The three sides of the house were brick walls that were once painted but are now mottled, showing the signs of age. In the west corner stood a black lacquered wooden cabinet, which was the most decent piece of furniture. Next to it was a pottery or clay basin, in which a few small flowers were blooming, bringing some freshness to the house.
However, Zhang Shou knew that these seeds were dug out from the field in the morning and planted freshly with the soil still in place.
Seeing several children crowding at the door and watching curiously, they were impatiently driven away by the adults guarding the door. Except for Zhu Ying who occupied the only rattan chair, the others either squeezed into a bench with two or three people, or could only sit on small stools, but their backs were all straighter than each other. Zhang Shou, who was standing in the middle, couldn't help but look at the eldest lady twice.
Ever since he passed the news to the Yang family last night, this rattan chair has been scrubbed over and over again with well water. Now, this chair, which has been sat on by so many people, is greasy with age and looks a bit rustic. Yet, one can sit on it with ease, as comfortable as sitting on a throne in a mansion. Only Miss Zhu, who does not look like a lady in many aspects, can do that.
He retracted his gaze, cleared his throat, and gave a concise opening statement that sounded like a village committee meeting: "Since everyone is here, let's start the meeting now. Mr. Yang, you go first."
Yang Laogong glanced at Zhu Ying with awe-filled eyes, then he held his head high, looked down at the others, and said in a serious tone: "Today, in front of the eldest lady and the son-in-law, I will talk about our Rongshui Village."
Hearing the name "son-in-law", Zhang Shou was helpless. He had already warned him, but this damn old man still did it knowingly!
However, it was not known whether it was the serious tone of Mr. Yang or his address as "son-in-law", but Zhu Ying was amused. Her smile made the farmers who wanted to see but did not dare to do so feel so amazed that their mouths were dry and they could not speak. Even Qi Liang, who was specially called by Zhang Shou and was a junior in the village but was listening in the corner, could not help but feel his heart skip a beat.
When Yang Laoguan saw that no one else dared to say anything, he thought that he had intimidated everyone, so he pretended not to notice Zhang Shou's angry look and started to talk about the main topic.
"We used to grow mostly wheat in our village, but thanks to my brother-in-law, we rebuilt the canal and brought water to irrigate the fields. In the past two years, we have planted a lot of rice. The sandy land that was flooded before the riverbank was repaired is now planted with cotton. We have also planted a lot of trees on the hillsides and raised two seasons of tussah silkworms a year. The situation is much better than before."
The oldest one now had a rosy face and said with great joy, "If it weren't for my son-in-law convincing Madam Wu to spend a lot of money to dig canals, select seeds, buy silkworm seeds and cotton seeds, and waive the rent for the first year, we wouldn't have been able to hold on! The year before last, the harvests from the rice and cotton fields were average, and many tussah silkworms died. It was not until last year that things got better, but this year it looks like a bumper harvest!"
"You know, there are many southerners serving as officials in the capital, and they prefer rice. There is more wheat than rice in the north, and most of the rice is transported from the south to the north, so the price of rice has always been much higher than in the south of the Yangtze River. We sell refined rice, not brown rice. If we sell it this year, we will definitely make more than the combined income of the previous two years. What's more, there are fish directly from the rice fields, so we can eat meat often if we want."