Chapter 219: Off to Fetch the Cows
Old Man Wen’s single sentence left everyone completely stumped.
Right, where were they going to raise the cows?
Everyone turned their eyes toward Wen Yao in unison.
Wen Yao: “…” She didn’t know either.
“Grandpa, how about… we buy another piece of land?” Wen Yao asked tentatively.
Old Man Wen couldn’t quite describe his current state of mind. The good part was that the family now bought land at the drop of a hat, without needing to agonizingly deliberate back and forth or consider so many details.
The bad part was that this girl pulled this kind of stunt every few days; he was genuinely afraid that even with so much land in the village, it wouldn’t be enough for her to buy.
Old Man Wen shot her a glare and stood up.
“Grandpa, where are you going?” Wen Yao asked hurriedly.
Old Man Wen huffed, “Where else could I be going? To find the village chief. The cows are arriving tomorrow. Day after day, you just won’t let a person have any peace.” He hadn’t gotten a single sip of wine, yet he was doing all the legwork.
Wen Yao secretly giggled, and the rest of the Wen family burst into laughter along with her. Old Madam Luo stood up, told him to wait a moment, then went into her room to cut a piece of cloth and pack up some pastries. Handing them over to Old Man Wen, she said, “Take these things with you.”
Old Man Wen gave an “mm,” took the items, and left.
He went quickly and returned just as fast.
“Alright, it’s all settled. There’s still a piece of empty land at the west side of the village. The village chief said it can be used for our family. Eldest, tomorrow you go with the village chief to handle the paperwork,” Old Man Wen instructed Wen Xiuyi.
Wen Xiuyi: “Don’t we still have to go to the pier tomorrow?”
Old Man Wen cast a glance at him. “With so many people at the pier, missing you won’t make a difference. Get the land sorted out first; otherwise, there won’t be a place to settle the cows when they return. Didn’t the boy Yi say that the masters who raise cows are coming along too? Once the people arrive, you can ask them how to ready the land. Alright, alright, scatter, scatter. Everyone get up early for me tomorrow.”
Li Yi silently chimed in at this point, “Grandpa Wen, there’s actually no need to be that early. The boat won’t dock that early.”
Old Man Wen: “…” He really had wasted his breath.
Because they were going to fetch the fruit trees and dairy cows, the Wen family woke up early in the morning. Although Li Yi repeatedly emphasized that there was no need to be so early, the moment Old Man Wen thought about his family getting another ten cows—and dairy cows at that—he simply couldn’t sit still, insisting on going to the pier to wait.
Wasn’t Wen Nong’s shop located at the pier anyway? It would be perfect for them to wait over there.
Having no choice, they could only humor him.
Not everyone went. Wen Xiuzhu and Wen Xiuqing had driven Uncle Lu and his two sons to the empty land at the west side of the village early in the morning to clean up. Mrs. Li and Mrs. Cai couldn’t leave the duck coop either. In the end, it was Wen Yao following Old Man Wen and Old Madam Luo, bringing along the Li father-and-son duo. Wen Xiuyi left first to handle the paperwork with the village chief, planning to find them at the pier once he was finished.
In the village, heaven knows how the village chief had spread the word, but essentially everyone knew by now that the Wen family was going to raise cows—and ten dairy cows at that. Needless to say, the envy was immense. Seeing the two Wen brothers heading out to clean up the empty land, quite a few people—regardless of what intentions they harbored—voluntarily brought their tools along to help.
When they arrived at the pier, it was already completely devoid of the chaotic mess from when Wen Yao and the others had first come. With the government’s management, the entire pier had become much more orderly.
Wen Nong was bustling about in the shop. The shop had hired a worker, who was a relative of Carpenter Zhang’s family.
The group sat down in the shop. Old Man Wen stood by the small path from time to time to watch the boats coming and going on the river surface.
“Grandpa, I already told you it won’t be that fast. What are you rushing for?” Wen Yao pulled out a handful of sunflower seeds from heaven knows where, cracking away at them.
