Quick Transmigration: Underdog Turns out to be Untouchable

Chapter 68: Chapter 68: The Sin of Gender 68

Although there is a ten-year tax exemption, it takes at least two years of effort to cultivate barren land into mature farmland. In the first year alone, just pulling the weeds can be exhausting.

Nevertheless, the ten-year tax exemption made everyone very happy. Once they arrived at the border city, they had large pieces of land waiting for them to develop and claim, along with enough materials to build their houses. This made everyone fully convinced of Qin Shuangshuang’s decision to bring them to the border city.

Just as Qin Shuangshuang had said before, once they arrived at the border city, as long as they were willing to work, they had no worries about living a good life. With the allure of land and houses in front of them, everyone was in high spirits, each of them busy pondering whether to cultivate the land first or build houses first.

Recently, when people met each other, their greetings had turned into, ”Have you decided what to do first? Our family wants to do both, but we can only choose one, it’s really troubling.” They spoke of troubles, but their faces were full of joy, perfectly demonstrating what it means to say one thing but mean another.

What made Qin Shuangshuang happiest was that Min Tiancheng had already agreed to live with them and promised to open an academy to teach children who love to study. Although Min Tiancheng came to be a lecturer, there wasn’t even a city around, let alone a county school!

Min Tiancheng agreed to stay first because everyone’s genuine respect warmed his heart, and second, he needed an income to support his family. By teaching students, he could naturally receive some tuition fees.

No matter how you look at it, Min Tiancheng agreeing to stay made everyone even happier. The clan elders whose grandchildren were learning from Min Tiancheng began arranging to build a schoolhouse for him, with classrooms in the front and living quarters in the back. Qin Shuangshuang expressed her wholehearted support.

Since everyone agreed, they rolled up their sleeves and got busy, working in high spirits. The design of the academy was exquisite, with the blueprints personally drawn by the talented and versatile Min Tiancheng. Moreover, Min Sir also took charge of designing everyone’s houses, bringing another round of joy as everyone felt they had gained a scholarly air by being associated with an Advanced Scholar!

All the people were united, and the materials were readily available for free, so the academy was quickly built! Once the school was built, the elders temporarily stayed there, while everyone else thought that the most important task was to open up the land, as the land is the foundation for farmers.

In Qin Shuangshuang’s household, there were only her, Qin Miaobai, and Fang Yaoyao, although Fang Yaoyao was almost a permanent resident. Since they were all women, Qin Shuangshuang didn’t plan for them to farm the land. However, she still planned to develop a hundred acres of barren land.

Qin Shuangshuang was not planning to farm the land herself but was preparing to get some tenant farmers to do it. Based on the timing, those disaster victims would soon be sent to the border city.

According to memories from her previous life, after these disaster victims arrived at the border city, the court did not provide any preferential policies. If they wanted housing, land, or building materials, they had to participate in city construction, with land and building materials allocated based on the amount of work done, but even then, very little was given.

What was more troublesome was that they did not have the thirty taels of household silver per person, no land, no house, and no grain, so the disaster victims had no choice but to rent and cultivate the land of the original residents of the border city.

There was no doubt that since the court was willing to give the migrating people such preferential policies, the original residents of the border city naturally received even more favorable treatment at the first opportunity, such as better land parcels with richer soil!

In fact, the clerk who allocated land to Qin Shuangshuang and the others gave them very fertile land, naturally because they were the first group of people to voluntarily come over, and so they should receive a bit more preferential treatment as a reward.

Qin Shuangshuang, with her great strength, thrust a large iron rake into the ground and pulled it back and forth in a frenzy during land clearing, turning over all the grass roots, and even the roofs of the homes of wild rats and hares in the barren land, startling them into a wild scatter!

Some quick-eyed and nimble-handed folks grabbed a few fat hares, and also killed many rats to prevent future grain damage, along with two long snakes, but although the snakes looked scary, they preyed on rats, so everyone simply sent them off without harming them.

Qin Shuangshuang’s vigorous land clearing naturally attracted attention. Everyone knew that her household had few men and was composed mostly of women. Despite Qin Shuangshuang’s capability, she was alone and didn’t have the ability to farm so much land herself. At that time, if someone seized her land, it would be a major loss.

Everyone was a bit worried and came over to advise Qin Shuangshuang not to overexert herself. Qin Shuangshuang, not someone to keep things to herself, shared her plans openly.

Upon hearing Qin Shuangshuang’s explanation, everyone suddenly understood, and a few insightful ones considered opening more land as well to rent out for others to farm.

Of course, some were worried about whether Qin Shuangshuang’s analysis was accurate. What if the court didn’t forcibly escort the disaster victims over, or didn’t rescind the policies favoring the disaster victims? Then they would be in trouble.

Situations like this favored the bold while the timid starved. Ultimately, it was Qin Shuangshuang’s mentor Fang Zhongyi, along with the village chief’s family, Uncle He’s family, Aunt Hao’s family, Qin Sheng’s family, and some clan elders and villagers who trusted Qin Shuangshuang, who chose to open more land, while other households only opened three or forty acres, barely enough for their own needs.

Qin Shuangshuang didn’t mind; she was busy every day clearing land. Developing barren land wasn’t indefinite: once it’s opened up, they had to report the chosen acres to the government for registration, and the government would issue a red contract, officially making this land theirs.

Once the government issued a red contract, the common people could not continue clearing land. If they wanted to increase their land, they would have to buy it with money.

This time, Qin Shuangshuang opened up no less than two hundred thirty acres of land. Initially, she only planned to open a hundred acres, but since others dared not open more land for fear that it would be seized if left uncultivated, and three thousand acres were left with a large portion unused, Qing Shuangshuang couldn’t bear to see it wasted and cleared over a hundred more acres.

When processing the red contract, the clerk in charge looked at Qin Shuangshuang with an entirely different gaze, repeatedly confirming whether she truly wanted so much land, and telling her several times that if she didn’t cultivate the cleared land, it would be entirely reclaimed!

After receiving Qin Shuangshuang’s firm confirmation, the clerk stared at her with a gaze that suggested he thought she was a fool before finally issuing the red contract.

Once the red contract was issued, it was time to collect seeds. When collecting seeds, Qin Shuangshuang was once again met with looks as if she were a fool.

Once the land was cleared, it was time to plant. It was midsummer, and they had missed the season for early spring crops, so the government provided seeds for fast-maturing greens, which was better than leaving the land barren.

The exhausting season of farming finally ended, and with two hundred acres of land, planting alone nearly drained Qin Shuangshuang, causing a fatigue she hadn’t experienced since her reincarnation, a feeling familiar from her past life.

After the seeds sprouted, the next task came: distinguishing between seeds and weeds, and weeding them out.

This was very tiring work, bending down to locate each one. Qin Shuangshuang couldn’t bear to let Mrs. Bai, Qin Miao, and Fang Yao suffer through this hardship but couldn’t persuade them not to work, so she soaked herself in the fields, doing as much as she could.

One day, while Qin Shuangshuang was weeding, in the distance, the village chief’s eldest grandson, Da Hu, ran over at full speed, his face flushed as he shouted loudly at Qin Shuangshuang...