This year is a real disaster year, and all the state capitals in the south have been hit by disasters of varying degrees.
At the end of the year, the governor of Tongzhou was thinking about Qiao Lan's achievements and asked his men to come over and give him a gift.
In addition to giving gifts, the prefect also asked someone to bring some words to Qiao Lan, saying that he would continue to send agricultural officers to study next year. He was afraid that Qiao Lan would be burdened and hoped that she would be more considerate.
Qiao Lan thinks it's just a matter of secondary importance. If more farmers and officials come to learn from it, the plan to strengthen the country may go further.
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After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Duan family's new house had tiles falling outside the original old house. The rapid development of the new house was due to the Duan family's strong financial strength.
The Duan family originally wanted to find a new place in the village, but after looking around they couldn't find any good place, let alone filling in the villagers' land as their own homestead.
We had to build several new rooms in the vacant space behind the house.
However, due to terrain restrictions, only half an acre of land is available, so the new house is much smaller than the old house.
Dozens of big men worked hard every day, finishing in a few days what others would do for less than half a month. Even so, it took two months to build the Duan family's house.
In addition to building a new house, Qiao Lan also had the old house repaired, painting every room with new wall putty, taking out the furniture and drying it, and polishing the moldy corners.
After the courtyard wall was opened, the open space in the Duan family's inner courtyard more than doubled in size.
Qiao Lan also planted half a wall of thin bamboo and a few clusters of flowers and plants, and placed several swings and some wooden fitness toys in the courtyard for the children at home to play with.
The children at home were so happy that they played until dark every day for the first half of the month before going back to the house.
Taking advantage of the free time before spring plowing, Qiao Lan took her family, old and young, to start moving the house.
Once the tile-roofed house was built, the entire Duan family became much more spacious. According to filial piety, the elders mostly live in the new house and the younger ones live in the old house.
Considering that there are many children in the family, Qiao Lan made many rooms in the new house smaller to ensure that each child has a private space.
There are only three spacious rooms. Although the narrow house can be lived in, it is still a little too small and not interesting.
What the Duan family members meant was that this new house was for the old lady to live in.
Qiao Lan was the first to refuse, she didn't want to live in it! She thought her house was very good!
The old lady couldn't stay, and it was difficult for Duan Mingjing and Duan Mingqing to go. After pushing and pushing, Qiao Lan finally made the decision and let Wang and Duan Mingchen live in the backyard.
Mrs. Wang is very attentive and can take good care of her children when she lives there.
Duan Mingchen is about to get married, and his family will have to prepare a new house for him sooner or later, so why not move in now?
There is a slightly larger room left, which can be directly converted into a study room for children to study!
Since Qiao Lan makes the decision, no one else has any opinions.
The children moved to a smaller house, and Wang and Duan Mingchen also moved there.
Qiao Lan directed the children at home to move their things in a lively manner when she heard shouting in the front yard.
"Is anyone here?" The voice sounded familiar.
Qiao Lan took the time to look over and found that it was Duan Kunshan and a strange young man.
Duan Kunshan listened to the excitement in the yard and congratulated a few words, then introduced the young man next to him, "This is the steward from Zhuangzi next door to our village. He said he came to see you, old lady. I'm afraid he can't find his way there."
, so I brought him here."
In recent years, many people have been looking for the Duan family in Duanjia Village. Most people, Duan Kunshan, would not recommend them personally. The main reason is that this young man is gentle and has an extraordinary temperament. He also said that he came to see the old lady of the Duan family with a letter in his hand, so Duan Kunshan personally delivered it.
"I have met the old lady!" The young man stepped forward and took out a letter from his sleeve, "The young man's surname is Gu and his first name is Gu Di. Mr. He recommended me to come over and learn the craft of farming from the old lady."
Qiao Lan opened the envelope and saw a familiar seal on the paper, confirming the young man's identity.
"It turns out Mr. He introduced me here. Please come to the house."
Now that people have arrived, Duan Kunshan can't stay any longer. The Duan family has a lot to do, and he is afraid that staying here will cause trouble, so he said to Qiao Lan, "Old madam, I'm leaving first."
Qiao Lan quickly kept Duan Kunshan, "Village Chief, don't leave yet. This matter has something to do with our village. You can stay and have a cup of tea."
Does it have something to do with the village? Duan Kunshan couldn't figure out what the young man in front of him had to do with the village, and there were a lot of doubts on his wrinkled old face.
After the two entered the house, Qiao Lan asked her daughter-in-law to bring out tea and told Duan Kunshan the purpose of Gu Di's visit to Duan's house.
Qiao Lan: "...Thanks to the care of the villagers in the past few years, my family's fields have such a good harvest..."
Duan Kunshan was holding hot tea when he heard Qiao Lan's words and suddenly felt bad.
"...I invited some people to farm specifically, and also rented some fields, so that I can less trouble the villagers in the future." Qiao Lan said slowly.
Duan Kunshan had just finished taking a sip of hot tea when he suddenly felt a burning sensation in his throat.
Life in Duanjia Village has been much better in the past two years. First, there are old ladies who help teach the villagers how to farm, so the harvest in the village is getting better and better year by year.
The second thing is to help the Duan family cultivate and weed the land, and the copper coins they earn every month are comparable to working in the county.
No matter how much food there is, it is reserved for the family and rarely used for money. And the money given by the Duan family can be used to buy a lot of things in the town.
Duan Kunshan stared at the young man and thought that he was happy to bring him to Duan's house. He originally thought that he would show his face in front of the old lady, but instead, he lost a lot of harvest to the villagers.
Gu Di noticed Duan Kunshan's gaze and smiled politely at Duan Kunshan.
Duan Kunshan said dryly, "It's a good thing to hire people to farm the land!"
Duan Kunshan's expression changed so quickly that it was difficult for Qiao Lan not to notice, "Village chief, don't worry, although the daily weeding and watering work does not require help from the villagers, people are still needed for spring plowing and autumn harvesting.
"
"I rented more land this year. Then I will have more than just these two hundred acres to work on. I don't have enough manpower for spring plowing and autumn harvesting, so I still have to ask the villagers for help."
During spring plowing and autumn harvest, when farmers are overwhelmed with work in their fields, relatives from nearby neighbors often come over to help with the work, and then cook and entertain at home.
Duan Kunshan was greatly comforted when he heard this, "Don't worry, old lady, I will talk to them when I get back."
"Sorry for the trouble, village chief!"
Qiao Lan sent Duan Kunshan all the way outside the hospital.
No matter who is hired to farm, it is the Duan family's freedom, but as fellow villagers, we all live in the same village, and we often look up and look down. We often have to help each other when we encounter difficulties, and we always need to make it clear if there are any changes.
To avoid being unclear and making everyone unhappy.
After seeing Duan Kunshan off, Qiao Lan invited Gu Di to the study, intending to find out where Zhuangzi was and how many fields there were.
After hearing that Zhuangzi was two or three miles away from the Duan family, Qiao Lan felt much happier!