Chapter 230: Chapter 229: Time Moves Forward
Zhong Xingwang finally understood why the fruit trees were growing so well—their irrigation system had its secrets.
Mr. Mo, a rural child, saw such a water source installation on the mountain for the first time. It looked like ordinary bamboo pipes were used, but actually it also took some manpower and material resources.
It was quite difficult for an average peasant family to do this by themselves, and hiring help was costly, indeed only bosses and landlords could afford to pay people to do it.
And it was only bosses and landlords who had the strength to run estates; for an average peasant, being able to cultivate a little land was already good, it seemed that to become wealthy in the countryside, one needed a financial foundation to start with.
Zhong Xingwang looked at the method of making the water system and thought that bamboo pipes might be the cheapest way; using wood or metal would cost even more.
Without this method, one could also use manual labor to water, but in the current heat, the manpower used would probably not be compensated by the sale of the fruits.
If one bought paddy fields to plant fruit trees, the irrigation would be somewhat more convenient, but planting fruit trees in paddy fields would also waste the paddy fields; one could not plant grains, and secondly, the price of land was high.
Using barren hills to plant fruit trees was a good idea for getting rich, but one had to have experience to do it well.
After the guests visited the Ye family estate, they summed it up in one sentence, it was that the estate was very well constructed; they didn’t know whether it was because the person managing the estate had good experience, or the water quality here was good, but the crops were growing well and were sure to yield a high output.
Some of the farmlands outside the estate perhaps belonged to other farmers or rich men; their cultivation of rice or other crops wasn’t managed as well as the Ye family’s estate.
And they also discovered that in this village, there were other rich men planting fruit trees and running estates, but not very efficiently.
In their hearts, they believed that the Ye family’s boss was remarkable, there must be some planting secrets, otherwise they wouldn’t be the only ones in the county.
Zhong Xingwang asked Hongji for advice in front of him, and Hongji gave the same response as he did to the last visiting group.
Zhong Xingwang just nodded; he didn’t understand the farming methods of the peasants, they might be quite similar, and he couldn’t understand all at once what the advantage of their estate was.
Since the establishment of the estate and as the planting yielded good profits, Hongji didn’t know how many people had asked him about his planting secrets, where would he know what it was?
He wasn’t the one managing the cultivation, but based on his experience as a farmer, he could probably offer one or two points.
After the last group of visitors left, quite a few of his long-term workers had been lured away, some of them were steadfast and had not been swayed, but some had been poached with high offers.
There were even attempts to poach his Uncle and Young Uncle to become housekeepers for others, yet under the lure of high offers, they did not turn their back and remained dedicated to working in his two estates.
When he learnt of this, the estate that lacked long-term workers could only hire more, but his estate had no difficulty in hiring long-term workers; they had good welfare and high remuneration working for him.
He also gave bonuses to his two uncles, and after half a year of hard work, they had made a lot of money from vegetables and fruits in the first half of the year, rewarding the industrious workers so that they would work well in the latter half.
After being taught musical instruments by the teacher for a while, Ye Shiqi had already mastered the basic skills of playing the guzheng and could play complete pieces.
Then she would practice singing and playing both morning and evening, treating it as entertainment.
Since the first time they taught them the basics, Mr. and Mrs. Mo could already feel that the youngest girl of the Ye family had the highest talent.
She was not only smart and quick-witted, but while the other Ye girls were still learning the basics, this youngest girl could already play simple tunes.
As a teacher, receiving a talented student makes one very happy, and one will teach with all the more care. They visited the classroom where the Ye family’s youngest daughter and her siblings studied.
They discovered that, under the teacher’s guidance, all five sisters could already write some simple characters.
Another situation they came across was that while the handwriting of the other girls was barely legible, the youngest girl’s writing did not resemble that of a beginner. Though her brushwork was tender, the characters she produced had already surpassed some academy students.
They had also visited Tang Shunyan’s study, the young boy who was attending the academy, and found that the character’s he had written were not as good as those of the Ye family’s youngest daughter.
Upon seeing the youngest girl’s drawings, such as her lifelike portraits, it was just as the village legends claimed; this little girl was indeed a child prodigy.
The longer the couple taught, the more they discovered about the Ye family’s youngest daughter’s strengths, like her ability to carve. The other girls could carve as well, but their craftsmanship was not as good as hers.
Having already discovered that the young girl could play an instrument and was skilled in calligraphy and painting, they were very curious to find out if she also knew how to play chess.
One day at noon, Mrs. Mo could not restrain her curiosity any longer and, after finishing her meal, asked Ye Shiqi, who was about to take a nap, to play chess with her.
The youngest sister was to play chess with the female teacher, and naturally, the elder sisters wanted to watch.
Over the past year, Ye Shiqi made great efforts to enrich her family and also aspired to turn her four sisters into accomplished young ladies.
Even before they had a teacher, she practiced calligraphy and also involved her four sisters.
Likewise, with Qin, Chess, Calligraphy, and Painting, it was only with the musical instrument that she had not yet taught her sisters. She took the opportunity to slowly teach them during her free time, which also served as a way to find companionship.
In the countryside, there were people who knew how to play Go. After all, entertainment was scarce in rural areas, and the elderly still had this hobby.
In addition to playing Go, the elders would tell stories to the children, recounting their life experiences from ancient times to the present, including some ghost and spirit tales.
Without other forms of entertainment, the children would sit quietly to watch the elders play chess and listen attentively to their stories.
Besides listening to stories, they would also solve riddles.
In the countryside, not many people can read or write. However, since the Ye family’s girls employed a teacher, the village’s younger boys and girls started to show a little progress and aspiration.
When Mrs. Mo assessed the young girl’s chess skills, she found them to be remarkably high, unexpectedly failing to match up to the little girl who was just over a year old.
Time does not linger on happy days; perhaps the days feel faster when they are filled with joy.
Before they knew it, a month had already passed since Mr. and Mrs. Mo came to the new county, and they received a satisfactory salary.
The house that Zhong Xingwang had funded was already having its foundation laid and was under construction. A month had gone by, and it was almost time for the academy to start its new term.
Unable to wait for the house to be completed before his return, he had no choice but to entrust the supervision of the construction to his brother-in-law and elder sister.
During this time, Zhong Xingwang found the opportunity every few days to visit the Ye family with his elder sister and brother-in-law, making their estate his base for sightseeing and leisure activities in the new county.
He also visited other villages and towns, observing the local culture and customs. He came to a conclusion: regardless of the place, there are rich and poor, industrious and lazy people alike.