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Chapter 1109: Chapter 1115: It’s Time to Give Out Money!
Tan Zhenghong gave a thumbs-up. "Wife, you’re getting more and more skilled at throwing insults."
"And you’re getting better and better at misinterpreting others."
Qiao Duo’er rubbed her sore lower back, and some other places were also swelling with ache.
Her body had been well taken care of, and she often exercised, but it still couldn’t withstand Tan Zhenghong’s antics.
Tan Zhenghong said with a goofy smile, "Wife, I’m doing this for our own good."
The more often it happened, the deeper their affection grew, ensuring they’d stay together for a long, long time, a truth he had just learned yesterday.
After testing, this method proved to be very effective.
"I can’t be bothered to deal with you; I’m going to check on the babies, they should be awake by now." Qiao Duo’er awarded Tan Zhenghong with her turning back.
Someone had become incurably ill, beyond the help of medicine.
Tan Zhenghong was in very high spirits, so he didn’t mind that Duo’er was ignoring him and happily followed her.
Raising children is a miraculous thing. Initially, he resisted the idea of Duo’er being pregnant, but now they’ve become an inseparable part of his life, hardly wishing to leave anything undone himself.
Yesterday, the babies were so tired, they slept for half an hour more than Qiao Duo’er had anticipated.
After lunch, Tangyuan still remembered his playmates from the day before and begged his parents to go to the manor with him.
Seeing the children happy, Qiao Duo’er and Tan Zhenghong left Big Lei to watch over them while they made a trip to Yue Ming’s home.
When they reached the Yue family’s gate, the people coming to receive compensation had already arrived.
To them, it was a windfall, each tenant farmer’s face beamed with joy.
"Look, the Owner is here!" someone recognized them and shouted.
The others promptly knelt on the ground.
"Greetings, Master Tan." 𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
They had heard that the owner of the manor was a saint-anointed Inspector and even the County Magistrate had to behave respectfully around them; it was only right for these humble farmer folks to kneel.
Especially since the Owner had bestowed such a great favor upon them.
These silvers meant little to the Owner, but they were enough for an ordinary family to use for quite some time.
Tan Zhenghong helped an elderly man with white hair back to his feet. "Everyone, please rise. This was due to my negligence, causing everyone undue hardship for two years."
"It’s no fault of the Owner, it is Yue Ming who was unreasonable. Even a three-year-old child in our family knows not to just take things from others."
And yet Yue Ming, who was no longer young, didn’t even understand this simple principle!
"Yes, and the Owner has already been good enough to us!"
"I’ve dealt with many Owners, and yours are by far the kindest-hearted."
The crowd responded in agreement, grateful that the Tan family had considered the hardships of tenant farmers and was willing to distribute the silvers among them.
Tan Zhenghong humbly said, "This is the extra rent that Yue Ming had collected, which rightly belongs to you all. Take this silver, and may everyone live better days."
"Owner, I’d like to rent a few more acres. How will the rent be calculated in the future?"
Someone asked eagerly, confident that a proprietor this benevolent wouldn’t shortchange them on the rent.
Tan Zhenghong explained, "From now on, the rent won’t depend on the harvest. For average land, it’ll be eighty jin of rice or seventy jin of wheat, which converts to six hundred wen in copper coins. The rate might vary by ten jin depending on the quality of the land. Does this rate work for you?"
He and Duo’er agreed that setting clear rules was better as it would prevent tenant farmers from hoarding crops and leave no room for supervisors to engage in mischief.
It also helped reduce the manor’s expenses, as there was no need to have someone in charge of weighing the total crop yield at the tenant farmers’ homes.
