Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields

Chapter 300: Planting Cotton

TN: Yeah, another hundred chapters down!

It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault, you ruined her, you worthless man! Useless! You can’t even control your own daughter! Forcing my Hui’er to go down a road of no return! White-eyed bitch!” Madam Ruan cursed, shouting at Father Fang and Fang Qing over and over again.

Seeing her like this, Fang Yao stomped his foot and ordered her: “Mother! Mother! Just speak less! Say a few less words! Brother-in-law’s temperament is no joke, haven’t you caused enough trouble?”

He angrily said: “If you and Hui’er hadn’t bullied eldest sister before and coveted something that didn’t belong to you, would things have gotten to this point today? If she’s a concubine, she’s a concubine! For the sake of your brother-in-law, I expect that Third Young Master Meng won’t treat Hui’er badly! However, if you make trouble and it reaches brother-in-law’s ears, it won’t be so assured!”

Madam Ruan was frightened and subconsciously glanced at the door before crying for her daughter again.

Father Fang grabbed her, glaring as he shouted in a deep voice: “Is what Ah Yao said true? You’ve been bullying Ah Qing for how many years?”

Madam Ruan’s heart was empty, she didn’t dare to look at him and avoided his eyes.

Father Fang immediately understood.
Filled with fury and regret, he shook Madam Ruan: “It’s you, it’s all your doing, you’re the one who ruined everything! How could I forget how good Qing’er was to me when she was young? We were so close but I don’t know when she stopped coming close to me or trying to speak to me! Coupled with your instigation, I thought she hated me! Resented me! I didn’t expect that this was all your doing! You caused me harm!”

Madam Ruan argued: “Don’t blame me for everything! What is this, when did I stop her from getting close to you?”

“You still refuse to admit it!” Father Fang felt that his intestines were turning green with regret.
If it wasn’t for this bitch instigating him, how could he had such a bad relationship with Fang Qing? If they were closer, wouldn’t he have a better and more prestigious life? It was all the fault of this woman!

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
He cursed: “Bitch!” and slapped her over and over.

Madam Ruan screamed and cried, fighting back.
Fang Yao and Liu Rong hurriedly stepped forward to pull them apart and the yard became noisy again…

Fang Qing and Su Jing He did not know about this matter.
Even if they did learn about it, it would just be a joke to them! They still had to focus on building the garden as soon as possible, where did they have the time to care about other things?

The next day, Father Fang and Madam Ruan went home in misery and for a long time, they did not dare go to the door of the Su family.

After sending them off, Fang Yao took Liu Rong to visit Fang Qing and apologize.

Fang Qing didn’t blame them and was calm.
Speaking of what happened yesterday, she sighed helplessly and said that as long as Fang Hui lived honestly, the Meng family would never treat her badly!

Fang Yao was relieved but mostly ashamed and grateful.

When the couple left, Fang Qing gave them another five hundred taels of silver and smiled, saying that after the mess yesterday, it was good to look everything over and see what needed to be replaced.

Yesterday’s loss was more than five hundred taels but the couple were still very happy to receive this gift.
Their spirits lifted and after thanking her, they left.

~

Back in Dafang village, Lian Fang Zhou had already returned home with Lian Ze and Ah Jian and begun discussing how to transplant the cotton seedlings.

After all, it was not a simple matter to plant the nearly 2,800 acres of land!

Fortunately, it was now late spring and the busy plowing period had passed.
It was not so hard to find workers to hire.

Lian Fang Zhou went into the city to find Zhao Liu.
Through him, she hired another 30 people, including Li Qing and Wu Xiao Mao from last year.

Lian Fang Zhou was very meticulous.
When transplanting the cotton, she would also fertilize the field again.
The job of making and portioning out the fertilizer would be given to someone she trusted.
Likewise, the work of removing and transplanting the seedlings from the nursery would also be entrusted to one of her own people.

The thirty people she hired were waiting at the fields.

In addition to them, Aunt Zhang and Uncle Li’s family of four had also come to help.
They were the only ones that Lian Fang Zhou was willing to accept.
Many villagers who were fans of Ah Jian had offered to help but Lian Fang Zhou had rejected all of them.

All of her hopes were resting on this cotton and her management was very strict.
There were good and bad people in the village and if something happened, she couldn’t say if she could fix it or not.
Even if it offended people, it was better to save herself from this trouble in the beginning.

These days, people only planted directly.
Except for rice, there was no such thing as raising seedlings separately and then transplanting.

It seemed simple but in fact, it was very elaborate and time consuming.

The proper method would not only minimize the damage rate of the seedlings, but also greatly increase the survival rate of the transplanted cotton plants.

Employing so many workers also meant that it was necessary to cook lunch.
Now that the compound was finished, it was best to cook in the spacious compound kitchen.

This matter was left to Madam Li and her daughter, with Third Aunt going over every day to help.
Like this, everyone was very busy!

To start with, Lian Fang Zhou planned to plant in the Shitouping fields first and then plant the rest.

In order to maintain a straight line while planting over a ridge, which would make weeding, watering, fertilizing, and harvesting easier in the future, she hammered a string along the ground.
Following this line, the workers would plant at even spaces along the twine.

After working eight to nine days, the fields in Shitouping were finished and it was time to plant in Sanchakou.

Lian Fang Zhou no longer needed to stay in the fields and left Qin Feng to supervise and instruct the workers.
She would just come by once a day to see how things were progressing.

After a few spring showers, the land was very humid.
The seedlings were easily planted into the soil and watered from the nearby canal.
After a night of dew to moisturize their roots, the plants were tall and straight, stretching out their leaves towards the sun.
It was so moving that the workers were energized just looking at them and they loved the plants very much.

Back when the fields had first been cleared, Lian Fang Zhou had remodeled the canals so that each canal was a foot wide and a foot deep and crisscrossed over the entire plot of land, making them very convenient for watering.

In fact, there was no need to water the plants unless there was a continuous drought that lasted for more than two weeks because the canals naturally watered the soil.
The humidity in the air was also enough to keep the plants happy, condensing into dew at night.

By the end of spring, the cotton fields were fully planted.

After this, it was just upkeep and management.

Lian Fang Zhou asked someone to build a wooden shed at each site and instructed Qin Feng to choose three people and two trained dogs to live on the grounds.
He would send them meals and there would be at least two patrols a day.
In addition, Lian Fang Zhou herself would come to observe the area from time to time.