When Jiang Tangtang talked about hiring workers, the villagers were all very excited and stopped what they were doing to listen attentively to her.
Jiang Tangtang's idea is that everyone gathers together to sew clothes, and each person is assigned different tasks based on their strengths.
It's basically like being a modern assembly line worker.
This not only improves efficiency but also allows most of the women in the village to participate.
Those who are younger and don't know much about needlework can do odd jobs like threading needles, while those who are good at cutting can be in charge of cutting. And those who know how to sew but aren't proficient can do ordinary sewing work.
As for wages, Jiang Tangtang gave everyone two options.
If paid in copper coins, jobs that require more skill, such as cutting, would pay forty coins a day. Sewing work would be paid a uniform thirty coins, while jobs that even a child could do, like threading a needle, would pay ten coins a day.
If you don't want copper coins, the price for cutting is three catties of coarse grains a day, the price for sewing is two catties of coarse grains a day, and the price for threading a needle is half a catty of coarse grains a day.
The villagers decided almost without hesitation to buy coarse grains. Firstly, everyone was short of food, and secondly, although Jiang Tangtang was offering high prices for copper coins, the price of grain outside had risen considerably. Having the money now didn't guarantee they could buy the same amount of grain.
The villagers naturally all chose to take grain.
The villagers strongly agreed with Jiang Tangtang's suggestion of assembly line work. Although most rural families knew how to sew and mend, hiring workers like Jiang Tangtang did would allow their children to earn a pound of grain.
In this day and age, there is no such thing as child labor, and children should have a wonderful childhood.
Children from poor families help with chores at a very young age. Helping in the fields, cutting pig feed, gathering firewood—what haven't they done? Threading a needle is nothing.
Getting a pound of grain just by threading a needle—such a wonderful thing is probably impossible anywhere else but with Jiang Tangtang.
The villagers all felt that Jiang Tangtang had taken special care of them and were very grateful to her.
Once the wages and employment methods are determined, the next step is to choose the location.
There was so much cloth and cotton that even the Lu family couldn't store it all. Besides, the noise and commotion from people working there would disrupt the Lu family's normal life.
After much thought, the room she had previously built as a school was the most suitable.
Although the schoolhouse was temporarily housing the children rescued last time, it was originally built as a school and was much more spacious than the other rooms. There were still rooms available even with the children living there.
After the decision was made, everyone moved the cloth, cotton and other things to the earthen village building.
In addition to the villagers who came to help, Xie Ziang also brought several older children to help.
Knowing that Jiang Tangtang was going to sew clothes at their place, they took the child back to their place first and tidied up the room.
The children were usually looked after by Xie Zi'ang, and the room was already tidy. By the time the villagers brought their things over, the room had been completely cleaned up.
The villagers were initially skeptical about Jiang Tangtang and Lu Shiyan bringing these children back to the valley and providing them with food.
But after so much time has passed, everyone has come to know the children's character, and the villagers no longer disagree with the couple's adoption of these children as they did before.
Nowadays, most villagers consider them part of the mountain resort.
Seeing how tidy the room was, the villagers praised the children for being sensible.
Looking at the sensible children, Jiang Tangtang felt a pang of sadness. Especially when she saw the pile of straw in the corner, her heart ached.
Although she brought the children back and gave them food, she didn't really take care of them. She also neglected to address their accommodation needs.
It's not really cold yet, so the children can manage like this. But winter is just around the corner, and they'll definitely get sick if they keep sleeping on the floor like this.
Providing each of them with a bed is manageable with a little effort. The real challenge is getting them comforters.
A warm quilt would need to weigh at least four pounds. With so many children, that would require a lot of cotton.
Now, this cotton and cloth are barely enough to issue one set of cotton-padded clothing to each soldier; there is no more.
Where can we find space for the children?
Jiang Tangtang frowned and thought for a while before coming up with a solution.
Perhaps we could build an earthen kang (heated brick bed).
Not only are earthen beds warm, but they also eliminate the need to make a separate bed. Currently, they are the most economical and labor-saving option.
She recalled the original owner's memories and discovered that there were no earthen beds in the village before.
She then asked a few villagers, and the results were the same as she expected: the villagers did not know how to make a kang (heated brick bed).
Fortunately, she still had the system.
Jiang Tangtang opened the books stored in her system and quickly found information on building heated kang beds.
However, she didn't look at the contents in detail for the time being. Instead, she found Lu Shiyan and talked to him about changing the children's accommodation.
The earthen houses were built according to the number of people, so in principle there were no extra houses. However, the refugees who came to Lu Shiyan with Liu Chengfeng were mostly living alone. If they could be persuaded to temporarily arrange for their children to go there, this problem could be solved.
Such matters are, of course, based on the principle of voluntariness, so Jiang Tangtang asked Lu Shiyan to talk to them and casually mentioned the matter of repairing the heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove).
"Girl, do you really think those heated brick beds can be built?"
Jiang Laosi came over to ask about the placement of the furniture and happened to overhear Jiang Tangtang mention the fire pit, which made him extremely excited.
He's been struggling with how to keep warm in winter lately.
Adults can endure the winter, but children can't. Besides, his precious daughter is only a month old; how could she withstand the winter cold?
Now that his sister says the fire pit is hot, not only is the kang (heated brick bed) warm, but the whole room is warm too. How could he not be excited?
"When have I ever lied?" Jiang Tangtang looked at her fourth brother and said, "Once this busy period is over, I will teach everyone how to make a heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove). You can talk to your family about not rushing to buy beds yet."
"Okay, okay, I'll go tell them right away." Jiang Laosi turned and left, but after a few steps he remembered his business and turned back to ask Jiang Tangtang how to arrange the furniture.
Jiang Tangtang said, "Let's move all the tables to the schoolyard first. We'll need them when we're cutting fabric. We can leave the rest of the things in the yard outside."
Some of the furniture she picked up was in good condition, while others had quite a few minor problems.
For example, the drawer of the cabinet is broken, or the chair leg is loose.
Overall, none of them are major problems; they can be used again after some repairs.
We need to have Brother Lu inspect it first before putting it in the room.
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