Transmigration: The Farm Life of a “Fool”

By mid-August, people could begin to reap the early maturing upland rice.

The rice-harvesting season should be the busiest and most tiring time of the year. Of course, it was also the happiest time for the people. After a year of hard work, they finally had a harvest.

Wu Mei’s and those few families’ fields were all paddy fields or curved fields, so they could only reap their rice in a few days.

In this case, Xu Ran started to organize the people to do another job. Their wheelbarrows were taken out, and two people from each family were required to hawk them in other villages.

The price Xu Ran had set for the wheelbarrow was one tael of silver for the first five buyers. After that, it would sell for one and a half taels of silver, and twenty wheelbarrows were allowed to sell in each village at most. If more should be sold, each one must sell for two taels of silver.

This was somewhat like raising the price at the transaction location, but if he didn’t make some money with the wheelbarrows, it would be difficult for him to buy the ten mu of land from Wu Mei and those few families.

Besides, in modern times, this was not called raising the price at the transaction location but was called sales promotion. After comforting himself, Xu Ran was relieved.

Presumably, not only such few people would come to buy it in a village. After all, this tool could help the user save time and energy. It was convenient to use it to carry the rice home or do other things.

Xu Ran also asked everyone to hawk and shout their slogans. If not many people were in the village, they should go to the place where there were many fields. Now, most people should still be working in their fields.

Xu Ran went to Liu Village with Gao Quan, Wu Mei and Xu An went to Wu Village, Liu Qing and Xu Zhen went to Zhang Village, and Wu Lan and Xu Fa to Xu Village. They were all villages neighboring Xu Village, but there was a large population in each village, with the smallest one accommodating more than a hundred households. The big one was Wu Village, where there were more than three hundred households at least.

One team consisted of two members, and each team only took out five wheelbarrows and should come back after selling them out. If anyone else wanted to buy it, he would have to come to Xu Village to buy it himself.

Xu Ran was worried that raising the price at the transaction location would cause dissatisfaction, and the two sellers from an outside village would be easily bullied, so he had made such a decision.

Of course, the buyers could write down their names and pay the money. In the future, all the wheelbarrows would be delivered to the village head’s place.

Xu Ran asked every team member to visit the village head first when they arrived at one village and then tell him what they were doing.

Xu Ran had fabricated the excuse, which was: Xu An was a carpenter and had the wish to recruit apprentices. In order to get people’s trust, he had made this tool, showing others his craftsmanship. It was the first time the wheelbarrow had been sold, so they had prepared a sales promotion: the first five buyers could get it for half the original price, the buyers between the sixth and the 20th should pay an extra amount of a half taels of silver, and the buyers after that could not get any discounts and had to pay two taels.

After all, not every family could afford the one tael or two taels, so they had only brought five wheelbarrows, letting the village head see what the thing was first. If anyone wanted it, he could come and buy it.

Xu Ran had also prepared gifts for the head of each villager: half a kilo of white sugar and half a kilo of Chinese liquor. They were not small gifts.

Even if the village head himself didn’t buy the wheelbarrow, he would not drive them out of the village for the sake of the gifts.

Another point was that Xu Ran had been to these villages to buy chestnuts before, as had Xu An and the others, so they had one or two acquaintances, who would give them much help.

After arriving at Liu Village with their wheelbarrows, Xu Ran and Gao Quan went straight to the village head’s house. They went there quite early and happened to meet the whole family of the village head coming back for breakfast from their fields.

The head of Liu Village was named Liu Zheng. Due to his coming to buy chestnuts the last time, Xu Ran had had dealings with him, who was a very easy-going person.

Xu Ran directly explained the reason for coming here. Liu Zheng observed the wheelbarrows that Xu Ran and Gao Quan had brought. The thing was not big, just with two wheels installed on it. And he was wondering about its carrying capacity.

Xu Ran said to Liu Zheng smilingly, “Village head, you don’t have to worry about this at all. We have tested its carrying capacity. We thought about this when we were making it, so the wood has all been thickened. Village head, let’s do it this way: you take us to carry a few stones here. We’ll never know until we try.”

Liu Zheng glanced at the wheelbarrow a few more times and then said to Xu Ran, “Come with me, you two. There are stones in my house’s yard.”

Xu Ran walked after the village head, and Gao Quan was behind Xu Ran with the wheelbarrow. When the three of them arrived at the yard, they did see a few big stones. First, Xu Ran asked the village head to keep the wheelbarrow steady, then he and Gao Quan put two big stones into it and told the village head to walk around a few times in the yard. The wheelbarrow remained intact, and Liu Zheng didn’t find it strength-consuming.

He said with a smile, “This is a great tool indeed. I am wondering how much the wheelbarrow costs, Mr. Xu?”

Xu Ran told him the selling prices of it. Then, he took out a processed wooden stick and said to him, “Village head, look at this wooden stick. As long as you support the wheelbarrow with it, one can load and unload goods all alone. It’s quick, easy, and simple. More importantly, we just sell it for one tael of silver for the first five buyers. It’s so practical and cheap. Don’t you want it, village head?”

The design was really good. Liu Zheng had never seen anything like that before, and he had tried its efficiency in person. As long as the road was even, it was much better to use it than to carry a pack basket. When he heard Xu Ran say that it cost one tael of silver, he thought it was a little expensive. But when he saw Xu Ran take out the processed wooden stick and heard Xu Ran’s words, the village head felt that it was worth a tael of silver.

