Two people were about to leave.
He's here to fill in.
"Yes, Sister Xia, I understand. I'll take him in first. You can wander around as you like. I'll come find you in a bit." Jin Yu nodded and led Jiang Dafeng into the school.
Yan Xia followed slowly behind.
"You'll go work in the garden, following behind Carpenter Huang. Do whatever he tells you to do, understand? Our wages are paid monthly, and the pay varies depending on the job. You'll be considered a laborer, and we'll give you three taels of silver a month, which is one string of cash a day. When you work here, you need to learn three things. First, keep your mouth shut and don't talk too much. That person was the master; she comes to the school often to check on things. When you see the master, just greet her and don't say anything out of line."
Secondly, you must be of good character. Don't be like those two clueless scoundrels. Here, no one is allowed to bully others or form cliques and engage in open or covert infighting. Thirdly, this school was built in a rush, so no slacking off is allowed! Be diligent! Also, we provide meals here, three meals a day. Come over for breakfast before dawn and start working. After lunch, rest for 15 minutes, and then have dinner when the sun sets. After dinner, you can stop working. Understand?
I carefully led Jiang Dafeng to the garden.
On the way, he continued to explain the various rules and regulations of the school.
Jiang Dafeng was stunned.
Three or four a month?
One string of cash a day?
Oh my god.
His wages for one day were equivalent to what he earned carrying sandbags for ten days.
Even if I only work for one month, I won't have to worry about the rest of the year.
Jiang Dafeng's left eye twitched with excitement. "I understand, I definitely won't break your rules, don't worry. Should I start work today? Or..."
"Consider today your first day at work. Get to know the people and familiarize yourself with the place. You'll start working tomorrow."
He stopped walking after he finished speaking.
The two had already arrived in the garden.
There are four or five workers digging a canal, and two carpenters are arranging wood nearby, waiting to build a wooden bridge.
"Carpenter Huang, come here." Jin Yu called out to an elderly man.
"Hey, hey, you're here." The man was very enthusiastic, putting down the wood he was holding and jogging over.
"What's wrong, Manager? What do you need me to do?" Carpenter Huang asked.
"This is Jiang Dafeng. From today onwards, he will follow you around. If there are any odd jobs, let him do them. He knows a little carpentry. You can train him."
“Alright, my little apprentice is a bit clumsy at work, and I was just worried about not having enough manpower. Don’t worry, leave it to me.” Carpenter Huang nodded and bowed to Jin Yu.
Where was the fierce look she had just given her apprentice?
"Alright, Jiang Dafeng, you'll follow Craftsman Huang. If you don't understand something, ask others for help. If you can't solve it, come find me."
"Yes, I understand." Jiang Dafeng bowed.
I watched him leave with utmost care.
"Come with me. From now on, you'll work with my little apprentice. Let me make this clear: I have a bad temper. If you're too stupid, I'll yell at you."
After all, he wasn't his apprentice.
Craftsman Huang had already made his statement.
That way, the person won't get scolded by him and then complain.
"It's only right that you scold me. There are many things I don't understand. Please teach me more. Please." Jiang Dafeng had been doing odd jobs to support his family since he was a child, and he was very tactful.
Seeing how sensible he was, Craftsman Huang nodded in satisfaction.
As long as they're not troublemakers, it's fine.
On the other side, Yan Xia stood where the students were doing exercises, watching the workers lay bluestone bricks.
"Sister Xia, he's already been taken there," Jin Yu said as she walked to Yan Xia's side.
"Okay, tell the workers later not to pave the corner with bluestone bricks, leave the muddy ground for driving plum blossom stakes." Yan Xia looked up at Jin Yu and said.
"Okay, I'll give the order now." Jin Yu didn't know what Yan Xia was doing driving the stakes.
He didn't ask.
The two stayed from morning until noon.
They only left when the workers were eating.
The school provides two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes for lunch and dinner every day, and the meat dishes are not things like eggs, which are considered off-limits.
Instead, it's real meat. Today's meat dishes are stir-fried pork slices with chili peppers and roasted lamb chunks.
The vegetarian dish was simply green vegetables and stir-fried bamboo shoots.
These meals were prepared by the cooks in the mansion at the end of the city. Every day, after breakfast, lunch and dinner were prepared, the servants would transport them from the mansion to each worker. Each worker received a portion, and because Jin Yu had to supervise the work every day, he also received a portion.
They eat the same food as the workers.
With an extra worker today, there's naturally one less meal, so I'll give my share to Jiang Dafeng.
He and Yan Xia went to eat plain noodles on the street.
In the school courtyard, Jiang Dafeng was at the end of the line, waiting for his meal.
Each person will be given a wooden box.
The box is about the size of a head and four fingers deep.
The two people serving the food were wearing matching black outfits with the character "Yan" embroidered on them.
Jiang Dafeng cannot read.
But he was familiar with the character "颜".
He had previously delivered flour to Yan's pastry shop, so he had a particularly deep impression of it.
"No wonder that lady looked familiar; she's the owner of Yan's Pastry Shop."
Jiang Dafeng muttered to himself.
"What did you say? Come and get your food. Manager Jin said you should take his portion." Standing in front of him was Huang the carpenter's young apprentice, Dongzi. In just one morning, he had become close friends with Jiang Dafeng.
Dongzi, holding the wooden box, beckoned Jiang Dafeng, who was lost in thought, to go get his food.
"Coming!" Jiang Dafeng responded, taking two steps forward.
"After you finish eating, put the wooden box in the empty bucket by the door. We'll come and collect it later," the servant who was distributing the food instructed the man, seeing that he was a stranger.
"Yes, sir." Jiang Dafeng nodded and bowed.
After serving all the food, the two servants left.
"Alright, stop looking, I'm starving. Let's sit down at the corner and eat." Dongzi's stomach was growling with hunger. He didn't open the wooden box and squat down to eat, but waited for Jiang Dafeng to join him. Seeing that Jiang Dafeng was still staring blankly at the door, Dongzi urged him.
"Okay." Jiang Dafeng looked away and followed Dongzi to the corner, where there were two large rocks that could be used as benches.
The rocks were covered in dust and mud, but the two men, who did hard labor, didn't mind the dirt. They sat down on the rocks without even blowing away the dust.
"Oh, there's mutton! I love it!" Dongzi was the first to open the wooden box.
He said with delight.
Upon hearing that there was meat, Jiang Dafeng quickly opened the wooden box.
Inside the wooden box, which was about the size of a book, there were five compartments. The top four small compartments contained different dishes, while the bottom large rectangular compartment was filled with rice, packed tightly together.
Like a brick.
A pair of chopsticks, the same color as the wooden box, were also inlaid on the lid.
Very clever.
"It's so delicious! This stir-fried pork with chili is so fragrant, it's so oily, you should eat it!" Dongzi thought he didn't like it because he hadn't touched his chopsticks for a while, but when he saw that Jiang Dafeng's clothes were all patched, he realized he was overthinking it.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
