Chapter 112 Chapter 112 The factory building doesn’t look like my own yard…
A factory building is not like your own home. The inside does not need to be renovated so meticulously. You only need to build an outer frame.
The group of strong men ate well every day, were full of energy and worked quickly. In just over a month, a large row of blue brick factory buildings were built, and beautiful tiles were laid on the top of the factories.
After the factory building was built, a thin layer of white plaster was applied on the outside of the walls.
After the white mud dried, a row of white walls and black tiles stood neatly next to Shatin. It looks very beautiful against the blue sea and blue sky in the distance.
That day, after the group of strong men carried many machines into the factory, they received their rewards and left.
But Manager Shang was familiar with Zhao Baozhu, and he had eaten a lot of his oysters recently, so he came to find him and said, "This matter has not been made public yet. I got a whistle on it the other day, and I thought of you and Yingniang, so I came to tell you."
"This sugar factory will be hiring workers in the near future. We need laborers between the ages of fifteen and fifty. Since the sugarcane in this area has not grown yet, we don't need that many people, so we will only hire ten people at first."
"I heard that the jobs in this sugar factory pay well, and some managers have idle laborers at home, so I went to say hello and tried to get people in. You talk to your mother, and if you have the conditions, go find Manager He who signed the contract with you that day and tell him your name."
"If I'm chosen, this job is close to home, and it's better than going to the city every day to wash clothes for others."
Manager Shang's family already had five acres of land to cultivate, and they also contracted another five acres of sandy field from Chen Xuan. Therefore, there is no spare labor to enter the factory.
He saw that Yingniang and Zhao Baozhu were honest and hardworking, and saw how hard they were living, so he felt a bit of sympathy for them, so he revealed the matter to them in advance.
When Zhao Baozhu heard the news, she was very grateful to Manager Shang and gave him some of the dried sea slugs she had dried at home.
When Yingniang returned home, he told her about this. Yingniang thought about it, then took out the twenty cents that she had saved for buying meat during the New Year and went to buy an old hen. The next morning, he invited Manager He to his home for tea, and stuffed the old hen into his hand, saying, "Manager He, please help me with this matter of entering the sugar factory. Just give me a chance."
Manager He frowned upon hearing this, stuffed the old hen back into Yingniang's hands and said, "I can help you register your name, but there are many people from various families who want to come, and there are already more than ten of them. Who can guarantee that they will be selected?"
"Besides, I heard that the governor's husband will come to visit the renovated factory in person this time. I'm afraid he will appoint the first batch of workers on the same day."
Yingniang was a little discouraged when she heard this, but she still smiled at Manager He, stuffed the chicken back and said, "Manager He, just take this chicken. Just help me name it first. Whether it works or not is another matter."
After hearing this, Manager He's expression changed slightly. He accepted the hen and reported Yingniang's name.
Besides, after Shen Xuan built the sugar factory, he planned to recruit a few workers to carry out small-scale trial production.
Firstly, he wanted to familiarize himself with the process of sugar refining. Secondly, in addition to ordinary rock sugar and white sugar, he also wanted to experiment with making some special sugar products and then sell them to larger cities.
During these days, he recruited many skilled people to manage different places and carried out the planting and sugar-making workshop in Shatin in an orderly manner.
The manager of the sugar factory was specially hired by Xue Fenglin. He used to be in charge of the farm that his mother bought as a dowry in Beijing. There were about a hundred people on the farm. He was both reliable and capable.
With this capable person, Shen Xuan was relieved to let him manage the affairs of the sugar factory.
As expected, Shen Xuan lived up to his expectations and the manager quickly built the sugar factory as required. Afterwards, he invited Shen Xuan to inspect it in person and also decided on the first batch of ten workers.
Chen Xuan chose a day with nice weather and took Jin Zhi Jingui out to the newly renovated sugar factory.
After a simple inspection, we came to the factory yard.
There were eighteen people standing upright in the yard under the scorching sun. When they saw Shen Xuan coming in, everyone straightened their backs with a nervous look on their faces.
These people are the workers who signed up for this recruitment, and they were all sent in by the managers from all parties. Since only ten people were needed, the job opening was already filled before the recruiting officer even had time to post the notice.
Yingniang was also among those who registered. Today she specially changed into the cleanest plain clothes and combed her hair neatly.
But apart from her, the others were basically relatives of the managers of each family. Naturally, they were better off than her and dressed more neatly and delicately. Yingniang looked very shabby and somewhat out of place standing inside.
She watched the rumored husband of the prefect, the owner of the sugar factory and her own Shatian, stride into the courtyard.
The boy was very young, probably only eighteen or nineteen years old, tall and handsome.
Different from those rich boys she had met in the city, this prefect's husband looked very noble, but his expression was kind and amiable, and his every move was as elegant as that of a banished immortal.
He walked up to the manager of the sugar factory and whispered a few words to him. The manager immediately took out a booklet and handed it to him.
The boy flipped through a few pages before scanning everyone with his eyes. Then he stopped at Yingniang, looked down at the booklet, and said, "Are you Yingniang? The records say that your husband passed away, and you and a boy are the only ones left to depend on each other. Is that true?"
Yingniang didn't expect that the prefect's husband would suddenly ask her about her. She was startled and her face turned red.
It is not easy to find a job in Dajin. If it is a good job, you usually need someone to guarantee you.
Most of the time, people with good family conditions and harmonious families are more likely to be kept. Yingniang's background is not very stable, and being extremely poor makes it easy for her to do some shady things. Therefore, except for some hard laborers with little money, good jobs are generally not wanted.
