Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan did a good job of easing the atmosphere, and also made the villagers recognize their master's family. If it was said that the villagers originally yearned for the Zhang family because of a good life, then Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan's actions made the villagers see the Zhang family as family.
"Let's go to Zhuangzi and take a look," the Jang Wong Clan said as she looked at Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan, who were also rubbing in the dirt.
The villagers immediately made a path for them and kept a certain distance from the Jang Wong Clan. They followed beside her, and from time to time, they would look at her with respect as they walked.
The Han Family's road in Zhuangzi was not repaired, and it was full of potholes. From time to time, they could even see a pile of feces on the road. This was absolutely impossible to see in the Zhang Family and the Wang Family's Zhuangzi. The two Zhuangzi's sanitation work was done well. Ever since they told the villagers, none of them would casually throw things on the road.
There was also a special bag for feces placed behind the animals' buttocks, and from time to time, they would sprinkle lime on it to reduce the spread of diseases.
Steward Zhang was in charge of this matter, and he said to the people beside him, "After the spring plowing, fix the road properly. The roads in Zhangjia Zhuangzi must be wide and smooth."
The villagers were happy when they heard this. The road was fixed, and they would be able to walk comfortably. With a good road in Zhuangzi, they would be able to boast about it when they went out.
The group of people walked on the broken road and arrived in Zhuangzi. There were many thatched huts, and some of them were just casually rubbed out with mud. It was not hot yet, but they could already smell the stench.
"In the future, the latrines and houses will have to be repaired or built new ones. The master will be in charge of this, and you will have to do it yourselves. The latrines have to be covered and sprinkled with lime. This can't go on like this," Steward Zhang mentioned another matter.
The villagers did not look unhappy at all, and they all nodded. In the future, they would have new houses, and it would be better if they were clean. In the past, they did not have time to take care of such things, and the master collected more rent, so they could only find work elsewhere to eat. Now, the master had changed.
The Zhang Family's ability was needless to say, they were better than others in growing rice. Even if the rice did not belong to the villagers in the future, they could still bring new rice. This year, Zhang and Wang were able to get five times more crops than usual in Zhuangzi.
Along the way, the people who followed the Zhang Family here did not see a decent house. Some of the houses did not even have paper to cover the windows, and directly nailed the windows with straw curtains. When they were halfway through the village, they saw a small courtyard with three chickens looking at them with their heads tilted.
Steward Zhang spoke again, "If there are people who are not busy at home, go over there tomorrow and bring the chickens back to raise them. The master will be in charge of the food they eat, but when the chickens grow up, a portion of the eggs they lay will have to be given to the master. When the chickens are killed, they will also belong to the master."
The villagers nodded again. Wasn't it just helping to raise the chickens? When the time came, they could keep a portion of the eggs for themselves, and they would not have to feed the chickens themselves.
The group continued to walk forward, and as they walked, they came to an area surrounded by a low wall. Standing outside the low wall and looking in, they saw a high wall about three hundred feet away from the low wall.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan did not know what the low wall was for.
"What's the use of this wall?" Zhang Xiaobao asked a slightly older child.
"The wall of the master's house. The villagers are not allowed to go over this wall. After going in, if we continue to walk forward, we will reach the master's mansion," the child replied.
"Mansion? Good, Chaosan Daoist? His rank is two ranks higher than my father's, Rank 5. This is the mansion. Is he afraid of death? Why did he build a wall outside? Even if he did, he was still caught, right, Steward Zhang? "
Zhang Xiaobao did not want this wall to block people's hearts, so he shouted at Steward Zhang.
Steward Zhang understood and immediately said, "The low wall outside needs to be torn down. There are some bricks left to build the house. The Zhang family is not afraid of being harmed by the villagers. When you have nothing to do, you can go to the master's house for a stroll. If you need anything to take out, you can even help."
The villagers nodded. This wall had already made their hearts cold. If it was not for the fact that they could not find another place to live, they would not want to stay in the Han family's Zhuangzi. The children of the Zhang Family and Wang Family could play with the villagers, but the Han Family treated them like animals.
Why didn't the Zhang family come earlier? If they had come earlier, they would have had a better life. Why did they have to endure this?
"Mistress of the master's house, would you like to go in and take a look?" the old man asked Zhang Wong Clan.
"No, after the wall outside is torn down, we can all go in and take a look. If we feel that this house is not good, we can also tear it down and build a smaller house. That way, the people from the master's house will have a place to stay."
Zhang Wong Clan was a bit disgusted with this place. Most importantly, if she really kept this place, it would be too much. How could a seventh-ranked official live in a fifth-ranked official's house?
Of course, the villagers were not comfortable with this. They all wanted to tear it down and build a new house for the master's house.
