Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields

Chapter 411: Cousin’s purpose

Lian Fang Zhou secretly rolled her eyes, thinking: oh, now you care? What can you do? Can you control them so they don’t trouble me? Can you control their mouths? Can you stop them from speaking nonsense outside?

“Cousin.” She raised her head to look directly at Lian Hai, blinked her eyes, and said softly: “Cousin, is there something you need my help with? Hehe, if there is, Cousin, just say it directly.
I will help you if I can.”

Lian Hai’s eyes lit up and he seemed quite moved.
After hesitating for a moment, he shook his head and smiled: “No, nothing…”

Only ghosts would believe him!

Lian Fang Zhou scoffed in her heart.
She had seen hypocritical people but it was rare to find someone as hypocritical as him!

She smiled.
“Cousin, why are you being polite? We both share the surname Lian!” She spoke kindly but her tone was impatient.

Hearing this, Lian Hai felt a little anxious in his heart and hurriedly said: “Yes, yes there is something.
I wanted to ask you to say a few good words for me but I don’t know if it’s abrupt or not…”

Lian Fang Zhou said nothing and only looked at Lian Hai, waiting for him to continue.

She would not bring it up first.

He would have to say it sooner or later but if he waited until later, would he still have the courage?

Hesitating now would only make it more embarrassing to say in the future.

Sure enough, Lian Hai grit his teeth and smiled at Lian Fang Zhou: “That’s right, um, this… in our Yuhe County, the best cotton belongs to you, Cousin.
And you gave some to the county magistrate and Master Ding.
Though others also gave them cotton quilts, did they take them seriously? For this kind of thing, whether it is Master Ding or the county magistrate, they will need to report it to the court and the county magistrate will definitely take the credit.
This is expected… but I think Cousin also deserves to be credited! To this, why don’t you… mention that I also helped…”

In an instant, Lian Fang Zhou understood everything.

It turned out he had such an idea!

No wonder he was in such a hurry to help their family.
He saw the benefits of the cotton and wanted to take credit for it!

This was a good game.

Lian Fang Zhou felt very strange at the moment, unable to tell if the feeling was good or bad.
If she couldn’t use her brain to figure out the next step, then she could forget about her plans!

If she went along with this and whispered a few ambiguous words into the ears of outsiders, she knew that the main credit for the cotton would be his and she would be reduced to having just followed his advice!

After all, he was someone who had studied as scholar and his knowledge was naturally better than hers.

When Lian Hai saw that she didn’t say anything, his expression was slightly unpleasant.
However, he was the one asking for a favor, so he had to lower his posture and smile: “It’s just a matter of adding one more sentence, very simple! I will never embarrass you.”

It was true that he wouldn’t embarrass her, he was just taking her for a fool!

“Alright.” Lian Fang Zhou said, smiling.
“What my cousin asks is just a trivial matter.
If the county magistrate asks about it, I will definitely saw so.”

She thought for a moment and nodded, her expression looking incomparably sincere: “My cousin has also helped, how could I not say it?”

Lian Hai was overjoyed, nodding over and over again: “Yes, yes, yes! That’s it!”

“Cousin is so polite.” Lian Fang Zhou said, getting up to avoid his thanks.
“I’m just speaking the truth.”

“You should rest,” Lian Hai said cheerfully, “it’s time for me to return.”

“Cousin, walk slowly!” Lian Fang Zhou said, her lips curled into a faint smile.

She had made it clear to him that since he had already helped, she would tell the truth.

After all, he had helped with the weighing for a few days during the harvest and she would not ignore this.

As for the rest of it, how could she lie and say he helped? That would be deceiving the imperial officials and the imperial court.
How could she, a little country woman, dare to lie in front of the imperial officials?

Besides, he never told her specifically what to say!

…

Having secured Lian Fang Zhou’s promise, Lian Hai left with joy.
He went to Shitouping to help for a few more days and then left to visit friends.

After five days, he returned from his friends, rested at home for a few more days, helped with the cotton for another two days, and then did not go again.

Therefore, when the county magistrate came to ask Lian Fang Zhou about what he said, Lian Fang Zhou spoke honestly, without any guilt.

At the same time, she also received a letter from Fang Qing and Su Jing He saying that another fleet was leaving for Hangzhou and asked Lian Fang Zhou if there were any cotton quilts to send over.

Lian Fang Zhou sent them a second batch of 40,000 catties of cotton and 800 cotton quilts.

As for the cotton cloth spun by Su Jin and the others, there was nearly 100 pieces, which were all stacked in the warehouse.
Lian Fang Zhou did not plan to sell these just yet.

She told Su Jin and the others not to worry about design.
The most important thing was to teach the girls she had bought how to spin.
As the weaving process improved, there would be opportunities to weave high-quality cotton fabrics with beautiful patterns, the same as satin and silk.

The cotton cloth would not be as prominent as the demand for cotton quilts and would always be eclipsed in comparison, but cotton cloth was a good thing.
Sooner or later, people would discover its benefits! Until then, she still had time to make a profit.

Of course, she had mentioned the cotton cloth to Fang Qing and Su Jing He, but it was obvious that they regarded it as something like commoner cloth, such as linen or satin, which didn’t attract their attention.

With the departure of the second batch of goods, the cotton harvest was now half over and Lian Fang Zhou could let out a sigh of relief.

But it would turn out that she had relaxed too soon.

One morning, Lian Fang Zhou and Lian Fang Qing were working on an order for the Song family, who wanted to buy eggs for Old Madam Song’s birthday banquet.
Lian Fang Zhou took Lian Fang Qing to the chicken farm in order to organize and package the eggs for delivery.

At three copper coins an egg, they would make six thousand and eighteen coins.

Insignificant compared to the high profits of the cotton, but mosquito legs were still meat!

Moreover, the price of the cotton would definitely drop in future.
She needed to develop in a balanced way, as a long-term solution.

Who would have thought that as soon as they arrived, two children, around eight or nine years old, ran up and told her that there were guests from the city at her house and Third Aunt was calling her back!

Now that Madam Li and Zhang Xiu’er were busy helping with the cotton, Lian Fang Zhou had hired two women from the village to help manage the chickens.
The chicken coops were less busy and there were enough people to help deliver the eggs to the Song family.

But if Lian Fang Zhou went back, would Lian Fang Qing be able to handle it alone?