As if realizing that her performance was rather poor, Li Xianglan took a deep breath and replied with a smile:
"Yes, I am Shuanzi's wife."
This unique recruitment model did leave some people feeling overwhelmed. Shen Jia was not in a hurry. He encouraged them with his eyes and continued to ask:
"Now can you answer the question I just asked?"
Li Xianglan suddenly became nervous and said embarrassedly, "Just now, I didn't hear it clearly. Could you please say it again?"
"I'm just asking you, what do you do at home on weekdays?"
"We farmers usually take care of household chores, like feeding the chickens and pigs, cooking, and washing clothes. We also help out in the fields during busy farming seasons."
"If you were to carry water, how much would you be able to carry? How far would it take?"
"We have a well in our yard. On weekdays, we only need to pull up one bucket for cooking and washing. But if there's no water in the fields, we have to carry two buckets and walk back and forth between the fields and the riverbank. I don't even remember how far it is."
Obviously, this was the daily life of an ordinary peasant woman in that era. Fortunately, their county was not short of water, and there happened to be a river running through it.
Shen Jia didn't expect the other party to say anything fancy, so he nodded to indicate that he was listening carefully.
"Just tell me your name, and you can go. We'll announce the shortlisted candidates in front of Shen's Tofu Shop in three days. You can ask Li Qin to take a look."
"Commoner Li Xianglan."
Li Xianglan's heart skipped a beat. Is this the end? He didn't ask anything. Could it be that Boss Shen looked down on her?
She wanted to ask the reason, but then she remembered that her husband also worked under Shen Jia. She was worried about affecting him, so she quickly left her seat as if escaping.
The people at the back who didn't know what was going on thought that the man had collapsed due to Shen Jia's questioning. For a moment, everyone was in a panic and wished they could step back a few places.
But whether you stick your head out or hide it, you will be killed. There are still brave men who stand up and sit right in front of Shen Jia.
Before Shen Jia could ask any questions, she introduced her identity clearly.
"My name is Chun Ya, I live in Lijia Village, I'm 15 years old, I have four younger sisters and my parents at home. I can do any job. If you don't believe me, you can ask Uncle Shuanzi, he knows too."
Hearing this, Shen Jia quickly understood that she was the eldest daughter in the family and had no sons, so she must be living in dire straits every day.
But looking at her frail body that seemed to be about to fall down with the wind, Shen Jia glanced at the firewood that had not yet been put into the workshop and suggested:
"Your name is Li Chun, right? Then carry the firewood behind you inside, and I'll tell you the rest when you come back."
Li Chun was unwilling to give up even if he felt a little hope. He immediately jumped up from the stool and ran towards the firewood.
In a second, he carried the firewood on his shoulders and ran towards the door. He looked at the place where the firewood was placed, put it away quickly and rushed back.
His impetuous appearance made the people behind him feel that Shen Jia's thoughts were unpredictable, and even the two of them behaved strangely.
Seeing Li Chun coming back, Shen Jia repeated what he had just said to Li Xianglan.
Li Chun immediately felt what Li Xianglan had just felt. How could it end so quickly? He didn't seem to show any reaction at all.
But seeing Shen Jia immediately calling the next person up, she knew that she must not make her boss angry, so she turned around and left silently.
Recruitment was still going on, and Shen Jia, who had been chatting with people about the same things over and over again all day, felt more mentally exhausted than physically.
I thought to myself: I will definitely not get involved in this kind of thing next time, and I must train someone to replace me.
His eyes unconsciously turned to the three helpers walking beside him, one in charge of accounting, one in charge of external affairs, and one who was still making soy milk.
But how to manage this stubborn Shen Yue is really a headache for Shen Jia. Forget it, just take it one step at a time and see if she has the mind and talent for it.
After two days of consideration and discussion, the final candidates were determined, a total of 52, 40 women and 12 men.
As for those who want to act outside like Li Qin and the others, most of them are men. As long as they are willing to go to the place arranged by Shen Jia, she will not limit the number of people this time.
Men will be assigned to positions that require a lot of strength. Since women of this era are also quite strong, they should be able to handle other positions as well.
When the notice was posted, Shen Jia looked at the huge difference in the number of genders on it. She didn't know whether the statement about dealing with others was what she really wanted or whether it was due to other unspeakable thoughts.
However, there is nothing you can do now if you regret it.
It was obvious that the others who saw the paper were also confused. Li Qin looked at his family and saw that only his second brother was not selected, and he felt very complicated.
But it was not unexpected, because the second brother was famous for being lazy and gluttonous at home. There were not many men recruited, and his qualifications were not outstanding, so it was understandable that he was not selected.
