stingy landlady

Chapter 263 Building a Farmers' Market

The Prince of Zhenbei listened with great interest and asked Guizhi:

"Guizhi! No matter how big our farmers' market is, I doubt we'd need a thousand people to maintain order, right?"

"Of course we can't use them! But Your Highness! With so many of us, we need to have a deterrent effect, to let people know that we're not so easy to bully in this county! And we can't let just anyone bully the vendors in our market!"

Hmm! Your Highness! Of course, most of us still need to farm! Otherwise, what will we eat and drink? Your Highness! My daughter plans to let the others continue the scale of Huanghua Village.

Raise poultry, pigs, and cattle! Grow and sell vegetables! Hmm! Your Highness! We should also plant more fruit trees! Then we'll have plums, apples, and all sorts of other fruits—these will be cash crops.”

Gui Zhi mumbled the answer and continued:

"Your Highness! We've got some good food and drink, so we'll definitely send it to the city."

Your Highness will be in for a treat! Rest assured, Your Highness! No matter who else is missing from our local specialties, the Prince's Mansion will not be left out.

Your Highness! Since Young Master Du is reluctant to part with his subordinates, then we must see this through to the end and he must come with us.

After all, these people have their own superiors, so they're naturally more motivated to work harder and strive for improvement. If no one can control them, they'll become a disorganized mess! And if they bring in bad habits, the atmosphere will be terrible!

But there's no one who can control them! I urge Your Highness to reconsider!

The Prince of Zhenbei asked in confusion:

"Guizhi! I have a feeling you've been plotting this all along. This isn't something you just came up with on the spur of the moment, is it?"

Guizhi smiled:

“Your Highness! I have indeed had this idea for a long time, but I haven’t had the opportunity yet! Since Your Highness is going to arrange so many people, I think this is the perfect opportunity.”

The Prince of Zhenbei glanced at Guizhi:

"Alright! Whatever you say goes! I look forward to your help in arranging more people for me."

Gui Zhi choked:

"Your Highness! This humble woman is willing to serve Your Highness with her life and soul! She will follow Your Highness's lead without question!"

The Prince of Zhenbei waved his hand and said:

"Stop, stop, stop! Guizhi, halt! I know of your loyalty! Go back and take care of your business before we talk about anything else."

Guizhi! You didn't see Xiaoyun this time you came. Xiaoyun has things to do in the army camp and rarely comes back.

"It's been a long time since you've seen each other, hasn't it?"

As the Prince of Zhenbei spoke, he observed Guizhi's expression. Guizhi paused for a moment, then quickly replied:

"Your Highness! It's good that the young master is busy! If you have time, meet up and chat. If not, then let's each keep our own business!"

"Gui Zhi! I would like to ask..."

Forget it! Let's talk about it again in a few years!

Prince Zhenbei originally wanted to ask Guizhi about her future marriage plans, but then felt that Guizhi was still young and it would be pointless to ask.

"Guizhi! When do you plan to go back?"

"Your Highness! My daughter has come today to bid you farewell! We plan to return home first thing tomorrow morning!"

"Okay! Is everything done? Have you received your dividends? Huai Chuan brought so many people over; they need food and lodging. You make the arrangements, and if anyone disobeys, you can hand them over to Huai Chuan!"

Guizhi! You must help me settle these people properly! If war breaks out in the future, I will still need to conscript them into the army.

Guizhi could only nod helplessly. She didn't understand war, only that in any dynasty, whenever there was war, it was always the ordinary people who suffered!

War can break out at any time, so let's all cherish this peaceful era!

After Guizhi returned, she mentioned it to Wang Yiyun, and the prince was quite supportive of the marriage between him and Jiang Chuxin.

Wang Yiyun considered it for a moment before saying:

"Guizhi! Our family's circumstances are really too poor! Miss Jiang looks like a young lady from a wealthy family!"

Fifth Uncle has not yet achieved any official rank, and the two of them are not a suitable match. Fifth Uncle's own education and living expenses all depend on your help. Where would he find the resources to marry and support another person, adding further burden to the family!

I plan to try the exam next year too; if I pass, it will ease the financial burden on my family. While I'm still young, I'll put marriage aside for now and focus entirely on my studies.

Seeing that Wang Yiyun had made up his mind, Guizhi stopped trying to persuade him. She simply reminded him to strive for excellence, to balance study with rest, and to pay attention to physical exercise, as good health was one of the most important factors in the imperial examinations.

Guizhi and Xu Hong returned to the county town first and obtained the warrant from the Prince of Zhenbei. They found the county magistrate, who specially showed them a map of the county town. He allowed Guizhi and Xu Hong to choose a large plot of land and expressed his full cooperation in helping Guizhi build a farmers' market shed and surrounding shops.

Gui Zhi generously offered to reserve several shops for the county magistrate and his assistant. This way, everyone could share the profits, making everyone happy!

Du Huaichuan came to find Guizhi with his thousand men. Guizhi didn't choose a place too far away; she selected two thousand acres of land around the county town as the suburbs.

Since this season was not suitable for land reclamation, Guizhi had these people build their own houses and shacks. She also assigned some people to build sheds and set up stalls at the farmers' market.

They also built shops all around the market's sheds. All one thousand people were put to use, and of course, Guizhi spent a lot of money on them.

With so many people building houses, they could make their own bricks and tiles, collect their own stones, and cut and dry their own grass. But with so many strong laborers, they not only needed to be well-fed, but also well-nourished!

Pork, chicken, duck, and vegetables were delivered fresh daily by Gui Xiang and Han Xuewen, the stewards. The grain was also temporarily borrowed from Huanghua Village.

As more houses were built on the outskirts of the county town and more people walked around, roads naturally appeared. After the roads were built, a town gradually formed. It was named Changqing Town, meaning evergreen throughout the four seasons.

Guizhi brought piglets, chicks, and ducklings from Huanghua Village and built pens for them, so that they could at least raise some first. This would allow them to have more meat to eat during the winter.

Guizhi also took out silver to pay these workers monthly. There was no delay in payment, which made Du Huaichuan and his men see the money and were all highly motivated.

Du Huaichuan was frustrated because when he returned to the prefectural city, Gui Hong met the young master Zheng who used to patronize her boxed lunch business in the town!

This young master Zheng was acquainted with Gui Hong's family and had even dined at Da Zhu's house before. Furthermore, this young master Zheng also had a troubled marriage. The woman he was engaged to had fallen ill and passed away, and young master Zheng had been looking for her again and again over the years.

He was stuck in a limbo, neither good enough for a high-status job nor a low-status one, and rumors began to circulate that Zheng Gongzi was unlucky in marriage. When Zheng Gongzi met Gui Hong, both were very happy. Meeting an old friend in a foreign land, both single and unmarried, they shared a similar plight and were quite familiar with each other, and unknowingly found themselves drawn together.

So the two often ate and drank tea together. Of course, neither of them overstepped the bounds of propriety, and they were always accompanied by maids and servants.