Chapter 286: Iron Pot Stewed Goose

"To be precise, the wages are divided into two parts. One part is a guaranteed daily salary of 20 wen. This means that even if you are sick, need to take leave occasionally, or take a break for childbirth, etc., this wage will be paid without change.

The other part is based on the quality of the embroidery: the higher the price, the higher the commission; the lower the price, the lower the commission. This depends on their own efforts and abilities."

When the women around heard the word "embroidery workshop", before they had time to ask in detail, they heard Shen Qing explain it clearly!

A guaranteed 20 cents a day? Even if you're sick or have a baby, you'll get it?

Oh my God, did they really hear it right?

Zheng Hui swallowed and said blankly, "Isn't this better than the brush workshop?"

"Who said it wasn't?" Li E replied hesitantly.

There is no guaranteed salary in the workshop. The more you work, the more you earn. You get paid based on how much you work every day. You don’t get paid during holidays. Even so, it was already great. But now, in the embroidery workshop, you get paid even during holidays!

Is Shen Qing right?

Shen Qing continued, “Embroidery is different from making brushes. In brush making, the work is divided and each person is responsible for one step. If they don’t do it well, they can switch to another step. You can learn to be proficient in three to five days.

Embroidery is done independently, from splitting the thread to drawing the pattern. One wrong stitch can ruin the whole pattern or make it unsellable. Sometimes, even with great effort, the result is still mediocre. It is much more laborious than making a brush.

How can you earn money so easily? The more you earn, the more effort you have to put in.

The only thing she could do for them was to make the effort and reward proportional.

The women who were gathered around listened attentively and nodded in agreement.

Yes, they can’t embroider and can’t afford it, but they’ve seen handkerchiefs embroidered with a few flowers in the city before, and they can get a lot of extra money.

Pinggu’s embroidery is better than those floral and plant ones, right?

Staring at each stitch and thread is indeed much more tiring than making a calligraphy brush!

Shen Qing looked at the falling snowflakes and decided to speak out loud and clear. "There's one more thing I want to say up front: you won't be paid while you're learning embroidery, and you won't be provided with food. You'll come to the embroidery workshop every day to learn from Aunt Ping, and after you've finished, we'll go back home."

The good thing is that if she doesn't want to learn anymore, she can leave. At least there is no cost for her. There is no need to put pressure on her if she is really not cut out for it. She can leave if she wants.

The men were originally discussing road construction, but when they heard Shen Qing talking about the embroidery workshop and apprenticeship, they pricked up their ears to listen. When they heard Shen Qing talk about his apprenticeship, they couldn't help but interrupt, "How can an apprentice get paid? It's good enough if they don't pay the master!"

"How difficult is it to learn a craft? In the city, you'd have to work for your master's family for at least three years for nothing. We're the only village you're looking after, and they'll get paid once they're finished as apprentices. What else can you say?"

"Apprentices are supposed to do all the housework so they can be fed. You don't need them to do any work, so how can you provide them with food?"

When it comes to learning a skill, men may not have eaten pork, but they have seen pigs run!

Even if they don't ask for wages, help the master with work, and add a gift of apprenticeship, few people are willing to accept him as an apprentice. The old saying is right: teaching an apprentice will starve the master to death. There are only so many jobs, who would be willing to take an apprentice to steal their own job?

So either they pass it on to their sons and nephews who are blood relatives, or they adopt someone who has connections and whose parents are good at handling things and who themselves are very perceptive. No matter which one it is, these people in their village don't even have to think about it!

Now it was Shen Qingniu who used 800 kilograms of fine grain and two fat and strong rams to exchange Pinggu and her daughter out. He also had to provide them with food and feed them so that the girls in the village could learn the craft.

Otherwise, even if you beat them to death, you won’t be able to find an embroiderer willing to teach.

Shen Qing didn't expect that the villagers knew more about apprentices than she did. She smiled and said, "Well, go home and tell yourselves. If you want to learn, come directly to my house tomorrow. Aunt Ping is waiting in the main hall.

By the way, it is very important to learn embroidery skills. You will not be able to do rough work in the future. Soak your nails in warm water today and clean them. Trim the hangnails and make sure they are smooth. Aunt Ping will select them tomorrow."

Zhao Mingyue assured loudly, "No problem! Don't worry. We're in hibernation now, and all we need is two meals a day and feeding the livestock. There are so many people at home, why would we need these girls to work?"

The sugar mill and tofu making were mostly manual labor, and the men and wives of the three families were enough, but the remaining children were too young to be sent to the brush workshop to work;

Now that we have an embroidery workshop, I can earn extra money after I finish my studies. I never dared to think of such a good thing before!

"It's freezing cold, so we can stay at home and do nothing. The men will take care of the roads, and we women will take care of the housework. They can go and learn a skill!" Wang Xiaohua said with a smile on her face.

She found that this long winter also had its advantages. There was no work in the fields and she had a lot of free time staying at home every day.

Then I thought, this is all thanks to Shen Qing, otherwise I would be anxious if I had no money to earn.

The most important thing is that Shen Qing discovered medicinal herbs. Medicinal herbs are not like grains that need to be cultivated and harvested every year. The shortest time for astragalus to be harvested is two years. After the wasteland is reclaimed next year, a large area of ​​land will be used to grow medicinal herbs, and a small amount of grain will be grown. The freed up time can be used to make brushes and earn money.

Nowadays, girls who are not old enough to make calligraphy brushes can learn embroidery skills and earn a living within two years. Life is getting more and more promising!

When the head of the family left Shili Village and moved to Qili Village, how should I put it? It really proves that it is most important to be with the right people...

*

Dinner was goose stewed in an iron pot.

Including the five people who were eating oyster mushrooms, there were seventeen people in total, big and small. One goose was definitely not enough for so many people, but the good thing about stews is that you can add all kinds of side dishes.

Onions, radishes, and tofu skin are added to it and simmered over low heat. The soup seeps into the side dishes and the aroma gradually becomes richer.

Jiang Yu was in charge of cooking today. She mixed flour and cornmeal in a 50-50 ratio, pinched them into small dough balls, stuck them to the edge of the pot, and twisted the rest into twisted shapes and covered the stewed goose with them.

In another large iron pot, a pot of Chinese cabbage was stewed with a handful of lard, and a small pot of steamed egg was steamed on top - specially for the children to nourish their bodies.

When the dinner was served, Pinggu brought her four daughters to the kitchen and was shocked when she saw the dinner!

Jiang Yu was embarrassed to explain: "There's no table in the dining room connected to the kitchen, and we're stewing goose today, so you guys should just make do with eating in the kitchen."

Pinggu wanted to say that she would not compromise, not at all!

How can you say that you are making do with such a big pot of food with vegetables, meat and noodles?

Guan Li smiled brightly and continued, "My father was too busy. Even the table in the main hall was rushed out. It wasn't polished very carefully and there are a lot of burrs on it.

When he's free, we can make a large round table that can be put in the dining room. Then we won't have to eat in the kitchen anymore."

While they were chatting here, Huo Bing had already set out the bowls and chopsticks to distribute the food.

There was no need to separate the food for adults, mainly because Huahua and Xiaocao were both small, especially Xiaocao, who was only about ten months old and had only one small baby tooth, so there was nothing for him to eat. So I specially made egg custard for him.