Chapter 321: If They Want to Do It, Fine; If Not, Forget It
The implementation of the production teams moved forward swiftly, yet it was by no means smooth sailing.
Gutong Village and Jiao Village were the two villages that accepted it the fastest. The very moment the land planning came down, the chiefs of both villages organized the villagers to begin reclaiming the wasteland.
Gutong Village placed its trust in Old Master Wen’s family, while Jiao Village trusted Old Man Jiao’s family, who were relatives of the Wens. Thus, everyone worked with abundant energy, never feeling that the county magistrate was merely painting a pie in the sky that would yield nothing in the future.
Yet for other villages, things weren’t nearly as smooth. Either their designated areas contained land they had already reclaimed themselves, or they felt the land assigned to them was poor. One particular village, because it was surrounded on all sides by mountain forests, actually received very little arable land in the allocation. Precisely because of this, they felt the county magistrate was being unfair to them—other villages received vast expanses of arable land, while more than half of theirs consisted of woods.
Magistrate Chen developed a massive headache over this matter. The chief of that village ran to the county yamen every two or three days to complain and air his grievances, begging Magistrate Chen for a solution and requesting that additional arable land be reallocated to them.
Unable to endure the persistent disturbance, Magistrate Chen simply fled to the Wen household for help.
“I am truly out of ideas! That tract of land in Shanshu Village is surrounded by mountains on all four sides to begin with. The wasteland that can be cordoned off is scarce as can be, and most of it was reclaimed by the villagers themselves! I can’t possibly seize their land back to make it collective land, can I? That would only stir up an even fiercer ruckus! Brother Wen, you have plenty of ideas—hurry and help me think of a way out!” The moment Magistrate Chen arrived, he hounded Wen Xiuyi relentlessly.
During this period of wasteland reclamation in Gutong Village, Wen Xiuyi kept an eye on things right here every single day. To reclaim the land more efficiently, the village even raised collective funds to purchase oxen. Each household contributed a little, with the largest portion provided by the Wen family; they bought four oxen, which, combined with the village chief’s ox and Old Man Wen’s family’s Big Yellow, brought the total to six oxen.
Thus, Gutong Village’s progress in reclaiming wasteland was the fastest. Jiao Village followed suit, raising collective funds as well. Although they lacked the backing of the Wen family like Gutong Village to buy several extra oxen, with the fifteen taels of silver brought out by Old Man Jiao and Little Madam Luo, plus the money raised by the villagers, they bought two oxen as well, which saved a deal of trouble.
Magistrate Chen found Wen Xiuyi out in the fields, and the moment he spotted him, he began pouring out his grievances.
When the land planning was carried out back then, Wen Xiuyi had participated as well; though called participating, the one making the actual calls had always been him, while Magistrate Chen merely issued orders under his official title.
“That village of theirs is surrounded by mountains on all four sides to begin with, and arable land is scarce. What little there was has been claimed by them—where are we supposed to find more arable land to allocate to them?” Wen Xiuyi knitted his brows as well.
Magistrate Chen threw up his hands: “Indeed! That’s what I said! But they won’t listen, insisting that we slice off a portion from other villages for them, saying even if it’s further away, it won’t matter.”
Wen Xiuyi looked up: “How could that work? The land for each village was planned based on its population! If we give away land from other villages, what are those other villages supposed to do?”
“Then tell me, what should we do?!” Magistrate Chen simply sat down on the ridge of the field, caring not at all whether his clothes got dirty.
“This… let me think. Mountain forests have their own advantages too. Come on, let me take a look on-site.” Wen Xiuyi pulled Magistrate Chen up from the ground, calling for Mu Li as he prepared to set off.
On the way, they bumped into Old Man Wen.
“Where are you two off to again?” Old Man Wen asked.
Passersby from the village overheard Old Man Wen daring to speak to the county magistrate in such a manner, their eyes filled with envy and admiration.
Magistrate Chen briefly explained the situation, and the more Old Man Wen listened, the deeper his brows furrowed.
