Chapter 176 - 176 165 Drawing Lots (Additional update for 125,000 recommendation votes from Yun Qi)

Words : 1559 Updated : Sep 21st, 2025

176: Chapter 165: Drawing Lots (Additional update for 125,000 recommendation votes from Yun Qi) 176: Chapter 165: Drawing Lots (Additional update for 125,000 recommendation votes from Yun Qi) Mr. Zhuang then pursed his lips and said, “I’ve already said it’s a storybook, and since it’s a storybook, the content inside is naturally false. That’s why I said reading it is of no benefit, and it could even lead to corrupting you children. Alright, I’m confiscating this book.” Manbao was stunned, having never imagined a day would come when a book would be confiscated. After dealing with his beloved disciple, Mr. Zhuang turned to Bai Shanbao, saying sternly, “If you want to eradicate all the bandits in the world, you need to accomplish two things.” Bai Shanbao’s eyes sparkled as he asked, “What things?” “First, you need to study well and pass the imperial examinations to become a Jinshi, or you could try for the Ming Classic. Only by succeeding in the official examinations can you quickly gain a position of power and have the chance to plan the eradication of bandits. Second, you need to learn martial arts; how can you fight enemies on the battlefield without martial skills? Your body is weak, do you think you can disregard your family and friends and go to battle?” Bai Shanbao felt, that the teacher made a lot of sense, and quickly asked, “Then teacher, do you think I can pass the Jinshi exam? My father was born a Jinshi, and my mother says it’s very difficult to pass.” “With your talents, as long as you are diligent in your studies, passing the Jinshi should not be difficult.” Even if it was difficult, Mr. Zhuang would say it wasn’t in order to encourage him, “The elderly always say that the student can surpass the teacher; maybe you will be even better than your father.” Bai Shanbao thought so too. He was very excited and asked again, “What about the martial arts?” “For that, you’ll have to discuss it with your grandmother,” Mr. Zhuang said, “Hire a personal guard as a trainer, or go to an escort agency to employ an escort master. The costs are not very high.” At least for the Bai Family, that amount of money was nothing much. As Manbao followed Bai Shanbao out, she kept urging him, “You must ask your house guard if he can fly. If he can’t, be sure to ask at the escort agency again. If we’re going to learn, we should learn the best skills.” Bai Shanbao thought her suggestion made sense, and even said, “When I’ve learned, I’ll teach you.” “Great!” Adhering to the principle of reciprocity, Manbao said, “Then I’ll share my candied haws with you.” Bai Shanbao’s mouth watered as he nodded, and then the two reluctantly said goodbye at the crossroads. Bai Shanbao even invited her, “Why don’t you come to my house to do homework? That way, we can talk together.” Manbao said, “Let’s do it tomorrow; today my Zhou Si is dividing land, and I want to go see the excitement.” As soon as Bai Shanbao heard there was excitement to see, he immediately became excited and asked, “Dividing what land?” “Dividing up the Yongye Fields and the individual fields. Tomorrow Zhou Si will become an adult, and just recently, Zhou Liang’s nephew also became an adult, so the two of them will divide the land together.” Lots of people from the village were going to watch because dividing land was a big deal. Peace had only been restored for about twenty years, and there were still people fleeing famine years ago. The lands of those who had fled were left unattended, and generally, after more than three years of going uncultivated, the land would be reclaimed by the state. This parcel of land would temporarily be under the care of the village Chief or, if it was fertile land with good water and soil, the County Governmental Office would cordon it off and hand it over to the Chief of the jurisdiction to manage. Some Chiefs would secretly cultivate on the abandoned land within their jurisdiction, but others lacked the ability to farm and would just let it fall into neglect. The Chief of Qili Village belonged to the latter. Their allocated land was sufficient for cultivation, especially since they had an ox; any more land would be beyond their capacity to farm. It was always the Chief who delineated the land every time there was a child in the jurisdiction who reached maturity. When land was allotted for an individual field, every household in the village had to send one person to help with the land reclamation, as was the custom established over time. The area of Qili Village still had plenty of good, uncultivated land left, twenty mu per person for the Yongye Fields that could not be sold but could be inherited. Of course, there were exceptional circumstances where it could be sold, but it required registration at the County Governmental Office, such as when someone in the family needed to raise money for a burial or for medical treatment. Once verified by the County Governmental Office and recognized, the Yongye Fields could be sold. The individual fields of forty mu would be returned to the state upon death. As Qili Village had many low slopes, the Chief simply followed the old practice and allocated the slopes as individual fields for everyone. Old Zhou, Zhou Dalang, Zhou Erlang, and Zhou Sanlang’s individual fields were all on the slopes, including the unclaimed lands at the foot of the mountains. The measurements weren’t taken seriously, just roughly marked off and allocated with a circle. Actually, the individual fields weren’t of much use. They were meant for people to grow mulberry trees and raise silkworms, but the villagers of Qili Village didn’t know how to raise silkworms. They tended to open up a patch of land at the foothills to grow hemp, as the hemp bags they used and the hemp clothes they wore were all made from hemp. As for the mountains, they were mostly used to grow trees. No, they wouldn’t usually touch the wild trees on the mountains; they were left to grow as they would. If there happened to be trees suitable for building houses or making furniture, that was even better. They could reap the benefits without needing to plant the trees themselves. Of course, if there were no such trees on the mountain, Old Zhou would lead his sons to scour the mountains far and wide for those tree species and transplant them to their own mountain. At the beginning, they would water and loosen the soil, add some manure, and once the trees took root, they could be left untended. All that was needed was to control the surrounding wild trees so they wouldn’t hinder the planted tree’s growth. They planted them when a child turned into an adult. By the time their children grew up, the trees were basically ready to be harvested for building houses or making furniture. When Manbao had her first birthday, Old Zhou planted several trees for her on the mountain. Datou and the others also had their share, but Manbao thought they would surely not be enough when they grew up. Because her father’s weren’t enough, perhaps he hadn’t anticipated having so many children and hadn’t planted many trees back then, which meant they now needed to buy them. Apart from planting trees, one could also plant bamboo. For example, Zhou Erlang and Zhou Sanlang had planted a lot of bamboo on their individual fields. Each year, the bamboo that Zhou Erlang used for his bamboo crafts, apart from those cut from ownerless mountains, all came from their own individual fields. The lands in the village all seemed similar, but through the discussions at home these past few days, Manbao knew there were significant differences. She wondered whether her Zhou Si would have the good luck to pick a better plot. By the time Manbao and Bai Shanbao, hand in hand, got to the edge of the fields, the Chief had already led the people to check all the lands. Then he said to the two young men who had come of age, “As everyone has just seen, we plan to divide these lands we’ve reviewed into two parts, twenty mu each. Zhou Liang, Zhou Daliang, come over and draw lots.” Zhou Si and Zhou Daliang looked at each other and stepped forward. The Chief took out a lot-drawing tube containing two lot slips and said, “Whoever draws the slip with the red marking at the bottom gets plot number one, and if not, then plot number two.” The Zhou family members earnestly recalled the differences between the two plots and then realized the differences weren’t very significant, except that plot number one had more access to water. With this in mind, everyone stared intently at the lot-drawing tube. Zhou Si became nervous and looked at Zhou Daliang, “You want to go first?” Zhou Daliang politely declined, “Why don’t you go first?” “Alright,” Zhou Si replied without any pretense of politeness, “Then I’ll go first.”

Chapter 176 - 176 165 Drawing Lots (Additional update for 125,000 recommendation votes from Yun Qi)

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