After quickly selling today's tofu, he returned to Lijia Village with the news. As soon as he arrived at the village entrance, he saw a little man running quickly towards the back, shouting as he ran: "Uncle Shuanzi is back! Uncle Shuanzi is back!"
This was the little boy that the village chief left at the entrance of the village to inform everyone. Soon everyone knew the news of Li Qin's return and were looking forward to his return.
Because Li Qin was not in the mood to sell tofu today, he hurriedly took some tofu to sell in the neighboring village and hurried back.
Who would have thought that someone would be waiting for me at the village entrance?
This is the first time that the village has held such a large-scale recruitment. It is a rare opportunity for every villager. After all, the town does not easily hire jobs for strangers.
Now that the opportunity is right in front of them, it would be wrong if they weren't excited or anxious.
Li Qin recalled how he stood in front of the door in the dark this morning, reading every word carefully, and bowed to the elders first.
The village chief was actually very anxious, but because of his status, he didn't want to show it to others like the others. Looking at the hesitant Li Qin, he snorted and blew his beard, and reminded him:
"Everyone has been waiting for a while. Tell me what you saw quickly, otherwise I can't hold so many people."
Li Qin cleared his throat, looked at the countless pairs of eyes staring at him, and replied:
"This time, the Shen's Tofu Workshop is recruiting 52 people. Our village has 12 people selected, the most of any village in Ning'an Town. As for others who are willing to work outside like me, please go to the Shen's shop in three days to learn about the arrangements.
The 12 selected people are: Li Dazhu, Yang Mei, Wen Zhaonan, Li Xianglan, Li Chun..."
There are twelve people in the village, and Li Qin's family has four of them. Everyone who heard this was jealous and some even thought that he must have secretly missed some questions, or used his connections to find work for his family members.
But then, she also felt a fear of his influence. What if there was another opportunity like this next time and he didn't inform her? She could only suppress her resentment.
Li Chun, who was waiting at the edge of the crowd, almost burst into tears when he heard his name appear on the list. The next second, he immediately ran towards his home.
She wanted to tell her mother and sisters the good news that they could support themselves and no longer be threatened by that bastard father. Even if they were kicked out of the house, they would still have their own place.
But who would have thought that when I got home, I would see my father actually bringing home the village widow. He yelled at my mother and sisters with a ferocious look on his face, "You bunch of money-losing bastards! Get out of here! Don't get in my son's way here. If you don't leave, don't blame me for hitting you!"
After saying that, he immediately threw out a divorce letter from his hand, which he had just obtained from the clan. A woman who could not give birth to a son was not even considered a human being. By the way, he also touched the son in her belly.
That arrogant look made Li Chun once again glad of his choice. He quickly ran in to pick up the divorce letter, supported his mother and sister who were already trembling with fear, and walked out step by step.
As for the villagers who had just gathered, they were willing to believe that their names were not on the paper after listening to Li Qin's explanation several times, and gradually dispersed.
He went home with his family, because everyone knew that Li Qin would read the news before coming back, so the Li family also mixed in the crowd.
After hearing this over and over again, the daughter-in-law of the Li family was so angry with her husband that she had no place to vent it. At the same time, she felt that she was the head of their second branch. The second son of the Li family, who had no status to begin with, was now being belittled countless times by his wife in her heart.
Back home, Old Man Li was also somewhat helpless. He said to his disappointed second son, "From now on, you will work in the fields with us two old guys. You don't seem to be cut out for work in town, so don't bother Mr. Shen."
The other two families were so happy that they couldn't express it in words. Suddenly, there were two people in the family who could earn a living. Their future life would be so much better.
The second brother of the Li family wanted to refute, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he was stared at by several pairs of eyes. Now Shen Jia is their family's benefactor and boss. If he dared to say anything bad, someone would teach him a lesson.
So he quickly gave in under everyone's gaze, "Okay, okay, I'll stay home and help you take care of the children and farm. I won't say anything else."
Especially Wen Zhaonan almost attacked her husband. They have someone in the family who can always earn money to support the family, but this guy actually wants to cause trouble. Let's see how she will deal with him when she returns to the room!
It wasn't just Lijia Village that was bustling, because Shen Jia's recruitment this time was so grand that people from almost all villages came, and some from the town as well. The information on the paper quickly spread.
There were men, women, young and old, but the gender ratio in the workshop was a bit unbalanced. However, since most of the people selling tofu were men, there weren't any bad rumors.
After finishing the recruitment, Shen Jia could finally take a break and wait for the official start of work in three days. He did not notice the undercurrent hidden behind the joy of recruitment.
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