Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields

Chapter 388: Pick

Fang Qing paid close attention along the way.
When they had passed by the neighboring cotton fields, she had observed them closely and found that, compared to Lian Fang Zhou’s fields, they didn’t enter her eyes at all!

Originally, she had though to buy 150,000 catties from Lian Fang Zhou and buy the rest from the other families in Yuhe county, but she immediately dismissed this idea when she saw the difference in quality.

Which such a big gap in the raw materials, how could the final products be the same? Her perfectionism couldn’t stand this kind of thing.

She knew that this quality of cotton would guarantee the quality of the Su family and Lian family’s cotton textiles, allowing them to occupy the top of the industry with an overwhelming advantage.
This advantage would make them the leaders of the cotton industry!

Fang Qing and Su Jing He stayed until nightfall.

It was not that Lian Fang Zhou didn’t want to host guests, it was just that they didn’t want to sleep separate from them and knew that Lian Fang Zhou did not have any extra rooms, and thus it was not convenient for them to stay.

The two planned to stay in Yuhe county for the night and took Su Zi Ji and two more skilled workers with them.

Before they left, Fang Qing shook Lian Fang Zhou’s hands and smiled: “Your house will be built soon! When it is completed, I want to stay for two nights! Let’s talk about it then.”

Her cousin laughed: “Of course! I think it will be finished by the end of this year.”

The two of them shared a look and smiled.

With just this batch of cotton, she had made a lot of money.
Not to mention building a house, there was nothing wrong with building a fortress!

~

The cotton was about to mature, one after another, and it needed to be picked tomorrow.

At the moment, there were still only a few fully mature plants and there was no need to hire extra workers.
Their own workers were enough, including Zhang Xiao Jun’s family, Third Aunt, and Lian Fang Qing.

However, in seven or eight days, they would gradually need to start hiring more people.

An adult could pick more than three hundred catties a day and produce about two hundred catties.
To produce 300,000 catties of pure cotton, more than 800,000 catties needed to be picked.
Thinking like this, it was obvious how much manpower was needed!

She estimated that she would need to hire nearly a hundred people a day.

And the autumn harvest was only half a month away!

Fortunately, the cotton harvest period was very long and the peak period could be staggered with the autumn harvest, so Lian Fang Zhou was not worried in her heart.

Otherwise, it was very likely that there would not be enough people to hire!

The next day, Lian Fang Zhou took a silver ticket with Ah Jian into the city and had Manager Qin arrange everyone to pick cotton.

Naturally, Su Jin and the other weavers would not go.
They and the Tian girls would stay behind to work on processing the cotton and removing seeds.
Madam Li and Zhang Xiu’er would also stay to cook.

As for the chickens in Xiaohuaguo mountain, Lian Fang Qing went early in the morning to feed them with the help of the Sun family.

When they arrived at the cotton fields, Zhang Liang came up to Lian Fang Qing when the adults were not looking and whispered: “Fourth Miss, be careful! Don’t let the cotton seeds pierce your hands!”

Although the boy was practicing martial arts with Lian Ze and Ah Jian, Zhang Liang did not dare to even look at Fang Qing.
He was instinctively afraid of Lian Fang Zhou.

He knew that if he showed even a trace of his heart, he wouldn’t be able to hide it from that shrewd Miss.

It was too much of a risk.
If he was discovered, he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to even look at her in the future.

Hearing his words, Lian Fang Qing looked back at him and smiled as bright as the sun: “I’m not that useless! A little scratch doesn’t matter!”

Immediately, Zhang Liang felt sorry for her.
Her hands weren’t better than his, which were thick and rough.
She was just a little girl, how could she scratch her fingers? It would hurt so much!

“Fourth Miss should be more careful, otherwise Eldest Miss will feel distressed…” Zhang Liang knew he couldn’t stop her and felt sad.
Quickly, he said: “Fourth Miss, follow me! Your basket is almost full, I will carry it.”

“You are really long-winded!” Lian Fang Qing glared at him, smiling.
Seeing his stubborn expression, she couldn’t help but sigh.
Shaking her head, she said: “What are you dazing for? Hurry up first!”

“Ah? Okay! Okay!” Zhang Liang came back to his senses, overjoyed.
He rushed to open the way forward, carefully turning the branches and leaves aside and revealing the mature cotton pods that were the easiest to pick, leaving them for her.

However, how could Lian Fang Qing know his thoughts? Seeing that he had left some behind for her to pick, she only thought that he had been too busy to pick them all.
While picking, she joked with him and from time to time, scolded the following Xiao Hui.

At this moment, Zhang Liang’s heart was so light and filled with joy, it was like it was flying on the clouds.
His mother was not around, the Eldest Miss and the other workers were not around, he could finally dare to care for her, even if only a small amount.

He always kept his parents’ words in his heart, never forgetting that his identity was different than hers.

~

When Lian Fang Zhou and Ah Jian entered the city, they went straight to look for Liu Jia.

Today, Lian Fang Zhou wanted to buy more land.

According to Liu Jia there was about seven or eight thousand acres of wasteland around Shitouping.

It was basically flat land with small rolling hills and Lian Fang Zhou had been interested in it for a long time.
Buying it with her current land, it would be more than 111,000 mu.
If it was developed in the future, it would be great for growing cotton.

In addition, if there was more wasteland nearby that could be used for transportation, she could always buy more.

She also wanted to find a place with mountains, water, and valleys.
It didn’t need to be too big, just three to six thousand mu.
This was to cultivate another fruit garden and raise more chickens.
Four or five large fish ponds could also be added in the valley for fish and ducks.

It would also be good to buy some fertile, ready-made farmland, the kind with three to four hundred mu of fertile land.
Also some residential land.

Liu Jia was dumbfounded when she finished speaking, hurriedly asking: Miss Lian, did you make a fortune?”

Lian Fang Zhou smiled: “Don’t you know that I have a cousin-in-law who is the richest man in Shuangliu county?” Her cousin-in-law was still a convenient veil, really useful!

Liu Jia was started and then smiled.

Since she took out the name of the Su family, he naturally couldn’t ask any more questions.

But what did it matter to him? He had just asked this question out of curiosity, what did it have to do with him?

When business came to his door, he just did his job!

Liu Jia considered her requirements for a while and then smiled: “The land deed for the wasteland in Shitouping can be obtained right away, the price is still the same as it was before.
Haha, since Miss Lian is buying so much at once, I can help figure it out for Miss Lian! No matter how expensive or cheap! As for the place with mountains and rivers, where the slopes are not too steep, I will have to look into it.”

He tapped his fingers: “For the fertile land, its still early now.
Miss Lian knows that now is the autumn harvest.
Unless there are special circumstances, no one will sell paddy fields and farms! We should wait two months and see….
As for the residential land, I wonder how many acres Miss Lian intends to buy? Haha, if Miss Lian tells me the specifics, I can see what is available.”

TN: Does anyone else feel like LFZ is turning into a Stardew Valley farmer? A chicken shed here, a fish pond there, upgrading her house, getting married…