Chapter 852: Lu Estate
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Who are you?” The old man who opened the door was dressed plainly, and there was mud on his legs. When he saw a carriage, his eyes widened.
Han Zhuang said. “Your estate has been bought by High Scholar Chu. This will be the Chu family’s estate in the future.”
“Is the boss here?” Old Guo quickly opened the door.
Seeing Chu Heng and Ye Muyu approaching, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed. “I’m Guo An. Everyone in the village calls me Old Guo. Greetings, Boss.”
With Ye Muyu’s help, Han Zhuang stepped forward and helped Old Guo up.
“Thank you, Madam.” Old Guo quickly steadied himself and took two steps back. He maintained his respect at all times.
“Who is the manager of this estate?” Chu Heng asked.
Old Guo lowered his head even more. His attitude was especially respectful. “Replying to the Boss, it’s Luo Tian. Manager Luo is leading everyone to work. I’ll call Manager Luo over now.”
“No need. Since you’re working, we’ll go over and take a look, Chu Heng said casually.
This estate was given to Ah Yu. He only came here to accompany his wife, so he did not think much of it.
Unexpectedly, Chu Heng’s casual words caused Old Guo to have a huge reaction. His body trembled and tears suddenly flowed down his face. He quickly knelt down and begged for mercy. “Please spare our lives, Master. We were wrong. Don’t sell us out.”
“Stand up and follow me. Tell me what happened slowly.” Chu Heng frowned, his voice imposing.
Old Guo still wanted to beg for mercy, but he was frightened by his attitude and did not dare to disobey. He quickly stood up and followed beside him with a hunched body.
The group of people walked over to the fields in the estate to take a look.
Old Guo’s voice was anxious. “Old Master, we planted Yuchun tea according to the previous owner’s request. However, it’s not easy to grow these tea leaves. Every year, we can only harvest the amount the previous owners requested.”
“However, because the fields are all planted with tea leaves, we don’t have any land to grow food. We can only open up the land next to it and plant sweet potatoes, corn, and other coarse grains on it.”
“These are all secretly planted by us. We didn’t tell the previous owner. Master, we are guilty. Please be magnanimous when you sell them and let our whole family be sold together.” Old Guo trembled as he spoke, his voice extremely low, afraid that he would make the boss unhappy. If that happened, he would be punished even more.
Old Madam Ye had never interacted with the people of Lu estate before. When she heard this, she was shocked. It was said that the days of long-term workers were not easy. For example, in the Jiangnan area, the rain was abundant and the grain production was good. Therefore, there were very few people selling their children.
Naturally, there were not many long-term workers.
For example, in the village, they all had their own land. Those who had less land led a poorer life, but they did not have to work for a landlord’s family. If they worked a little harder, they could still live.
However, she had heard that long-term workers had a hard life.
When she heard Old Guo’s words, it seemed like Landlord Wang had sold them out easily in the past. She couldn’t help but gasp.
That person had already sold himself, how could his days be good?
Soon, they arrived at the ridge.
They saw that on the originally good fields, there were some sheds. Under the shed, there was a kind of tea planted. At a glance, it was all grayish-green. There were no vegetables.
There were no traces of the radishes and cabbages that were usually eaten in winter.
They walked over and instantly attracted the attention of many long-term workers.
Many long-term workers wearing coarse clothes walked out of the shed. Their faces were full of wrinkles. They looked like the low-class citizens who were overworked every day.