Chapter 32 Land and Cattle

"Uh... this..." Liu Yitiao clearly hadn't expected Old Liu to bring up the matter of finding him a wife. He rubbed his head, feeling troubled. Marrying and having children at eighteen? In his view, it was pure nonsense—who had ever heard of a student marrying and starting a family right after graduating high school?

"Father, there's no rush for me. Let's talk about this in a few years." Liu Yitiao tried to dodge the topic, but Old Liu was having none of it. Rarely so authoritarian, he declared, "This is not up for discussion! I'm your father, you must listen to me! After the New Year, I'll find you a wife, and by this time next year, your mother and I want to be holding a grandchild! If there's still no grandchild, I'll find you another wife, and I'll keep doing so until our Liu family has an heir!"

What kind of people are these? Forcing someone to marry? Even if you want a grandchild, you should at least wait until my body is fully mature, right? There's just no sense in this. Liu Yitiao, frustrated, said, "Father, if you're so eager for a grandchild, isn't there Ertiao? In a couple of years, he'll be old enough. You can get him a few wives then, can't you?" Left with no choice, Liu Yitiao shamelessly shifted the target.

Old Liu replied without hesitation, "Ertiao is Ertiao, you are you. When Ertiao is old enough, I'll arrange a wife for him. But you, after the New Year, must bring home a wife! The continuation of our Liu family depends on you."

"...," Liu Yitiao was speechless. With a father like this, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"That's right, big brother, I want you to bring home a sister-in-law too," Ertiao chimed in, joining the fun. Liu Yitiao shot him a fierce glare and retorted, "You're just a kid, what are you meddling for? All right, father, let's talk about this later. It's time for dinner, mother's already calling us."

And so the matter was put aside for the moment.

But Old Liu was unwavering in his determination to find Liu Yitiao a wife.

By afternoon, as dusk approached, the headmen of each village went around beating brass gongs, gathering the main menfolk of the village. They announced that Magistrate Wang had found a cure for dysentery. Medicines had been distributed to the village heads, and all households with cattle should collect them promptly—those with sick animals could treat them, those without could use them as prevention.

In no time, Wang Zhihong's reputation in Sanyuan County reached an unprecedented peak.

Perhaps this was exactly what he wanted.

Liu Yitiao returned the family's draft ox to its owner, along with the deposit. He'd already gotten the benefit he needed, and there was no point in letting a few coins tarnish the Liu family's reputation. Yuan Fang and Zhang Chuwen, deeply moved by Liu Yitiao's generosity, forever remembered his kindness.

The next day, people from the county came to inform Liu Yitiao to inspect his land. He didn't recognize the visitor, who looked like a clerk or minor official. Their purpose was simply to take him to identify his new plot.

The land lay three miles west of their village, not far, and was a patch of wild, weed-choked wasteland. Judging by how overgrown it was, the plot had lain fallow for at least five years, perhaps longer.

Five years without cultivation meant the soil was compacted, moisture was scarce, and even nutrients would be lacking. Restoring it would take effort. But Liu Yitiao wasn't worried; he knew many ways to enrich land, and he was confident he could turn it into fertile fields within a year. His main concern was manpower—such a large tract of wasteland would be hard to prepare before spring without a hundred workers. He was hoping to sow spring millet when the season came.

At noon, the draft oxen promised by Wang Zhihong arrived at Liu Yitiao's home.

Ten head, plus the family's own Little Yellow, made eleven in all. Old Liu could hardly keep his mouth from grinning. He'd never seen so many draft oxen together, and to own so many was beyond his wildest dreams. He patted this one and examined that one; each of the ten new oxen was robust, the best among their kind. No wonder he was so delighted.

But with more oxen came new problems. The family’s cattle shed had only been built for one, nowhere near enough for eleven. So as soon as the oxen arrived, Old Liu started planning a new shed. It was winter, and snow could fall at any time. The thought of leaving the oxen out in the cold made Old Liu ache.

Liu Yitiao returned to an old trade—piercing ox noses. After experiencing firsthand the benefits of leading an ox by the nose with Little Yellow, Old Liu had come to appreciate its usefulness, and this time, he didn't wait for Liu Yitiao to mention it; he urged him to get started.

Piercing the noses of ten oxen kept Liu Yitiao busy all afternoon, and the Liu family's yard echoed with the thunderous bellowing of cattle, drawing many neighbors to watch the spectacle. They were first astonished by the sheer number of oxen—since when had Old Liu bought so many?—and then puzzled by Liu Yitiao's methods. Why was he tormenting the oxen like this? Wasn't he afraid of being imprisoned again? They remembered how last time, the family had been arrested because of nose rings.

No one realized the benefit of nose rings, not until a month later, when they saw the Liu family's oxen were all docile, and then began to imitate the practice themselves.

Once he was done, Liu Yitiao washed the blood from his hands in warm water and helped Old Liu build the new cattle shed.

The shed was constructed with deadwood as the frame, bundled rods and straw for the walls. Old Liu had already finished the skeleton and was about to climb up to lay the roof. Worried he might have an accident, Liu Yitiao called out, "Father, let me finish up. You rest for a bit down here."

Old Liu wiped the sweat from his face, hands on his waist—an afternoon of labor had tired him out. He said to Liu Yitiao, "All right, but be careful. I'll hand you the straw from below. Let's try to finish before dark."

"Okay," Liu Yitiao replied, nimbly climbing the frame, taking the straw Old Liu handed up, and laying it as he asked, "Father, now that we have oxen and land, after the New Year I want to hire some farmers to help clear the wasteland. Do you know where I can find workers?" He'd asked a few families that day, offering generous terms, but no one was willing to help, leaving him perplexed. So he turned to Old Liu for advice.

"Well," Old Liu thought for a moment, "You probably won't find help in the village. Everyone has their own fields to tend, so no one would come. And lately, there haven't been any outsiders moving in. If you want to hire workers, you'll have to go to the county and find those released convicts who've lost their household registration, or servants demoted to low status. The wages for such people aren't high, but generally, no one wants to hire them—they're unruly, prone to trouble, and often know nothing of farm work. If you can avoid it, it's best not to consider them."

"I see," Liu Yitiao mused. It seemed he'd underestimated how difficult it was to become a landlord here. "I'll go to the county seat tomorrow, pay a visit to Uncle Yang—he knows many people in town, maybe he'll have some ideas."