Chapter 19: Taoya’s Wage Settlement
While Da Hei and Taoya were busy weeding and turning the soil, Jian Xingxia sorted through the various fruit and vegetable seedlings she had bought that morning. She checked their condition, helping some adapt to the environment and pruning the roots of others.
It was best not to plant during the peak heat of the midday sun. Now that the sun was gradually dipping toward the west and the glare had softened, Jian Xingxia began planting the seedlings one by one.
July was not normally a good time to plant vegetables; the weather was sweltering, the sun was fierce, and the rain made everything damp and muggy. But it was different here in the mountains. The temperature was about five or six degrees lower than outside, there was plenty of sunlight during the day, a wide temperature drop at night, and the mountain breeze was crisp and cool.
Da Hei dug the holes, Jian Xingxia transplanted the seedlings, and Taoya followed behind to pack the soil. Following Jian Xingxia’s instructions, Taoya sprinkled a few small white pellets near the seedlings that needed extra nutrients.
Jian Xingxia explained that this was fertilizer. Taoya didn’t recognize it. In her hometown, they always used manure to grow vegetables, mixed with a bit of wood ash if they had it. They had never seen a fertilizer so clean and convenient that it barely dirtied one’s hands. However, Taoya knew there were many things she had never seen before, so she simply did exactly as Jian Xingxia told her.
As five o’clock approached, Taoya stood up. “Manor Owner Sister, I have to go back now.”
Jian Xingxia set down the seedling in her hand. “Alright, come with me and see what you’d like for your wages.”
There were strict standards for the temporary workers’ wages. Though the system was well-intentioned, it strictly adhered to the rules and refused to allow any loopholes.
Jian Xingxia and Taoya washed their hands, and Jian Xingxia handed her another plump sweet potato. “Eat this first. Eat as much as you can before you go back.”
Taoya stuffed it into her mouth in large bites. She was already quite full today; though she had been working all afternoon, Jian Xingxia had kept her constantly supplied with corn, sweet potatoes, peaches, and eggs. But every extra bite she took now meant she could hold out a bit longer back home, allowing the food she carried back to fully satisfy her mother, brother, and sister.
“You worked for four hours this afternoon, and the maximum hourly wage is five yuan, so that’s twenty yuan total.” Jian Xingxia lined up the supplies she had prepared for the temporary workers.
“The rice is two-fifty a jin, the flour is two yuan a jin, the noodles are three yuan a jin, the sweet potatoes are roughly two yuan a jin, the corn is one-fifty an ear, and the eggs are sixty cents each.”
Jian Xingxia put together a combination for Taoya. “Your mother’s health is a bit better, but she’s not fully stable yet, so you should still take some medicine back this time. Since her cough isn’t severe, she doesn’t need to take the cough syrup anymore. Take three more packets of the cold granules. That will be four yuan and fifty cents first.”
Jian Xingxia took inventory and saw that these were the last three packets of cheap cold granules she had gotten from the campus hospital, so she gave them all to Taoya. Any medicine she needed after this wouldn’t have the university student discount, so she would have to buy it at market price.
Taoya didn’t know what Jian Xingxia meant by “yuan” and “cents,” but the total was bound to be right. She had earned twenty yuan today, so she could select twenty yuan worth of supplies.
Taoya chose four jin of rice and two jin of flour, which, along with the four-fifty for the medicine, came to eighteen yuan and fifty cents.
For the final one-fifty, Jian Xingxia made the decision for her and picked out two eggs and a bit of salt.
“You, your mother, and your siblings have been starving for a long time, so your health is probably poor. Besides eating your fill, you need to replenish your nutrition. Eggs might not fill you up as much as grain, but they’re good for your body.”
Taoya felt a bit of regret, thinking that one-fifty could buy a bowl of rice, which would be enough to cook porridge for her family for two or three days. However, she followed Jian Xingxia’s words unconditionally. Without the Manor Owner Sister, she wouldn’t even have watery porridge to drink. Being able to take back this much food now was already a tremendous blessing.
Taoya’s body had already begun to fade in color. While grumbling internally about this frightening method of departure, Jian Xingxia quickly helped pack everything for her.
Taoya hoisted the tattered bamboo basket onto her back; the rice and flour felt incredibly heavy. Since there was still some space left in the basket, Jian Xingxia forcefully stuffed a large handful of wild vegetables inside. She didn’t use the fresh wild vegetables Taoya had picked today, but gave her the “leftovers” from the day before yesterday.
