Everyone nodded in agreement with Meng Zhao's arrangement. From now on, they would strictly abide by the rules set by Meng Zhao, as every seemingly insignificant rule could help them avoid a risk.
Especially Cui Ying, although she was still deducted one hundred coins from her wages, it was still much better than having to lose everything.
Meng Jianqiu and He Jianxia's work clothes were already finished, so Meng Zhao didn't keep them confined to the backyard. Instead, he asked Aunt Feng'e to teach them more about the shop's rules.
After all, another reason for the rice noodle spill was that there were just too many customers in the shop, especially during mealtimes, when it was always packed, which made it easy for the staff to make mistakes in the rush.
From then on, every time it was mealtime, Meng Zhao would ask Jian Qiu and Jian Xia to put down their flour-grinding work and go to the shop to help.
Today, the village head came over and told her that the village school is about to be built, and asked her if she wanted to expand the pig farm as well.
"So early? Building houses before the ground has even thawed might cause quite a bit of trouble," Meng Zhao asked, slightly taken aback.
The village head also looked helpless. "Sigh, there's nothing we can do. Last year, we cleared 200 acres of wasteland. The villagers spent the whole winter preparing for it, all waiting to get to work in the spring. If we delay any longer, I'm afraid it will be hard to find workers to build the houses. I sent the foreman to check it out a couple of days ago. He said that if we build now, the workers will just have a little trouble, but it won't affect the houses."
Hearing what the village head said, Meng Zhao nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll trouble the village head to arrange for someone to expand my pig farm. You can tell me how much it will cost later."
Expanding the pig farm is inevitable; otherwise, with so many potato scraps produced every day, there aren't enough pigs to eat them all. Besides, their braised meat shop needs high-quality pork to improve its quality.
In the past few days, she has keenly noticed that the business of the shop across the street has improved a lot compared to before. It can withstand her pressure and even show an upward trend. It seems that the new shopkeeper across the street is quite capable.
Meng Zhao hadn't been back for several days. This morning, after cooking the meat, he took Xiao Chuan back to Tongfu Street.
When they arrived home, Aunt Suyun was leading a new worker to prepare vegetables in the backyard. Meng Zhao greeted them and then went inside.
Inside, Wei Jinglan was leading a group of children in class. Although she hadn't come over these past few days, Wei Jinglan would occasionally go to her and spend some time with her, all in order to learn more new knowledge.
Meng Zhao gently pushed open the door, and the students inside turned to look. When Shen Qingze and Shen Qingyu saw that it was her, they rushed straight towards her, and even the second sister ran over to hug her.
Standing in front of the blackboard, Wei Jinglan witnessed this scene, her lips slightly upturned, and she said softly, "Then let's take a break for a while and continue the class later."
"Sister-in-law, I miss you so much. You haven't come back to see us these past few days." Shen Qingyu nestled tightly in Meng Zhao's arms, her little face rubbing against her clothes.
“Yes, sister-in-law, we wanted to come see you, but Mother wouldn’t let us. She said you’re busy all the time and we’d bother you if we went.” Shen Qingze also hugged Meng Zhao, quite resentful that his mother wouldn’t let them come.
Meng Zhao was filled with affection. She hugged the two children and comforted them for a while. Then she took some candy out of her pocket and gave it to the other children before finally escaping from everyone's embrace.
Meng Zhao originally wanted to look at the account book, but the two of them still followed her closely. While Meng Zhao was looking at the account book, the two of them sat next to her and peeled melon seeds. Before long, a small pile of melon seeds was piled up in the small dish in front of her, and the two of them made Meng Zhao eat them in one bite.
Looking at their earnest and adorable expressions, Meng Zhao couldn't help but put down the account book and rub their chubby cheeks. "Oh my, you two are so well-behaved. I'd like to take you over there and have you peel sunflower seeds in the yard every day, so you can experience what it's like to be a landlord."
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingze's eyes lit up instantly. "Great! Then sister-in-law, take us there. I'll peel sunflower seeds for you every day."
Meng Zhao pouted, "No, you two still need to attend classes with Sister Wei. I'm too busy to teach you. Didn't you two say you would listen carefully and make a lot of money for your sister-in-law in the future?"
Upon hearing this, the two boys' excited faces immediately fell. Seeing their disappointment, Meng Zhao put down the account book and chatted with them, figuring they could look at the account book later when they returned to Xishui Street.
After chatting for a while, Meng Zhao gathered the children together and began to test their lessons.
Currently, any child randomly selected from those attending her home-based classes can recite multiplication tables fluently and answer addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division within ten without hesitation.
Two-digit and three-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division can be solved quickly with just a blackboard and a few simple calculations.
Their literacy rate has also improved significantly. They can now pronounce and write down some commonly used characters in daily life, including their own names and their parents' names.
All of this is thanks to Wei Jinglan.
"Jinglan, I really want to thank you for spending so much time raising these children."
Wei Jinglan smiled happily and replied softly, "What's the big deal? I don't have much to do anyway. Besides, I've had a lot of fun teaching them these past few days. Some of the children didn't even know their own names at first, but now they can write them. Seeing them change little by little makes me very happy. This is probably the sense of accomplishment you mentioned to me before."
At this point, Wei Jinglan felt a surge of curiosity. Why was Meng Zhao so supportive of her teaching the children?
If it were just about teaching Shen Qingze and Shen Qingyu, their own children, that would be understandable. But Meng Zhao's overly welcoming attitude towards other people's children coming to learn is truly puzzling.
This is actually quite easy to understand. Meng Zhao is simply building a talent pool. Take Zhou Xin, the accountant next door, for example. He earns at least four or five taels of silver a month, which adds up to more than fifty taels of silver a year.
These days, there are few people who can read and write and are proficient in arithmetic, let alone find someone you can trust to manage your accounts.
Therefore, Meng Zhao needs to prepare in advance. Whether it is the children who attend classes in the Meng family's small classroom or the children who will study in Shenjia Village School in the future, they will all be potential employees of hers.
People from one's own family naturally have a higher level of trust, and if one doesn't cultivate their thinking skills from a young age, their reactions will become much slower as they get older, making it more difficult to learn.
Although it's a losing proposition right now, looking at the long term, it will definitely benefit you for life.
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