The autumn wind was bleak, and the days were getting colder.
The garment workshop had just finished producing the last batch of goods, and it was going to close, waiting to reopen next year. On the last day of the holiday, Cao Xiangnan also came over and gathered the employees in the workshop to talk about this year's situation and next year's affairs.
"... The garment workshop will start work as early as possible next year. When we know when to start work, we will let Li Mei and Wu Yue go to inform everyone in advance." He would have to go to Nanyang next year to find out when to start work here. Cao Xiangnan had not yet decided on the situation of starting work next year.
The winter clothes made by the garment workshop sold very well this year. Later, a letter came from Nanyang that the few pieces of clothes sent there before were sold out. The last batch of goods here were sent there to replenish the goods there. The workshop was short of raw materials, and he was afraid that the weather would be bad later, so the goods could not be shipped out. It was about time, so he simply stopped the work in the workshop.
"Here are some New Year gifts prepared for everyone. Everyone has one. Li Mei and Wu Yue, take them and distribute them to everyone." Cao Xiangnan motioned Li Mei and Wu Yue to come forward and distribute the gifts to everyone. Li Mei and Wu Yue
came forward and distributed the gifts to everyone one by one.
"Here are two pounds of bacon and a small jar of wine. Bacon is delicious whether it is steamed on rice or fried. Everyone take it back and try the taste." The bacon was made by him, and the wine was also produced by himself, but they were all good things. Cao Xiangnan briefly explained to everyone how to make the bacon.
"Thank you, boss."
"Thank you, boss."
Everyone was very happy to receive the things. They were paid every month for working here. Last Mid-Autumn Festival, the boss gave them moon cakes. This time, he also gave them New Year gifts, including meat and wine. They never dared to think of such good things before.
"The wages will be settled at the beginning of next month. I will give it to Li Mei and let her take it to everyone." Since the custom is to calculate the wages at the beginning of next month, Cao Xiangnan does not want to calculate it specially in a certain month.
However, taking into account some special circumstances, he added, "If anyone is waiting for money, go and tell Li Mei and report to my place. You can come to me to settle your wages first, otherwise I will pay everyone at the time."
"Li Mei, if anyone is waiting for wages, please make a note of it when the time comes."
"Okay."
"Also, everyone is on vacation and has gone home, so we have to clean up here too. Please clean up before you leave."
"Yes, yes, we should do it." Everyone was willing to clean the garment workshop before going back. In addition to their homes, the garment workshop was like their second home.
"Li Mei, Wu Yue, you two should arrange for everyone to clean up here." After telling everyone about the situation here, Cao Xiangnan gave Li Mei and Wu Yue a few instructions, mentioning that the village might arrange for people to come here to spend the winter, so this place should be cleaned up for people to live in.
"Okay, we will arrange it now." Li Mei responded quickly.
They also heard from their families that this year, the orphans and children in the village will be arranged to spend the winter in the newly built academy and the clothing workshop. Now Li Zheng and the village chief have led people to arrange it in the village.
This is a good thing for their Caojia Village. In the past, every winter when it snowed, it was unknown how many houses would collapse in the village, and people would be frozen to death or starved to death. But this year is good. Caojia Village has become different from before. The village manager has started to arrange for these people to go.
The guys in the garment workshop are proud to work in the garment workshop, and they feel lucky to have such a boss.
They all know that Caojia Village has changed from being poor because of Caojia Silang. Anyone who is willing to work in the village will have more money. These guys have jobs to do, and the village has built a school. All they have to do is wait until next year for their children to go to school. Before the cold winter came, Li Zheng and the village leaders had already made arrangements for the lonely elderly and young children in the village.
Cao Xiangnan naturally didn't know that his employees praised him so highly in their hearts. To him, he just did what he could. He paid others to do the work, and he also made money by selling the products. It was just a mutual benefit.
He handed over the matters of the garment workshop to the two managers, Li Mei and Wu Yue, and hurried away.
"Chen Wan, A Ru, you two clean this workshop."
"Cao Yan...you clean over there."
Li Mei and Wu Yue distributed the work of cleaning the garment workshop and arranged for everyone to clean the workshop inside and out.
"Hey, I don't know when the factory will start working next year." A boy was still a little worried. He was afraid that if he lost this job, he would not get this monthly salary. He had already thought about sending his two sons to school in March next year. Since the youngest son was still young, he would leave him with Aduo to take care of him for a year before sending him back.
"Don't worry, didn't the boss just say that the garment factory will start working in May at the latest? If it's earlier, we will have to come back to work here in the spring next year." Someone smiled and responded.
These guys were not worried about working every day, they were only worried about losing this job.
Li Mei came over and heard the murmurs of several people. She smiled and said a few words to comfort everyone, saying, "The boss will find a way to get the garment factory started this morning. After the spring plowing next year, we just need to make preparations to come back."
Based on his understanding of their boss, he knew that their boss would definitely make arrangements to get the garment factory started as soon as possible. He was not worried at all. He had a hunch that the garment factory would definitely not start work until May.
