The kitchen had the spare ribs that Chunxiao had bought in town before. Xiaohua and her two sisters-in-law made a big pot of radish and spare rib soup according to Chunxiao's method, cooked a big pot of rice, and fried two large pots of stir-fried meat and cabbage. Everyone happily sat at three tables.
Perhaps it was because it was a rare experience to go out with so many people, or perhaps they had become very familiar with each other after a year of getting along, they talked about interesting things in their hometowns at the dinner table. Chunxiao didn't eat with everyone like this very often, and it was even rarer to listen to their chats like this. She listened with great attentiveness. Although their previous life was difficult, there were also times of joy in the midst of hardship.
"Boss, do we still need to hire people when we have so much land?" When they arrived, they saw this small courtyard and no other houses. This one was similar to Peng Dong's main courtyard.
"No, I'll hire farmhands from nearby villages. I've bought three places. You've learned for a year, and you'll all be in charge in the future. This yard is for you to live in, and you'll be the managers of this place in the future."
The women were all a little stunned. "Boss, you really trust us to take care of such a big place." They themselves had no confidence.
"What are you afraid of? Look at Ruyun, Meiman and Chunliu are doing a good job. They are just like you. How can you be worse than them? Everyone, finish your soup quickly. This dish is almost cold when it comes to the table. It's not good to eat it cold. After you finish eating, we will make arrangements."
Everyone knew that she was waiting to talk about something, so they stopped chatting and hurriedly finished their meal. Xiaohua lit two stoves in the main room and everyone sat around them.
"Nineteen, have you told them about the situation here?"
Nineteen shook his head. "No, I just told the manager Meiman, and after she picked someone, I rushed over."
"Let me tell you, we've rented three plots of land here, all for 30 years. This one has 853 acres, and another in a place called Weicun has 522 acres. We're going to grow cotton in both of these places. There's also a 336-acre plot on the outskirts of the county that's going to be used as a grain farm. All three of these plots will be planted in the spring. Except for Number 19, the twenty of you will be assigned to manage these three plots. You'll be responsible for all the affairs of the three farms from now on. Numbers 2 and 3 will be your general managers, and you'll report anything to them."
"Boss, with so much land, how many people should we hire each?"
"Are the other two places arranged like this?"
"Are we supposed to pay for the hires? How should we pay them? You should explain it to us more clearly, otherwise we will be very confused."
Being able to ask questions means that you have put some thought into it, which is a good thing.
"None of you have experience managing a manor, so it's inevitable that you'll be confused. However, this is temporary. I'll explain everything to you one by one. Look at Twenty-Three. He has no experience building a house before. I have no one, so I had to rush him in. He's not supervising well. The day before yesterday, when I went there, the courtyard over there was already half finished, and the walled village was still under construction. Nineteen, you go to the walled village tomorrow and get more experience with Two-Three. I'm afraid you'll have experience in what you need to do in the future."
"Yes, Boss. I'll go tomorrow."
"Here's my plan for the twenty of us: this side has the most land, so we'll leave 10 people there, two men and eight women. Two or three people from the village will stay over there, and one man and five women will go over there. And one man and three women will go over there from the outskirts of the city. We can freely form groups based on who stays where."
"Boss, are we going to stay here forever?" a woman suddenly asked.
"If you don't mind, you can stay here forever. But if you don't want to stay here, you can ask the steward. We can exchange it later if we find a manor somewhere else. But for the time being, you must stay here for two years."
Chun Xiao looked at them and said, "Being a steward does pay you a monthly salary, it's not for free."
More than 20 people looked at her in unison, "Boss, you said we can still get money?" They all had an expression of disbelief.
"Of course you'll get paid if you perform well. Otherwise, what's the point of doing it for nothing?" She smiled. "I'll keep the exact amount a secret for now. As long as you perform well, I won't let you down."
Everyone laughed. "The boss always keeps his word. We believe him. But I didn't expect that we could get paid for our work as servants. I've only heard that maids in wealthy families were paid. We never thought about that for farming."
"Then let's work together to become a wealthy family, so that everyone can get more silver." Chunxiao saw that they were happy, and told them about hiring people. "The preferential tax policy here requires 100 mu of land to employ more than 30 people. I have already told the villagers here and the walled villages that each of the three villages here has 80 people, and the same goes for the two villages in the walled village. You must remember to manage these people well, and at the end of the month, you must withdraw money from the account to pay them."
"So many people? Even with so many lands in Pengdong, there are still less than 200 people."
"The boss just said that based on this amount of acres, we need to hire this many people."
"How much is this month's salary? Is it the same as the farmhands over there? It's quite a lot."
Chunxiao didn't know whether she should be touched. Their first reaction when they heard the news was not that they could do less work, but that they would get more wages every month. It seemed that they had completely put themselves in the role of the master.
"It's just like hiring farmhands over there, 500 coins per person per month. When I leave, I'll leave enough money for each farm. You managers must take good care of it. I won't replace it if you lose it."
"Boss, are you leaving?" Everyone was shocked again, "When?"
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