The next day was the official start of construction. The workers were arranged in advance by Li Sanniu; there were about a hundred people in total, half from other villages and half from this village. This was what Yan Qingqing had promised the village chiefs of the other villages.

Although this meant that half the number of people needed to be recruited in Canghe Village, Yan Qingqing's family needed more people because both of their workshops were operating simultaneously. This also served as a warning to them that this job wasn't impossible for them; there were plenty of people willing to do such a good job.

The people from other villages thought that the village chief had worked so hard to get this opportunity for them, so they had to perform well and make sure that the village would think of them when they were looking for workers in the future.

Therefore, both sides were determined to perform well.

The two workshops were very close to each other, so before construction began, Yan Qingqing gathered everyone together for a commencement ceremony.

First, Yan Qingqing, the boss, gave a speech before the project started. She glanced at the more than one hundred people standing in front of her, said a few words of encouragement, and then the project officially began.

The groundbreaking ceremony was presided over by village chief Li Kaishan, who is now the head of several villages and speaks with great confidence and authority. The ceremony lasted for half a morning before the project officially started.

After Yan Qingqing finished her work, she handed the place over to Li Sanniu and Yan Qingshi.

Yan Qingqing had just returned home and hadn't even had a sip of water when a servant came to report that Manager Wu of Jinsheng Pavilion had arrived. Yan Qingqing sent someone to invite Yuan Huiniang while she walked towards the front hall.

The embroidery workshop and Jinsheng Pavilion have been cooperating well for the past few months. Even though there were some minor hiccups, Yan Qingqing didn't blame Manager Wu. After all, the insidious methods of Chen Ji are really hard to guard against.

When Yan Qingqing arrived at the front hall, Manager Wu was sitting there drinking tea. Manager Wu had lost a lot of weight since the beginning of the year. If the servant hadn't informed her that it was Manager Wu, Yan Qingqing would have hardly recognized him.

Upon seeing Yan Qingqing, Manager Wu quickly stood up and said, "Boss Yan, it's been a long time!"

Yan Qingqing smiled and said, "Since we met, Manager Wu has changed how he addresses me quite a few times. I wonder how he will address me next time we meet."

Shopkeeper Wu breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Yan Qingqing joking with him, and then said, "I've come today to apologize and to deliver the account books to you."

When we signed the contract with Jinshengge, we agreed to settle accounts every three months, and it has indeed been more than three months now.

Yan Qingqing laughed when she heard him say that, "I can understand that you came to deliver the accounts, so there is no need to apologize."

Manager Wu said, "Chen's family has always been rivals of our Jinsheng Pavilion. It's just that our boss has a strong backing, so they didn't dare to do anything to us and instead targeted you, causing you to suffer an undeserved disaster."

Our young master has already reprimanded me and said he'd come to apologize to you in person sometime soon.

Yan Qingqing was somewhat surprised. Although their chickens and ducks had indeed been poisoned due to Jinsheng Pavilion, it seemed inappropriate for their young master to personally apologize.

So Yan Qingqing smiled and said, "It's no big deal. Is it worth it for your young master to make a trip? Manager Wu sent an apology gift some time ago, and he has come to visit in person today, which shows his sincerity. I would never dare to let your young master come to apologize."

Manager Wu was also helpless. He was just a errand runner. He could only relay whatever the young master said, and he couldn't care less about the rest.

Just as the two were talking, Yuan Huiniang walked in, greeted Manager Wu, and then sat down to the side.

Manager Wu stopped mentioning the matter of their young master coming to apologize. He took out three account books from the box he had brought, and then took out two thousand seven hundred taels of silver notes and handed them to Yuan Huiniang with a smile, saying, "These are the accounts for the first three months and your share of the profits. Please take a look, Boss Yuan."

Yuan Huiniang paused, holding the accounts and banknotes, then looked at her mother-in-law with a puzzled expression. Had Manager Wu gone mad? Why was he calling her "boss" today? Yan Qingqing shrugged, indicating she didn't know either. If he liked calling her that, so be it.

Yuan Huiniang's attention was quickly drawn to the silver notes in her hand. More than two thousand taels of silver! How much is that?

In order not to embarrass herself in front of Manager Wu, she suppressed her excitement. Manager Wu sat for the time it takes to drink two cups of tea before getting up to take his leave.

After seeing Manager Wu off, Yuan Huiniang repeatedly stroked the silver notes with her hands, her lips trembling as she said, "Mother, pinch me to see if this is real."

Yan Qingqing laughed at her pathetic look and said, "Of course it's true. Don't be fooled by the two thousand taels you have in your hand. If you do the math, it's not that much."

Yuan Huiniang asked, somewhat puzzled, "More than two thousand taels, how can you say it's not much?"

Yan Qingqing solemnly analyzed for her: "Let's not talk about the cost of building the embroidery workshop in the past, just the monthly salary you have paid for the embroiderers in the past three months must be several tens of taels."

And those perks for New Year's shopping, the little money you three sisters-in-law used to earn has probably already been used up quite a bit.

Furthermore, it was agreed from the beginning that 10% would be taken from the public funds, and the remaining 90% would be split equally among the three of you. That would mean each of you would receive about 800 taels.

This is a quarter's worth of accounts; that works out to just over two hundred taels of silver a month, not much money at all.

Yuan Huiniang: ......

After Yan Qingqing calculated it, it really wasn't much. Yuan Huiniang, who had been so excited she couldn't control herself, realized that she had been too narrow-minded. She wilted at a visible speed. Yan Qingqing smiled when she saw this. People need to be given a dose of reality regularly, otherwise they'll easily get carried away.

However, Yuan Huiniang quickly realized that even if each person earned more than two hundred taels of silver per month, it was still quite a lot. In those days, not to mention Canghe Village, even in Chengyang County, there were very few women who could earn more than two hundred taels of silver per month.

Thinking of this, Yuan Huiniang instructed Du Ruxiu beside her, "Go to the embroidery shop and invite the eldest and second young ladies back."

Upon hearing this, Du Ruxiu quickly agreed and hurried to the embroidery workshop. Yan Qingqing watched Du Ruxiu's departing figure and asked, "How has she been behaving lately? Is she reliable?"

Yuan Huiniang thought for a moment and said, "He does have some ability, and he's much less arrogant than before. I'd like to observe him further."

Yan Qingqing nodded upon hearing this. "Time will tell, and we'll take it slow."

Soon, Xinniang and Yueniang returned from the embroidery shop. Seeing their sister-in-law and mother there, they assumed something important had happened. However, when Yuan Huiniang waved a silver note in front of them and mentioned Manager Wu's visit, the sisters were delighted.

Yuan Huiniang said, "We agreed that 10% of the profits from the embroidery workshop would be given to the public fund. You can keep this 300 taels, Mother. The remaining 2,400 taels will be divided among the three of us, 800 taels each. However, for the embroidery workshop to operate normally, we need to make and use our own materials for new dolls, so we will each put 200 taels into the workshop's public account."

Yan Qingqing had no objection to Yuan Huiniang's assignment, and Li Xinniang and the other two had even less objection.