Chapter 259

Upon hearing that Second Uncle and his family were personally doing the work, Erzhu, Sanzhu, and Sizhu felt somewhat reassured.

After all, Second Uncle shouldn’t bear all the burden alone.

Compared to their strength, rivers and lakes couldn’t match them.

And the two older girls, Daya and Erya, didn’t need to be mentioned. Women naturally couldn’t compare in strength to men, no matter how hard they tried!

“Look everyone, what’s that!” Li Wu, stretching his limbs, looked into the distance and shouted loudly.

Others were startled, straightening their legs and bodies, following Li Wu’s gaze back along the path, their eyes widening in disbelief: “Are those donkeys? So many donkeys!”

On the dirt road stretched an endless line of donkeys—more accurately, donkey carts, each pulling a cart behind it.

Strong men and women were driving the donkey carts. When they reached a narrow path where the carts couldn’t go, they stopped and walked over with shovels from the carts.

“Ten donkey carts and one ox cart! I counted them clearly,” Little Six exclaimed excitedly, jumping up.

Old San, puzzled, asked, “Wasn’t it one ox cart and one donkey cart from Fan Jin’s family? How come there are so many now?”

“Oh, just wait for them to come and ask. How could they get so many animals? Of course, they bought them,” envied Li Qiang.

Everyone watched the donkey carts, unable to hide their envy.

How could they not be envious? Eleven livestock, pulling livestock and carts step by step, that was completely different from their situation.

After hauling once, a person would be exhausted, and even returning with an empty cart was impossible. But livestock were different; coming back without a load was equivalent to resting.

Moreover, livestock could carry much more weight than they could!

Fan Qian’s face was extremely ugly.

Erzhu, Sanzhu, and Sizhu’s eyes were filled with both envy and jealousy. They envied that livestock weren’t theirs and envied Second Uncle for having so many servants. They didn’t even need the help of Daya, Erya, or anyone else.

No matter how strong they were, what use was it? They were still doing the same work as Second Uncle’s servants!

The group from the Feng family arrived. The men exchanged greetings with the men, while the five women, including Li Dani and Li Er Ni, greeted Wang Guifen and the other women.

“Dani, how did you suddenly get nine more donkeys?” Zhao Lan approached eagerly, asking excitedly.

Others pricked up their ears to listen.

Li Dani and the others had been coached by Shuiqing on what to say. They smiled broadly and said loudly, “The master said there’s a lot of work at home, so he bought some animals to help us. This way, we won’t be too tired, and we can continue to do other work later.”

“These donkeys must have cost a lot of money, right?” enviously asked Li Daniang.

“Indeed! They were really expensive! But the master said it’s fine. If anyone can afford it, he’ll buy another careful girl to help the mistress.”

Aunt Zhang was surprised. “Aren’t the five of you enough to help?”

“Ah, we’re clumsy and rough. How can we help the mistress? Besides, we’re strong, so it’s more suitable for us to work in the fields.”

Thinking about it, Aunt Zhang agreed. Zhang Xiaocao’s eyes lit up as she asked, “Could I do it?”

She wanted to follow Aunt Shuiqing and earn some money to help her mother have a good life, and she could learn some skills!

Wang Qiuyue joked with a smile, “You won’t be able to. Your mother won’t bear to part with you. Our mistress wants to buy people. Ask Aunt if she wants to part with you?”

As soon as they heard it was about buying people, the families who had been interested deflated.

Fan Qian’s heart stirred.

Sun Jinhua snorted softly, muttering, “I really don’t know my own strengths. So many servants aren’t enough for me? They still want to buy people! Aren’t they afraid of shortening their lives?”

“Shut up!” Fan Qian glared at her sharply.

Sun Jinhua didn’t understand why the head of the family was in such a bad mood and silently closed her mouth.

Zhou Yu and Zheng Yan had been quietly observing the Fan family, and when they saw everyone’s reaction to Li Dani and her companions, they exchanged a knowing glance.

The five of them found a piece of vacant land and picked up their hoes to start digging.

Meanwhile, Feng Da and the other men were divided into groups. Some were responsible for loading the donkey carts, while others drove the carts to the fields. They would switch roles upon returning, allowing the drivers to rest during their shifts.

Basket after basket of soil was continuously loaded onto the donkey carts. Once a cart was filled, it would depart, and the next one in line would be loaded.

The donkey carts formed a long convoy on the road, coming and going endlessly.

Watching Li Dani and the five women work, the villagers were stunned!

How could they be more capable than this group of men?

By the time the men dug one basket of soil, Li Dani and her companions had already dug two. Those with great strength didn’t seem like women at all.

Fan Erzhu and the others couldn’t help but involuntarily lower their heads, their faces dark with embarrassment. They were being surpassed by a few women!

It wasn’t just being surpassed; it was being left behind in the mud!

“What kind of men are we? When the five of us were at the village, many men couldn’t keep up with us!”

“Moreover, since coming here, we eat three meals a day, and each one is substantial. How could we lack energy?”

After being asked, the five women smiled and replied.

Fan Erzhu and the others were even more annoyed.

A group of servants eating three meals a day?

And every meal was substantial!

What kind of situation was this? Did Uncle and Aunt not know how to treat their servants?

Did they think they were magistrates in Wuxian County? No, even Fan Damu only had two substantial meals a day at the magistrate’s house.

Li Dani and the five glanced at the Fan family, thinking, if they knew they were eating cornmeal and occasionally rice porridge with noodles made from white flour, would they be jealous?

“Today, our master went to the prefectural city and bought donkeys and dark flour. He even bought a lot of pig lard, which was distributed to our four families based on the number of people.”

“We still haven’t used up the jar of pig lard we got last time, but our mistress said that during this period of heavy physical labor, we should use more pig lard for cooking. Pig lard scraps can also be used for stewing, specifically to supplement the physical strength required for farming.”

“Just thinking about going home to eat meat makes us feel full of energy!”

“Our master also distributed a lot of chickens, ducks, and geese to each family. He said that we might not eat meat every day, but we can always have eggs.”

“Our master is really generous!”

“I doubt we could find better treatment elsewhere. Our master also mentioned that there would be rewards for good performance in the future.”

…

Listening to the cheerful chatter from the other side, the Fan family felt that their pancakes wouldn’t taste as good the next day.

Pig lard scraps, pig lard, chickens, ducks, geese, and eggs! These were things they couldn’t eat more than a few times a year.

Especially pig lard and lard scraps, which were real benefits. Stir-fry a dish with a spoonful of pig lard, and the vegetables would be flavorful and fragrant.

If you used pig lard to mix with rice, the taste… Fan Erzhu and the three suddenly swallowed hard.

Fan Qian took a deep breath, feeling compelled to speak his mind. “Father has an idea he wants to share with you.”

Fan Erzhu and the others looked up at Fan Qian.

What kind of good idea could Father have?

Could it be about borrowing a donkey cart from Uncle? But they had tried that before, and it hadn’t worked.

“It’s about Zhaodi…”