Chapter 234: The Fan Family

To hurry and select the ox, the immediate priority was to choose the village chief. After inquiring, Shen Lie, Chen Dashan, and Shi Dalang had returned, so Sang Luo put down her pen and went out with Shen Lie and Shen An.

At the same open space as before, many people had gathered. The Zhou family and the Shi family, who lived in that area, had brought out many stools. Now there were people sitting and standing, and even the Lin family was watching from a distance.

The selection of the village chief in Daxing Village was quite lively. It resembled a group of old men and women, young and old, chatting in the sun, very relaxed and informal—just missing a few sunflower seeds to snack on.

“Let’s elect Ah Lie. Actually, if there were female village chiefs, it would be best if Ah Luo were our village chief,” said Mrs. Gan.

In the mountains, they relied on force, but now that they were living a better life, which family hadn’t benefited from Sang Luo’s help? Sang Luo was their cornerstone.

Her words made everyone laugh. The elderly and the women agreed, and even Old Man Chen, Old Man Lu, and Zhou Cunzheng all laughed. Shi Erlang added, “What my sister-in-law says makes sense. Ah Lie, you should be the village chief. It’s just a title. Afterward, you can focus on your studies, and let your wife handle the village affairs. As for running errands to the yamen, that will still be your job.”

The children burst into laughter, and even Wei Qinghe and Wang Yunzheng, who had come out to join in the fun halfway through their reading, couldn’t help but laugh.

If this had happened a few days ago, Shen Lie might have accepted the role. He had initially felt that opportunities for women were too few, and this regret was especially apparent in Sang Luo’s case.

Thinking back, before entering the mountains, which family hadn’t had business dealings with Sang Luo, except for the Zhou family? When he first returned to the village, he noticed that, including Zhou Cunzheng, all the families in the village subtly looked to Sang Luo as their central support.

But with Sang Luo being pregnant, he didn’t dare to make her work too hard. His glance at Sang Luo showed his concern.

Sang Luo smiled and replied to Shi Erlang’s comment, “He can’t be running around every day at the academy. Don’t mislead everyone.”

She subtly declined.

“Then let it be Dashan,” said Zhou Erlang. Over the years in the mountains, apart from Shen Lie, this group had listened most to Chen Dashan.

Chen Dashan didn’t expect to be considered for the village chief: “Don’t talk nonsense. My wife knows more characters than I do.”

“Since no one who reads books has the time, and Shopkeeper Xu can’t always be farming here,” Shi Erlang said, “I think it’s best if Zhou Cunzheng takes the role. It’s familiar work for him.”

Old Man Chen supported, “I think it’s a good idea. Zhou Cunzheng is reliable.”

Sang Luo added, “I also vote for Uncle Zhou. He’s already familiar with all the village matters, so he’s the most suitable for the role.”

With the Shen family and the Chen family both expressing their support, the decision was practically settled. After years of hardship together, their mutual ties were strong, and with Shen Lie and Chen Dashan both not taking the role, Zhou Cunzheng was the unanimous choice for village chief.

The selection of the village chief was decided with a few words, and Zhou Cunzheng, smiling, stood up: “Since everyone thinks so highly of me, I’ll accept the position. However, Shi Erlang is right. For major matters, we’ll consult Ah Luo, and I’ll handle the errands.”

This elicited more laughter, and the village chief for Daxing Village was thus decided in a lively manner.

Next, without further delay, they went into town to check the oxen at the yamen.

As Zhou Cunzheng took on the role of village chief, he immediately got into the swing of things, pointing out, “Make sure you’ve brought the money and the household registrations.”

“Yes, we’ve got them.”

Many people from various households were going, joining in the excitement.

The Shen family consisted of Shen Lie, Shen Ning, and Shen Jin. Mrs. Gan asked, “A Luo, aren’t you going to take a look?”

Sang Luo shook her head, “No need. Our Ning is experienced with selecting chickens, ducks, and geese.”

She mentioned Shen Ning’s experience because she herself was anxious about the pregnancy, especially during the first three months when the doctor said the fetus was unstable. She was cautious with her movements and didn’t dare to crowd into busy places.

Shen Ning also said, “Yes, I can handle it.”

As everyone was about to leave, Sang Luo remembered something and told Shen Lie, “I heard the yamen is selling seeds as well. See if there are any wheat seeds. If so, buy as much as you can. We should plant some wheat this year.”

She also reminded Shen Jin, “Jin, buy some seeds too.”

“Okay,” Shen Jin quickly agreed.

With the instructions from his sister-in-law, Shen Jin was determined to follow them.

In fact, Shen Jin was not the only one listening. Nearby, many had overheard and were turning their heads. Mrs. Gan asked Sang Luo, “A Luo, are you planning to start a business in the city?”

Sang Luo had a good skill in making flour-based foods, which everyone knew to some extent.

Sang Luo shook her head, “It’s not certain yet. But for the first year, the amount of wheat seeds we can buy is limited. Naturally, we’ll buy as much as the yamen is willing to sell. Whether we start a business or not, it will be cheaper for our own use. If there’s any surplus, the grain shop will likely buy it at a fair price.”