"Didn't the boss say it? All of us will go to the academy this winter to study and learn how to read. There will be teachers to teach us then. In the future, all the people working in the workshop will have to take an assessment, and only those who pass can continue to work here. Instead of sitting here worrying about when the boss will start work, we might as well think about how to work harder and learn a few more words when the time comes."
As soon as Li Mei said this, everyone started to worry.
"Oh, what should I do? I don't know any big characters. What should I do?"
"I don't know either. I'm so old and I'm just starting to learn to read. Is it too late?" "
Why is it too late? We can all learn together. Didn't the boss say that if we learn three big characters a day, we will learn a lot in a month? We will learn all this winter, and then we will know more characters."
Li Mei and Wu Yue were even more worried. The boss had told them that in addition to learning big characters, they also had to learn arithmetic. Otherwise, how could they do their job well without knowing a single big character and how to do accounting?
The children at home can learn arithmetic well, so it shouldn't be difficult for them to learn, right?
The roads in the village were repaired, and some of the extra men were arranged to help build houses at the academy. After leaving the clothing workshop, Cao Xiangnan went to the academy, looked at the progress of the house construction, and learned about the situation here from Master Feng.
The bacon that had been rushed for half a month, in addition to sending it to Yipinzhai, was transported to Nanyang in two batches. The rest of the finished meat was transported to the town to sell, except for the ones kept for home consumption and gifts.
After negotiating with the shopkeeper Liu, a stall was set up at the door of Yipinzhai to sell bacon.
The old men who had tasted the delicious meat in Yipinzhai would ask their housekeepers and servants to buy some from here and take them away. The stall only sells 200 kilograms of bacon every day, and each person can only buy 10 kilograms at a time. The 200 kilograms of meat will be sold out very quickly. Those who line up at the back cannot buy any meat and can only wait until the next day.
The stall was closed in a short time after it was opened in the morning.
"Oh, Brother Cao is here, come in and sit down."
The carriage stopped at the back door of Luo's Clinic. Cao Xiangnan got off the carriage and knocked on the door. Luo Rongheng came over and opened the door for him. He wanted to pull him in when he saw him. He hurriedly said, "Brother, bring a few kilograms of meat and two jars of wine."
The things were still in the carriage, so he had to take them down before going in!
Cao Xiangnan didn't forget to give Doctor Luo a gift when he got something good. Moreover, Luo Rongheng had sent him some precious herbs when he went to his house last time. He was just returning the favor and sent a gift.
"Come here if you want. Why should you be so polite to me, brother? Why send me wine?" He said so. As soon as he heard that there was wine, Luo Rongheng's people came out. When Cao Xiangnan opened the curtain of the carriage, he had already reached out to move the wine jar down.
After moving everything into the yard, Cao Xiangnan followed Luo Rongheng inside.
Luo Rongheng leaned over to smell the wine jar, and said three times in a row, "Good, good, good."
"This wine is stronger than the previous ones. Brother, you should just drink two glasses when you drink it, don't be greedy." Even though they knew that Luo Rongheng had a good alcohol tolerance, they were afraid that he would not be able to resist the strength of the wine and get drunk.
The last time Luo Rongheng came back to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, he saw that his father and mother were reluctant to leave. After marrying his wife for so many years, he didn't have time to accompany her many times. His son was so old, but he was not close to his father. After listening to his mother muttering a few words, he thought that maybe he stayed.
In fact, it happened that the weather was cold later and there was nothing to harvest, so he thought about going out after the New Year and the beginning of next spring. Otherwise, if he leaves now, he doesn't know if he can come back for the New Year. He rarely spends the New Year at home in previous years. Now that his father and mother are getting older, his wife didn't say anything, but she looked at him and didn't want him to leave. He felt bad.
"Don't worry, don't worry. Don't you know how much I, your big brother, can drink?" Luo Rongheng said, waving his hand.
Later, Luo Rongheng wanted to keep him for a drink, but Cao Xiangnan didn't dare to drink with Luo Rongheng. After drinking, he would walk out sideways. He quickly declined politely and only said that they could meet for a drink another day. He had something else to do and had to go back.
"Goodbye, big brother won't see you off." Luo Rongheng said reluctantly after seeing him out.
Cao Xiangnan waved to the person who saw him out, and drove away in the carriage.
After sending the person away, he turned around and saw several jars of wine in the room. He touched this jar and that jar, then found a small spoon and came over to taste the wine. Unexpectedly, his father came in and saw him. Luo Rongheng paused in his movements and his eyes immediately became alert.
"Is it that kid Xiangnan who brought wine again?" Doctor Luo came in with small steps, so fast, and said, "This kid is also true, just come if you want, why do you need to be so polite to me."
"...Yes, yes." The hand holding the spoon paused, and Luo Rongheng stopped moving.
"Oh, I was just preparing to make some herbs, and this wine smells good, just right for me to make wine. Come on, son, move it to daddy's place."
In the end, who and where did these bottles of wine go? We have to ask the father and son of the Luo family.