There were more than ten women standing in the lobby of Zhuangzi.
Ms. Sun was one of them. She stood alone in the corner, holding her clothes, so nervous that she could only look at the ground in front of her.
"What does the young lady have to do with us?" One of the women asked cautiously: "Are you here to reduce wages again?"
When they heard about the reduction in wages, the group of women looked at each other at a loss.
Even if they are angry or sad, what can they do? They just have to do whatever the customer says!
It’s getting smaller and smaller every year. I don’t know how I’m going to spend my days like this!
Xu Wanning actually came very early. After she arrived, she stood behind her, and the movements in the lobby also fell on her ears.
Cut wages again?
But these women stopped talking at this point. Xu Wanning knew that if he wanted to pry open their mouths, he had to work hard.
"Everyone has been waiting for a long time." Xu Wanning straightened her clothes and walked out.
She was dressed in casual clothes, with only an ordinary gold hairpin in her hair. Although her appearance was still excellent, and her skin was delicate and rosy, at least she was not so noble and unattainable, making all the women present feel unapproachable. few.
"Young Madam." Ms. Sun stood in the crowd and saluted stiffly.
Xu Wanning pointed to the next door: "It's time to eat. Sisters, if you don't mind, let's eat together."
This group of people didn't dare to dislike him and followed Xu Wanning to the next room.
There was a large round table filled with various dishes. Xu Wanning was sitting in the middle of the table, calling everyone to sit down: "Don't be constrained. Sit wherever you want. Sit down quickly."
The ones who were fast took the seats far away from Xu Wanning and sat down. The ones who were slow had only two seats next to Xu Wanning.
Mrs. Sun held the corner of her clothes and walked over.
Xu Wanning recognized Mrs. Sun: "Sister Sun, we meet again."
Mrs. Sun showed a shy smile and stiffened her body: "Young Madam."
"Sit down, the food will be cold soon." Xu Wanning asked Sun to sit down next to her.
There was one seat left empty. Xu Wanning raised her head and glanced around the room, and saw a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl standing there timidly in a corner.
"Come and sit down." Xu Wanning waved, but the little girl didn't dare yet. Hongmei quickly stepped forward and pulled the little girl over: "Go and sit down."
The little girl sat down stiffly next to Xu Wanning.
Not just her, but all the women in the position were nervous.
"I came to Zhuangzi once many years ago. I came in a hurry and left in a hurry." Xu Wanning broke the deadlock with a smile and explained her intention: "This time, the Marquis and his wife asked me to stay a few more days to wait for the seeds. I’ll leave after finishing the cotton. So I thought, since I’m going to live here for so long, I should meet with you and get to know everyone’s situation.”
No one spoke or echoed. They all sat stiffly, staring at the bowl in front of them, not daring to look at it.
"Sister Sun, are you the only one in your family?" Xu Wanning was not annoyed and asked Ms. Sun beside her.
Mrs. Sun nodded: "My mother-in-law passed away last year, and I am the only woman in the family."
"How many people are there in your family?"
"My father-in-law, man, me, and two children."
"How many acres of land do you plant?"
"Twenty acres."
"Little girl, what about you? How many people are in your family, and how many acres of land do you farm?"
Although the little girl was scared, she still answered truthfully: "My family includes my father, my two brothers, and me. My family cultivates thirty acres of land."
With two people at the beginning, it would be much easier for Xu Wanning to continue asking questions.
After asking around, Xu Wanning almost understood the routine of allocating fields to tenants for planting in Zhuangzi.
Every tenant household, as long as there is an adult male, will be allocated ten acres more land.
How could this be a son? He was obviously born into hard labor!
"The task assigned to each of your households is to grow cotton this time. I heard from Manager Chen that in order to keep up with the schedule, it has to be completed in seven days. How can you complete it?" Xu Wanning asked.
"Young madam, I can't finish the work in seven days!" An older woman began to cry, "Everyone in my family, men, women, old and young, has to go to the fields to work before dawn, and all the food is eaten by the children who are half the age of the family. I worked in the fields until I lost my sight and then came back. If I eat and live in the fields every day, I won’t be able to finish it!"
"What will happen if I don't finish planting within the stipulated time?"
"It will reduce our wages. Originally, we were given eighty dollars a day for farming. If we didn't finish the work, not only would we not get wages, but we would also get an additional thirty dollars off if we worked one more day. It was said that it would delay the growth of the crops and plant them later. , The output is affected." The woman wiped her tears and cried again: "Our whole family, old and young, men and women, except for the children who can't even walk, have all worked. But after all, we can still do it. It can’t be finished.”
No wonder there are so many children in the fields.
"In the past, there wasn't much land in the village, and each of our households was given five or six acres. With a little bit of hard work, we could all work it out. But there are more and more lands in the village, but the tenants don't add to it. The land we all receive is getting bigger and bigger every year." There are more and more jobs, but the wages remain the same. If this continues, I will be so exhausted that I won’t even be able to take the medicine to treat the disease.”
As the old woman started to complain, more and more people began to complain.
Xu Wanning listened silently and kept it in mind.
The Chengyang Marquis Mansion kept buying land, but never mentioned leasing more tenants. As long as Zhuangzi adds more land to these tenants, their tasks will increase. Slowly, they will have more and more fields, and they will become heavier and heavier. This year, Cui Lu also wants all the cotton. Is this really going to make this group of people go there? Desperately superior.
Xu Wanning asked Sun again, "Do you also follow your man to the fields on weekdays, and leave your two children on the edge of the field?"
Mrs. Sun nodded, "The two children are too young to be safe at home. We can only put them next to the place where we work. At least we can look back at them."
Xu Wanning said, "It's windy and grassy, so I'm afraid of snakes."
"Yes, my granddaughter was bitten by a snake while growing cotton last year. Fortunately, it was not a venomous snake, otherwise..."
"Everyone knows that there are snakes, but if we don't finish planting the land, we will have no money. The family has no choice if they want to survive."
When one person cries, the people around him also cry when they think about what happened to their family.
Xu Wanning let these people cry for a while, and then said, "I have remembered everyone's suffering. When I get back, I will tell the Marquis and Madam about this and beg them to see if they can rent more people or less people." Plant some land.”
Everyone knew that what Xu Wanning said was just for the occasion. After all, the Marquis knew it and he didn't want to change it, so it was useless for the young lady to say anything.
We knew it was impossible, but these words made everyone feel comfortable, and they were no longer as cautious as they were at the beginning.
Xu Wanning also saw that these people didn't believe her, and Xu Wanning didn't explain. She smiled and greeted everyone, "Let's eat first. Everyone has worked hard. Go back and rest early after eating."
These women wiped away their tears and began to eat vegetables.
I'm so tired today. All the food on the table has been wiped out.
Xu Wanning's heart has always been heavy.
She saw the suffering of this group of people and remembered it in her heart.
Everyone just wants to find a way to survive. Chengyang Houfu is not a good person! This is Chi Guoguo exploiting the labor force of tenant farmers!
The only way to save this group of tenants is to change Zhuangzi's surname from Cui.
