PFC Chapter 398
Chapter 398
"Be sure to be polite and courteous!" The county magistrate gave another final reminder, fearing that the clerk would offend Ding Renhua and cause him to be unwelcome.
But he didn't know that Ding Renhua had already told the people around him that no one would come to see him no matter how many times he called.
At the end of September, Ding Renhua found Zhao Ganwei and said, "Village Chief Zhao, I plan to return to Beijing in a few days. Please prepare the apples for me in the next few days."
"I don't care how you picked them before, but now that I'm here you have to listen to me!"
How could Zhao Ganwei not listen? He nodded and agreed to whatever the other person said.
Zhong Ruyi was also very happy when he got the news that they could start picking apples. There was such a big Buddha in the village all day long, and everyone spoke and acted carefully, for fear of disturbing the distinguished guest from the capital.
Now that the person is finally leaving, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief.
Before daybreak, the villagers who wanted to pick apples were already carrying their baskets and preparing to go to the orchard to start picking apples.
What they didn't expect was that someone got there earlier than them.
Ding Renhua's men had been waiting at the foot of the mountain early, and when they saw that people were about to start, they hurriedly stopped them.
"The young master said that we can't use backpacks, we have to use the fruit boxes we brought." The person who spoke pointed to a row of boxes neatly placed on the carriage. It was still dark and everyone could only see about a dozen carriages lined up.
"this?"
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. How would they carry this wooden box on their backs?
Moreover, it’s obvious that this box can’t hold much. A backpack can hold about 80 to 90 kilograms. Why not put more?
The villagers looked at Zhong Ruyi, "Ruyi, what should we do? Should we do as Master Ding said?"
Zhong Ruyi took a deep breath and felt that Ding Renhua was simply forcing her to do what she wanted.
But these apples are not the same as the ones sold to Boss Wang and his men in the past. These are going to be sent to the capital, and maybe even into the emperor's mouth. The one who pays the money is God, so they have to do whatever God says.
"......" Zhong Ruyi responded and said to the villagers, "Just do as this young man said."
"Let's work in pairs. One person picks the fruits while the other holds the wooden box and gives it to the person who picked them. Let's try to pick 2,000 kilograms before noon!"
Okay, this is the only way.
Zhong Ruyi originally wanted to hold the wooden box and let Chen Dongzhi pick the fruits and put them in her box.
But she didn't expect that the box was so heavy. Her hands started to feel sore after holding it for a while, so she had to switch with Chen Dongzhi. She went to let Chen Dongzhi hold the box.
It was the same for everyone else. The person picking the fruits would take an hour to switch with the person carrying the boxes.
Everyone worked very quickly, picking boxes one by one and carrying them onto the carriage.
Zhong's mother suddenly asked, "That's not right, how do we weigh it like this?"
Others also responded, "Yes, it's all put into the box, how do we weigh it?"
Zhong Ruyi then thought about it for a moment and asked someone to weigh an empty wooden box first, and then weigh the one filled with apples to find out how heavy the box was.
"...a box. The box weighs twenty-two pounds!"
Zhong Ruyi nodded and said, "Take the one with the apples and weigh it."
"It's filled with apples, and it weighs forty kilograms!"
The empty box weighs 22 kilograms, and it is filled with 40 kilograms of apples, so the apples weigh about 18 kilograms.
Zhong Ruyi smacked his lips in amazement. A box only holds 18 kilograms. How long will it take to pick them all?
She glanced in the direction of the carriages. Only three carriages had been loaded so far, and there were more in line behind!
We still have to speed up!
Anyway, the apples that can be put into the wooden box are about the same size and weight, so just calculate them all as 18 kilograms per box.
"Let's hurry up, we've only picked less than half of it!"
When everyone heard this, they quickly quickened their work speed. By the time Ding Renhua came back after lunch and a good sleep, everyone had already picked the two thousand kilograms.
"Oh! Is it okay now?" Ding Renhua paced beside the carriage, fanning himself.
Except for the Zhong family who were picking apples, all other villagers went back to eat and rest.
Zhong Ruyi told him how many boxes were loaded into a carriage and how many kilograms each box weighed, and then revealed an expression that was difficult to describe:
"Master Ding, do you know how much time it takes us to load the fruits in boxes? If we normally load them in backpacks, we would have picked 4,000 kilograms by now, but today we have only picked half of that!"
"Is that so?" Ding Renhua tilted his head. "Then why don't you just spend more money and hire a few more people? Why do you look so resentful?"
Zhong Ruyi took a deep breath, feeling lucky that Young Master Ding would be leaving soon, otherwise she would be tortured to death sooner or later.
Who came up with the idea of using wooden boxes?
"Master Ding, it's like this. Using wooden boxes is really too tiring. Do you think you can give us a little subsidy in terms of wages?" She rubbed her hands, hoping that the young master would agree to her request.
"Okay." Ding Renhua agreed generously, but "I can subsidize your wages, but you have to pick more tomorrow than today. It will take at least 6,000 kilograms in total. I have to prepare to leave for the capital the day after tomorrow."
Six thousand kilograms?
Zhong Ruyi's hands felt a little weak, but thinking that she would be able to send Young Master Ding away the day after tomorrow, she gritted her teeth and agreed.
"Okay, let's continue tomorrow. By the way - the grapes you promised me?" Ding Renhua glanced at her, meaning that you promised me this, you can't go back on your word, right?
"Give it to you the day after tomorrow!"
Are you still remembering your grapes at this time?
Zhong Ruyi was speechless, thinking about what would happen to those agricultural officials if he returned.
"The agricultural officials are still here with you!" Ding Renhua felt that this question was inexplicable. "I have to come again in May next year, and then they can go back with me."
Will you come again next year?
Although this is bad news, the good news is that agricultural officials are here to stay.
These agricultural officials were really capable, especially Mr. Huang. No one knew where he heard the method of fertilizing the fields, but he actually doubled the yield of the rice planted a few months ago, which made the villagers very happy.
Now many people from other villages come to ask about this method of fertilizing the fields. Can you teach them?
Zhong Ruyi listened and it seemed that the straw piled on the field last year was burned into ashes and other fertilizers were piled together for fermentation, a bit like the modern farmers' composting when growing crops.
Zhao Ganwei was so happy that he told the county magistrate about it when he delivered the grain. The county magistrate came to the village that same day.
He found Mr. Huang working in the fields with other villagers. He didn't know what he said to him, but Mr. Huang frowned and looked at him unhappily.
"I heard this from a traveling merchant, and I worked with the villagers of Xinghua Village to improve the method."
He had heard this method by chance when he went to a teahouse to drink tea when he was in the capital. He asked the person who spoke and learned that the man was a traveling merchant. He kept it in mind.
Unfortunately, land is very expensive in the capital, and the better lands belong to the princes and their uncles. The lands further away belong to high-ranking officials, and there are none further away. It is impossible for him to buy a piece of land to farm just to test whether this method is useful, right?
In the past, his job was just to take care of flowers, plants, trees and the like, so there was no place for him to try his hand.
Now that he has finally arrived at Xinghua Village, isn't this the time when he can finally show off his skills?