Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 161 Autumn Harvest
As autumn begins, the crops in the fields look different every day.

The soybean leaves gradually turn yellow, dry up and fall off, the pods also dry up, and some even burst, with the beans inside falling to the ground.

The growth on the wasteland is pretty good. The corn cobs are growing quite long, and the sorghum and millet ears are heavy, looking particularly rare.

After discussion, Liu Dongshan and Qu Shaoyang decided to start harvesting the land on August 16.

Early in the morning on the 16th, all the guys got up to sharpen their sickles.

After breakfast, all the horse-drawn carriages in the family were harnessed, and Qu Shaoyang and Liu Dongshan, along with their men, drove the carriages straight to their own land.

The soybeans are already dry and we can’t wait any longer, otherwise the pods will burst and the beans will fall to the ground.

After the soybeans are harvested, they can then pick corn, cut wheat, millet, sorghum, etc.

The climate here in Maoer Mountain is good, the frost comes late, and the crops are harvested.

Especially wheat. When planting it in the spring, Qu Shaoyang was worried that it would not grow well. Now, he sees that it is growing really well.

After deducting the more than 30 acres of land given to the employees, the two families still had more than 600 acres left.

The land is so old that it would take a while for just a dozen guys and Qu Shaoyang and Liu Dongshan to harvest it all.

Fortunately, Qu Shaoyang was well prepared and hired some temporary workers nearby in advance.

Not all the people around Maoer Mountain are rich and have a lot of land. Many families only have five or six acres, or seven or eight acres of land. During the spring plowing and autumn harvest seasons, they all go to work as odd jobs for the wealthy families.

Qu Shaoyang paid high wages and provided lunch, so many people were willing to come and work.

There are about fifty or sixty people in total, including permanent and temporary workers. Lin Ruolan and Li's mother and daughter are the only ones who cook at home. It is definitely not possible.

So the family found a few more wives to cook, and they were busy from morning to night. When lunch was ready, they would deliver it to the fields.

Fortunately, we had saved a lot of wild boar meat a while ago, so cooking was much easier now. There was meat for every meal, which made all the people working very happy.

Especially the guys who do short-term work said that they did not receive such treatment when they worked for other families in previous years.

The guys eat well and work hard, so the work is naturally done quickly.

All we saw was cartloads of crops being transported back, and the open spaces in front of the yards of the Qu and Liu families were soon filled with bales of bean stalks, corn cobs, and so on.

Not to mention the yards of the two houses, which were also piled everywhere. They would be collected first and cleaned up slowly after a while.

We started harvesting potatoes and sweet potatoes in early August and continued until early September. After about a month, we finally finished harvesting most of the crops in the fields.

In front of and behind the houses there are tall stacks of bean stalks, sorghum and grain, and small hills of corn cobs, sweet potatoes, potatoes and squash.

The joy of the harvest is really impossible to hide. No matter how tired I am, I will still smile every day.

The crops have been harvested, but the workers are still busy as they have to go and reclaim the wasteland.

Qu Shaoyang bought another piece of land, about 300 acres.

The guys at home did a really good job, so Qu Shaoyang made an agreement with them to give them 10% of the wasteland they reclaimed this time.

The rest can be rented out to them for farming next year, and they can just pay rent in the fall.

When the guys heard about this good thing, they were so excited that they worked hard to open up the wasteland from dawn to dusk.

This time, Qu Shaoyang doesn't need to lead the work of land reclamation as he has other things to do.

The house of Doctor Chen had been cleaned up and they moved into their new home on September sixth.

After the Chen family moved out, Qu Shaoyang had to hurry up and clean up his own house in preparation for the wedding.

The furniture was made by a carpenter a while ago and was just delivered.

The Qu family currently has only two houses, which are not too big. The east room has two kangs, one in the north and one in the south, so the furniture is not of complicated styles.

Two pairs of boxes with ash wood tops, a kang cabinet, a chest of drawers, a dressing table, and a cupboard in the kitchen, that's basically it. The house was built two years ago, so it's quite new. All we need to do is clean it inside and out and repaint the walls.

After laying out the new kang mat and putting the new furniture in place, the room began to look much more pleasing to the eye.

As for bedding and other things, Qu Shaoyang doesn't have to worry about that.

Lin Ruolan said that she would find a few lucky people to come and make the quilts in a few days.

According to Lin Ruolan, she wanted to make eight beds and eight quilts for Qu Shaoyang, but was stopped by Qu Shaoyang.

Four beddings and four quilts will be enough, and the Chen family will give them as gifts.

My house is small and there is no place to put all the bedding.

The new house was almost ready, and it was almost late September.

The wedding date is set for the sixth day of the winter month, which is about a month away.

After discussing with Liu Dongshan, Qu Shaoyang decided to take the ginseng and go to Yingkou.

"Master, I thought that we should bring Xiaozhi with us this time. It would be a good opportunity for us to pass by Longwangmiao Village on our way back and collect the rent.

By the way, let Xiaozhi go and pay respect to his grandfather, father and uncles." Qu Shaoyang consulted with Liu Dongshan.

Liu Dongshan thought about it and it made sense. Xiaozhi had been in the Liu family for two years. According to the rules, he should go back to worship him during the Qingming Festival and the 15th day of the seventh lunar month.

But Xiaozhi was too young and his family was busy, so there was no one to accompany him and he never could go back.

It's time to take him away and let the people in the village know that Xiaozhi is living a good life.

"Okay, then I'll ask for leave from my husband and we'll take him with us."

So, on September 21st, the master and his disciple took Xiaozhi, as well as Xingjia Xingye, and drove a horse-drawn carriage to Yingkou.

When we passed by Kuandian County on the way, we saw a notice posted outside the city gate. It was the arrest warrant for the five members of the Chen family, with their portraits on it.

Come to think of it, the Tong family has a strong background. How could they swallow their anger after suffering such a huge loss?
Qu Shaoyang estimated that notices should have been posted not only in Kuandian, but also in the surrounding areas of Kuandian.

It’s a pity that Doctor Chen and his men had already hidden themselves, so how could they be found so easily?

Fortunately, no notice was found in Yingkou.

Moreover, when they first came to Yingkou, most of the things were handled by Qu Shaoyang, and almost no one had ever seen Doctor Chen and his family.

Therefore, no one could follow the clues and find the Chen family.

When I arrived in Yingkou, I went to Baoshengtang and found Manager Yu.

The ginseng that Qu Shaoyang brought out was of excellent quality, and Shopkeeper Yu was an old acquaintance of his, so the price he gave was quite fair.

Three seedlings and six grades of leaves were sold for a total of two thousand taels, and five seedlings and five grades of leaves, of different sizes, were sold for a total of four hundred taels.

After receiving the two thousand four hundred taels of silver, Liu Dongshan took one thousand taels and gave the rest to Qu Shaoyang for his wife.

With money in hand, Qu Shaoyang wandered around Yingkou and bought some gold and silver jewelry, clothes and fabrics, as well as some things needed for his marriage.

The group didn't stay in Yingkou for too long. After buying enough things, they left Yingkou and headed back.

Just in time, on the morning of October 1st, the group arrived at Longwangmiao Village.

Liu Dongshan and Qu Shaoyang first accompanied Xiao Zhi to pay tribute to Zhang Pao's family.

Then Liu Dongshan went to Yanwangbizi to pay tribute to Zhao Dagui and Song Laojiu. Qu Shaoyang accompanied Xiaozhi back to the village and found the family who rented Zhang's land.

(End of this chapter)