After looking at this house, they continued to walk forward. There was a small hill on the other side. There were no trees on it. In fact, it was just a mound. After the mound, there was a piece of land that belonged to Zhangjia Zhuangzi.
A group of people walked over and climbed up the mound. They found a few people standing on the other side of the mound. They were pointing and talking.
Those people also saw them. A middle-aged man suddenly smiled and walked over. "You are from the Zhang family, right? I am your neighbor over there. My surname is Liu, and the Han family took some of our land in Zhuangzi. It turns out that there are some thorns in the area between the two Zhuangzi.
They cut the thorns and moved it forward a little. I heard that the master has changed, so we came over to take a look and decide on a new location. We don't want another family to take over another family's land. "
"Ah?" Zhang Xiaobao was stunned. Another neighbor. He just came over and he already said that the Han family took over their land in Zhuangzi and wanted to decide on a new location?
"How do you want to decide?" Zhang Wong Clan was expressionless and asked indifferently.
"It should be the mistress of the Zhang family, right? Don't misunderstand. We are not taking back the land that was taken over in the past. We all know about the Zhang family, so we don't dare to come over and cause trouble. We haven't lived long enough yet. Let's just go with the current location. "
The man surnamed Liu explained.
"Then let's decide. You guys decide first and let us know when the time comes. We will replant the thorns and plant them here." Zhang Wong Clan saw that the other party was not here to take back the land, so she believed that the Han family took over the other party's land. There was not much land left, so they had to plant thorns.
"Okay, thank you so much, Mistress of the Zhang family. The Zhang family's actions are indeed counter-measures. Don't worry, the Liu family will not take the initiative to provoke the Zhang family. Our two families will live in harmony." The man surnamed Liu said and left with his people.
Wang Juan looked at the man's back as he left and asked Zhang Xiaobao, "Did he know that we are here and purposely came here to wait for us? His surname is Liu. Which family is he from? "
"Who cares? Just like what he said, unless he's tired of living and comes looking for trouble. Our Zhang Clan can kill all the way to the top, carrying a thick smell of blood. We kill chickens and ducks when we see chickens."
Zhang Xiaobao did not care who the man surnamed Liu was, as long as his surname was not 'Li'.
Madam Zhang walked and looked around again. She felt that she could only wait and take good care of it in the future. She turned around and left under the respectful escort of the villagers. There was another village that she had to go over to take over today. She had to calm the villagers down and not delay the spring plowing.
Before she left, she asked someone to measure the size of the villagers and make the same clothes for them to wear. This way, they could build up cohesion. She also asked some stronger people to follow them back to the main house to get things. Now that they had met, she had to let the villagers have a good meal.
After walking for about an hour, they arrived at the Yuan family. The Yuan family seemed to be better than the Han family. At least, the villagers' clothes were better than the Han family's. They also did not have extra walls outside.
The reaction of the villagers was similar to that of the Han family. They were all very excited. They knew in advance that the land was bought by the Zhang family. Although the original main house did not treat them any differently from the other main houses, they did not ask for rent and were not treated as badly as the Han family.
However, they still felt that the Zhang family was better. They also yearned for a good life and hoped that their children could be educated. However, they did not hate the original main house as much.
The houses that the Yuan Clan's farmers lived in were also thatched cottages, but they were more orderly than the Han Clan's. The roads were the same, full of potholes. Housekeeper Zhang still picked out a few problems and had to fix them in the future.
He also measured their sizes and asked them to go back with some people to get rice, noodles, oil, and meat.
They went to two farmsteads in a row and looked around. After a busy day, when Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan returned home, they lay on the kang bed and chatted.
"Xiao Bao, we have a small river here. They seem to have one there too, but why is there no water?" Wang Juan asked Zhang Xiaobao. Without water, it would be tiring to grow rice.
"How would I know? Let's go and see tomorrow. If someone deliberately blocked the river upstream, then don't blame me for not being polite." Zhang Xiaobao also saw the river today. Usually, there was a river flowing in Zhuangzi. Even if there was no river, one would be dug. Otherwise, there would be no way to grow crops.
Wang Juan nodded and asked, "Then how will the two Zhuangzi develop in the future? Will they be like us and set up a restaurant? "
"I haven't thought about it yet. A restaurant is definitely not suitable. But … we can think of other ways. There are no mountains there, so what can we do? Let me think about it. Let's go to Between the Clouds and the Water and ask Grandpa Bi about the arrangements. We don't want to make any mistakes. "
Zhang Xiaobao was not worried about the development. There were many different development methods that could be used, or a slight modification would be able to change the appearance of the manor.
The two of them did not care if it was dark or not. They found someone to light a lantern and walked over. When they reached Between the Clouds and the Water, the old man was still fishing. When he heard Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan's footsteps, he turned around and asked, "Why can't your fishing rod catch small fish?"
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