A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 194 Thirteen Pregnant Women
As soon as Li Yi came back, Wuji Castle immediately became lively.

All the men, women and children in the village came, and Du Shiniang liked the strong human touch.

"Hurry up and make tea for everyone,"

He also ordered some walnuts, red dates, almonds, hazelnuts, dried persimmons, etc. brought back from Chang'an.

Li Yi also likes the crowds and the lively atmosphere.

I carried some dried fruits and distributed them to the children one by one. Each of them grabbed a handful, which made the children very happy.

Liu Heizi came to pay his respects with his wife Cao, feeling rather proud.
Cao was pregnant for over five months. Liu Heizi confidently said it was a boy. "Look at the pointed belly, it must be a boy. And the legs are really long."

Cao Yanxiu, a woman from Nanyang who used to be pale and skinny in the Sanqiao disaster relief camp, has changed a lot after being married to Heizi for half a year. She has gained weight and her complexion has become rosy. She was tall to begin with, and now that she is a little plumper, she looks much younger.

"You need to eat more when you're pregnant. Ask Heizi to give you more meat and eggs."

"Yes, I cook an egg every morning, and steam a bowl of meat soup every few days." Cao said happily.

When the women in the village heard about this, they were all envious. Some had given birth to six or seven children, but who could afford to eat an egg a day and steamed meat soup every few days?
Most women have to work every day even when they are pregnant. During the busy farming season, they have to work just as hard as men. They can only rest for a few days after giving birth.

"A Xiu, you married a good man,"

Many women praised Liu Heizi for being generous and loving to his new wife.
Li Yi looked at Lao Hei now. He was clean and respectable, wearing a sheepskin fur coat. The coat was made of sheepskin with the wool facing inside. A layer of coarse cloth was sewn on the outside of the sheepskin. The long sheepskin fur coat was both warm and good-looking.

There was not a single patch on his clothes, they were very clean.

And Cao was also wearing a sheepskin coat.

The two of them were dressed like country landlords, but most villagers didn't have the means. They often wore cheap goat skins, or even a dog-skin jacket or a sheepskin coat over a cloth coat.
They are worn during the day and covered at night. Most of them are patched and their original colors can no longer be seen.

But even so, they are much better off than the people in other villages.

Because Cao is pregnant, Heizi basically stays in the countryside, helping Li Yi to look after Wuji Fort, assisting Luo Er in managing the workshop, and helping Luo San in managing the farm. He is deeply trusted by Li Yi.

He smiled and reported to Li Yi, "I bought some more land. Now I have 50 mu of wheat fields on the plateau, 50 mu of rice fields on the plateau, and 20 mu of mulberry fields."

"Yes, is the money enough? If not, take it from me."

Heizi thanked him and said that he paid cash for the land, and land is cheap now. He didn't buy any high-quality land, but just small and scattered plots, so it didn't cost much.

"Some time ago, Alang asked me to go to the countryside to pick persimmons. I made some money, and Alang also gave my husband and me some wages."

He now has 120 acres of land, but he has no time to take care of it, so he plans to hire a disaster victim as a long-term worker after the spring, buy a cow, and hire some short-term workers during the busy farming season, so that he can take care of it.

"That's a good plan. If you have money, it's always a good idea to buy some land first."

"Please rest assured, Alang, I will complete the task assigned by Alang."

Cooking tea around the stove,

The villagers' lives were pretty good. They had bought more clothes for the winter, some had built new kilns, and some had bought fields like Liu Heizi.
Many of them also took new wives,

There are a lot of pregnant women in the village this winter.

Not only Cao Yanxiu was pregnant, but Yu Youniang was also pregnant.
The rich and powerful also made their wives pregnant again,

Luo San's third wife, Wang, also became pregnant.

Even the newly married Han wives of the four Qiang people, including Li Cunxiao, were all pregnant.

Count carefully,
There are now 25 households in Luojiabao, and there are as many as 13 pregnant women.

However, Li Yi had one wife and two concubines, but none of them made any move.

There were some honest people who asked Li Yi about this, which made Li Yi just laugh it off.

This made Du Shiniang lose her smile, and Ji Lingyi felt even more ashamed.

"Drink tea, drink tea."

Li Yi felt that the advantage of having high walls on four sides of Wuji Fort was that it could block the wind, but the disadvantage was that it could block the sun and sunlight. Moreover, when it was renovated, they forgot to build a kang.

Relying solely on the stove for heating is still not enough.

His family was not short of charcoal. They had stone coal, charcoal and a lot of firewood. The villagers were also okay. After all, this place was close to Nanshan Mountain. They could spend some time and effort to go into the mountains and chop firewood for a while, and then bring it back and it would be enough to burn for a long time. It was much better than Chang'an City, where they had to rely on buying everything but the supply was always insufficient.

But the kang is still the most comfortable place to stay away from the cold in winter.

"Everyone will have lunch at my place at noon. I will treat everyone to pork fat dumplings," Li Yi said generously. Now, the villagers of Luojiabao are actually basically all his employees.

Men either manage the farm, run sales in the workshop, or do purchasing, while women work in the workshop or are assigned to cook in the shop.

There are only twenty-five households in total, among which Xiuzhi is a third-rank county lady, the four Qiang people are now seventh-rank brigade commanders, and even Xiao Shisanlang has become a ninth-rank military officer.

