In late April, as spring arrived in the north, Tianxiang County began road construction.
Especially the shortest road to Yongning County, if it is repaired, the round trip will be even shorter than to Jiangning County.
We agreed last year that we would repair the road when the weather gets warmer this year.
The cotton fields had just been planted, so there was plenty of able-bodied labor available to repair the roads.
The happiest person this time was none other than Magistrate Wu of Yongning County.
Zheng Gaoyi has plenty of money, so the majority of the road construction costs are covered by him, with Yongning County only needing to contribute a small amount.
Magistrate Wu was all smiles as he accomplished the greatest task with the least amount of money.
He even sent a letter to express his gratitude to Song Ning.
Because of Yu Niangzi's dyeing workshop, many places now know about the quality of Yongning County's cloth.
More and more people started doing the fabric business. Once the fabric business came along, many people began to think of other ways to make money, and other businesses followed one after another.
When people heard that repairing the road would earn them more money, people from both counties rushed to sign up.
While things are going smoothly over there, many people here are starting to have worries.
Li Xingwang leaned on the counter and sighed, "Alas, I never thought I could escape the fate of having to learn to read and write."
Xiao Cui was doing the accounts when she chuckled, "The master is doing this for our own good. Didn't he say that the top two in this quiz will receive a reward of ten taels of silver?"
Ten taels of silver, who wouldn't want that?
But just thinking about the process makes it seem harder than climbing to heaven.
Song Ning's men had previously learned to read from Mr. Yu, but since they started working, their literacy skills have been neglected.
They're all in charge now, and the more words they know, the better.
The reason why Shunzi was sent out last time was because, among the people working under her, besides Xiaocui, Shunzi was the one who knew the most characters.
People may think they know enough characters now, but they still have a long way to go.
To prevent everyone from slacking off, she decided to conduct a monthly check, with the top two receiving ten taels of silver each, and the bottom two being punished by copying books.
This time, the ones who will test them are Xiao Cui and Zhou Ling'an.
Zhou Ling'an would come back once a month, and since he happened to be there this time, she requisitioned him.
The two sat at the table in front of them, with people taking the quiz sitting in front of them.
The Jiang brothers, Sun, Aunt Zhao, and Steward Liu were all present today.
Especially Aunt Zhao, who never expected that at her age, she would still have to be tested on her knowledge.
If she loses to these younger girls, how will she maintain her authority in front of her older sisters?
But actually, Aunt Zhao wasn't much older than Liu Yuelan; she just cared about saving face.
However, Song Ning had already said that since this was the first time, only a few managers would be tested, and everyone would have to take the test afterward.
Song Ning stood at the front with a serious expression and said loudly, "These are the two examiners today. Xiao Cui has been studying and learning to read with her grandfather since she was a child, so she is naturally reliable. As for Zhou Ling'an, he is a scholar from our county. Everyone, do your best in the exam and be truthful."
The exam is divided into two parts: a written test and an oral test. The written test is conducted first, which mainly tests vocabulary and arithmetic skills.
Xiao Cui distributed the prepared materials, and the exam officially began.
Song Ning sat down to wait, checking the accounts for the past two weeks as she did so.
Now all the bookkeeping is done in the modern way she mentioned before, so it's easier for her to keep track of things.
Her soap workshop now has a daily production capacity of over 1,500 soaps.
But over time, something new always emerges.
Spring is here, and the flowers on the mountain will soon be in bloom. We can pick some flowers and make some new dishes then.
She's the only one selling soap right now, and sales aren't a problem.
Put down the soap workshop's ledger and open the garment workshop's ledger.
The garment workshop mainly produces cotton quilts and cotton-padded clothes for the military. They just finished a batch a few days ago and settled the accounts these past two days.
The amount of clothes and quilts made each day is clearly written on it.
They even remembered each person's name clearly.
As Song Ning had suggested, we first created a table, and then simply filled in the numbers. It was very convenient.
As for the braised food business, it's quite stable now. Although there are imitators appearing in the market, they can't replicate the taste. While there is some impact, it's not significant, so she still maintains an income of around 250 taels per month.
After deducting costs and labor fees, she can only get less than half.
Although the garment workshops earned a lot of money, they also had a lot of people, so in reality, the place where she earned the most was Xiangyun Tower.
The restaurant portion of Xiangyunlou alone generates a net income of over eight hundred taels of silver per month.
The remaining income from hair accessories and skincare products is also considerable.
However, since the people here are not as well-off as those in the capital and the south, the income from this source is not as high as that from restaurants, but Song Ning can still keep about three or four hundred taels a month.
Moreover, Xiangyunlou has recently added several new dishes, including twice-cooked pork, braised pork, braised eggplant, and yam and red date pork rib soup.
The main dishes also included stuffed pancakes, scallion rolls, and steamed buns with bean curd.
And so, ever since Xiangyunlou opened, her purse has slowly started to bulge again.
If she opened a restaurant in the capital, wouldn't she be making a fortune every day?
After reviewing the ledgers, the exams over there also ended.
Xiao Cui, holding the collected answer sheets, smiled and said, "Today's exam is over. Everyone can go home now."
Song Ning looked up and saw that everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Li Xingwang had a bitter face and was being scolded by Aunt Zhao with a look of disgust.
"Look at you, you're not even as good as your mother. You're a disgrace to me."
Aunt Zhao was confident that she could earn those ten taels of silver.
“Mother, you’re not much better than me,” Li Xingwang retorted.
Aunt Zhao was extremely proud: "I told all my old friends that even if we don't compete for first place, we have to get second place. Then I'll invite them to Xiangyun Tower for dinner and drinks."
The others also had mixed feelings of joy and sorrow, and some even looked at Song Ning with a sense of grievance.
“If you learn more now, you can earn more money in the future. Everyone knows Shunzi, right? I sent him out because he knows a lot of characters. He’s going to make a lot of money.”
"When Xiao Cui says you've passed, you won't have to take the exam anymore."
Xiao Cui smiled and said, "Don't be discouraged, everyone. As long as you study hard, you will definitely get a reward."
As soon as the person left, Song Ning asked, "How was it?"
Zhou Ling'an, who was in charge of the oral exam, looked up and said, "Of these dozen or so people, only two can be considered barely passable. The others..." He then shook his head slightly.
Song Ning took the test paper and saw that it looked like it had been scrambled open by chicken feet. She knew that the task of popularizing education was arduous and long-term.
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