Chapter 118 Chapter 118 Yingniang took her wages home and...
Yingniang received her wages and went home, and also packed an egg for her lunch.
She has now been working in the sugar factory for several months, earning ten cents a day. The lunch she eats is much better than she had imagined, with eggs and meat almost every meal. Even the rice is very solid, you can have as much as you can eat, there is no limit.
Yingniang has gained some weight, and her complexion looks much better than before.
At first she wanted to pack up the entire lunch and take it home for Zhao Baozhu. Later, because the work required more strength and she had more money saved, she could afford to buy meat and eggs for herself, and Yingniang rarely packed meals to take home.
That is to say, the food at noon today was so good that Yingniang was so exhausted from eating the boiled egg she was given, that she packed it up and took it back for Zhao Baozhu as a snack.
As soon as she arrived at the door of her house, Yingniang smelled the smell of meat stewed by Zhao Baozhu in the kitchen.
Now they can eat meat once every three days, and today is the day for stewing meat.
Zhao Baozhu has been cooking since she was young. Although she is young, her cooking skills are pretty good. The stewed meat was so delicious that the greedy children living nearby gathered at the door of Zhao's house, drooling at the aroma of the meat.
The fishermen on the coast have no shortage of fish to eat, but they really crave the smell of meat.
Ying’s family was extremely poor before, and they could only buy some lard and pork skin to eat during the Chinese New Year every year. Unexpectedly, I recently got a job at a sugar factory and made a fortune. My life is getting better and better!
Aunt Bai, the neighbor, was washing kelp. When she saw Yingniang coming back, she said to her, "Yingniang, when will your sugar factory recruit workers again? You must inform me in advance next time you recruit, so that my son A Rui can go too. You know our son A Rui has always been a good boy, and he is not young anymore. He looks like a good match for your son Baozhu..."
"I heard that they will be recruiting again next year. I will notify you then." Yingniang interrupted Aunt Bai and said with a forced smile.
She pushed open the gate and followed the fragrance into the room. Then I saw Zhao Baozhu, wearing brand new clothes, bringing the stewed radish and pork slices to the table. Next to it were two pan-fried mackerel and a plate of stir-fried vegetables.
Yingniang stuffed the eggs from her sleeve into Zhao Baozhu's palm and said, "Eat the eggs left over from lunch."
Zhao Baozhu was a little embarrassed when she saw the eggs and said, "Mom, there are so many dishes, how can we eat eggs! If you can't finish them next time, just forget it and don't bring anything back. Now that our family is doing well, we can afford this little bit."
Zhao Baozhu was not being arrogant, but the weather in Sarawak was hot, and many of the things they brought back could not be stored, and would go bad if they were not eaten. This made Zhao Baozhu and Yingniang, mother and son, eat as much as they could. Sometimes I really feel so full that I don’t want to upset my stomach.
"Take this and keep your wages for today." Yingniang took out ten copper coins from her sleeve pocket. Zhao Baozhu then put the money into her purse.
The previously empty purse was now full in just a few months. Yingniang took out the bulk of the money and exchanged it for an ingot of silver. After deducting the money for food and daily necessities, she still had more than two hundred coins left.
"Mom, what we earned in the past few months is more than in many years!" Zhao Baozhu couldn't help but sigh as he touched his purse.
"Isn't it?" Yingniang was in a good mood. While picking up the bowl to serve rice, she couldn't help but say, "That aunt from the Bai family next door, she never treated us well before, but every time she saw me recently, she mentioned her son A Rui. She asked me to help him get into the sugar factory, and she also wanted to match him up with you."
"I don't want to! He and Zhao Baoyue have bullied me many times in the past!" Zhao Baozhu rolled her eyes when she heard that.
"Mother knew what was going on and didn't respond at all." Yingniang said quickly.
In the past, the villagers bullied her and Zhao Baozhu because they had no men in their families, and they all made up stories about them behind their backs. But after she entered the sugar factory, life got better and better, and those people changed their attitude.
Zhao Baozhu was about to reach the age of marriage, but Yingniang was unwilling to meet someone in the fishing village.
Zhao Baozhu is diligent and capable, and is also a good cook. Given his family's current financial situation, it would be difficult for those wealthy families to consider marrying him, but ordinary families in the city with two or three acres of land could still consider marrying him.
Zhao Baozhu seemed to see what Yingniang was thinking, so she said, "Mom, in fact, with our current conditions, we can live well without a man at home. If I get married, I won't be able to bring you with me. It's better for us to stay single for the rest of our lives, and it's also good for us to live with just mother and son!"
While Zhao Baozhu was having dinner with Yingniang, Zhao's second uncle and Zhao Baoyue were also having dinner.
