HCB Chapter 122 A quarter of an hour
Chapter 122 A quarter of an hour
Huang Zongqi was picking grapes with a look of regret, "I took up Xian Zhu's place, but I didn't see anything when I came in."
Shen Lingzhu comforted him, "But my uncle helped me pick grapes."
"Anyone with hands can do this, but with just three of us, I'm afraid we can't pick many." Huang Zongqi glanced at the grape plants scattered in front of him.
After cutting off a bunch of grapes, he said, "The grass roots in the field haven't been removed. The fields will become barren again after the next two rains."
"We will hurry to pick the grapes. When only the vines are left, it will be easier to weed." Now, no matter whether you use a hoe or a shovel, you will damage the grapes no matter how careful you are. She and her senior sister would rather leave the grass roots in the ground.
"Uncle, haven't you come in before? Even when you delivered supplies?" Shen Lingzhu thought about it and felt that it shouldn't be the case.
Huang Zongqi nodded and shook his head, "We did come to the valley when we delivered supplies, but by that time, the horses from the horse farm had already been sent to the battlefield.
Not to mention seeing hundreds of war horses galloping, there wasn't even an old horse.
Let me tell you, that river valley is very wide, as big as Shenquanji, and…"
When he looked up, he saw a group of government troops coming on horseback, and immediately stopped talking.
Shen Lingzhu also turned around when he heard the sound of horse hooves, and saw Captain Chen dismounting just before he reached the grapevines.
And the senior sister who was cutting off dead branches stood up and talked to him.
"Let me take a look." Shen Lingzhu carefully walked through the vines and came to the outside of the fruit field.
She noticed that Captain Chen's face was not looking good, and he seemed to be blaming her sister: "... Not only did you replace people without authorization, you also failed to hire the families of the centurions to work as agreed.
Miss Shen, if you act this way, can you still use this orchard?"
Shen Miaozhu was not troubled by his reproach: "Captain Chen, please forgive me, the people who came in today are all my family members. The reason why I didn't call anyone to work is because this piece of vine still needs to be observed and sorted out.
At present, at least today and tomorrow, it is not suitable to recruit more people to work."
There are more than fifty women, and they can do some grass cutting, but she still has to ask the village headman to select them for detailed work like pruning fruit vines.
At this time, Shen Lingzhu approached and said, "Captain Chen, I asked my uncle to come in because he is better at farm work than my eldest brother.
Could you please add a few more badges for us so that my uncle or aunt can come in and help us occasionally?"
"Hehe, issuing you four yuan is already an exception." These four yuan include the money from Mr. Geng.
Chen Ru lowered his head and looked into her sparkling eyes. He wanted to ask, "Do you think the badge is cabbage?", but he swirled the question around on his tongue and swallowed it back.
He said: "Select a few from the families of the guards and find them to accompany you to take care of Grape Valley for a long time.
As for transportation, you can negotiate with the village captain and rent the horses here.
Two days ago, the Geng family rented a boat from the river valley to transport the grapes.
How short of money are you?
Shen Lingzhu and her senior sister looked at each other, and there was confusion in her eyes: every time they met before, this captain was obviously generous with his money.
Shen Miaozhu replied to her: Who would complain that the money they can earn is not enough.
Across from them, Chen Ru saw the two of them exchanging glances and couldn't help but cough twice to interrupt, "Do you accept?"
"Okay, but I'd like to ask the captain to give me one or two more badges. My sister and I will have to take care of my aunt who is in confinement after giving birth, so only my uncle or other uncles can take care of the fruit fields." Shen Miaozhu didn't object to having an assistant who was willing to work.
Shen Lingzhu asked, "For those who work on the fruit farms for a long time, will the wages remain the same as last time?"
"Well, I'll give you two more badges, and the daily wages and food for ten long-term workers will be thirty coins.
"Except for the two coldest months of winter, you will continue to pay your wages regardless of whether you can work every day during the other months." Chen Ru thought for a moment and added a condition.
"Ten?" Shen Lingzhu and her senior sister were unwilling. It was too much. They had to pay three hundred coins every day, which was thirty taels a year, twice as expensive as renting a fruit field for five years.
Chen Ru nodded and refused to accept their proposal to reduce the number of staff, saying that if they could not hire ten permanent workers, the land lease contract could be taken back.
He was certain that they would not give up this ready-made grape valley, and he also knew that the price of wine was extremely high.
Shen Miaozhu saw that he was being tough and that the village captain who could mediate was not around. After careful consideration, she said, "Let us discuss this with Old Master Geng."
Chen Ru raised his eyebrows: "Didn't he rent this fruit field specifically to you?"
“In a partnership business, each party contributes half of the capital.
Our family doesn't take advantage of others." Shen Lingzhu felt something was wrong when she heard his words.
Then she thought again that the other party had originally agreed to let her family come to see the land, but she brought the Geng family with her, and she was afraid that Captain Chen would feel uncomfortable.
Not to mention, when Chen Ru saw the contract, he found out that the person renting the land was not the Shen family. He immediately questioned Zhuang Baibu why he signed the contract with someone he didn't know well.
You know, renting out land near a horse farm is generally fine, but it can be troublesome if someone finds fault with him.
If he finds more serious faults, they will accuse him of colluding with civil officials.
Zhuang Baibu said that the Shen family asked the Geng family to pay, but the Shen family was actually responsible for managing the fruit fields.
Chen Ru only needed to think about it for a moment before he realized that it was the Jinshi master of the Shen family who was taking precautions in advance.
Intellectually, he knew that this was not wrong, but in his heart he felt uncomfortable.
So he added: "If you can't even manage this little bit, there's no need to continue your cooperation.
Ten people, if there are fewer, just hand over the badges and the deal is done."
"Captain Chen, we are willing to hire all the family members of the garrison to work, hoping to make wine.
However, if the brewing results are not good later, we will not only make a profit but also lose money." Shen Miaozhu tried to reduce expenses.
Chen Ru refused to give in and said he could give her a quarter of an hour to think about it.
Shen Lingzhu watched him as he rode towards the exit, "Senior Sister, his reaction isn't right, why?
It seems like he really doesn't like us sharing the house with the Geng family."
Shen Miaozhu pondered for a moment and said, "Perhaps, when he agreed at the beginning, he wanted him to cooperate with us?"
"Yeah, that's possible." Shen Lingzhu clapped his hands together and recalled the situation when he persuaded Chen Qianhu. He was afraid that the other party had this intention.
Alas, Shen Bagu showed up at a very inappropriate time that day, and when they met in the wooden house on August 16, she did not ask the captain of the village to take everyone to meet the thousand-householder first, and then rent the land.
She added, "It's impossible to get Mr. Geng to leave now. You can't ask for help and then kick them out."
"Give it to him after the wine is brewed." Shen Miaozhu sighed. She didn't think deeply about it at the time, and she acted too quickly. In fact, it would be safer to find the old boss Geng a few days later.
In the past, Master always said that things will be better if you take it slow, so I should be vigilant.
"How much will we send? We don't know the final production capacity of these grapes yet.
Normally, adding sugar for fermentation would yield seven or eight kilograms of wine from ten kilograms of grapes." Shen Lingzhu recited the data her senior sister had shared with her.