Chapter 234: Inspecting the Brewery_i
Translator: 549690339 |
“Mother, I am going to take the provincial examination this autumn. I don’t want any distractions.” Wei Yichen rushed to say.
“Alright, alright, I won’t mentionyour matters for now.” Mrs.Yun replied, “But don’t worry about your sister’s affairs either. Although I have minor disagreements with your eldest sister, she is still my own flesh and blood. I will definitely select a suitable son-in-law for her when it comes to marriage.”
Following that, Mrs.Yun said, “Previously, I thought that Ruoruo, with her temperament, might not be able to marry into a prestigious family, so I thought of finding a decent scholar or a farming family. Now it seems she has her own destiny. I am glad about this.”
Wei Yichen couldn’t say anything else, so he let the topic rest here.
After chatting about family matters for a while and seeing Wei Yichen looking tired, Mrs.Yun asked him to go rest.
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Upon returning to Tingsong Garden, Wei Ruo immediately went to her study to write letters.
First, she wanted to instruct the people on the farm to be vigilant against the malignant seedling disease, and if they found any problems with the seedlings, they should immediately notify her.
Second, she wrote to her nanny, urging her to step up the efforts she’d previously mentioned to help her find her potential fiance.
The attitude of Madam Tongzhi today reminded her, letting her know that she must speed up her efforts.
If she was indeed as Mrs.Yun thought of her, not being worthy enough for prestigious families, that’s fine, she could delay for another two years. But if a family like the Xiu family took a fancy to her, Mrs.Yun could have such thoughts. If her marriage was decided at that point, it would put her in a rather passive position.
“Miss, the blight disease you saw today, is it the same as the one we saw in Huzhou Prefecture a few years ago?” Xiumei asked.
Wei Ruo nodded: “The symptoms seem to be the same.”
“That’s terrible then, the weather has been bad for the past two years, with irregular wind and rain, it’s hard to harvest a high yield. With this added problem, there’s no certainty for food production.” Xiumei expressed her worries.
“I’ll try to find time to go around these few days, persuade those that can be persuaded, for those that can’t be, I’ve tried my best.” Wei Ruo said.
Even though Wei Ruo encountered a setback at the farmers’ houses today, she still wanted to try her best.
This was a matter of saving people’s lives, if the food production was short, many people would die.
Xiumei nodded, at that time, their young lady was scolded by many people when she was persuading people in Huzhou Prefecture. At that time, their young lady was only ten years old, no one believed her words, and the scolding was very harsh.
But luckily in the end, there were sensible people who listened to her and carefully checked the seedlings, confirmed that there was a problem and chose to believe their young lady.
Among them, was the village head of Mo Jiazha, under his strong recommendation, the village of Mo Jiazha decided to replant the late rice variety from their young lady, as a result, that year, Mo Jiazha had a big harvest, while some surrounding villages suffered a total loss of crops.
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In the following days, Wei Ruo, when she had the time, would go to the villages near Government City under the identity of Xu Heyou. If she found anything wrong, she would communicate with the local farmers.
The situation was similar to when Wei Ruo was in Huzhou Prefecture, or even worse. It was inevitable to get scolded, and getting driven out of the village with an unceremonious shove was the least of it.
Wei Ruo didn’t mind, she did what she needed to do, and let fate decide.
Today, Wei Ruo came to Stone Village, where she opened her Brewery. The brewery was still under construction, and Wei Ruo’s visit was just in time to check on the progress.
Arriving at the designated place, here where the distillery was located, the back was against a large mountain and a stream ran in front.
The surroundings were very pleasant, already, several houses had been added to the originally barren flat ground.
As these were houses used for brewing, they were significantly different from ordinary houses.
The biggest difference was the presence of a boiler room for distilling white liquor, which ordinary breweries did not have. The people responsible for the construction didn’t even know its purpose.
“Master Xu!”
“Master Xu!”
“Master Xu! You are here!”
Upon seeing Wei Ruo, everyone started greeting her enthusiastically.
Currently, everyone working here was from Wei Ruo’s farm. They were all enthusiastic because Wei Ruo treated them very well. Not only was she paying more than others, but she also implemented a bonus system, where those who did well were given extra rewards.
For those sent to farm, the higher the yield of the rice field they managed in the past, the more their reward would be. This treatment was better than just being farm laborers, it was almost as good as that of tenant farmers.
However, they had more security than tenant farmers. If there was no yield in the tenant farmer’s own fields, they’d be left with nothing, but at least they still had the wages paid by Wei Ruo.
Those who were sent to work in the workshop were the same, if the workshop was doing well, they also had rewards.
Such good treatment was hard to find even in a relatively good harvest year, let alone in these tough times.
Wei Ruo smiled and nodded, “You have all worked hard.”
“Not at all, Master Xu, be careful, there are many odds and ends around here and the floor is messy with beams, please watch your step.” Alaborer carefully reminded Wei Ruo.
“Okay.” Wei Ruo nodded.
After touring around, Wei Ruo was very satisfied with the construction of the winery, which was in line with her expectations in terms of construction progress and construction quality.
According to this situation, the winery could officially start operations next month.
It seems she needs to start selecting and training workers, and also start preparing the crops needed for brewing.
After the inspection, Wei Ruo went to the village head of Stone Village’s house. Standing outside the fence of the village head’s house, Wei Ruo was wondering if he was home.
“Master Xu!”
The village head, Shi Dayou, who came out of the house, saw Wei Ruo and came out to greet her warmly.
Shi Dayou, in his thirties, had a limp leg and limped when he walked.
He didn’t look like the authoritative kind, nor was he old, and didn’t look like a village head.
Shi Dayou opened the fence gate and invited Wei Ruo in, “Master Xu, please come in.”
Wei Ruo entered the gate, and followed Shi Dayou into the house.
The interior was simple but clean.
“Has Master Xu come to inspect the construction progress of the brewery today?” Shi Dayou asked.
“Yes.” Wei Ruo nodded, then continued to Shi Dayou, “In addition, there is something else I want to discuss with the village head.”
” If Master Xu needs our villagers’ help in any way, please feel free to mention it, we will definitely help as much as we can!” said Shi Dayou in a hurry.
“It’s not that I need any help, but when I entered the village today, I noticed some abnormalities in the seedlings of rice fields around the village. According to my experience, there may be some problems with these seedlings.” Wei Ruo said.
After hearing Wei Ruo’s words, Shi Dayou remained silent for a good while.
“Village Head?” Wei Ruo called out to Shi Dayou.