Zhao Baoyue's family was considered well-off in the fishing village. Although Zhao Baoyue was a boy, he was also quite popular in the village, and quite a few families came to his house to propose marriage.
But in recent days, Zhao Baozhu's family has been getting better. Many families who had previously taken a fancy to Zhao Baoyue turned around and looked for Zhao Baozhu.
Zhao Baoyue and Zhao Baozhu had always been at odds with each other, and they had always been secretly competing with each other. Now she was even more dissatisfied.
Why is it that even though Zhao Baozhu is tanned like coal and not good-looking, there are still so many people who want to marry him?
Today, when he passed by Zhao Baozhu's house, he smelled meat stewing at home. When he looked at the food on his own table for dinner, there was kelp soup, steamed clams and yellow croaker.
Zhao Baoyue lost her appetite after eating a few bites and couldn't help but say, "Dad, Mom, Zhao Baozhu's family can eat meat every now and then, why do we have to eat it during the New Year and other festivals?"
Uncle Zhao got angry when he heard this. He glared at Zhao Baoyue and said, "Yingniang went to work in the sugar factory and made money, but our family doesn't have that kind of access. Besides, Zhao Baozhu even contracted a sand field to grow sugarcane and make money. He also cooks for the family. You stay idle at home every day, why don't you work?"
"Such a good yellow croaker, you can earn five cents if you sell it in the city. I give it to you to eat, and you are not satisfied?"
After being scolded, Zhao Baoyue dared not complain about the food anymore. She just lowered her head, finished her meal dejectedly, and left the table.
There are many families like Zhao Baoyue in the village, and they all envy Yingniang's work at the Sugar Factory and the contracted sand fields.
However, there are only 300 acres of sand fields in total, and they were all contracted out in less than half a month. Now there is no chance to buy shares.
The sugar factory is not hiring for the time being, and the villagers can't find a way to get a job at the factory. I can only inquire about the news at the sugar factory every day, hoping that I can recruit them next time I recruit people!
More than half a year passed in a flash, and the autumn harvest season of October was approaching. After ten months of hard work, Zhao Baozhu finally had a good harvest of sugarcane in the contracted sand fields.
Although it was his first time to plant sugarcane, thanks to the detailed guidance of Manager Shang and his frequent questions about any problems in the sugarcane field, the sugarcane in the field has been growing well and some minor problems with diseases and pests have been controlled in time.
When the sugarcane was fully ripe, Manager Shang asked Zhao Baozhu to harvest all the sugarcane in the field.
He bundled the sugarcane and piled them together. Then several workers from the nearby sugar factory came and transported the sugarcane in batches on carts.
After all the money was collected, Manager Shang called Zhao Baozhu over and asked him to take the land deed to the sugar factory and have the accountant inside count out one and a half coins for him, which was fifteen hundred coins!
"Thank you, both managers!" Holding the heavy copper coins, Zhao Baozhu couldn't help but feel excited! This was the first time he had earned so much money!
Seeing that he was not very old, the accountant who was distributing the money asked, "Your land rent for this year has ended. Do you want to renew it? If you are willing to renew it, please make a deal immediately and start planting again tomorrow spring."
Yingniang now works in a sugar factory and has a good income. As a boy like Zhao Baozhu, it would be good for him to work in a sugar factory in the future instead of doing such hard work as farming.
Manager Shang was familiar with Zhao Baozhu, so he advised her, "You are a boy, and you are not very old. Just make some money this year, and don't farm the land next year. Rest at home. When you grow up in a few years, you can find a way to join the sugar factory like your mother did."
The sugar factory had an age limit for recruiting, only those over 16 years old. Zhao Baozhu was too young and could not get in for the past four or five years.
But Zhao Baozhu shook her head and said, "I'll work in the sugar factory when I'm older. I have nothing to do at home now. Wouldn't it be better if I could plant a few acres of land to supplement the family income? I must continue to rent these three acres of sand fields."
After hearing this, the accountant renewed the contract with Zhao Baozhu on the spot, still for the three acres of land he had previously reserved.
Manager Shang saw this and nodded secretly. He had met Zhao Baozhu many times and knew that she was a good person. He also admired this diligent young man.
It just so happened that he had a younger son at home who was not married and was about the same age as Zhao Baozhu.
Manager Shang had an idea in mind, thinking to wait another two years, until Zhao Baozhu was older, and then go to Yingniang to propose marriage and marry him to his youngest son.
When farmers marry a virtuous woman, what they value most is a practical and capable woman. Although Zhao Baozhu's family conditions are average, he and Yingniang are both hardworking and have good character, so Manager Shang is still optimistic about them.