“They’re being spoiled rotten! If they want to do it, fine; if not, forget it! If we really let them be pick and choose, what if other villages follow suit?” Old Man Wen declared.
Magistrate Chen slapped his thigh: “Exactly, Uncle! That’s precisely the logic! That’s why Brother Wen and I are preparing to go take a look.”
Old Man Wen waved his hand: “Hurry up and go, hurry up and go! Don’t let them blow this out of proportion. This is a good thing—it can’t be ruined by them.”
The two acknowledged him and continued walking. After a moment’s thought, Old Man Wen called out again: “Take Yao Yao along when you go home! That girl has plenty of ideas—let her help you two think of something.”
Thinking of ways to plague others was better than plaguing them, after all.
“Got it,” the two called back from a distance as they walked off.
Only then did Old Man Wen resume his patrol, holding his pipe behind his back. Every person passing by would pause their work to call out “Old Master Wen.”
This level of respect made Old Man Wen feel immensely proud.
Wen Xiuyi returned home to hitch up the horse carriage, only to find out upon asking that Wen Yao had run off to the winery again, so he detoured with Magistrate Chen to the winery to look for her.
As they drew near the winery, a wave of rich liquor fragrance drifted into their noses, making them crave a drink intensely.
“When will we finally be able to drink this wine?” Magistrate Chen took several deep snorts of the fragrance, finding the craving truly unbearable.
While searching for Wen Yao’s figure, Wen Xiuyi replied, “Uncle Qin said we can drink it around the New Year. Just wait for it. Yao Yao! Yao Yao!”
Hearing the calls, Wen Yao poked her head out from the storeroom: “Dad, what is it?”
Wen Xiuyi gestured to her, and only then did Wen Yao hand the daqu starter in her hand back to Uncle Qin, saying, “Uncle Qin, this daqu starter you made is quite good. You can give it a test run first; if anything comes up, go to my house to find me.”
Uncle Qin nodded in response: “Alright.”
Ever since arriving here, Wen Yao had never restricted Uncle Qin’s creativity. No matter what ideas Uncle Qin harbored, as long as they pertained to winemaking, Wen Yao offered her full support. No matter what he needed—even the most precious ingredients—as long as Uncle Qin expressed a wish to try, Wen Yao would procure it for him.
Thus, aside from keeping an eye on their winemaking, Uncle Qin spent most of his time studying the daqu starter.
Washing her hands, Wen Yao stepped up before Wen Xiuyi, only then spotting Magistrate Chen.
“Yo, Uncle Chen! You’ve come looking for my dad again today?” Wen Yao greeted with a smile.
Magistrate Chen sighed and groaned: “Eldest Niece, I didn’t want to come either!”
Seeing his expression, Wen Yao put away her playful grin and looked toward Wen Xiuyi: “What happened?”
“Let’s talk as we go.” Saying that, he led Wen Yao and climbed onto the horse carriage together with Magistrate Chen.
On the way, Wen Yao finally understood what was going on.
“This… how could you allocate a vast stretch of forest to them?” Having agreed that everyone would receive arable land, it turned out everyone else got arable land while they received forest—who would be pleased with that? If it were her, she would make a fuss too.
Wen Xiuyi shot her a reproachful glare and said, “Do you think we wanted to? Shanshu Village—you can tell just by hearing the name! Surrounded by mountains on all four sides, and the only open area was reclaimed by themselves long ago. We can’t possibly seize their land back, can we? That wouldn’t be development, that would be making enemies!
“We had no choice either, so we included several mountain peaks in their allocation.”
Wen Yao: “…”
Wen Xiuyi added, “In fact, I considered it back then. Although these mountain forests cannot be developed into much arable land, utilizing them to run other industries isn’t unfeasible either. Under-forest breeding and cultivation are so vast—there’s bound to be something suitable for them. It’s just that we were busy with reclaiming wasteland in other areas and distributing crop seeds, so we didn’t get around to addressing this before they started making a fuss first.”
