Xue Huan said to Steward Yan, "It will probably take a day or two to buy everything. Steward Yan, don't be impatient."
Manager Yan: "No rush, no rush."
Only one or two days! Much faster than the ten days or half a month he had expected!
He couldn't contain his joy at the thought that the bureau would have a large amount of supplies in two days at the latest.
"Ms. Zhao, thank you so much! Thank you so much!" Manager Yan stood up from his chair and kept bowing to Xue Huan.
"Manager Yan, there's no need to do this. Please stand up." Xue Huan came out from behind the table and helped Manager Yan up.
"Also, there's something I want to discuss with Manager Yan."
"You say."
Xue Huan mentioned that she could recommend children from the Huiyou Bureau to work at places like Zhaoji, Jinluyi, and Yingxianlou. She then took out a few contracts and handed them over. "These are the contracts our foundation has signed with several businesses. They've also been stamped and approved by the government. Manager Yan, please take a look."
Manager Yan looked through several contracts one by one. The contracts were very formal, and the seals and signatures on them could not be faked.
Xue Huan: "Of course, we're just giving the children an opportunity. Whether they can stay is up to them. Manager Yan can ask the children for their opinions after he returns. By the way, it's best if the children we send to work are over ten years old. Those who are too young are not very useful."
It was not until he walked out of the gate of Zhao Mansion that Manager Yan was startled by the autumn wind and came to his senses.
He glanced back at the Zhao Mansion, his heart burning with anger!
My eyes couldn't help but feel warm.
That’s great! Not only will the children have enough food and clothing in the future, but they’ll also have a place to work and earn money to support themselves!
Children in the Welfare and Orphanage Bureau often cannot stay in the bureau anymore when they reach the age of twelve. After all, twelve years old is not considered young, and the bureau cannot afford to keep them if they are still supported by it.
But what could these twelve-year-old children do after leaving the Welfare Bureau? They had no parents, no skills to earn a living, and were naturally discriminated against, making it difficult for them to find decent work.
Boys are better off, they can work as servants and run errands for others. If that doesn't work, they can go to the docks and work as laborers to carry bags for others.
Despite this, many of them eventually became beggars and thieves, or died quietly in some remote corner.
In the end, there was not even a place to bury him. He was wrapped in a straw mat and thrown into a mass grave, where he was torn apart and eaten by wild dogs.
It is even more difficult for girls. Many of them end up in brothels and can only make a living by selling smiles.
Manager Yan was not without pain about this, but what could he do?
Now it's all good! With Miss Zhao's help, the kids in the bureau at least have a way out!
Manager Yan couldn't wait to run back and tell the children in the bureau the news. However, just when everyone was excited, someone poured cold water on them.
"Master, I advise you not to be too happy too soon. Where in the world can such a good thing happen that it just falls from the sky? What if that Miss Zhao is a liar?"
The speaker was the cook, Shen, who was also the wife of Manager Yan. The couple had spent most of their lives in this Huiyou Bureau.
Manager Yan's face immediately turned red with anger. "That can't be! How could Miss Zhao be a liar? If she was, why would she bring so much food and toys for the children that day? Besides, what can we deceive?"
Shen pulled him aside and said, "Why not? What if she came here just for these children?"
Manager Yan's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't refute it immediately.
Shen: "Look at Yueya, Doukou and the other girls. They are so pretty, they might have caught the eye of the human traffickers. Those ruthless people, what can't they do to kidnap these talented girls?"
Manager Yan was also momentarily overjoyed, but after hearing his wife's words, his heated mind calmed down. "You're right. This good thing that has come to us might be for the sake of greater benefits. We should be more vigilant. Hold off on going to work for now. I'll ask around."
Before Manager Yan could find out the situation of several shops such as Zhaoji and Jinluoyi, people from the foundation came to the door just after breakfast the next day, bringing several large carts of things!
The person who delivered the supplies was Jiang Man, the Minister of Transportation, who brought two of his men with him, who were the two new recruits who had just been recruited into the foundation two days ago.
Jiang Man assigned these two people and the coachmen to move the things in the car into the Huiyou Bureau.
Manager Yan and the children watched with their eyes wide open in shock, and when they came to their senses, they immediately stepped forward to help.
Shen, who was washing clothes in the back courtyard, immediately wiped her hands on her apron after hearing the news, and walked out quickly. She saw boxes of things being moved in and piled up in the yard and the main room.
"Old Yan, what is this?"
Manager Yan's eyebrows lit up with joy. "Didn't Miss Zhao ask me to write a list before? Asked me to write down everything the children needed. I went to deliver the list yesterday. Miss Zhao told me it would take a day or two to buy everything. Who would have thought it would be delivered so quickly?"
The older children helped the adults move things, and the younger ones ran back and forth, it was very lively.
It took more than ten trips to move five large carts of things. Manager Yan quickly served tea and asked Shen to make sugar-coated eggs to entertain Jiang Man and others.
Jiang Man waved his hand hurriedly: "Manager Yan, stop working. I'm just here to deliver something. Now that everything has been delivered, we won't keep any more. Here's the inventory list. Please check and see if the numbers are correct. If there's no problem, please sign and put your fingerprints on it so I can take it back and report to our president."
He took out two lists from his pocket and handed them over.
The two lists were identical. Why were there two copies? One was given to Manager Yan, and the other was kept for archiving.
Manager Yan took the list and Shen came over to take a look. However, she was illiterate and could not understand what was written on it. She just saw a bunch of densely packed words. Seeing the boss grinning from ear to ear, she knew that everything written on it was good stuff.
"Mother, I will read the poem, and you take Yueya and Doukou to light the things."
"Yes."
"Six hundred kilograms of high-quality white rice—"
"Hurry, Shuanzi, bring us our scale." Shen said to a boy about ten years old.
Shuanzi is considered the leader of all the boys in the bureau. He not only helps to take care of the younger ones, but also helps the adults with their work.
After receiving Shen's instructions, he ran inside and came out with a scale in a short while.
With Jiang Man's help, Shen weighed the rice and said loudly, "It's a good weight!"
She randomly picked up another bag of rice, opened it, reached in and probed, and felt white rice grains, the best refined white rice, without any impurities such as sand and rice bran, and exuding the unique fragrance of rice. At a glance, she knew how soft, glutinous and sweet the cooked rice would be!
"Three hundred kilograms of refined flour—"
"No problem!"
"Thirty satin quilts weighing eight kilograms!"
"Oh, this quilt is so soft! Yes, thirty quilts!"
"Fifty rolls of Songjiang purple cotton cloth, thirty rolls of khaki ramie cloth—"
"Three hundred kilograms of new cotton—"
…
As Manager Yan read out each item, the children in the yard felt both happy and incredulous, as if everything they saw was a dream.
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