Old Man Wen looked at her. “Where did you get those from?”
Wen Yao giggled, fished out her purse, and opened it. “I slipped them in on my way out this morning. Grandpa, do you want some?”
Old Man Wen simply took the entire purse over and sat back down on his chair.
Old Madam Luo poured him a cup of water with disdain. “It’s as if your backside has nails growing out of it; you just can’t sit still. If you keep swaying back and forth like this, you can just go outside.”
Old Man Wen glanced at his old wife and muttered, “Aren’t you anxious?”
“I’m not anxious. The items aren’t going to run away anyway, so what should I be anxious about?” Old Madam Luo rolled her eyes at him, then looked toward Li Yi.
“Boy Yi, how much does it cost for your family to deliver these items?” Old Madam Luo asked. Hauling freight by boat was far from cheap.
Li Yi replied, “Grandma Wen, it didn’t cost any money. The boat belongs to a relative of the family.”
“Huh?” Old Madam Luo let out a sound. They actually had a relative running boats.
After a moment, Old Madam Luo used an excuse to call Wen Yao to the side. “Yao’er, how much do these fruit trees and dairy cows cost?”
Wen Yao let out a “huh.”
This… she didn’t seem to have asked Li Yi. Could this guy hit her with an exorbitant price after the items arrived?
“You didn’t ask?” The moment Old Madam Luo saw this girl’s expression, she knew exactly what she was thinking.
Wen Yao smiled awkwardly.
Old Madam Luo truly felt the urge to give this girl a good smack.
She returned to her seat, looked at Li Yi, and asked directly, “Boy Yi, how much does our family need to give you for these fruit trees and dairy cows?”
Li Yi had never once thought about taking their money. Such petty items were completely not worth mentioning to them. However, since Old Madam Luo had asked, he could only speak up.
“Grandma Wen, what’s all this about money? These fruit trees are from my own family’s estate, and so are the dairy cows. There’s no need to be so polite,” Li Yi said.
Old Madam Luo, however, waved her hand. “That won’t do. Business is business. The fact that you could help us find these is already considered a massive help to our family. How could we possibly let you take a loss? This definitely won’t do. We absolutely must calculate how much it costs; otherwise, we’d feel too embarrassed to accept them.”
Wen Yao followed with a nod. “Right, right, right.”
She hadn’t thought about taking unfair advantage either. She trusted Li Yi, believing he wouldn’t cheat her, so calculating the money after the items arrived would be the same. She hadn’t expected that he simply hadn’t intended to take money at all.
Although not paying money was quite nice, a baseline still had to be maintained.
Li Fu cared even less about these things. He didn’t even know his family had estates with fruit trees. He did know about the dairy cows—the Princess Consort had an estate that raised them because this boy Yi had loved drinking milk ever since he was little. The Princess Consort simply brought some dairy cows back to raise, and they ended up multiplying more and more. Later on, selling it to those people in the capital could actually earn a bit of money.
“Auntie, it’s just a few trees. Why would we want money for that? You just plant them,” Li Fu said carelessly.
Li Yi stroked his nose. Perhaps, it’s not just a few.
No matter what Old Madam Luo said, this father and son simply refused to take money. For a moment, they were caught in a deadlock.
Right at this moment, Wen Yao said, “Let’s all stop arguing. Grandma, if Uncle Li and Li Yi don’t want money, then let’s leave it at that. Let’s count these fruit trees and dairy cows as their shares. In the future, if our family’s orchard earns money, we’ll split it with Uncle Li and Li Yi. What do you all think of this?”
Li Fu chuckled and pointed at his son. “You discuss that with Yi’er; I’m not getting involved.”
Wen Yao looked toward Li Yi.
Li Yi was entirely helpless. “Fine, you call the shots.”
Only then did Wen Yao smile. “Then it’s a deal. We’ll discuss how to split it later.”
“Mm,” Li Yi responded. In reality, he didn’t think this orchard could earn much money at all. However, if this could put Wen Yao’s mind at ease, then so be it.
