Transmigrated as a Peasant Baby Who is Pampered by All

Chapter 373: Chapter 247: Building Good Relations (Part 3)

”Xiao Mai, look, this bamboo shoot is huge; it’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen!”

Xiao Cao called out to her in surprise, and Xiao Mai snapped out of it, quickly jogging over.

”Wow, it really is big! Let’s dig it out!”

The two of them started working together, growing more energetic as they went on. Once they dug it out, they’d look for the next biggest bamboo shoot, then each taking one.

The whole afternoon, the two little girls didn’t dig up many bamboo shoots, but their chirping exclamations never stopped.

Occasionally, Xiao Cao’s friends would come looking for her, but after playing for a while without finding any bamboo shoots, they got called home by their elders to hurry up and dig bamboo shoots.

Luckily, Xiao Cao’s parents didn’t bother her, letting her and Xiao Mai roam freely in the bamboo forest.

There are many ways to eat spring bamboo shoots: stir-fried, braised with meat, made into sour bamboo shoots, and most importantly, they can be dried for long-term storage.

After handling these bamboo shoots, Xiao Mai exchanged them all with those from her space.

One has to say, that sea of bamboo really grew well, almost as big as the shoots in her space.

Thankfully, by the time they peeled off the shells, it was already evening. Taking advantage of her parents boiling water to cook the bamboo shoots, she secretly swapped them out, so it wasn’t easy to be found out.

A few years back, Xiao Mai had planted bamboo in her space, frequently digging up bamboo shoots, so most of what the family actually ate were from her space.

As for the ones at home, she stashed them away in her space separately.

As for why she’s storing so much food in the space, Xiao Mai didn’t really have a reason; she just left it there since it wouldn’t spoil.

Because the bamboo shoots were so delicious, she even specially sent some to Liu Ze’s parents, with both freshly processed and specially dried ones.

Mrs. Liu returned the favor with several boxes of exquisite pastries.

Although the two families hadn’t seen much of each other since last time, they still exchanged gifts occasionally.

Just like these pastries—Uncle Liu didn’t like them, and Liu Ze couldn’t eat them; they were actually specially prepared for the Jiang family’s children.

Not only that, they sent a bolt of fabric, said to be the most popular pattern among the city girls, for Second Aunt to make skirts for Xiao Xue and Xiao Mai.

Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last long. After only a few days of digging bamboo shoots, there were no more left; those that weren’t picked in time shot up in just a day or two.

Xiao Mai and Xiao Cao became good friends, the kind that would seek each other out to play.

Zhang Yuan and Chun Hua, surprisingly, didn’t stop them. According to Xiao Cao, this was rare; she used to get scolded for playing outside too long.

But Xiao Cao was happy to be able to play with her new friend, often dragging Xiao Mai around the village, meeting many other girls.

Unfortunately, not everyone could play with Xiao Cao like her.

Xiao Mai kind of understood in her heart, but didn’t say anything.

Meanwhile, Uncle Liu also helped Jiang Hu pick a good day to break ground. As long as he found some people, they could start work.

Before that, Jiang Hu needed to find the village chief, talk to him about it, and also let Zhang Yuan introduce some workers.

The village chief’s house was further inside the village. Although he was the chief, his family life wasn’t much different from others.

Like Zhang Yuan’s house, it was made of mud bricks, but better than most, at least with a tile roof instead of straw.

”Little Jiang, you’re here for the pigsty, right? It’s been the talk of the village these days.”

The village chief, who was chopping pig feed, understood immediately when he saw Jiang Hu and Zhang Yuan coming.

He clapped his hands and called into the house, ”Wife, we have company. Get two bowls of water.”

Jiang Hu waved his hand, ”No need to be so polite, Chief. I’m indeed here about the pigsty. I’ve noticed that area of wasteland nobody wants, and I want to buy it all.”

The village chief was momentarily stunned, even Zhang Yuan who came with him was quite taken aback.

”Brother Jiang? You’re buying such a large piece of land? Can you manage it?”

Jiang Hu was referring to the large tract of wasteland on the other side of his family’s pond, which hadn’t been cultivated for at least ten years.

The area wasn’t small either, over a dozen acres!

No wonder the village chief and Zhang Yuan were so surprised.

Jiang Hu smiled, ”It’s not small, but it’s fine. I’ll hire people to work it, so at least it won’t be a total loss.”

Zhang Yuan clicked his tongue, ”Hiring people, huh? Brother Jiang, you’ll become a landlord then.”

Jiang Hu waved his hand, ”This doesn’t count as being a landlord. Real landlords have hundreds or thousands of acres; I only have about twenty acres altogether.”

The village chief came to his senses, tempted to scold them a bit, advising young people not to aim too high and to focus on their current tasks first.

But since they weren’t that familiar, he only thought about it and didn’t say it out loud, just adviced;

”I’ll write you a note. You go to town to get the land deed, but remember, from the fourth year, taxes need to be paid on wasteland purchases.”

Grain tax isn’t waived just because the land is uncultivated.

”Thank you for your trouble, Chief. I understand.”