Liu Zheng immediately decided to buy one. Since he was the village head, his family could afford the one tael of silver.

After taking the silver, Xu Ran took out the white sugar and Chinese liquor he had prepared.

“Village head, I have one more thing to bother you. I’ve only brought five wheelbarrows here today. I’ve told you the prices. Your village is so big, so there will definitely be others who want it later. Village head, could I ask you to help me register the buyers’ names? I’ll bring the wheelbarrows here at a time then.”

As the Chinese saying goes, “One who eats or takes what others provide will feel difficult to refuse to favor others.” After taking Xu Ran’s liquor and sugar, naturally, Liu Zheng agreed to help him.

After that, Xu Ran asked the village head to show him the way to the house of the family with the most fields in the village, and he went there.

This family’s house was not far from Liu Zheng’s. Xu Ran went there but found no one at home. He asked Gao Quan to watch the wheelbarrows, and he went back and asked Liu Zheng where the village’s paddy fields were mainly located.

Liu Zheng knew that it was cool at this time and not many people were at home, so he showed Xu Ran the way. Following Liu Zheng’s instruction, Xu Ran found the place.

Watching it from afar, he saw a large yellow area. Since Liu Village was a sunlit village, even the rice of its paddy fields had turned yellow. Laborers could be seen everywhere in the fields. With their backs bent, they were quickly cutting the rice with the sickles in their hands. From time to time, they would raise their heads to wipe their sweat. This was a real show of the most unpretentious working people in the lowest class living with their sweat and blood.

Xu Ran went over, greeted the people in the fields, and chatted a bit with them. These unpretentious people would even treat strangers sincerely.

Some were curious about what Xu Ran was here for. After Xu Ran had told them about the wheelbarrow, they even came over to check.

Xu Ran didn’t ask anyone to buy it. He just introduced the functions of the wheelbarrow, letting those who were willing to buy try it. Of course, he didn’t forget the prices and stressed that there were only these four wheelbarrows left.

And they were bought by several well-off families in a very short time, while some from the poor families could do nothing but watch with jealousy.

They thought that they could buy it next year although they couldn’t afford it this year. That was also a great way to strive for success.

With all the wheelbarrows sold, Xu Ran should go home, but he was not in a hurry. Instead, he went to greet everyone nearby. Although the wheelbarrows were gone, he could still tell them the names of those who had bought them just now and that if they wanted it, they should go to the village head, register their names, and pay the money. In a few days, he would be able to bring them here.

It seemed that Heaven was not cooperative today. At one moment, it was sunny, but it turned cloudy at the next. Many families had cut a lot of rice stalks and been basking them, hoping to get paddies from them in a while and take them home. But now when they saw the sky, they all hurried off to put away their rice stalks.

Xu Ran returned to those few people who had bought his wheelbarrows, teaching them the way of preventing the rice stalks from spreading apart and the way of loading many fast.

Xu Ran couldn’t teach them alone, so he asked Gao Quan to do it with him. Gao Quan, who didn’t like talking, had to open his mouth after being ordered to take the task at the critical moment.

Under the guidance of Xu Ran, the four families were quickly moving the rice stalks they had cut in the fields to their houses. When the heavy rain came, all the rice stalks of these few families had been carried home. Truly, they didn’t suffer great losses.

But the other families were still rescuing their rice stalks in their fields.

Even Xu Ran himself hadn’t expected the sales promotion to come so soon. Yes, heaven was cooperative this time.

But he didn’t say anything and went home with Gao Quan in the rain.

The other families had almost met the same situation. Wu Mei and the others had even lent their wheelbarrows to others, but the borrowers were all from the homes of their dads and daddies.

Xu An and Wu Mei had even helped put away the rice stalks.

It only rained for a while. It came fast and went quickly. When the rice stalks in the field had been brought home, the rain stopped, but there were still losses.

As for the amount of grain the rain had damaged, only those who suffered losses knew it themselves.

Only after the heavy rain did Xu An and Wu Mei go out to sell their wheelbarrows again.

Wu Mei’s dad, daddy, elder brothers had taken away two wheelbarrows, and the village head had bought one, so only two were left.

Just now, many people had seen Wu Mei’s family carrying their rice stalks home. Then, the moment Wu Mei and Xu An had just left their house, some who were familiar with them came to their door.

Wu Mei was good at talking. Immediately, he explained the functions of the wheelbarrow again. Since the price had been set, it wouldn’t be lowered.

He also said that Xu An was going to recruit apprentices and teach them carpentry and that anyone who was willing to learn it could come to their house to discuss it.

Teaching carpentry was the idea of Xu Ran, who thought, “In the countryside, people deal with wood logs or mud. Carpentry is quite useful! Many people would be willing to come, and Xu An’s family could make more money then.”

The business of Xu Zhen’s and Xu Fa’s families had also gone smoothly. Today the weather had helped them, so they had a good beginning.

In the following days, they would have to speed up, cutting some wood logs in the mountain and bringing them back, so that they could make some wheelbarrows as soon as possible.

Xu Ran also had another plan: his family must move into their new house before September. With this done, his family would have a safer environment when he was away.