Chapter 410 - Complete Loyalty (2/2)

When the two families heard this, the big rock on their hearts immediately fell to the ground. Liu Dazhuang finally had a smile on his dull-looking face. He rubbed his hands and asked, “Young Miss, we’ll do whatever you want us to do! We are very relieved to be able to work for Master and Young Miss!”

Yu Xiaocao looked at him with a calming gaze and said, “Have you guys heard about Dongshan Village’s early-maturing vegetables?”

Liu Dazhuang was a man, so he would work odd jobs in his spare time. He quickly nodded and said, “Yes, I’ve heard about it! I heard that the Zhenxiu Restaurant in town uses vegetables from Dongshan Village. At the beginning of spring, one plate of sautéed vegetables cost one tael ah! The wealthy and influential families in town also scrambled and competed to buy Dongshan Village’s vegetables. The town’s Patriarch Yao is very famous in town because all his vegetables were supplied by Dongshan Village… Unfortunately, the range of vegetable cultivation in Dongshan Village was too small to provide vegetables for everyone in town…”

Yu Xiaocao looked at him approvingly. Seeing the shocked expression on Widow Li and her son’s faces, she said, “You guys should know that we’re from Dongshan Village…”

Liu Dazhuang widened his eyes and couldn’t help shouting, “Young Miss, could it be that those vegetables came from the master’s family?”

“That’s right! The early-maturing vegetables came from my family. Had we not made money from selling vegetables and watermelon, how would we, normal farmers, be able to own a plantation in our lifetime?” Yu Xiaocao wasn’t afraid of letting them know more about her family. If she wanted them to work for them wholeheartedly, she must give them confidence that they could live a good life!

“Watermelon? The best-selling watermelon in Dongshan Village is also from your family?” Not only Liu Dazhuang, but even Widow Li, who rarely went to town, couldn’t help but exclaim. The masters’ family was too capable. In just a few years, they had transformed from ordinary farmers to owners of a plantation. It was no wonder that everything that the masters planted were in great demand. Even their wheat output was higher than others. The two families were even more determined to live a good life by following the masters!

“Young Miss, just let us know what you want us to do!” Liu Dazhuang declared his resolution first.

“Yes, that’s right!” Widow Li also hurriedly replied for fear that the young miss would dislike her slow response and not give them the new job.

Yu Xiaocao nodded with a smile and said, “As you guys know, Dongshan Village has just experienced a disaster and most of the vegetables have been destroyed. If we want to start over again, I’m afraid that it will take up to next spring. There’s a lot of land in our farmstead, and there are a lot of places suitable for growing vegetables. So…”

Liu Dazhuang immediately understood and asked, “Young Miss, do you mean…you want our two families to help manage the vegetable fields?”

She didn’t expect that the dull-looking Liu Dazhuang was quite clever! Yu Xiaocao liked to work with smart people because it wasn’t as tiring. She looked at him with approval and said, “That’s right! I believe that your two families are experienced in growing vegetables, so it shouldn’t be difficult for you guys to tend the vegetable fields, right?”

“Not hard, not hard!” Widow Li quickly replied. She had heard that the Yu Family had a shortage of vegetables, so there was definitely a market for it. Which family in the farmstead didn’t grow some vegetables in the front and back of their house? As long as they carefully took care of the vegetables, would it even be possible to not grow them well?

Yu Xiaocao smiled and said, “Rest assured! We won’t grow too much in the first year; each family will start with ten mu. Don’t worry, my family’s vegetable seeds have been improved, so they don’t need to be fertilized. They also aren’t afraid of pests and diseases. As long as you work diligently, they just need to be watered and weeded every day! Don’t worry about the water. I’ll ask my father to hire someone to dig two wells next to the fields, which are specially used for the vegetable fields…”

‘No need for fertilization and pest control? Can the vegetables grow well?’ The two families were full of doubts, and their expressions naturally revealed their feelings. Yu Xiaocao didn’t explain either. They would know after the vegetables were grown!

The next day, Yu Hai asked a well-digging craftsman to dig a well next to the selected vegetables fields. Since they were in a hurry to plant vegetables, Yu Hai gathered the tenant farmers in the farmstead and had them plow the twenty mu of land first. Widow Li’s family and Liu Dazhuang’s family were given eight mu and twelve mu respectively. They stayed in the fields for the entire day. They loosened the larger clumps of soil with hoes and carefully weeded the fields.

Although the young miss said that they didn’t need to fertilize the fields, the two families still took out most of the manure that they had saved up for over half a year. After drying and crushing them into powder, they scattered them over the fields. The young miss had said that 10% of the field’s income belonged to them.

Liu Dazhuang had asked around and found out that they could earn at least a dozen or so taels a month per mu of vegetable field. Didn’t that mean that they could earn at least one tael per mu each month? Twelve mu of land would be twelve taels, so with the exception of four or five months that would be too cold to grow vegetables, their families could earn an annual income of eighty to ninety taels! Moreover, this was calculated based on the least amount they could possibly receive. The price of vegetables would be several times more expensive at the beginning of spring, which meant that their income would also increase several folds!

Widow Li felt even more motivated to work after hearing his analysis! If they took care of the vegetable fields meticulously, then they would have a higher output and earn more money. It would be worth it even if it was somewhat tiring!