Chapter 196: Feeling Proud

There are some people in Liuhe Village who do not work in the workshop, but probably every family has one person working in the workshop.

Shen Yueyao has passed the screening, which ensures that every family in Liuhe Village can have enough food.

The main thing is that here, most families live together as a whole family without separating.

Even if there is only one person working in the workshop in each family, one or two taels of silver a month is enough for the whole family to eat.

In addition, some families raise ducks and save duck eggs. In this way, many families can make some money by relying on duck eggs.

Even if you have a few dozen more copper coins a month, you can still have enough to eat on noodles.

Coarse grains cost eight cents per pound. Although they are not as good as fine flour, they can still fill people up.

Most of the villagers today are still unable to get enough food.

When people don’t have enough to eat, they don’t care whether the food tastes good or not. Most of the time, they are happy just to have enough to eat.

Everyone is happy if they can eat whole grains and feel full.

Shen Yueyao can understand everyone's feelings.

So when she hired people for her workshop, especially people from her own village, she would first understand the situation of each household, and then try to evenly employ one or two people from each family.

Some families have many people who can work and are diligent and efficient, so Shen Yueyao used them all.

Of course, the age didn’t match, some were too old and some were children, so Shen Yueyao didn’t use them.

In addition, recently the strong men in the village helped build the workshop and can earn twenty cents a day, which can also improve everyone's living conditions.

Looking at the smiles on the villagers’ faces now, you can see the changes in everyone’s mental outlook and state of mind.

Shen Yueyao was also happy to see this.

Of course, it is also because life has improved and everyone has more energy.

Whenever they see something happening in the village, they all want to go and take a look.

And everyone guessed that Su Xueyi had passed the examination and became a scholar.

However, everyone still wanted to go and see it with their own eyes. On the one hand, they wanted to watch the fun, and on the other hand, they sincerely hoped that Su Xueyi would pass the exam.

Because now the villagers understand one thing.

That is, only when the Su family and Shen Yueyao are good will the villagers follow suit.

Now everyone understands that Shen Yueyao opened a workshop, paid so much wages and bonuses, and gave everyone more rest time, all for the purpose of helping the villagers.

Now that everyone can have enough food to eat every day, the person they are most grateful to is not others, but Shen Yueyao.

"Quick, go over and take a look."

"Yes, Mr. Su will definitely pass the exam and become a scholar."

"Yes, we are hoping that Master Su will do well in the exam. I heard that there are also good and bad scholars. Those who do well are called "Lisheng" (academic stipend student) and they are said to receive silver and a few dou of rice. We don't understand that either."

"It is said that scholars are precious. If they study well, they can change their family background. If Mr. Su becomes an official in the future, our village will also be famous."

"Our village is now famous. Thanks to Miss Shen, our lives are getting better and better. We feel hopeful every day."

"Yes, we used to go to the market only before the New Year. Two days ago, my daughter-in-law and granddaughter-in-law took me to the market in Beimai Village and bought me some cloth to make clothes."

"My granddaughter said, let's celebrate the New Year well this year and buy new clothes, meat and flour."

"Haha, that's right. Although it's not Chinese New Year yet, everyone is looking forward to it. Then we can buy more things at the New Year market. In the past, we couldn't even afford to buy New Year goods or even a pound of meat at the market."

"To be honest, a few days ago, both of my daughters-in-law came back with their wages and bonuses. Our family was so excited, and we're still excited now. Miss Shen is really kind. Everyone in the village knows the news. A distant relative of mine, who hasn't been around for many years, came to see me with something special, and I didn't recognize her at first."

"Not to mention your family, we also have many relatives who rarely visit us. They don't look down on us because we live in a remote village. They bring candy and snacks and speak politely and warmly. In the end, they just want to ask about the workshop and want to come to our village workshop to work."

"They were all jealous, saying it was so far away that they would come to work even if it meant hiring a bullock cart for over an hour every day."

"Not to mention them, even people in town want to come work here, but they can't find such work in town."

"Don't mention it. My daughter-in-law said that she used to be looked down upon by her family members because her parents were gentle. But now, because of her, her parents can stand up straight in front of their family members. How do you say it? Oh, it feels like they've won back their pride."

The villagers are uneducated and cannot use idioms, so they can only express the general meaning.

Everyone was talking and laughing, feeling relaxed.

Living in the village, you can't avoid dealing with relatives. Everyone wants to live a decent life and be respected by relatives.

The feeling of being ignored and looked down upon is actually not pleasant.

Now that they are respected and valued by their relatives, they feel different.

Of course, they all knew in their hearts that the reason why they were treated so warmly by their relatives was because they lived in Liuhe Village, where Yao Niang had a workshop.

Yao Niang’s second workshop has been built, and she recently posted a recruitment notice, but she hasn’t officially started recruiting yet.

Many people heard the news and rushed over to take a look.

The people from Liuhe Village are now very popular.

When the villagers of Liuhe Village knew that the yamen runners had arrived, they all put down what they were doing and ran over to see.

Whenever there was any news in the village, even the villagers living in the back of the village would know it quickly and run to see.

When they arrived, there were already many people gathered at the door of the Su family's house.

When they saw the yamen runners coming, everyone made way.

Su Xueyi and Shen Yueyao heard the commotion outside and came out as well.

Several yamen runners came over and were also amazed when they saw Su Xueyi and Shen Yueyao.

These two people don't look like ordinary people at first glance. They look like they come from wealthy families. Not only do they have outstanding temperament, but they also have good looks.

People like this deserve to move up.

Although the messenger knew the person before him was probably Su Xueyi, he still followed the rules and asked, "Excuse me, who is Mr. Su Xueyi from Daliu County?"

Su Xueyi nodded and said, "Sir, I am Su Xueyi."

The yamen runner nodded inwardly and looked at the man, admiring him in his heart.

He said politely with a smile on his face, "Congratulations to Mr. Su for taking first place in the college entrance examination. He is the top candidate in the college entrance examination."

When the villagers heard the first one, they almost exploded.

"Did you really get first place?"

"First place, the third son of the Su family is now a scholar."

"Not only is he a scholar, but he's also number one. That shows how amazing he is. Our village has also produced a scholar."

Everyone was happy and excited.

After witnessing this scene, everyone can go out and tell people from other villages about it and show off.

In the past, people didn’t take Liuhe Village seriously, but now those people envy them for living in Liuhe Village.