This made sense.

Mrs. Gan said, “Then we’ll also take a look. If we can buy wheat seeds, we’ll plant them too.”

---

The Shen family’s return home was delayed due to the large number of officials spreading out to the villages. By the time they arrived, many people had already gathered outside the yamen’s granary. Without exception, they were there to look at the oxen and poultry.

This was a major matter of livelihood. Many, like the villagers of Daxing, came not just with one person from the household but brought the entire family.

Moreover, although it was said that officials were coming to the village to explain things, people from the city also arrived upon hearing the news. They didn’t need oxen but wanted to buy chickens and ducks.

Many city residents were in poor condition, looking even worse than the mountain people who had just come down. They hadn’t tasted chicken eggs for years and had almost forgotten the taste.

The scene outside the yamen was bustling.

Old Man Chen, seeing the situation, became anxious: “I hope the good oxen haven’t all been selected.”

Hurrying over to the oxen pens, he realized his worry was unnecessary. The chickens and ducks were still plentiful, and the oxen had not yet been sold.

The oxen were sold only to actual farmers from the surrounding villages, with each village allowed to purchase only one. The oxen allocated to each county had already been distributed, so the twenty-five oxen in the pen corresponded to twenty-five villages outside Shezhou City, including those not yet settled.

Were fifteen taels of silver for an ox expensive?

Not really.

After the price surge before the chaos, the farmers of the Daqian Dynasty were struggling compared to the villagers of Daxing, who had found ways to earn money. Most were financially strained.

The magistrate genuinely cared about the people’s livelihood, and the oxen were good, though they were weary from the long journey. Even so, most villages could not afford the cost of one ox.

Not all villages were like Daxing and neighboring ones where everyone was familiar and could support each other. Most of the villages outside Shezhou were newly settled, with migrants from the city who didn’t know each other. Even if a few could afford some silver, it was unlikely they would help their fellow villagers gather the funds.

Thus, the situation was far from smooth.

What to do now?

They could only watch and see.

Old Man Chen, Old Man Lu, and Shopkeeper Xu, who were more experienced, carefully selected the oxen. Those who arrived early were merely admiring the oxen and lusting after them; after watching for a while, they hadn’t yet made any purchases.

—

On the other side of the wall was the granary courtyard of the yamen. There was a small door leading to the back garden, where Mrs. Fan was sitting at a stone table in a pavilion at the garden’s corner. She saw her personal maid hurriedly enter through the small door and straightened her back slightly. “How is it? Has anyone bought the oxen?”

The maid appeared somewhat disheartened. She looked at her mistress and then shook her head. “I’ve been standing outside for over half an hour. There are many people looking, and the area outside the granary courtyard is packed tightly. However, while poultry is still being registered with the officials, no village has yet claimed an ox.”

The maids accompanying her were all trusted by Mrs. Fan and knew that her primary concern was the oxen, as it was crucial for the spring plowing.

A laborer with thirty acres of land and ten acres of mountain land, from a family with few people and no oxen, would likely not be able to manage the farming.

Whether the land is left fallow or crudely planted, this was not what the mistress or the lord wanted to see.

Sure enough, Mrs. Fan’s shoulders drooped slightly.

She propped up her chin with her left hand and tapped rhythmically on the stone table with her right index finger. After a moment, she stood up and walked out.

“I’ll go take a look.”

The two maids attending her were anxious and quickly followed, urging, “Mistress, there are too many people outside. Be careful not to get jostled.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t go outside.”

The two maids followed her through the small door and around to the granary courtyard.

The blue brick walls of the granary were built very high, and the gate was tightly closed. There were two gatekeepers at the entrance who saluted Mrs. Fan upon seeing her.

Mrs. Fan nodded but did not approach the gate. Instead, she walked towards one of the two octagonal carved flower windows in the courtyard walls, stood next to it, and looked out through the openwork window.

Having seen the plight of the people from Taiyuan to Huainan, Mrs. Fan was no longer as shocked by the emaciated and starving people as she had been initially. Moreover, the people’s situation had improved significantly compared to one or two years ago.

However, from her vantage point, the area in front of the ox pen was packed with people. There were young and middle-aged men, but more were elderly farmers, with at least a hundred or more people in layers, inside and out. The sight of the twenty-odd oxen in the pen was rare and captivating, yet there was no one at the ox pen to handle the transactions or registration.

After all the effort to bring over two hundred oxen and the hardships endured on the journey to Huainan Road, she had not expected this kind of scene.

She murmured softly, “I overestimated things.”

She had asked the chief historian and learned that each village would have ten to twenty households. She thought that if each village pooled together to buy one ox, and each household contributed around one or two taels of silver, the people should be able to bear it.

She thought she had a clear understanding of the common people beyond the wealthy families.

The reality proved that her understanding was still insufficient, far from enough.

“Go tell the officials outside that the oxen can be bought on credit.”

The maid exclaimed, “Mistress!”

“Go. There will be no interest required within a year, and payment can be made with grain during the autumn harvest. If it is still unpaid after a year, interest will be charged, calculated at twenty wen per tael of silver per month.”