The next morning, Aunt Feng'e, full of energy, took Shen Yun to the shop on Xishui Street. Zhao Zhao had told her that the stove there hadn't been cleaned after it was installed, so she had to hurry up and clean the shop.
In addition, she also needs to teach the three newly recruited people what to pay attention to when they are doing their work. Zhao Zhao has many requirements. When she first came, she spent a long time learning. If she doesn't teach them in advance, wouldn't she be a burden to them when the store opens and they get busy?
As for Tongfu Street, Aunt Suyun and Aunt Shuhua have done a very good job and can also help Gu Shi mentor the newcomers.
Before leaving, Meng Zhao happened to catch a glimpse of Wei Jingyun squatting in front of the stove, tending the fire. Her thin body looked like it couldn't even fill out her clothes, so she wanted to stop her. "Jingyun, the doctor said you're not well yet and can't do any work. Why don't you continue to rest?"
Hearing Meng Zhao's concerned words, Wei Jingyun smiled and shook her head, "It's alright, Zhao Zhao. After taking the medicine for the past few days, I feel much better. Besides, I don't know how to do any other chores. I can just help with the fire, which is fine."
The women in the courtyard always chatted and worked at the same time. Although they were doing ordinary and trivial things, to Wei Jingyun, they were full of warmth and life, making her feel cozy and lively.
Meng Zhao looked at Wei Jingyun and saw that her complexion was rosier and she was more energetic than before, so he did not continue to stop her and tacitly allowed her to continue helping outside.
He then drove the donkey cart back to Shenjia Village with Xiao Chuan and the big dog. The dog had a good meal yesterday and now seemed to be full of inexhaustible energy. It happily stuck out its tongue and ran in front of the donkey cart. In the county town, there wouldn't be such a big place for it to run around freely.
They had only been in the village for a short time when, as if there were surveillance cameras installed, they immediately rushed over.
"Meng Zhao, Meng Zhao, wait a minute."
Hearing the call, Meng Zhao quickly nipped the donkey in the bridle, stopping the cart. He jumped off and asked, "Village head? What's wrong? Is something the matter?"
These days she has been busy with the shop and has no time to spare, so she moved some of the starch workshop's accounts to Xu Yunrong and asked her to keep an eye on them for her. So now, if anything happens in the workshop, the village head usually reports it to Xu Yunrong first.
The village head was panting heavily, and after catching his breath for a while, he said, "Here's what happened. Recently, we've been trying to increase production, and your mother asked me to recruit more workers. I've looked around, and we've already recruited almost all the suitable women in the village. If we recruit more, we'll probably have to lower the standards a bit. Since you're here, I wanted to ask what we should do about this."
Meng Zhao frowned slightly. "How many people are currently working in the starch workshop?"
"Including me, there are forty-one people in total: twenty-seven women and fourteen men. Now that the land reclamation is finished, there are quite a few men in the village with nothing to do at home. Should we recruit more men?"
Meng Zhao shook his head. "We mainly need men when we go out to haul potatoes, but women are better at the daily work in the workshop, so there's no need to hire too many men."
After speaking, he lowered his head and thought seriously for a while, "Are there any people in the surrounding villages who want to work in the workshop?"
The village head was quite proud. "Our workshop has such good conditions. If we opened it up, there would be plenty of people who would want to come. But we said we would try not to spread the word about this workshop, so we have never recruited anyone from other villages."
Since the in-depth cooperation with Chunfenglou, Meng Zhao has not been too wary of the starch production process and related news. After all, even if someone learns it, at most that person will make some starch for their own use or sell it on a small scale. If it can really be made into a business, she will not be the only one affected, and the Xiao family will not sit idly by.
If a workshop wants to grow bigger and stronger, it must accept expansion. Only hiring people in a small circle will limit its own development potential.
“It’s alright, we can hire people from other villages too. But we need to be more careful when choosing people we don’t know well. We absolutely cannot hire those who are cunning, lazy, or prone to gossip. We can try to find people from poorer families who are honest and hardworking.”
Choosing those from impoverished families serves two purposes: firstly, to provide them with a means of survival, and secondly, to benefit the workshop. This way, employee satisfaction can be achieved without requiring excessive investment.
Seeing Meng Zhao say this, the village head did not refute it. Although he preferred to recruit people from the village, he was still more concerned about the development of the starch workshop.
There are only forty people in the workshop now. At the current rate, at least twenty more people need to be recruited. So after the village head went back, he immediately went to the three surrounding villages.
He knew the people of Shenjia Village very well, but he didn't know much about the people in other villages. The best way was to find a village head or clan elder he knew in the corresponding village to make arrangements.
A few days ago, Shenjia Village made a large-scale purchase of potatoes from all over the country, which caused quite a stir. Everyone knew that there was a large workshop in Shenjia Village, but neither the village head nor the workshop workers knew what the workshop was used for. They couldn't find out the details either.
But since everyone lives in the same place, rumors spread very quickly. For example, men from Shenjia Village pay more for their wives than people from other villages, and daughters from Shenjia Village also receive more dowries than those from other villages. In the eyes of ordinary farmers, this means that the people of Shenjia Village are rich.
The women who had married into Shenjia Village wore new clothes and carried much more gifts than others when they returned to their parents' home.
In a place where bringing back two catties of meat and a jar of wine when someone goes back to their parents' home can become the talk of the village, everyone became even more curious.
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