The main theme of Chapter 25 is simple and brutal!
The old man walked around the room with his hands behind his back, and finally said, "I'll go back to the clan leader and ask the tribesmen to help. If they can't do anything else, they can always help with ice cutting and transporting.
"As for the craftsmen who can carve, Second Brother, go find someone you know. We'll provide the wages or food. You decide the price."
Tai Jizong immediately responded, "Okay, Dad, I'll go find someone right away."
Tai Jizu also said, "Dad, you can't walk alone at night, so let Yong'an go back with you."
The old man waved his hand and said proudly, "The Min family gave me so much as a deposit, how could I let myself down? This time, I'll hire a carriage, which will be convenient for me to come and go without wasting time."
Everyone laughed along. Indeed, compared to the dozens of taels of silver in wages, the few dozen coins for hiring a carriage were nothing.
Soon, the old man and Tai Jizong went out together. While the city gate was still open, they hired two carriages and went their separate ways.
When Tai Jiye came back from the Min family excitedly, he heard that his father and second brother had gone to find help. He was so happy that he quickly pulled his eldest brother and sister-in-law to discuss it.
The Min Mansion has five courtyards, covering a large area. If all of them were decorated with ice lanterns, even the Tai family would be exhausted to death.
Fortunately, the Min family also knew that time was a bit tight.
Therefore, they only needed to decorate the main courtyard for banquets, the path leading to the garden, and the garden itself. But even with this simplification, the number of ice sculptures needed was still no less than 200.
The most important thing is that the river outside the city is too small, so it would be better to take less ice.
If it is to be used in large quantities, we will have to go to Jiangchazi, twenty miles away.
Even though I'll still have to worry about this problem tomorrow, at least the old man has solved the manpower problem...
The north wind whistled through the mountain village, playfully lifting up a corner of the roof of a thatched house. Just as it was about to disrupt the revelry, a horse-drawn carriage entered the village.
Nowadays, every family is hungry, so naturally there is no surplus food to raise dogs, and there are no dogs barking to report news.
The gate of Mr. Tai Sanye's family was knocked, and everyone, young and old, was shocked and didn't understand what was going on.
After welcoming Mr. Tai into the house, everyone, young and old, became even more curious when they saw the carriage waiting outside.
Tai Jicai, the eldest son of Master Tai San, asked directly, "Sixth Uncle, have you made a fortune?"
Old Master Tai laughed heartily, not minding his recklessness. He then took his elder brother's hand and said, "Third brother, Jiye is unreliable and always gets into trouble. But this time he was lucky enough to find a good job. Jizu and Jizong are all helping in the city, but we're still short of manpower.
"I want to find 20 good hands in the village to help cut and transport ice. It will take about three or four days. My family will provide food and lodging. The wages can be calculated at 30 cents a day, or three pounds of sorghum rice.
"Look around, who can spare some manpower to help me arrange this?"
There is such a good thing?!
Mr. Tai San was so happy at that time that he immediately signed up his two sons.
It's cold in winter, and not everyone wants to stay at home and suffer from cold and hunger. There is really no way to make money.
Now that work is delivered to your doorstep, not only can you provide food to feed yourself and save food for your family, but you can also earn food back home. It's simply a blessing from heaven!
After a while, the heads of each family were called up, yawning, shrinking their necks, and gathered at Master Tai San's house.
As soon as Mr. Tai Sanye explained the situation, the remaining dozen or so places were indeed fought over.
In the end, it was Old Man Tai who gave the order and gathered together the tribesmen who were still strong and healthy. They grabbed a bunch of long and short wooden sticks and drew lots.
Those with long wooden sticks go into the city, and those with short wooden sticks wait for the next time.
Needless to say, those who won the lottery were dancing with joy, while those who didn’t were dejected.
Just after midnight, everyone took their tools and took a carriage to the city.
Outside the city gate, I happened to run into Tai Jizong again. He had also found five or six familiar craftsmen...
As soon as the city gate opened, Tai Jiye rushed back.
He also hired seven or eight carts and took everyone directly to Jiangchazi.
I originally thought that getting ice would be very difficult, but I didn’t expect that the city defense camp not far away was chiseling ice to catch fish.
We didn't catch many fish, but there were a lot of ice cubes thrown all over the floor.
With Tai Jiye's clever tongue, there is nothing he can't accomplish.
He simply gave the captain in charge a piece of silver and let them take the ice back.
If it's not enough, the soldiers can help dig some more...
The smooth progress of the event was beyond everyone's expectations and made everyone very motivated.
Before noon, the first batch of ice had been transported into the city gate.
This was different from the minor incident with the truckload of ice yesterday. It was such a big deal that it attracted the attention of almost the entire city.
When someone asked, Tai Jiye no longer concealed the truth and answered frankly, "We are working for the Min family. Miss Min's birthday is coming up soon, and there are no beautiful sights in winter. Master and Madam Min love their daughter very much, so they asked us to build a novel and beautiful ice garden!"
Ice Garden?!
Even if you haven't seen it, just hearing these three words is enough to make people yearn for it.
Winter is boring, and the rich and idle people are afraid that there will be nothing new to see, so they naturally cannot miss this event.
As a result, the Min family received messages from some families one after another, all of whom wanted to come and congratulate their daughter on her birthday.
The Min family sent someone to inquire and found out that it was the Tai family who caused the commotion.
You have to know that doing good deeds at home may not necessarily earn you much reputation.
Now, it is thanks to a few ice lanterns that it has been achieved...
Therefore, Manager Min was called over by his master and was specifically responsible for supervising the Tai family's ice lantern making, and absolutely no mistakes could be made.
You know, the county magistrate has sent someone an invitation, so when the time comes, bring your children with you to express your congratulations and enjoy the lanterns!
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