Chapter 190 Who to Entrust the Braised Food Business To?
Autumn is gradually approaching.
After several rain showers, the river in Dahe Village gradually filled with water, and a winding river flowed out, shimmering in the sunlight.
In the past three to five days, the villagers worked together to build the school. There are four rooms in total. Three rooms are used as the school, and the other room is for the teachers to live in. A paved area was also built in front of the school, and the ground was paved with flat stones transported down from the mountain. It looks clean and tidy.
After the school was built, the villagers began to busy themselves with autumn planting, which is a very important time of year.
In autumn, Dahe Village mainly grows wheat. First, the land needs to be plowed and prepared. Because there are many households and a lot of land in the village, the land needs to be plowed in rotation.
It was roughly one cow for every ten households, with the ten families taking turns plowing the fields.
Cheng Wanwan's family owns five mu of paddy fields and eight mu of dry land, which are of poor quality and require fertilization to increase wheat yield.
Zhao Dashan and Zhao Sanniu were in charge of plowing and fertilizing the fields. Both of them were experts in farming, and Cheng Wanwan didn't need to explain any details.
After finishing his tasks, Zhao Ergou came to discuss things with Cheng Wanwan.
“Mom, things are almost done at home now, and I want to expand the braised food business.” He calculated and said, “Jixiang Restaurant and Zuixianlou together need about 350 catties of braised food a day, and I think we need to find some people to help.”
Cheng Wanwan nodded: "First, let's talk about the source of goods. The wild game supply from the hunters in the village is not very stable. It would be best to cooperate with the butchers in town. One butcher, Zhu, is not enough. We need to find a few more. Only when the supply is stable can this business be done in the long run. Also, before, we had to divide 70 or 80 catties of braised food into several pots to cook. 300 catties would take a whole day to cook. We definitely need to find someone. Do you have any suitable candidates in mind?"
Zhao Ergou thought for a moment and said, "Judging from this, we need to arrange at least three large pots and prepare a large woodshed. Why don't we do this work at the old house? Aunt Wang's house is next door. Why don't we let Aunt Wang do this work? Aunt Wang can be in charge of cooking, and Uncle Yongcheng can clean the internal organs and so on. They should be able to handle this matter."
Cheng Wanwan nodded. Doing this requires a large space, and it's best to do it indoors; an old house would be the best choice.
Aunt Wang's family lives next door, so it's convenient for them to do this, and they're all reliable.
In the town's restaurants, some helpers earned six or seven hundred copper coins a month, skilled chefs earned a little over one tael of silver, and exceptionally skilled chefs earned three to five taels. After discussing the wages in the town, it was finally decided that Aunt Wang would be paid six hundred copper coins, and Wang Yongcheng would be paid nine hundred copper coins. In the future, the Wang family would also need to chop firewood for the woodshed, so an additional two hundred copper coins would be added to their monthly wages. In other words, the entire job would be contracted to the Wang family, for a total of seventeen copper coins.
Aunt Wang was completely dumbfounded.
Of course she knew that five or six hundred coins a month was the normal price for a laborer in town, but a peasant woman like her simply couldn't find this kind of work in town. Shopkeepers would promote their own relatives and nephews to work as laborers in their shops, so who would want someone like her who was a complete stranger?
Her husband went to town to find work, carrying heavy loads at the dock. He earned 900 coins a month, but the work was unstable and extremely tiring.
Now, cleaning up some animal offal next door earns nine hundred coins—it's like a windfall!
"Grandma, I don't even know what to say anymore." Aunt Wang rubbed her hands. "Look at me before, I used to always pick on you and talk badly about you behind your back... cough cough, I haven't said anything lately, really!"
Cheng Wanwan smiled and said, "This job isn't easy either. I have to move the pot to your house tonight so it won't get stolen."
Wang Yongcheng immediately assured her, "Don't worry, Aunt Dashan, as long as I, Wang Yongcheng, am here, no one will be able to steal anything!"
He drew a long knife from behind him and plunged it into the muddy ground of the yard.
This long sword was a reward the village head gave him last time. It was his honor, and he carried it with him wherever he went. The village thugs would avoid him whenever they saw him.
"Sister-in-law!"
Sun's voice rang out from the courtyard gate.
Sun walked very fast; you couldn't tell from her appearance that she was pregnant.
She walked over, slightly out of breath, and said, "I heard that my sister-in-law handed over the braised food business to Mud Loach Mother?"
Cheng Wanwan's expression was indifferent: "What, do I need to report this to you?"
"Sister-in-law, we're family!" Sun said incredulously. "Leave this job to me and Zhao Youcai, we'll definitely do it better than the Wang family!"
Aunt Wang opened her mouth, but didn't say anything.
In terms of kinship, Sun was indeed closer to Dashan's mother. If Dashan's mother gave the business to Sun, she would have no right to say anything.
Cheng Wanwan said calmly, "This matter has been settled. It will be left to Mudfish's parents to take care of. His third aunt should focus on her pregnancy."
"No, sister-in-law, what you're doing is wrong!"
Sun was so angry that she lost her temper.
My sister-in-law doesn't think much of Chunhua, so she specially asked her niece Yingying from her maternal family to help with the chores. After all, it's just a small matter.
Selling braised food is such a big business, earning one tael of silver plus seven qian a month. How can we just give that much money away to the Wang family for nothing?
“Even though I’m pregnant, I definitely won’t slack off!” Mrs. Sun said anxiously. “I’m strong and efficient, why can’t you let me do it, sister-in-law…”
"Third Aunt, of course I know you are stronger than others, but I also know you are gluttonous."
Cheng Wanwan didn't want to say anything harsh, but Sun's unreasonable demands were really annoying. If it wasn't resolved once, it would happen again.
She said calmly, "Just the other day when we moved and were having a meal, you were helping out in the kitchen. In about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, you stole about seven or eight meatballs from the kitchen and also took four eggs that you just took from the henhouse. Tell me, do you think I would dare entrust the food business to you? If I give you three hundred pounds of food, I'm afraid only two hundred pounds will be left..."
Sun's face turned pale.
She thought she had been very discreet that day.
Unexpectedly, his sister-in-law saw how many he took.
She opened her mouth and said, "I was just hungry... No, I didn't take it, sister-in-law, you must be mistaken, I really didn't take it!"
The people around her looked at her with strange eyes.
It's not shameful to be greedy, but it is shameful to steal food from other people's homes.
Moreover, she even stole food from Da Shan's mother's house. Da Shan's mother's house did have good food, but everyone in the village knew that whenever there was good food, Da Shan's mother would have Si Dan deliver it to the old house. Not content with eating what was given to them for free, she actually took some secretly. Seven or eight meatballs plus four eggs, that must have cost quite a few copper coins.
Tsk tsk, how embarrassing!
"Alright, stop embarrassing yourself!" Zhao Youcai squeezed through the crowd and pulled her away. "My sister-in-law hasn't even found her second sister-in-law yet, why would she look for you? Come on, come back with me!"
Sun initially felt that she was in the right, but after Cheng Wanwan said that, she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
This time, I've really lost face. I'll never dare to go out and chat with the women in the village again.
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