NOVPUB
Chapter 799: Chapter 802: Can Keep_1
After Dragon Boat Festival, it was the season for harvesting wheat.
This year, the wheat fields were a sea of yellow-gold, each ear weighted down heavily, a particularly joyful sight to behold.
Tan Zhenghong had been working at breakneck pace, but the schedule was incredibly tight, and with completion still some way off, he had no choice but to temporarily set aside the embroidery room.
Because they had purchased quite a bit of land this year, he needed to get things organized.
News that the Tan Family were recruiting temporary workers spread, offering a wage of forty-five wen per mu.
However, the temp workers were mainly responsible for harvesting wheat near Xuan Eagle Mountain Village, and due to the distance, they would have to wait until all the wheat was collected before returning, which would take about half a month.
For the farmers, this was no small challenge; being so far from home, if it rained halfway through, they wouldn’t be able to make it back.
The silver earned from the Tan Family was tempting, but one’s own crops were still more important.
As a result, for several days in a row, there were pitifully few sign-ups.
But Tan Zhenghong wasn’t worried in the slightest; he still had an ace up his sleeve!
Two days before the wheat harvest, Tie Niu called a village meeting at the threshing floor, not only to notify the households about the harvest but also for a more important matter.
"There’s another thing today, everyone better open your eyes wide and look!"
Soon, a large contraption was added to the simple platform on the threshing floor, and everyone was filled with curiosity.
"What is this for? Never seen it before."
"It kind of looks like torture devices. If someone were spun around in it, they’d surely not come out alive or be maimed at least!"
"But I haven’t heard of anyone in trouble recently. Besides, we’ve never executed anyone in our village; more serious matters are usually taken straight to the Government Office."
"Who knows, let’s see what the village chief says."
"But I still need to go back and sharpen my sickles, and the cart needs fixing too, who has time to look at this damn thing?"
"Serves you right, why didn’t you prepare earlier? It’s the same time every year for wheat cutting!"
Amidst all the speculation, Sun Erhu and Tan Zhenghong began to demonstrate. 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓹𝓾𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
One was responsible for pedaling while the other fed bundled sheaves of wheat into the rollers, and the wheat grains were quickly stripped by the rolling drums.
The grains fell out of the bottom onto a tarp laid underneath to catch them.
"My God, that’s amazing, the grains have all fallen off!"
"Look, how clean the straw is—no need to pick them out one by one anymore!"
Those at the front kept exclaiming in astonishment; if they hadn’t witnessed it with their own eyes, they wouldn’t believe such a miraculous machine could exist.
Tie Niu explained, "This thing is called a threshing machine, it saves labor and is convenient. With this, our wheat harvest will be much quicker. Anyone interested?"
"Village chief, just tell us how much it costs!" someone urgently asked.
"Two taels of silver each."
Before Tie Niu could finish, someone angrily retorted, "Who can afford that? I’d rather go home and thresh the wheat myself. After all, I’ve got plenty of brute strength."
"Looks like only the rich will be able to use it. It’s so dull!"
"This is nothing but blatant showing off. I knew that we wouldn’t get a shot at this good stuff!"
"Let’s go, better to rest at home than waste time here!"
Tie Niu quickly added, "Everyone, hear me out. If you can’t afford it, that’s okay. The Tan Family has bought five threshing machines, and there are two types of families who can borrow them for free. First, those who have a family member working at the embroidery room or Duo Meifang without taking leave during the busy farming season and second, those who have a family member working as a temp worker for the Tan Family, one worker entitles you to half a day’s use."
"For those who don’t meet the criteria, no worries. You can rent one, with a deposit of one tael of silver and a half-day cost of twenty wen."
