Chapter 121: Chapter 120 The Barking of a Dog at Midnight
The villagers listened to the village chief’s speech, and many actively expressed their opinions, especially those who owned land:
“Village chief, we know a little, but we don’t know the price for selling land, nor have we asured the land. We also have conditions for selling the land: we want a higher price, and we would like a stable job after selling our land.”
“Yes! This elder brother is right. Village chief, you haven’t told us how much a “zhang” of land costs yet?”
Upon hearing several questions asked, the village chief educated the villagers that the market price for an acre of wasteland varies from place to place, especially if it’s on the outskirts surrounding the county.
If soone buys it, it will be more expensive, for example, at the entrance of the village compared to the wasteland near the big mountain inside the village.
They will negotiate the price with Housekeeper Tang, and Housekeeper Tang had already agreed that they would pay the tax for buying wasteland and even give a subsidy to each household that sells land, just like the tax they paid when they cleared the land in past years.
After the village chief had explained, many villagers understood. They not only made money from selling their land but also received subsidies, a benefit other villagers did not have, making many envious.
Why hadn’t their ancestors reclaid land at the tail or entrance of the village?
Isn’t this the case of ancestors planting trees for future generations to enjoy the shade?
“Hurry up and agree! You’re all making money, yet still nitpicking; our forefathers wanted this fortune but didn’t have such benefits.”
“Who are you calling ‘forefathers’? At most you can claim to be a brother. It’s our ancestral property: we need to consider it carefully. Selling these lands is a once-in-a-deal decision; if we sell them, we will lack the grain we’ve had for many years. How can it be considered nitpicking?”
“How much grain can your land possibly yield? With the money earned, if you can work in the factory, won’t you have money to buy grain?”
“But what if the factory that Tang Family and Hongji are collaborating on closes down? Would we still have work?”
“Ptui, ptui, ptui, save your saliva and speak, it hasn’t even started yet, and you’re worrying about everything. Such unlucky talk, you can’t say that in front of Housekeeper Tang.”
In the heated debate, they didn’t consider Hongji; with everyone being fellow villagers, they spoke without any reservations or subtlety. Villagers were generally straightforward, saying things as they are, sotis offending people without even realizing it.
They didn’t have the slickness and cunning seen in outside business dealings, leading to so being generous and forgiving, settling after a fight, while others harbored resentnt, setting up lifelong feuds.
Once again, the village chief tried to calm them down, urging them not to argue since they were there to discuss the matter. Whether it was individual or collective losses, if another village were to build the factory, it wouldn’t only be a personal loss but possibly a loss for the entire village.
Many agreed, persuading those who were selling land that with such profits and jobs for their family mbers, it was like holding a long-term rice bowl.
So were even luckier, potentially holding a golden rice bowl for life, leading their families to prosperity.
During the day, hearing that the Tang Family was planning to build a factory, many families with sons hoped they could start as apprentices. Unfortunately, they lived at the village entrance and didn’t have large plots of land to cash in on. In a village where many are closely tied, persuading those who were undecided beca essential.
Here, the village chief also played the role of sweetening the deal, acting as the tempter.
As a village official working for the people’s interest, he was highly enlightened, strongly supporting the buyer amidst rare investnt opportunities in the village.
The debate lasted a full hour. So landowners agreed to sell, while others felt they couldn’t contribute labor, only earning a one-ti paynt from the land sale.
Lacking the spirit of contributing to the entire village, they remained silent, shaking their heads when asked about their family mbers.
Seeing the night deepening, the village chief, despite his best persuasive efforts, faced just two holdouts. He suggested the rest leave, allowing these two families to stay behind.
“Village chief, no matter what you say, I’m not selling the land. Why keep us here? Our family is tired, do you make money by keeping us here?”
“Yes, our family also isn’t selling the land. Don’t waste our ti anymore. Village chief, you may not be tired, but our family is exhausted.”
When the villagers dispersed, these two families, instead of taking heed, kept an eye on each other to see how they were speaking with the village chief. They even showed disrespect by walking away while the village chief was visibly upset.
The village chief sighed. Since these two families were unwilling to sell, there was nothing he could do but check whether their land was at the fringe or in the center and see if there was a way to save the situation.
If it wasn’t necessary to take their land, he would simply exclude it and take the lands of others.
With this in mind, the village chief called his family to go build a house and sleep.
Today, Hongji’s family had been at the scene the entire ti. Seeing that the village chief asked them to return ho, they carried their two young daughters who had already fallen asleep, while their other three older daughters were so exhausted they staggered as they walked.
That night, after everyone in her family had fallen asleep, Ye Shiqi’s biological clock woke her up. While others slept deeply at night, she could not afford to idle.
During the day, her father had placed the better-cut logs in the room. She used her thoughts to move a pile of logs into the space, disappearing from the bed, and entered the space herself.
Ye Shiqi drew wooden figures as usual. Before going to sleep, her father had muttered so words, which she heard in her half-asleep state.
The logs were cut to the specifications of a Bodhisattva statue. She held the charcoal pencil her father had made today. This charcoal pencil was much more convenient for drawing than the wood charcoals used before.
The figures she drew were sketchy; once unfamiliar but now second nature, her speed had now doubled.
Suddenly, Ye Shiqi heard the loud barking of dogs outside the village, followed by a slight commotion from the two guards outside their courtyard, as if they had drawn their swords.
Thinking the barking might indicate robbers invading the village or a thief lurking, they stayed on guard.
Ye Shiqi, powerless in her infant state to do anything about the events outside, continued with her remaining tasks.
She never idled away her nights; the space needed harvesting every two or three days, and as a little child, she also busied herself with collecting grains and drawing wooden figures.
If not for the Spiritual Spring and honey in the space replenishing her energy, she might have collapsed from exhaustion or beco very thin.
A toddler might be hindered in her movents outside, but in her space, she could do much using her thoughts.
However, drawing wooden figures could not be done with her thoughts; it had to be drawn manually as she had learned in her previous life.
As she focused on her work, the dogs’ barking outside quieted down.
The guards, who had drawn their swords just a mont ago, sheathed them again.
The guards outside were actually quite frightened. In the deep of night, they mostly feared nurous robbers might really co. Though not stationed in a wind-protected area in the courtyard but outside it, the cold night wind was hard to bear.
With the statent from that man during the day, they had committed to standing guard outside the courtyard for the sake of the decency of the family’s daughters, suffering the discomfort themselves.
They hadn’t anticipated staying up all night when they left their hos on horseback with thick clothes but still felt very cold, only hoping to block so of the wind by staying near the door.
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