Of course, this matter is just a thought in Manager Shang's mind now. Whether it can be accomplished in a few years is something that only we will know in the future.
The sugarcane that had been planted for more than half a year finally had a good harvest, and Shen Xuan’s sugar factory was about to start recruiting again.
This time, due to the expansion of the scale of input and output, Shen Xuan decided to recruit 100 new people. The requirements were the same as before, regardless of gender, only age and ability were considered.
Those who are too old, too young, sloppy, not efficient enough, or have a criminal record will all be rejected. As soon as a recruitment notice was posted, a long line formed outside the sugar factory, with more than a thousand people signing up.
It took the manager three full days to select suitable workers from the more than a thousand people. In the end, only those who were left were useful. Only after signing the contract with them did they officially become new employees of the sugar factory.
The dozen or so old workers in the sugar factory have now become veterans, so Shen Xuan asked the manager to promote them all together, and let them manage a team of new workers as new managers, teaching them how to make sugar, so as to reduce the burden of the chief manager.
These new managers were promoted to higher positions, and their salaries naturally doubled.
Just like Yingniang, she never thought that a widow like her would one day become a manager. He was paid twenty cents a day and was in charge of several people. Yingniang felt that her back had straightened a lot, and she spoke with more confidence than before.
The production of cloud candy increased, and Shen Xuan's Xuanji cloud candy shop was officially opened in the capital.
Since he couldn't return to Beijing, he had no time to take care of the shop. Fortunately, he had Secretary Ye in Beijing to help him run the business, and the shop was soon opened.
People in the capital are much richer than those in Pengzhou. Candies like Cloud Sugar can only be sold for more than twenty taels of silver a day in Pengzhou, but in the capital, the price can be increased by six or seven times!
Secretary Ye had not expected that the Yun Duotang business would be so good. For a while, the shop was short of staff. He even brought his own dowry and attendants over, and hurriedly went to buy more people. Even so, he was still very busy.
Shen Xuan would not let Secretary Ye work in vain, so he privately gave him 10% of the shares.
Secretary Ye originally helped Shen Xuan with accounting and earned a lot of dividends over the year. Now that he had obtained shares in Yunduo Sugar Shop, the profits he earned were even greater.
He married into the Wang family as a equal marriage. Although he had not given birth to a son or daughter for many years, the Wang family treated him with respect because he brought a lot of dowry.
Now his annual income added up to several thousand taels of silver, which was considered a huge sum of money among the imperial concubines in the capital, so the Wang family treated him with even more respect.
There is no snow in Sarawak in winter. Compared to the cold capital, the winter in Sarawak is as warm as spring and you only need a thick coat to survive the winter.
This was the second Spring Festival that Shen Xuan and Xue Fenglin had spent since arriving in Sarawak. However, in just over a year, Shen Xuan had already recovered all the costs he had initially invested in buying land and building a factory in Sarawak.
The construction of the seaside pier is also about to begin. Shen Xuan asked the workers to prepare the materials and then let them go home to celebrate the New Year and return to work at the beginning of next spring.
During this year, people in Sarawak were farming, people were working, and even the fishermen who only relied on fishing for a living found that because more people were working at the seaside docks, the sales of fish and seafood were better than before. The whole Sarawak seemed to be thriving.
Even the salaries from the government, which had always been in arrears, were paid on time, without any delay for a single day.
There was still some extra silver, so after thinking about it, Xue Fenglin kept the share of tax payable and took out a little more, which he gave to his subordinates in a red envelope.
This is the first year in all the years since the Sarawak Government was established that not only did it pay salaries on time, but it also gave extra red envelopes for the Chinese New Year.
Each red envelope contained two taels of silver, which was equivalent to a month's salary for a low-level clerk. Although it’s not a lot, but everyone has a share, so it’s also a way to share in the joy!
Those officials who were not very obedient before now follow Xue Fenglin's lead. On the contrary, Chen Wenxun and Shi Jinrong, who used to have the final say, have now been sidelined and are unable to command their subordinates at all. The benefits they received every year have also disappeared all of a sudden.
Let's not talk about Chen Wenxun for now. Shi Jinrong is a fence-sitter. Now he fawns on Xue Fenglin every day with a fawning look on his face. He no longer dares to be late or go to bed early.
However, Xue Fenglin felt that he was not reliable enough, so he did not use him much in daily matters, big or small, and just treated him with indifference.
Even so, Shi Jinrong did not dare to have any opinions and had to bite the bullet and flatter Xue Fenglin.
After all, he no longer has the benefits sent by various families in Sarawak, and life is really not easy with just the salary he has. If I join Xue Fenglin and get some benefits from the business at the dock, I won't have to rely on bribes from the aristocratic families to make a living. Isn't that better?
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