Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Soon, it was the time for the Dragon Boat festival. Qiao Xuan decided to deliver the presents to the Qiao Mansion.
On the way back, they were going to talk with the land agent who could talk with the Land Officer about buying a piece of land at the entrance of the village for mushrooms, especially for snow fungus.
The place in the garden was not enough.
They decided to hire Shao Dali to find a few honest men from the village, who could help the couple to sort through the ingredients.
They would be paid 35 won a day.
Shao Dali was very glad to accept the proposal. He got his cousins along and they managed to get seven people in total.
They picked a day and went to the Qiao Family to send the presents.
They had the same presents as last year, nothing new, no kindness, just a mission.
Neither Officer Qiao nor Madame Qiao were seen at the mansion. Qiao Wei was gone too. Qiao Kou could not be seen anywhere and Concubine Du was missing as well.
The maids told them to leave after giving the presents.
It was a very strange atmosphere in the mansion.
Qiao Xuan wanted to leave as soon as possible but she was very surprised too.
Anyways, she did not care what was going on in the mansion, as long as there was no trouble coming to her.
Shao Yunduan believed that he was right. Officer Qiao not only needed a lot of money, he needed it urgently. When their master was angry, the servants did not dare utter a sound.
But Officer Qiao did not turn to him and Qiao Xuan for help after what happened last time. It seemed that he did not have much hope in them.
The couple went to the land agent and soon bought the land. They finished the deal within two days.
It was a barren land of eight mu, located close to the village entrance.
Those in the village did not talk about this any longer. They did not think that it was anything new.
It was the right time to cultivate snow fungus. Qiao Xuan soon hired villagers to work on flattening the land.
They were going to build a huge wall with bricks, as tall as three meters, which would be out of the reach of any ladder.
In the end, they built rows of sheds for mushrooms, whilst the ground was built on bricks, easy to handle and not prone to getting any mud in.
They were going to build a storage house and tool house.
They needed a storage house to store dried snow fungus and a tool house to store those tools, like dustpans, baskets and cleaves.
Qiao Xuan did not intend to make a big fuss about it.
Snow fungus were different from other mushrooms. Only rich people were able to eat those expensive things.
If the secret was revealed, they would have a lot of trouble.
They were not capable enough to bring the whole village to become rich.
They would draw a lot of jealousy and calculation from peers.
Fifteen people were hired to dig the land, including Shao Sanlang and Shao
Dalang, who worked there as the supervisors.
They were paid 35 won a day as well.
They needed professionals to build the wall and house and they needed laborers as well. They were all in the same team.
It would take 20 days or so to finish the project and it should cost less than half a liang.
The workers were all very happy.
Widow Sun, who had not been seen for ages, squeezed through the crowd and watched the show. Hearing how the villagers spoke highly of the first section of the family, she felt very sour..