Be a small county magistrate in ancient times

"What? You seem unwilling." Meng Changqing asked, "Is your marriage forced?"

"No." Shazhu said, "You can't say that. We have had families before, and now that we are getting married again, we will inevitably feel sorry for our previous families.

I am like this, and so is she. "

Meng Changqing nodded, "So, you are still willing to spend so much money to buy sugar and cloth, which shows that you are still sincere in getting married this time."

"After all, she will live with me in the future, so she will always have to give her these things."

"It is said that after death, people become souls and their souls return to the underworld. We living people all look forward to knowing our deceased relatives. When you mention your previous family at this time, are you worried that she will not want you to get married again?"

Sha Zhu nodded and quickly lowered his head, "I can't help but think of her."

"If you keep thinking about her, you shouldn't get married, and you shouldn't regret it after preparing for the marriage." Meng Changqing said, "If you do this, not only will you be unhappy, but the deceased and the living will also be unhappy. happy.

I don't know the friendship between you and the late Madam, I don't know how to persuade you, nor should I persuade you. I just hope that you can understand your true intentions. "

Shazhu's eyes fell on the red coarse cloth placed on the counter.

Meng Changqing took out another pack of brown sugar from the shelf behind him, "These two packs of sugar are my gift to you. Brother Dai only needs the money for the red cloth."

"Hey." Xiaodai pulled the abacus, and after a while he told Shazhu, "This coarse cloth costs five cents per foot, and I will charge you fifty cents per foot."

Sha Zhu paid the money and saw that he couldn't refuse the two packets of candies, so he had to accept them. "Thank you very much, Mr. Meng." Sha Zhu knelt down to Meng Changqing, "Thank you for the dry food last year, and thank you for doing Beishan." County official."

Meng Changqing stepped forward and helped the person up, "It's too early to say thank you now."

Sha Zhu was stunned. He always felt that after saying this, this person was preparing not to do any good things in the future.

"Now that you are married, have you ever thought about making a living?" Meng Changqing asked.

Sha Zhu looked at Meng Changqing blankly, obviously he had never thought about this problem before, "Please give me some advice."

"What can I teach you? It's just that this grocery store is ready to be sold. If you have the ability to continue, making money selling groceries is much more comfortable than farming, especially in Beishan County, where there is currently only one."

After reluctantly accepting the information, Sha Zhu asked, "I don't know how much money it will take to buy it. You also know that we were born as refugees and have little accumulation of property. We only saved a few of the money we have on hand by selling grain this year."

"Excluding the batch of goods I brought back today, you can buy a grocery store for ten taels of silver." Meng Changqing said, "That's even in Beishan County. In other places, it is impossible to buy a grocery store for ten taels of silver. "

"That's true." When Sha Zhu heard the ten taels, he also felt that it was unexpectedly cheap, but no matter how cheap it was, it was still expensive for him. He had a total of 200 yuan on hand, and he also spent 50 yuan to buy a piece of cloth. .

"You go back and think about it." Meng Changqing said, "Purchasing a shop is a big deal. You go back and discuss it with Huaihua. If your family really can't afford it, you can do it with others.

If you can't afford ten taels of silver at the moment, you can set a time limit and give it later. "

Shazhu became excited and ran home after leaving the grocery store.

"Master, why don't you tell everyone publicly?" Xiaodai couldn't understand this approach, "Why did you just tell him?"

Compared with Xiaodai, Bafang is more entangled with, "This shop has just started to make money, why should I sell it?"

"The young master naturally has the young master's concerns." Xiaodai turned his head and said to Bafang, "Don't ask too many questions."

"If you tell him, you will naturally tell others." Meng Changqing took the items displayed outside and received them at the counter. "Whoever can come up with more cash will be given to him."

Meng Changqing said to Xiaodai: "I may not have time to take care of this matter. You can handle it yourself. The only thing you have to remember is that it cannot be given to those in the 25th Group on the west side, nor to Wang Lamei's family in Luojia Village. These two They are all profit-seeking people.     If the grocery store is given to these two families, the whole family in Beishan County will be unlucky for a period of time."

"Yes, I have written it down." Xiaodai took the things from Meng Changqing's hand, "Don't worry about it. I will just sort these things out slowly. You can go back to the Yamen."

"That's fine, I have to go back and settle the accounts."

Meng Changqing returned to the government office and took Xi Bei and Yang Zheng to count the grain in the warehouse again.

Yang Zheng said: "At the beginning of May, there were only more than 3,000 acres of arable land. Later, the people cultivated land while planting, and now there are more than 4,000 acres of arable land. These grains, plus those previously returned to the two governments, have already exceeded the output of the land. Most of them.”

"Thanks to the good harvest this year." Meng Changqing looked at each room in front of the warehouse. "The yield of millet per mu is about ten shi, the yield of soybeans is about 300 jins per mu, and the yield of sweet potatoes is conservatively estimated to be 4,000 jins per mu.

After paying off the debts of the two governments, the county still has a lot left. "

Meng Changqing added up all kinds of grains and calculated the silver.

After doing this calculation, my heart suddenly became cold.

Looking at it in front of me, I still feel that there is a lot of food, but when it is converted into silver, it is barely 5,000 taels.

To buy bricks, recruit workers, and build walls, this food is definitely not enough.

Meng Changqing kept thinking about the account book, but no matter how much she did, she wouldn't get any more money.

We can only hope that Uncle Wei can get funding from the imperial court, otherwise it won't be enough to invest all the food this year, and we will have to incur debt.

Now that the grain that the people should pay has been paid, but whenever Meng Changqing has free time, he will still go to the fields and watch the adults collecting grain in front, while the children follow behind with a basket to pick up the fallen grain.

The places where people live in Beishan County are divided into the east and west sides, and the land they cultivate is also divided. The land cultivated by people on the west side extends further to the west, while the land on the east side extends in the opposite direction.

The purpose is to separate the two groups of people further apart.

Except for idlers like Ma Lishan, most people would not wander around in the fields on the other side.

Just as he was thinking about it, he saw Ma Lishan walking over with a basket in his hand and weeds in his mouth.

Judging from the fineness of the weaving of this basket, its original owner was definitely not Ma Lishan.

"Where did the thing in your hand come from?" Meng Changqing stepped forward and asked.

The man who had been walking with his head tilted trembled when he heard the voice. When he turned around and saw that it was Meng Changqing, he shrank his hands and feet together in fear.

Before he could reply, Meng Changqing heard the cry of a little girl in the distance.

Then came the accusations from adults, "Who asked you to put the basket on the ground?"

"I saw the stone disappearing and ran after him. I was afraid that the beans would be spilled, so I put it down and covered it with grass."

"Okay, stop crying. It's all gone. Can you come back from crying? Be careful when doing things in the future. There are always those wicked ghosts who like to take other people's things."

Meng Changqing stretched out his hand towards Ma Lishan.