Chapter 372 Inviting a Woman
Bai Shanbao and Manbao looked at him, and Bai Erlang said gloomily, "Every year, the people who come to my house to buy food are all very rich."
Manbao: "Is that a grain merchant?"
"Aren't grain merchants considered human beings?"
Bai Shanbao & Manbao: ...
However, both of them were very tired at this time. When people are tired, their brains are unwilling to work, so they temporarily put such a difficult problem behind their minds.
Manbao stared blankly at the hired workers working back and forth. They had already planted a long way and only left a few rows here for the three children.
In the eyes of the hired workers, the three young masters only farmed because they had enough to eat and had free time.
At their age, they could have gone to the fields and worked as laborers in the countryside, but it was obvious that these three had little experience in farming, so they were not very fast.
So the workers were not very grateful for their help.
Manbao probably knew that they were being disliked, so she just stared at them and thought, and didn't follow them around anymore. The main reason was that she was very tired and had limited energy, so she didn't want to run over and join in the fun.
After watching for a while, she finally realized something was wrong.
"Why are all the temporary workers we hire men?"
Bai Erlang shook his head.
Bai Shanbao thought for a moment and said, "I remember that the temporary workers my cousin hired every year were all men. At least that's been the case for the past two years that I've been here."
"That's right. Mr. Bai has always only employed my eldest and third brothers. My eldest sister-in-law and her husband have never worked for Mr. Bai." Manbao's sleepy, almost stricken brain tried to work, and he said, "Actually, my sisters-in-law are also very good at work, no worse than my eldest brother and his family."
She said, "Of course, my brothers and sisters do the plowing, but my sisters-in-law do things like spreading fertilizer, sowing seeds, and forming ridges better than my brothers, even better than them."
Bai Shanbao pondered, "I remember the teacher said that land is only given to men, and women don't have any land. So shouldn't they come and work?"
Manbao nodded, "Yes."
The two exchanged a glance, and Bai Shanbao immediately said, "I'll tell my grandmother when I get home this afternoon and ask her to hire some women to do odd jobs."
Manbao nodded in agreement, "Ask the farmhand to vacate a room for them. If they can't go home, then they can stay here."
The temporary workers they hired built some straw huts at the foot of the mountain for them to live in temporarily.
It's only spring now, and although it's getting warmer, there will definitely still be cold days. Manbao has always felt that women are weaker than men, so they need to live better.
In the surrounding villages, not to mention the landlords in the countryside, even in the county town, when hiring workers, they only hired men, not women.
Even helping in the kitchen is mostly done by men. What kind of work would women be hired for?
You might get one when you're serving in the backyard, but such opportunities are rare.
And if there is such an opportunity, young girls should be considered first. Who would want an old woman with big hands and feet?
Even Mrs. Liu was stunned for a while when she heard it. It was not until her grandson repeated it a second time that she finally agreed. But she couldn't help asking, "Why do you want to invite a woman?"
"Because we can't hire men. Didn't Grandma say it's hard to hire temporary workers during the busy farming season? Manbao said that women farm just as well as men, and in some cases they're even faster and better."
Liu smiled and nodded, "It's a bit difficult to hire, but since the women are not bad, let's hire a few more."
But in fact, it is not easy to hire women, because there are very few women who come out to do odd jobs. If you suddenly ask women to do work, they may have doubts in their hearts.
So Liu thought about it and sent someone to Dali Village to invite the headman's wife to come and talk.
Within two days, the news spread to several nearby villages that the new Mrs. Bai's family in Qili Village wanted to hire some hardworking women who were good at farming to work in the fields. The wages were the same as those paid to men, 18 cents a day, including two meals.
Even Qian, who was busy farming, heard about it.
Indeed, after six years, Qian Shi was able to work in the fields again, which surprised the villagers of Qili Village for a while. They surrounded her and exclaimed, "Master Tianzun is really helpful. He actually got better as soon as he said he would."
Qian nodded in agreement, "It's all thanks to our Manbao."
Someone suddenly had an idea and suggested, "Sister-in-law, why don't you let Manbao sit on the big rock under the banyan tree tomorrow so that we can worship him and make a wish."
Qian raised her eyebrows and scolded, "Bullshit! Even if Manbao is the reincarnation of a fairy, she is still a mortal and a member of our Zhou family. As an uncle, you go to pay your respects to her. Are you trying to shorten her life?"
"Yes, yes, you can't do this casually. She's young and can't handle it."
The man shrank his neck and said nothing.
The matter passed, and everyone continued to talk about the Bai family hiring workers. "Is it that your family's Manbao's small farm wants to hire a woman to work the land? Are they really paying eighteen cents a day?"
"If it's true, I can go back to my parents' home and tell my cousin's wife. Her family doesn't have many acres of land, so she and her daughters can come and help."
"There's also a cousin of mine who can come too. Her family sold the land."
"Why don't you rent the land?"
"The land in their village is not easy to rent. You have to pay 60% rent, and the landlord is very picky about who you can rent to. Since there are few male laborers in the family, the landlord doesn't want to rent at all, for fear that the land will be damaged."
"Compared like this, he's no match for our Mr. Bai."
"That's right. Although Mr. Bai is stingy, as long as you rent his land, even if all the men in the family die halfway through, the women can continue to rent it."
"By the way, aren't we talking about hiring workers? Aunt Qian, is this true?"
Qian waited until they had finished talking before she said, "I'll ask Manbao for you when we get back. But since it came from the headman's family, it can't be wrong."
"It would be reassuring if we asked a few more questions. People out there are very bad, and who knows if it's just a rumor?"
During her lunch break, Qian went to Daling on purpose. It was just the beginning of spring, and even the midday sun wasn't very hot, but one would still get tanned and feel dizzy if exposed to the sun for too long.
And all three children are used to taking naps.
So after lunch, they skillfully went to a straw hut that was drafty on all sides and lay down on a simple wooden bed to sleep soundly.
When Qian came over, Manbao was sleeping soundly, his belly heaving up and down, his cheeks red, obviously he was sleeping soundly.
Qian touched her cheek, smiled slightly, and put her hands and feet into the blanket. Then she went to talk to Daji who was sitting outside the straw hut.
Until Manbao woke up, she didn't know Qian had been there.
But everyone in Qili Village knew that the information circulating outside was true, so many young people left home that afternoon and visited various relatives at the orders of their parents.
If other families wanted to hire women as laborers, the people of Qili Village would not dare to let their own relatives go, but they came to Qili Village to work.
Moreover, the host is the familiar Bai family and the very familiar Zhou family’s Manbao.
Of course, you should come early to grab a seat.
(End of this chapter)
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