective family heads to the cleared wasteland saying, "Brother Gu, Brother Qin, see what you think of this work? If there’s anything unsatisfactory, just tell us, and we’ll fix it."

Third Grandpa, Father Luo, Gu Dafu, all experienced farmers, walked around the field, grabbed handfuls of soil, rubbed them in their hands, and nodded approvingly, "Good, this land has been well prepared."

He Laoguo and his team had worked the soil to a fine condition; stepping into the field would sink one’s feet palm deep into the soft, moist soil, evidently well-watered, and the freshly turned grey earth was mixed with plant ashes, covering even the fertilization work.

These acres of cleared land now also had trenches dug for directly sowing seeds.

Gu Dafu looked at the neat furrows and laughed, "The field has been prepared so thoroughly that we can plant seeds right away."

He Laoguo had been planning to secure a good relationship with the Gu family from the start, hence during the land preparation, they meticulously completed every necessary task.

After inspecting the cleared land, Third Grandpa and the others were very pleased, and immediately paid He Laoguo and his team. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

He Laoguo took the money from Third Grandpa, hands trembling with excitement; receiving five hundred and seventy-five cents in one go, seven and a half taels of silver, enough to buy an acre of irrigated farmland.

He Da Zhuang, He Tu Gou, He Shengzi, all were delighted, grinning broadly.

Third Grandpa then brought up the idea of repairing earthen houses to make workshops, "Brother Guo, if you have spare labor, you can help us rebuild the courtyard. It’s not tiring work; just turn the old house into a workshop. Dashan and I have worked as bricklayers, we’ll handle the critical tasks, and you all can assist."

"The pay is calculated daily, thirty cents a day, including one meal."

He Laoguo said, "Willingly, willingly, our families are poor, owning only dry fields, no watered fields, and in March there’s no need for rice planting. Whatever work you have, we can take it on."

The workshop was to be used for grinding beans and spices. Once it was put together, they could work there.

"That’s settled then," Third Grandpa was glad, He Laoguo and his team being honest and hardworking. If they were willing to do the job, he wouldn’t need to look elsewhere.

He Laoguo’s families were numerous, besides He Laoguo’s three sons, He Dazhuang, He Tugou, He Shengzi fixing the house, all the older children from the four families were gathering wood, selling the firewood to Gu Jinli’s house.

Third Grandpa mentioned that their tofu-making consumed a lot of wood and their manpower was limited. If they had to spare people to gather wood, they’d be even busier, so he told He Laoguo they wanted to buy firewood.

"One bundle of dry firewood for ten cents, needing at least ten bundles daily." They needed wood at home for making tofu and also for selling Fried Five-Spice Tofu in the town market daily, which took quite a lot of firewood, around ten bundles.

Hearing this, He Laoguo and his kin were overjoyed, having sold firewood before at ten cents per bundle, but that required carrying it to town, a four hours round trip. Now, without having to transport it to the town, selling directly to the Gu family was much more convenient.

"Agreed, from now on, our families will deliver ten bundles of dry firewood daily to Brother Gu’s house, ensuring it’s all dry, lighting up at a touch."

He Laoguo felt immensely grateful at that moment for not scornfully dismissing the Gu family like other villagers but instead building a good relationship early on. Now, see, just a bit of work trickling from the Gu family’s fingertips was enough for them to support their families.

After sorting out the arrangements, He Laoguo and his entourage returned home with the silver coins.

As soon as they returned, they took their machetes and went up the mountain, cutting four bundles of firewood to bring back, planning to deliver these four bundles to the Gu family early the next morning, and gather the remaining six bundles early the next day to deliver in the afternoon.

Having hope for better days, the spirits of He Laoguo’s families soared; energized, even their steps sprung with vigor, sweeping away the earlier desolation of sitting idly by their doorsteps watching the road.

Mo Chunyue was also worried about her family’s survival. The next morning, after dressing up with He San Lai and preparing two sets of gifts, they first visited Village Chief He’s house, expressed their thanks to Village Chief He’s family, then hurried to the Gu Family.