Lu Qiqi handed fifteen large coins to Liu Tongdao, saying, "Uncle Liu, I said before that I would give you a share of the profits after we sold all the noodles. Here are fifteen large coins. You can divide them among yourselves. I won't participate."

Liu Tong smiled and accepted the fifteen coins, giving five coins each to Zhu Zi and Dun Zi.

Zhu Zi was somewhat taken aback, but he didn't think much of it. He took out two large coins and said they were a gift for his master.

Dunzi, following the example of Zhu, also took out two large coins and gave them to Liu Tong.

Seeing how sensible his apprentices were, Liu Tong didn't refuse and happily accepted the money. However, he still had to pay the money to the public fund later. He couldn't just earn the money himself and let Dahai and the others help build the house and have ready-made meals when they got home. It wouldn't be right to not pay them.

After they finished dividing the money, Lu Qiqi said, "Here's my plan: since the houses are built in the same place, I'll consider you all family, Uncle Liu. Once the spicy noodle business is stable, I plan to hand it over to you. I'll give you two options: one is to be paid daily wages for each day you set up the stall, and the other is to be paid monthly. Monthly wages will definitely be less than daily wages, but there will be an end-of-year bonus based on performance. The money you contribute to the business will come from the remaining profits, so you won't need to pay anything extra. In the future, whether you and your apprentices buy land, build houses, get married, or have children, I will help you out."

Although Liu Tong was only good at cooking and knew nothing about business, he still understood Lu Qiqi's concise explanation of a few key points. First, he would be paid for each day's work, nothing else, just a little more than a monthly wage. But if there was no work, he would not receive a single penny!

The second option is to receive a monthly salary. Although the pay is not as high as daily pay, it is more stable!

What's more, there's money to be made at the end of the year. His previous employers would just give him a red envelope with a large coin inside as a lucky charm; there was no such thing as a year-end bonus. (A large coin was equal to ten copper coins.)

As for handing over the money to the public treasury, that's something only a family would do. Even if Lu Yatou hadn't said anything, he was already planning to do it.

Since Lu Yatou treats them, master and apprentice, as family, how could he refuse? Besides, she saved his life; he'd be willing to work for her for life even without pay!

Liu Tong immediately decided, saying, "I choose the second option. If we, master and apprentice, follow you, it will definitely not be bad."

Zhu Zi and Dun Zi always listened to Liu Tong, and they nodded repeatedly like chicks pecking at rice.

Lu Qiqi nodded. As long as Liu Tong and his apprentice weren't stupid, they wouldn't choose the short-term, daily profit.

However, she really wanted to take everyone to live in a manor villa, otherwise she wouldn't have brought so many people. If they bought a house in the city and started a business, their family's life wouldn't be too bad!

Standing to the side, Mrs. Lu was anxiously clutching the hem of her clothes. She didn't know what Lu Qiqi was thinking, that she would hand over such a profitable spicy noodle business to Liu Tong and his apprentice. Her husband, Li Qingshan, had bad legs, and doing this easy job was much better than working hard in the fields!

No, she had to find an opportunity to have a serious talk with Lu Yatou.

Lu Qiqi didn't notice Lu Shi's unusual behavior. She thought that since she had started this, she should also reveal her future plans to avoid people thinking that she was being biased and causing discord, which was not what she wanted.

Lu Qiqi said, "Third Uncle, Eldest Uncle, what I want to do in the future is far more than just selling noodles. I will need your help."

Lu Qiqi is Lu Dahai's niece, so he would definitely help her with anything. He said, "Just tell me, and I will do whatever I can for you."

Li Qingshan also replied, "Yes."

Lu Qiqi gained their trust even before she spoke, which was simply because they treated her like family. She felt the same way now. She said, "In the future, if we can't cultivate the land we have cleared, we can hire people to do it. We can make money through business, buy land to build a big house, and all the children, whether boys or girls, can attend a private school."

Upon hearing his niece's words, Lu Dahai knew she had a plan in mind, so he asked, "What are your plans?"

When Madam Lu heard that Lu Qiqi had not forgotten them, she loosened her grip on her clothes.

Lu Qiqi said, "I'm planning to build a chicken farm. I think Uncle's carpentry skills are quite good, so it shouldn't be difficult to weave chicken coops out of bamboo."

Li Qingshan said, "It's not difficult. I used to weave all the chicken coops at home. I saw that there are a lot of bamboo on the high mountain behind. After the house is built and the land is cleared, I will go and cut bamboo."

Lu Dahai said, "Our house isn't finished yet, so we don't have anywhere to raise chickens, let alone a chicken farm."

Lu Qiqi said, "If we don't have one, we'll build one. Anyway, we have oxen to haul timber, and there are so many trees on the mountain. We'll build the chicken farm not far from the house so it's easy to guard and prevent people from stealing it."

Lu Dahai added, “Raising chickens requires buying chicks, which isn’t difficult; they should be available at the market. However, raising chickens is quite risky; if any chicken gets sick, they can all die.”

At this point, Madam Lu couldn't help but chime in, "This is too risky. I've heard that there was a wealthy family in the village next to Li Family Village, but because of chicken plague, all their chickens died, and they didn't earn a penny. They even incurred a lot of debt, and not long after, I heard that they went mad. Who didn't envy their wealth before!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Qiqi laughed and said, "Of course I know that these chickens have a plague and basically none of them survive, but have you forgotten what I know? I can cure human plague, let alone chicken plague. Besides, if these chickens are properly protected, this problem won't occur."

Upon hearing Lu Qiqi's words, Madam Lu laughed. Yes, how could they forget that Lu Qiqi could cure human plague, so chicken plague would certainly be no problem for her too. After all, raising chickens can really make a lot of money!

However, after a moment's thought, Ms. Lu asked, "What are some ways to sell chickens once they're raised?"

Liu Tong said, "That's easy. I used to work in a restaurant, and the chickens there came from chicken farms. We can just sell them to the restaurants."

Once everyone heard that there was a way to sell the products, they stopped worrying and felt that it was going to work!

Lu Qiqi curled the corners of her lips. She wasn't raising chickens for other restaurants; she was keeping them for her own business. However, she wasn't planning to tell everyone yet. It wouldn't be too late to tell them after she had raised a batch of chickens.

Lu Qiqi was just about to talk to Zhou Yiye about their family's future plans when he unexpectedly came over after taking the measurements.

Lu Qiqi stepped forward and asked with a faint smile, "What are your plans for Monday and beyond?"

Plans? Zhou Yi stood rooted to the spot, unable to move. He didn't understand what Lu Qiqi meant by that. The whole family had made arrangements, yet she asked him what his plans were. Was she trying to exclude him and his brothers?

No, that's impossible. If they really wanted to remove them from the family, they wouldn't have paid for their homesteads and had Li take their measurements and make clothes for them.

On Monday, he said, "I just want to work hard to make my brothers and grandmother live a good life."

I will be able to repay you and your family in the future!