take a wife to support the family

Chapter 19 The Willow Mansion's Plan

Compared with the rabbit meat eaten by Mrs. Sheng and the little girls, the meat delivered today is fresher and more tender.Mrs. Sheng tried her best to pick out the best part of the rabbit, cooked it according to the steps of Lily's cooking, and sent it to Master Liu's dining table.

Mr. Liu was well-informed, and when he put his chopsticks down, he tasted rabbit meat. It was tender and tender. His appetite was so great that he ate half a bowl of rice.

After the meal, Master Liu asked Mrs. Sheng to come up and talk.Back then when he was taking the Juren examination in the provincial capital, it was Mrs. Sheng who served her back and forth, taking care of food, clothing, housing and transportation, and the friendship between master and servant was deep.

When Mr. Liu was free, he would also ask Mrs. Sheng to chat for a few words, so as to show others how much he valued her. Even the housekeeper Liu Zhong wanted to give Mrs. Sheng some face.

Master Liu asked Mrs. Sheng why she thought of fried rabbit. Most of the ingredients for the kitchen came from her own field, and some were bought from other places. Rabbits were only sent to the farm in winter. Now is not the time to send rabbit meat.

Aunt Liu talked about Lily, "That daughter-in-law lives in poverty, but she is bright and clean, and she speaks in an orderly manner, and she doesn't want to play tricks on others to take advantage of her."

Master Liu twisted his beard and squinted his eyes, "You said her man's name is Song Haonian? Is it from the Song family?"

He was a noble man with many affairs, and he couldn't think of Song Haonian for a while, the housekeeper Liu Zhong hurriedly bowed beside him: "It's the second son of old man Song, the fifth housekeeper of the Song family, and he left the family."

There are also quite a few members of the Song family. Although they haven't produced any outstanding talents, they all have small savings in the town through diligence.The field of the Song clan is next to the Liu family, and Mr. Liu had a little impression. When the butler said it, he remembered it.

"Old man Song has three or four sons? Why is the family separated now?" The parents didn't separate the family, and the Liu family was a scholar's family, so they paid special attention to these rules. Hearing that the old man Song had separated, his brows frowned.

Aunt Sheng winked at the housekeeper, who said calmly, "His family hasn't been separated yet, but the sons are all grown up and married separately. It's always inconvenient to live together. It's just that the second son should not The eldest son and youngest daughter naturally live with Old Man Song."

Mr. Liu waved his hand, "In that case, it's okay to accept his family's prey. Last year, the imperial court issued an order to promote sweet potatoes in our Taiping County. The fields elsewhere in the house have been arranged. You can find a way to rent a few acres nearby. , Trying to plant it is also our heart to serve the court."

Speaking of the imperial court, Master Liu clasped his fists at Kong to show his respect.The housekeeper understood, agreed, and withdrew with Mrs. Sheng.

As soon as he went out, the butler said to Mrs. Sheng: "Your brother Sheng is in charge of the farm affairs. I will invite him to my house for a drink later. We can discuss it in the future."

Mrs. Sheng heard that it was a serious matter, and agreed to go. In a blink of an eye, she caught a little girl who was being lazy and asked her to bring a letter to her man, telling him to come and talk to the housekeeper.

Liu Zhong, the housekeeper, and Liu Sheng, who is in charge of Dianzu, got together, met and discussed for a long time before making a decision.

The Liu family is known as the heir of poetry and etiquette, and is the most powerful in the town, but Mr. Liu is the most famous. He has always hated his servants to bully his neighbors under his banner. Although Liu Zhong and Liu Sheng don't think much of them Folks, you can still see things in your daily life.

After two or three days, Liu Sheng went to the west of the town looking for an opportunity.He wore a muslin robe, carefully shielded from the dust of the road.He is very respectable in the town, and people greeted him with smiles along the way, and he accepted them all with a smile, and walked all the way to Song's house in the far west.

Standing outside the fence, seeing three low thatched houses with dried game hanging from the eaves, Liu Sheng guessed the situation of this house.A young daughter-in-law was squatting in the yard drying gray vegetables, with a slender body and yellow and thin hair, she presumably belonged to the "Da Nian's family" that Mrs. Sheng said.

"Is Da Nian at home?" Liu Sheng coughed, it was not easy to chat with the young daughter-in-law casually, so he asked into the room.

When Lily heard someone ask, she looked up and saw a middle-aged man with a beard, with a solid and heavy figure, which was similar to Mrs. Sheng.

"The new year is coming, who are you?"

Song Haonian is building a chicken coop behind the house, the chickens at home are getting bigger and bigger, it is shameful to keep them locked in the house, why not move out while the weather is getting warmer.His adopted brother Liu Sanping is a carpenter, Song Haonian has learned a few things from him, so it shouldn't be a problem to try to build a chicken coop.

Hearing someone ask him, Song Haonian was taken aback when he came out from behind the house: "Uncle Sheng?"

Liu Sheng just entered the door, and chatted with Song Haonian with a smile, his parents are okay, what kind of livelihood are they doing recently, is the family living well...

As Song Haonian replied, he thought that he had never dealt with the Liu Manor in the past, and had never even met this Uncle Sheng, but now he came to the door suddenly, what was he planning to do?
"At this time, spring plowing is everywhere. There is a field in our house, which is near your field. Why are you still in a panic? If you don't plant any more, you will miss the solar term."

Liu Sheng finally ended his aimless chat and brought the topic back to business.

Song Haonian didn't farm, naturally because the family had no food left, let alone cattle, but it was hard to say this directly, so he smiled wryly: "Uncle Sheng knows, I am impatient to farm, and the woman at home is weak, so it's not One who can farm."

These words caught Liu Sheng's heart, his eyes lit up, and he said: "Nephew is willing to do this, so he will have a good future. It's just that although the ten mu of land is not a high-quality field, it is also a middle-level field. It would be a pity to abandon it... What's your nephew going to do?"

Influenced by the master's family, when Liu Sheng said polite words to others, he was also a bit polite. Song Haonian was not used to listening, rubbed his ears, but understood his purpose, because he smiled and said: "Now I am going to send Tian I just don’t know who is interested in renting it out. Uncle Sheng knows a lot of people, if you know someone who wants to rent land, please introduce it.”

Liu Sheng said: "Nowadays, the imperial court is promoting new grains. My master wants to rent a few acres of land to try planting. It happens that my nephew's field is adjacent to ours. Why don't you rent it with us? It's close, and it's convenient to repair canals and irrigate. .”

As he spoke, his tone changed, "Nephew, if you are afraid that my family will bully others and want to invade your family's land, it's fine if you refuse to rent it. I'll go find someone else."

In fact, the two of them wanted to facilitate this matter in their hearts, and after discussing a few more words, they agreed to ask the villagers to witness the next day, and rent Song Haonian's ten mu of land to Mr. Liu's family, and the Liu family would pay a certain amount of money to the Song family every year. .

Lily asked outside the door: "I don't know what to plant in your house?"

Liu Sheng only talked to the man who was in charge of the house, and when he heard the woman interrupting, he felt that it was a small family with no rules.But Baihe could say the polite words like "Your Mansion", so he half-reluctantly replied: "It's a new crop promoted by the imperial court, called sweet potato."

Lily's eyes flashed, and she said softly: "If your government is willing to share [-]% of the harvest with us, the rent can be negotiated."

Liu Sheng looked at Song Haonian with displeasure: "Is what this woman is telling the truth?"

Song Haonian said with a smile: "In my family, my mother-in-law talks the same as me."

(End of this chapter)