Transmigrated as A Farm Girl Making Her Family Rich

Chapter 105: Chapter 104 Brings the Contract

“Did you hear? If anyone lets out what my mother-in-law and I discussed, they will not be spared, and their family will be driven out too.”

Mrs. Luo knew all too well that whatever happened in her quarters was known to the mother-in-law, and what happened with the mother-in-law was also known to her. Each master in the Tang Mansion had their own informants in their respective quarters, and it was possible that some spies from other parties had infiltrated as well.

In the Tang Family, many were house slaves who served; in the face of interests, it was also possible for others to buy them over.

In the living room, the maids who were being scolded by this mother-in-law and daughter-in-law duo all bowed their heads and made their guarantees, each saying some words.

******

Just past 7 a.m., the villagers of Bushen Village noticed some people riding horses, escorting two horse carts full of wood. Using such noble carriages to carry wood, they could guess that the wood inside the carriages must be very valuable.

The village was abuzz yesterday with the news of the Ye family’s courtyard receiving horse carriages and horses, an event rarely seen in their village and quite the occasion.

It turned out to be Mrs. Li from the Ye family bringing the young master, along with the Tang Family’s guard and housekeeper, to Bushen Village. Many people laid aside their farm work to specifically watch the spectacle in the Ye family’s courtyard.

For people from a wealthy family to come and play in a farmer family’s home was a novel affair. In their village, there had been no precedent and likely there would be no followers.

The villagers noticed that today’s carriages were different from yesterday’s, but the mounted guards and housekeeper were the same. Those who had seen them knew these were servants from the Tang Mansion.

The abundance of wood on the carriages was surely meant for the Ye family for carpentry purposes.

Those who guessed thusly put down their not-so-urgent tasks and followed the horse carriages and horses to watch.

Indeed, the horse carriages and horses stopped at the big gates of the Ye family. The guard and the housekeeper first entered the Ye family, then the horse carriages followed.

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Among the crowd of onlookers was the village chief, who also held the position of village chief.

Hongji and his father, who were working inside the thatched hut in the courtyard, stopped their work upon seeing the housekeeper and the crowd, and hurried to wash their hands.

“Housekeeper, what brings you here? Is that wood?” Hongji’s eyes sparkled at the sight of the wood on the carriages. He had never seen such fine wood and could guess that it was superior to the materials he was currently working with.

“Housekeeper, please have a seat,” he said.

Hongji’s father rubbed his hands joyfully. With guests arriving, he and his son were in their old work clothes, patched all over, the same ones they washed and wore every day for work.

Mrs. Lai, who had been hiding in the room, heard noise in the yard, peeked out the window, saw the Tang Mansion’s housekeeper and guard, and with a look of pleasant surprise, opened the door and came out. Her face showed an ingratiating expression as she went to the kitchen to pour boiling water for the guests.

Ye Shuzhen and Ye Shuzhi had just returned from washing clothes by the river and hadn’t yet hung them up to dry. They didn’t bother with drying the clothes, standing beside the clothes-drying bamboo, they watched the guests intently.

“Hehe, we’ve come again. I’m here on the Old Master’s command, to convey the matter discussed yesterday with Mrs. Li’s husband to the Old Master, and today the Old Master instructed me to transport the lumber,” explained the housekeeper.

As soon as the housekeeper sat down, he saw Mrs. Lai serving plain boiling water. He remembered that among yesterday’s gifts there was fine tea, and he noted that this old woman was too stingy to entertain them with it.

The housekeeper, a man of status in the Tang Family, despite being a servant, had followed the Old Master far and wide and drank many fine teas. He wasn’t annoyed; it was just the narrow mindset of the poor.

“Housekeeper Tang, what is the meaning of bringing so much wood?” Hongji asked.

Housekeeper Tang took out a notebook from his suitcase and said to Hongji:

“This is the contract discussed by the Old Master and the Eldest Young Master, you can take a look and sign it if it’s agreeable, and from then on, we’ll cooperate according to the contract,”

Hongji looked at Housekeeper Tang, somewhat puzzled, as if he hadn’t quite understood what the housekeeper was saying.

He didn’t reach out to take the contract, still unclear about the intentions of the Old Master of Tang Mansion; he truly dared not accept such a significant task, fearful it might be a trap.

Hongji’s father, a somewhat more astute old ginger, hadn’t yet grasped the housekeeper’s meaning either, but he felt that being favored by the Tang Family for cooperation could be an opportunity for their family to turn around and become masters of their own fate.

“Housekeeper Tang, could you perhaps explain to us what is written in this contract? As you know, we father and son don’t recognize many characters.”

Upon hearing Hongji’s father’s question and seeing Hongji’s reluctance to take the contract, a smile appeared on Housekeeper Tang’s lips as he explained to them:

“Hehe, first of all, congratulations to your family for having the opportunity to collaborate with our Old Master and Young Master. Considering your family’s situation,

you can’t go to our county’s lumber mill to work, so we can only start by delivering some lumber to your place for cooperation. The content of the cooperation is more or less as described here, with one additional item.

Your family is too small and does not meet the conditions for the Old Master and Young Master to cooperate with you. So, on their behalf, I am preparing to buy some land at the entrance of your village to build a factory.”

“It will be our Old Master who pays for the labor and materials. In the future, for the products you make, you will receive a 20% profit share. Once the lumber mill is built, obviously, we will need to hire other craftsmen and apprentices to finish a larger amount of semi-finished goods.”

With each sentence that Housekeeper Tang uttered, Hongji nodded, trying desperately to remember his words and understand the meaning behind them.

Having said so much in one breath, Housekeeper Tang couldn’t help but lift his cup to drink a few sips of the previously unwanted hot water. Sitting here in the courtyard’s thatched house, the northerly wind was quite cold.

He looked around the place; on a sunny day it was tolerable, but on a rainy day, he couldn’t guarantee that the valuable timber he transported wouldn’t be affected by moisture. If the timber got damp, it would change color, and even before being processed into finished goods, he anticipated losses.

“Build a factory? Buy land?” Hongji’s heart surged with excitement upon hearing the housekeeper speak of such grand plans.

A look of delight appeared on Hongji’s father’s face; buying land and building a factory would first and foremost bring income to the villagers, regardless of whether they made large profits from the partnership.

Building the factory would create jobs, and the villagers would be the first to be hired, among them perhaps some of his own relatives.

More importantly, he and his son would become small factory owners, managing many craftsmen, and earning a 20% profit on the products they made.

Hongji’s father knew that with the involvement of the Tang Family, it wouldn’t be small-time work as it had been for just the two of them. Different types of woodwork sold for different prices, and the profits received varied greatly.

At that moment, visions of becoming the wealthiest man in the village, even in the ten miles and eight villages, filled his mind, not long after becoming a small factory owner.

Of course, he didn’t consider that they could become the wealthiest in the county, for the Tang Family held that position.

Just then, a three-year-old child from the Ye family came out of a room, holding a baby of about four months old, and walked towards the adults talking by the thatched house.

“Daddy, Qing asked you to hold her,”

Siya had been accompanying Qing in the room when they heard noises from the courtyard; they looked out through the window.

Ye Shiqi, with her ears tuned to the discussions between the housekeeper and her father in the courtyard, knew that her eldest and second sisters, as well as her third sister, had gone out to work in the fields.

Her father and grandfather might not understand the contract, and though the Tang Family was substantial and unlikely to cheat them, it was still unwise to be too trusting; she needed to take a look at what was written in the contract herself.