Including Li Yi, seven households were exempted from taxes and all had official titles.

Persimmon wine shop, soap workshop, bean curd stick workshop, plow workshop, the newly opened blacksmith shop and carpenter shop, plus the six shops originally in Chang'an,
Li Yi's current business is quite large, and the villagers in Luojiabao are no longer enough. Now, Li Yi has also hired some acquaintances from the local villages such as Guozhuang, Gaojiabao, Sanjiacun, Nianwan, and Fengjiabao. After all, the local people are more reliable than outsiders because they are well-known.

The women happily helped to knead the dough, boil water and cook the noodles.
Add more lard, more onions, and more salt.
Everyone filled a large bowl and ate it casually in the sun.

It smells delicious and tastes warm and smooth.

More than a hundred people filled the front yard of Wuji Castle, making it very lively.

Li Yi also brought a big bowl and sat together with everyone to have a bowl party. They ate, chatted and basked in the sun, which was very down-to-earth.

From everyone's winter clothes, we can also see the difference between rich and poor families.
For example, Luo San, Liu Heizi, Luo Er and others who worked as stewards for Li Yi wore sheepskin coats with a layer of coarse cloth sewn on the outside, and a padded jacket filled with silk quilting inside.

The women and children of those households that were exempted from the tax wore fox fur or deer fur, which were made of better material and were cleaner and tidier.

As for other villagers, although some also wore sheepskin furs, they were made of goat skin and were shorter, and most of them were quite old. Some even wore dog skin or rabbit skin.

Of course, some people couldn't even afford goat or dog skin, so they had to make do with two layers of linen filled with cotton or linen, or even duck feathers or reeds.

Some women also wore paper fur coats.

This is made of mulberry bark, which is steamed, blended and compacted to make clothes. This kind of paper fur is very thick and durable. Even after it is worn out, it can be mended and worn again. Although mulberry bark paper fur is not as warm as leather fur, many poor people have no choice but to do so.

Eating noodles,
Some villagers would call their sons and daughters over and ask them to recite poems or do mental arithmetic in front of them.

It’s not lively.

After half a year of schooling, Li Yi felt that there was something different about the children in the village. Perhaps this was because they had opened their eyes.

After dinner,

Li Yi began to think about building a kang. Luo San and Luo Wu were all experts who used to help others build kilns and houses. Li Yi expressed his ideas, pointed out the general principles of the kang, and demonstrated with gestures. They basically understood what he said.

"We can do it. With Alang's guidance, we should be able to succeed." Luo San said with a smile. Since he married his third wife, Luo San has been cheerful all day long.

He helped Li Yi harvest persimmons and made a lot of money. After one season of persimmon harvest, he bought more than 100 acres of land, two cows, dug two more caves to the three caves, and built a yard in front and a few new thatched houses.

In today's chaotic world, land is very cheap and most people dare not buy land. Luo San and the others believe in Li Yi and boldly follow him to buy land.

After decades of hard work, Luo San finally became a small landlord. His three children were all in school, his new wife was pregnant again, and the family had enough food in stock for a year and some extra money. His life was extremely happy. Luo San was very satisfied with his current life.

in the afternoon,

Luo San also called on Dafu and Dagui to help him, repairing and researching, with Li Yi acting as a consultant. Three cobblers are better than Zhuge Liang.
The kang is not a very complicated thing. The principle is to use the smoke from the stove to pass through the flue of the kang body for heating.

Cover it with stone slabs or prefabricated mud slabs, then apply mud to fill the gaps, apply a second coat to smooth it out, and then slowly dry it. Cover it with kang mats, and a kang is ready.

But it is easier said than done. The first time you do it you have to think about it over and over again and make revisions.

The grown men were very excited and became more and more energetic.

Playing in mud is not only enjoyed by children, but also by grown men.

It's dark,

The kang was not ready yet, but everyone was still very motivated and decided to continue tomorrow.

For dinner, Li Yi entertained several people with red-braised rabbit, pheasant stew, scallion tofu, bean curd porridge, bean curd sticks stew, four dishes and one soup, and a pot of persimmon stew.

Luo San and the others even said that Li Yi was too wasteful.

Li Yi originally wanted to have a couple of drinks with everyone, but Hong Xiao came over and said that the county lady invited him over.

He came to the inner court,
Du Shiniang said, "My dear, I just asked them, and today is Su Jun's auspicious day, so please don't drink."

"Don't worry, my lady. Just let nature take its course."

"It's all right to let things take their course, but please don't drink today."

Li Yi regretted what he had said to Shi Niang before about preparing for pregnancy, saying that drinking alcohol might affect pregnancy, and even that getting pregnant might affect the health of the fetus.

He is not in a hurry to have children.

But Shi Niang was very anxious, especially when she saw today that there were 25 households in Luojiabao and 13 pregnant women among them, which made her even more anxious.

"If Sujun and Yushu can't get pregnant again, I will find two more concubines for Alang."

"No," Li Yi refused. Why would he need so many women?

"Then Alang will select the maids from the mansion and have them serve him. If any of them becomes pregnant, he will be taken as a concubine."

Li Yi couldn't help but smile bitterly, "Is it that urgent?"

"Of course we shouldn't be anxious. We need to hurry up. Money, land, cattle, and horses are useless if we don't have talented people."

(End of this chapter)