Transmigrating with a Five Million Dollar Retirement Life

Chapter 148 Master Huang

Sister Huang brewed the tea and also brought out a plate of biscuits.

"Sister Song, Sister Xu, come and try these cookies. I made them myself."

Sister Huang placed the cookies on the table and warmly greeted the two.

The golden-brown pancake has many pits and dents, making it look a bit like a stone pancake from the past.

Song Jiaojiao took a piece and took a bite. The crispy texture was mixed with the aroma of wheat and had a hint of sweetness.

"How about it? This is food from my hometown. My naughty child always wants to eat snacks, but the snacks in town are too expensive. It's okay to eat them occasionally, but they can't afford to eat them every day. So I thought about the food from my hometown."

Sister-in-law Huang looked at Song Jiaojiao expectantly as she explained.

"Sister-in-law, it's delicious, it's just as good as the pastry shops in town."

"Sister Song, please don't tease me. It's fine for our own consumption, but it can't compare to the pastry shops."

Although Sister Huang spoke modestly, she smiled broadly.

"Huang Meizi's family is not from our Nanling County. They are from several counties away from us. Back then, their county was hit by a locust plague, and they fled to Tongan County, eventually settling in Yunshui Town."

Granny Xu explained to Song Jiaojiao, afraid that she wouldn't understand what was going on.

So that's how it is. Song Jiaojiao realized that she had never seen this kind of biscuit in this region before.

The three of them chatted and laughed as they drank tea and ate biscuits in the courtyard.

Before Master Huang even entered the courtyard, he heard the laughter of several people.

"Madam, what brings you to this happy occasion? I heard your laughter even before I entered the courtyard."

Master Huang pushed open the courtyard gate and said with a smile.

"Honey, you're back. Did the trip go smoothly?" Sister Huang quickly got up and asked.

"Successfully, you don't even know who's in charge."

"Perfect timing! Sister Xu brought Sister Song to ask you for work today. You haven't taken on any other jobs since then, have you?"

Sister-in-law Huang introduced Song Jiaojiao and the others to Master Huang.

"No, no, I don't know what kind of work it is? In which position?" Master Huang asked Song Jiaojiao. Granny Xu was an acquaintance of hers, so naturally she wouldn't need her.

"Master Huang, it's that manor over in the county town, the one that used to belong to the Lin family. I'm planning to build a few horse pens and pigsties there. I wonder how long that will take?"

Song Jiaojiao listed what she needed, thinking that she would also need to buy cattle later, so she decided to get it all done this time.

“I know that family. I heard that the son of Master Lin passed the imperial examination and moved the whole family to the capital. I never expected that his estate would be taken over by Sister Song.”

"It's fate, we just happened to need it," Song Jiaojiao said with a smile.

"Sister Song, how big are your pigsty and stable? I need to plan the bricks and tiles so I can order them in advance. For some reason, there are a lot of houses being built this year. If you don't order the bricks and tiles in advance, you'll have to wait a long time."

"I'll probably be feeding about ten pigs, so I'll build a pen for two pigs. I'll make the horse pen a little bigger, mainly because I need to leave more space for the compost."

Song Jiaojiao explained her plans: whether the soil on the farm could be properly cultivated depended on these ten or so pigs. Originally, she planned to wait for the sows at home to give birth, but now it seemed that it might not be enough.

"I have a general idea now, Song, when do you plan to start?"

"The sooner the better, I'm in a bit of a hurry. We can get more people here to get it done as quickly as possible. We can discuss the wages and everything else."

Song Jiaojiao was in a hurry, as she only had about half a month to use up her time. Afterwards, spring planting would begin, and she needed to go back to teach everyone how to cultivate Polygonatum. She had already arranged with Huichuntang last year that the Polygonum multiflorum she had harvested last time, after processing, would be sold to Huichuntang.

Shopkeeper Liu said that one-year-old He Shou Wu (Polygonum multiflorum) doesn't have very good medicinal effects, and the price is low. He Shou Wu that's three years old or older is best. Song Jiaojiao plans to cultivate He Shou Wu that's at least three years old in the future.

However, Polygonatum sibiricum grows only once a year, which is a good substitute for the cultivation of Polygonum multiflorum.

Including the autumn potatoes planted last year, which will be ready for harvest in less than a month, I'll have to go back to the village to teach everyone how to make potato noodles, and there's also the cassava that Wang Hefan brought back last year...

Thinking about this, Song Jiaojiao felt even more that she didn't have enough time.

"Alright, the wages are the same, 25 coins a day, meals not included. Since Madam Song is in such a hurry, let's sign the contract first. The approximate cost this time is around 80 taels. The main reason is that the repair is quite large, so the price will naturally go up. We need to pay half of the deposit."

Seeing that Song Jiaojiao was anxious, Master Huang didn't say much.

“Okay, I understand the rules.” Song Jiaojiao had asked about the procedures for building houses in town beforehand, so she wasn’t surprised.

After the two signed the contract, Song Jiaojiao took out 40 taels of silver and gave it to Master Huang. Master Huang then left after receiving the money.

He still had to find workers and order bricks and wood, which meant he only had half a day left, so time was tight.

Song Jiaojiao and Granny Xu also left. Song Jiaojiao went directly to the estate with Xu Da. The servants they bought that morning were already at the estate.

Since they had nothing else to do, they tidied up the entire courtyard of the manor.

When Song Jiaojiao arrived, she realized that there was nothing on the manor, and the newly purchased servants needed a lot of daily necessities, so she directly asked Xu Da to handle these matters.

Thinking that Xu Da would be managing the manor in the future, I'll just consider this a learning opportunity in advance.

Song Jiaojiao felt like she had overlooked something, and since she had nothing else to do, she took a walk outside the manor.

When Song Jiaojiao looked up and saw the Lin Mansion plaque on the garden gate, she realized something was wrong.

She bought the entire estate, and the name hasn't changed. People who don't know the situation might think it's still the original owner.

Song Jiaojiao called over two servants to take down the plaque and then put a new one in town the next day.

The manor is still registered under Wang Hefan's name. There's no other way but to register it under the owner's name. I thought it would be better to just call it Wang Mansion, as it's easy to recognize.

As time went by, the pigsty was soon completed.

At this point, it was late January, almost February.

Xu Da managed the manor very well. He even added an accountant, which was Xu Da's suggestion. Song Jiaojiao had completely forgotten about it.

The new accountant's surname is Zhang. He used to be the manager of a restaurant, but the restaurant went bankrupt, and he lost his job.

"Madam, Madam, something terrible has happened! A lot of villagers have come to the courtyard!" The gatekeeper rushed in and shouted in a panic.

"What villagers? Explain yourself." Song Jiaojiao looked completely bewildered, having no idea what was going on.

“They are villagers from nearby. They all came to ask if the land will still be paid to them this year. Quite a few people came.”

The gatekeeper quickly relayed what he had heard.

The nearby villagers? Song Jiaojiao suddenly remembered what the former steward had said: the land on the estate had been leased to the nearby villages in previous years.

But wasn't the contract supposed to expire at the end of last year? So why are these villagers coming here?

Song Jiaojiao couldn't figure it out, so she decided to go out and see for herself. She knew she definitely couldn't acquire the land this year, since she bought the manor because she was interested in this piece of land.