In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 277 Heartbeat

"Now that everyone has finished eating, I have a few things to say!"

Chen Dao paused for a moment and said, "Does everyone still remember the term of my land lease?"

"of course I remember."

Everyone nodded in agreement. They remembered clearly that Chen Dao had said the rent would be 2 taels of silver for six months when he rented their land.

“Just remember it!”

Chen Dao nodded and continued, "Now that more than half a year has passed, what are you all planning to do?"

More than three months have passed since Chen Dao rented the villagers' land. The remaining two months are not enough to plant another crop. It's time to consider the land rental issue.

"How to do?"

The villagers looked at each other, some not understanding what Chen Dao meant.

When the lease expires, naturally we take the land back and plant crops again, what else can we do?

After all, winter is almost over, and the spring planting season is just around the corner.

only……

The villagers frowned. If they got the land back, they probably wouldn't be able to eat and drink for free at Chen Dao's house every day anymore.

“Brother Dao, you can tell us what you’re thinking.”

At this moment, Chen He stood up and said that he knew Chen Dao well and knew that Chen Dao's question was definitely not unfounded.

"I want the villagers to continue renting their land to me!"

Chen Dao stated his purpose directly.

Upon hearing this, the villagers' eyes lit up.

Chen He then asked the question that the villagers cared about most: "Brother Dao, if we continue to rent this land to you, will we still get two taels of silver?"

"there is none left!"

Chen Dao shook his head and said, "There's no money left to rent the land, but as long as you're willing to continue working for me, I can pay you a monthly salary!"

"My idea is this: I will give all the land in the village to myself, and then the villagers will continue to work for me. I will give them the pay they deserve!"

Chen Dao had always known that it was absolutely impossible for Chenjia Village to become prosperous by relying solely on farming. Therefore, he did not intend to send the villagers back to farming, but rather to let them continue working as laborers. As for the village's land...

They concentrated their efforts on cultivating the high-yield grain varieties they had developed!

"Give all the land to Daoge'er?"

"This...we're not going to farm anymore?"

"How can we survive without farming? Where will we get food if we don't farm?"

"..."

The villagers looked at each other, not opposed to handing over their land to Chen Dao, but many of them were old farmers who had farmed the land all their lives, and asking them to give up their land was undoubtedly an extremely difficult thing.

Even Chen He frowned unconsciously and asked, "Brother Dao, are you saying we're not going to farm anymore?"

"almost!"

Chen Dao nodded without hesitation: "Give me all the land, and I will arrange for people to cultivate it. As for the villagers' food problem, I will naturally take care of that as well!"

"Brother Dao, are you going to continue feeding us?"

A woman couldn't help but ask.

"in spite of!"

Chen Dao unexpectedly shook his head: "From now on, I will no longer take care of the village's food. Instead, I will give you money. As long as you help me with the work, you can receive at least 500 coins a month."

As he spoke, Chen Dao pointed in the direction of the village entrance and continued, "Later, I will open a shop in the village. The shop will sell grain, salt, eggs and other items. You can use your wages to buy them there!"

That's it!

Wu Han suddenly realized that Chen Dao had been wondering why he was buying so much salt and other daily necessities. It turned out that he was planning to open a shop in the store.

“500 coins a month? That’s not enough! These days, a pound of flour costs about 15 coins. 500 coins can only buy about 30 pounds of flour. How can that be enough for a family to eat?”

"Yes! There are five people in my family. Even if we eat sparingly, thirty catties of wheat flour is not enough!"

"Yes! I think farming is more reliable!"

"..."

The villagers counted on their fingers: 500 coins a month was definitely not enough for their families to live on, given the current grain prices. If the family had few members, they could barely make ends meet, but if there were many people... they would probably go hungry.

"Brother Dao, I'm afraid 500 coins won't be enough!"

Chen He said, "Except for a few people, most families in our village have more than five members. 500 coins is simply not enough to feed a family."

"When did I say that a household could only earn 500 coins?"

Chen Dao said with a strange look, "Working for me is not calculated by household, but by head! If one person in the family works for me, I can get 500 wen a month, two people will get 1 tael of silver, and four people will get 2 taels of silver!"

"500 coins per person? My family has 5 people, so wouldn't that be enough to earn 2.5 taels of silver?"

"There are eight people in my family, so isn't that four taels of silver a month?"

"This job seems feasible? Although there are only three people in my family, one and a half taels of silver a month is enough for us!"

"..."

At this moment, the villagers were all tempted. 500 coins per household was certainly not enough, but if each person received 500 coins, then the whole family would definitely have enough to eat.

"also……"

Seeing the villagers' interest, Chen Dao added, "In my shop, I'll also offer them discounts on grain prices, making it about half the price of grain sold in the city!"

Half price?

The villagers looked at each other, and they could all see the excitement in each other's eyes. Because Xu Zhiwen had taken some of the grain that he had confiscated from the Yuan family and put it on the market, the price of grain had dropped slightly. Now, a pound of wheat flour in the city costs about 14 copper coins.

Half of 14 coins is 7 coins per pound, that price...

Everyone secretly started calculating in their minds. If one person in the family helped Chen Dao with his work, they could earn 500 coins a month. At the price of 7 coins per pound of flour, that would be enough to buy about 70 pounds of flour, more than enough to feed an adult, and there would even be some left over.

If there were more people in the family helping Chen Dao with chores...

Not only can you have enough to eat, but you can also save some money!

At that moment, all the villagers were moved!

only……

Many villagers who have farmed for half their lives are still hesitant. Having spent half their lives with crops, they find it hard to give up their land.

"Of course!"

At this point, Chen Dao said, "If you don't want to work for me, you can take your own land back and continue farming. I won't force you!"

Forced choices are never sweet, and Chen Dao has no intention of forcing the villagers to make a choice, even though he is taking over the village's land for their own good.

“You don’t need to make a decision now. You can go back and discuss it, think it over, and then get back to me.”

After saying that, Chen Dao looked at Li Qiang, who was sitting next to Chen He, and said, "Village Chief Li, please come inside and talk."