“These have been drying for two days and are somewhat dehydrated, but they’re much lighter. Take more back with you.”
Taoya was still young and had suffered through the famine, so she didn’t have much strength. Saving even a little bit of weight mattered. Back when Jian Xingxia was in university, she had gone to wholesale markets to salvage blemished vegetables left behind by vendors, so she thoroughly understood the logic of carrying as much as possible.
She stuffed a good seven or eight jin of dried wild vegetables into Taoya’s basket, but she still felt quite guilty. “Taoya, I need to reclaim the wasteland and farm here, so I require strong labor. Knowing that you and your mother are doing alright today puts my mind at ease. I probably won’t recruit you for the next few days, so take good care of yourself.”
Taoya’s nose tingled, and the strength in her body was slipping away. If she didn’t return to the cave before turning completely transparent, she might not be able to get back at all. Even so, she couldn’t help but turn around, run a few steps, and throw herself into Jian Xingxia’s arms.
“Sister, thank you. You are the savior of our entire family. I will remember you forever!”
Jian Xingxia was deeply moved, but she didn’t dare move her hands recklessly. “Oh dear, go quickly, go quickly. I only said I’d be busy reclaiming the land these next few days and might not call you over, but once there’s work in the fields later, I can still call you!”
The semi-transparent Taoya felt soft and smooth to the touch, like agar. Waving a hand through her felt like reaching into a soft jelly. Jian Xingxia was both startled and unnerved by the texture, so she hurriedly pushed Taoya outward—just like pushing a jelly person.
As Taoya’s figure vanished into the depths of the grass, Jian Xingxia shuddered. No wonder the villagers all said there were spirits in the mountains and didn’t dare come over easily. Given a scene like this, never mind the clueless villagers, even she had to mentally prepare herself before she could slowly accept it.
Turning back, Da Hei had finished digging the holes and was busy planting all the vegetable seedlings according to Jian Xingxia’s layout.
“Plant the green beans, loofahs, and autumn cucumbers right against the courtyard wall. That way they can climb up the wall later, saving us the trouble of setting up stakes.”
“The tomatoes, peppers, and zucchinis love the sun, so plant them further out.”
“The lettuce, spinach, and water spinach prefer shade, so we’ll scatter those seeds near the peach tree later where it can block the sun for a bit each day.”
The seedlings were planted two by two. The seeds were currently soaking in potassium permanganate for disinfection, sterilization, and pest control, but Jian Xingxia could already picture how this wasteland outside the back courtyard would look in two or three months—vibrant with life and fragrant with flowers and fruit.
Reclaiming land and farming was wired directly into human DNA. She finally had a vegetable plot and orchard of her own.
After planting the seedlings, Da Hei continued turning over the adjacent plot of land, while Jian Xingxia retreated back into the old house to check the system notifications.
[Current Manor Upgrade Progress:
1. Manor temporary worker employment reaches 10 person-times, progress: 4/10 (In progress: 1, will be counted after wage settlement);
2. Cultivated land area of the manor reaches 1,000 square meters, progress: 20/1000;
3. Manor income reaches 10,000 yuan, progress: 852/10000.]
The progress was small, but encouraging.
Jian Xingxia was in an excellent mood and planned to cook a proper meal to reward herself. She picked out some of today’s fresh wild vegetables, removed the yellow and withered leaves, and dropped them into boiling water. Within moments, the wild vegetables changed color, and she fished them out, plunging them into cold boiled water to cool.
After draining the water, she added chopped wild garlic and wild onion roots, drizzled two rounds of light soy sauce and vinegar, and sprinkled a bit of coarse salt. Lacking white sugar, she temporarily substituted brown sugar; the sweetness would enhance the freshness.
In just a few minutes, a bowl of chilled assorted wild vegetables was ready. It contained various kinds of greens—purslane, goosefoot, and dandelion—and Taoya had carefully selected only the tender shoots and young leaves to pick.
According to Taoya’s original way of thinking, even if wild vegetables were a bit old, they were still edible if boiled longer and chewed harder, which was far better than grass roots and tree bark. But Jian Xingxia had no desire to live on a lush green mountain only to eat grass roots; she firmly insisted on tender shoots.
These grand mountains had all been left to her by her grandmother. She had plenty of land; what she lacked was the manpower to reclaim it and farm! As the successor and manor owner, she fully deserved to treat herself a little better.
