Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields

Chapter 498: Hua Xiao Hua is crying

After an auspicious day was chosen, the village school also opened.

The invited teacher was surnamed Xu and was unable to qualify for the imperial examination due to an accident.
This person was recommended by Sun Ming and, after discussing it with Zhang Li Zheng and the village elders, Lian Fang Zhou asked him to come.

At first, the village elders and Zhang Li Zheng were a little reluctant.
They felt that it was better to hire a normal and dignified gentleman, not a cripple who might damage their reputation.
They didn’t have anything good to say about it.

Lian Fang Zhou patiently persuaded them for a while, saying that Xu Xiu Cai was very talented and had a good character.
If it wasn’t for his lame leg, when he was studying six or seven years ago, would it have been their turn to invite him?

And there was a reason he was lame.
It was to save a child who was almost run over by a speeding carriage, where he was knocked down and his leg broken.
It showed that this man was a caring person, letting him educate children was more reassuring.

Lian Fang Zhou insisted and Sun Ming vouched for him.
In addition, all the expenses were paid for by Lian Fang Zhou.
Zhang Li Zheng and the village elders couldn’t resist, so they reluctantly nodded and agreed.

Later, after Xu Xiucai came, Zhang Li Zheng and the village elders went to visit him.
After some conversation, their attitudes changed drastically and they looked at him differently.
It didn’t take long for them to get to know him and they became even more impressed with Xu Xiu Cai.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Lian Fang Zhou smiled and asked Zhang Li Zheng to spread the word.
Any child who wanted to go to school could go and sign up.
First they would only accept students from the village and if there were still vacancies afterwards, other villages could send children.

However, it was unavoidable that the students would need to pay for their own school supplies and books.

Lian Fan Zhou asked Sun Ming to take Lian Ze to pick up Xu Xiu Cai.
As the teacher, he would receive three taels of silver per month, fifty kilograms of rich, two sets of outer and inner clothing for each season, and a thick coat for winter.

Xu Xiu Cai had inconvenient legs and needed to be accommodated.
And in addition to his wife, Madam Mi, and his seven-year-old son, Dou’er, there was also an older woman in her fifties, Madam Xu.

The house behind the school was spacious enough and Lian Fang Zhou had specifically asked him to bring his family with him.
Madam Mi and Madam Xu could help with cleaning the school and managing the gardens, earning a tael per month.

The reason why Lian Fang Zhou added this extra salary was because she was a little sympathetic.
She didn’t expect that someone from the village would come to the door and talk for a long time, turning out to be looking to take this job from Madam Mi and Madam Xu.

Lian Fang Zhou was a little stunned, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and finally dispelled the idea.

Because it was free, the school was quickly overcrowded.
On the first day of school, there were tall and short students, looking very uneven.
The oldest were thirteen or fourteen, and the youngest only seven years old.
The age difference was great!

Lian Fang Zhou felt awkward but everyone was used to this.

In the end, she shook her head.
Since they had said it was free, they could come if they wanted!

Seeing that there were a lot of people, she discussed with Master Xu whether they needed to buy more tables and chairs.

Master Xu shook his head calmly and smiled: “Reading is a hard task and not all free things can be taken advantage of.
You see, many people lack even a pen or ink, some not even a book.
Within three days, the number of people would be reduced by half.
Just let them squeeze in and get a taste, we can talk about it again in a few days.”

Lian Fang Zhou couldn’t help but laugh.

It turned out that Master Xu overestimated these bear children.
Especially the older ones, who hadn’t studied in their lives, how could they still learn to read? They came to sleep for one day and not come the next!

There were also many nine to ten year olds who were used to helping their families with farming.
During the day, they would climb trees for birds nests, fish in the rivers, and go up the mountains for wild fruit.
They would play hide-in-seek, fight, and play.
They were too used to being wild.
Sitting down all day and being reprimanded by the teacher if you even moved too much, not to mention talking and chatting, some of the kids ran away after half a day!

On the second day, there was a third less and on the third day, there were only twelve children between the ages of seven and ten.

Thinking back to Master Xu’s words, Lian Fang Zhou couldn’t help but smile.

Everything was moving steadily and Lian Fang Zhou allocated another ten acres to the school, letting Zhang Li Zheng help manage it with the supervision of the village elders.
In this way, Zhang Li Zheng and the village elders could help any poor children who wanted to study.

This was a great deed for the village and Zhang Li Zheng and the village elders expressed deep gratitude to Lian Fang Zhou’s family.

On the other sided was Hekou village, which Lian Fang Zhou had now taken over.
She, Ah Jian, and Lian Ze took a day to look it over and arrange things.

After all, she had just taken it over from the Zhao family and many things had to be redone.
But for now, she didn’t want to control too much.
As long as there were no major mistakes and no conflicts with her rules, it would save trouble to keep things the same.

On the way back from Hekou village, Lian Fang Zhou, Lian Ze, and Ah Jian also discussed when the construction on the land on the outskirts of the county should start.
They planned on building a cotton spinning factory, called a workshop in this era.

Cotton affairs were handled by Steward Qin, Wang Da, and Li Da.
Madam Ruan and Madam Song were also very capable people.
Lian Fang Zhou could rest assured that her plans would work with Lian Ze overseeing the Lianji Cotton Factory.

After a few months of practice and familiarity, the cotton cloth woven by Su Jin and the weaver girls had no flaws in quality.

After the Lianji Cotton Factory was built, they would hire a few workers to cover printing, dying, rinsing, weaving, and designing new patterns so that their cotton would be no worse than silk.

And cotton clothes were more comfortable to wear than silk ones, especially in summer.
If all went well, the new options would be ready by the summer.

Lian Fang Zhou had big plans.
Since she had seized the opportunity in the cotton cloth, she would continue to walk in the forefront and maintain the lead position of the industry.

So what if countless cotton textiles workshops popped up in the future? As long as she kept ahead of the opportunities and built her brand, no one would easily surpass her.

Of course, the premise was that she had to lay out the scene from the very beginning, big enough to grab a large market share.

The three of them talked so intently about how to divide the work, they reached the village without noticing.

On the road, they meet Zhang Liu’s wife, who was about to start ploughing.
When she saw them, Zhang Liu’s wife hurriedly waved to stop them and reminded Lian Fang Zhou kindly: “Fang Zhou, you are finally back! Do you remember that Hua Xiao Hua? I just went out and saw her heading towards your home, it looks like she’s going to make trouble!”

Lian Fang Zhou was started.

Lian Ze looked annoyed: “Eldest Sister, there are still people jumping in the Yang family? After a while, they have to come make trouble again for fear that my sister won’t remember their family!”