She looked at Shen Xuan with some fear and trepidation and said, "This... this... my husband did die a few years ago. But I can earn food by doing laundry work for others. My brother is older now and can pick up some seashells and conchs. He also contracted three acres of sugarcane land for cultivation and is also an honest and good citizen."
"Yeah." Shen Xuan nodded after hearing what she said, with no expression on his face.
Then he turned to ask another person, and Yingniang breathed a sigh of relief. But she had no idea what the prefect's husband was thinking when he asked her this question, so she could only wait anxiously.
After asking a few more people, Shen Xuan circled the booklet a few times before returning it to the steward. After talking to him for a few words, he turned and left.
Yingniang was still standing there in a daze, watching the steward respectfully send Shen Xuan away, then she coughed and said, “Okay, now those whose names I read out, please step forward and line up.”
Yingniang stood there awkwardly, waiting for the steward to call out her name. The steward read out one name after another, and when all the names were read out, Yingniang's name was not heard.
Yingniang's heart sank, thinking that it might not work this time, and she ended up giving away an old hen for nothing.
She was about to leave in despair when she suddenly heard the manager say, "Those whose names I read out can leave now. The rest of you stay, you are all hired."
Yingniang was stunned, her eyes widened in disbelief, and her heart was filled with ecstasy.
When there were only ten workers left, the manager took them into a room and began to explain what they needed to do and what they needed to pay attention to while working.
Working at Shen Xuan's sugar factory, I was paid ten cents a day, and a lunch was included.
There are four days off a month, and you can arrange them with the manager. Each person is also given two sets of uniforms, which they must wear when working.
Such good treatment is hard to find even with a lantern in the whole Sarawak! After listening to the manager's introduction, Yingniang was stunned and even suspected that she was dreaming.
After all, you can earn more than 200 Wen a month, which is higher than the income from fishing at sea! With the income from the three acres of sugarcane fields, she and Baozhu can live a more relaxed life!
When the steward was about to leave, Yingniang hurried over and said to him, "Thank you very much for your support, steward. You didn't look down on me, an orphan and a widow, for letting me get such a good job!"
The steward looked at Yingniang and said, "You might as well thank the head of the family instead of me. He just told me that other people can be selected from those who are smart, of the right age, and strong, but you must stay."
"It is also because of the kindness of the head of the family. He knows that your family is in financial difficulty and that it is not easy for a widow to live, so he specially kept you here."
After the steward finished speaking, he turned and left. Yingniang was still a little stunned. When she thought about how the prefect had specifically asked about her family background, she realized what was going on.
For a moment, her heart felt warm and it seemed that tears were about to burst out of her eyes, but she finally held them back. I was just anxious to get home and share this great news with my son Zhao Baozhu!
Zhao Baozhu was very happy when she heard that Yingniang had successfully stayed at the sugar factory and would be able to work there tomorrow.
The mother and son cooked a pot of white rice, which was a rare occasion. Yingniang spent two cents to cut a palm-sized piece of fat meat, fried some vegetables with lard, and had a delicious meal of fried clams with oil and meat to celebrate the event.
When Zhao Baozhu heard Yingniang talk about the prefect she met today, she was very fascinated and wished she could see what the prefect looked like.
Before going to sleep, Zhao Baozhu said to Yingniang, "Mother, the prefect's husband is so kind-hearted, I think he is also a good official. Tomorrow morning when I go to the sea, I will go to the Mazu Temple to pray for the two of them. I hope that Mazu will bless the two of you with peace and health, and it will not be in vain for his kindness."
Shen Xuan was sitting in the car. Jin Zhi lifted the curtain to look at the scenery along the way and said, "Brother Shen, you are really kind-hearted. You even specially kept the widow to work."
Upon hearing this, Shen Xuan said, "In this world, it is always harder for women to raise children than for men. It is not easy for her to raise a child alone, so I will help her as much as I can."
This sugar factory has just started up and there is not much work at the moment.
Shen Xuan plans to first train these workers to learn sugar-making technology. Later, when the scale expands, we will recruit more workers and let them teach others the sugar-making techniques.
Now, the hundreds of acres of land rented by Shen Xuan have all been planted with crops such as sugarcane and fruits, but it will take until early summer next year before the harvest comes.
Although the factory building has been repaired, we can only buy some materials from other places and try to make some things to test the market.
There are many sugar-making workshops in Dajin, and they already have rock sugar and white sugar.
Ordinary people cannot afford expensive candies, so they buy some cheap candy cakes for their children to eat during the New Year.
Rich families in Beijing, for example, have long been eating white sugar and even use honey to make cakes. Rice dumpling candies, peanut candies, ginger candies, etc. with pine nuts, tree nuts or sesame seeds are also very popular and are considered to be must-have snacks for wealthy families to entertain guests during the New Year and other festivals.
Shen Xuan opened a sugar factory, but if he just followed the routine to produce some ordinary sugar products on the market, there would be no advantage.
Sarawak is poor and not many families can afford sugar. There are no sugar factories in Sarawak, so most wealthy families go to Pahang to buy sugar.
Shenxuan's sugar factory is very large and grows so much sugarcane that it is impossible to only consider local demand.
In order to make your own sugar factory stand out and open up the market in other places, you must be unique and produce new varieties that are not currently on the market.
Thinking of this, Shen Xuan had another flash of inspiration in his mind.
There are indeed many kinds of candies on the market, covering almost every flavor, but he has never seen marshmallows, which are very popular in the modern world!
It is not difficult to make marshmallows. After adding natural pigments, it is easy to make them into various shapes. It can be used to open up a new way out!
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