Chapter 148 We're not in it for the money
Li Hong turned to look at Jiang Ling, his tone filled with disbelief: "Miss Jiang, these... are all prepared for His Highness?"
Jiang Ling nodded, "Ten tons each of rice, millet, coarse grains, and flour, and twenty tons of compressed biscuits, are all here."
She had been working continuously for five or six hours and was now too exhausted to help with moving goods. So she moved a stool outside to rest.
Xiao Ran stood at the door, staring blankly at the full granary of grain.
He knew that Sister Jiang's shop had goods, but he didn't expect her to be able to produce so many.
Xiao Yi stood behind Jiang Ling, wearing a cleaner and more well-fitting set of clothes.
After resting for two days, my energy and complexion have improved a lot.
He stayed at Xiao Ran's house for three nights. Although Xiao Ran's attitude towards him was sometimes good and sometimes bad, Aunt Zhao was still very gentle.
I washed his hair again and gave him a cleaner, more suitable set of clothes.
That evening, I made him a soup to warm him up.
He wanted to go in and help, but what could he do with his small frame? He didn't want to disturb the adults, so Jiang Ling stopped him.
More and more grain carts were parked in front of the shop. At first, Li Hong brought fifty carts, but that wasn't enough, so another fifty were transferred from Ping'an County, making a total of one hundred carts, which formed a long line that stretched from the shop entrance all the way to the main road.
Each carriage was packed full and tied tightly with hemp rope.
As the sun rose higher, it shone on the grain carts, and the endless convoy formed a spectacular sight on the official road.
The villagers passing by all stopped to look and inquired about whose family had so much grain. When they heard that it was to be given to the soldiers on the frontier, they all abandoned any thoughts they shouldn't have had.
However, there was too much grain, and the horses were finding it difficult to carry the load.
Jiang Ling walked over, looking somewhat worried.
Li Hong quickly explained, "Miss Jiang, don't worry. We're just loading the grain onto the trucks first. Once we leave the village and catch up with the main group, we'll distribute the excess grain to other transport trucks."
Jiang Ling breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."
By the time the last bag of grain was loaded onto the cart, it was already late noon.
Everything is ready, we can hit the road.
Li Hong walked up to Jiang Ling, took out an exquisite sandalwood box from his pocket, and handed it to her with both hands:
"Miss Jiang, His Highness asked me to bring this to you."
Jiang Ling took the box, opened it, and found a jade pendant inside.
The jade pendant is carved from the finest Lantian jade, with an extremely rare sky-blue color that is warm, smooth, and translucent.
The jade pendant is carved with a soaring eagle, the lines are smooth and lifelike, and it is obviously very valuable.
Jiang Ling thought to herself, "He's a prince, he probably has a lot of treasures like this, so there's no need for me to be coy and refuse."
So she closed the lid and accepted it readily: "I have accepted the gift. Please thank your Highness for me."
"I will certainly deliver it!"
Li Hong bowed respectfully, thanked the villagers, mounted his horse, and shouted loudly at the convoy:
"Set off!"
One hundred grain carts slowly started up, their wheels rumbling as they rolled down the official road, gradually disappearing into the distance.
Jiang Ling glanced at the empty shop and breathed a sigh of relief. At least she made it in time.
After Li Hong's grain convoy left, villagers who had helped with the work remained outside the grocery store. Among them were many women who had come later after hearing the news to lend a hand.
Everyone's faces were covered in sweat from their work and a little excited. They rested in twos and threes, their eyes occasionally glancing towards the official road, still discussing the spectacular scene they had just witnessed.
Jiang Ling turned and went back into the shop, picked up two large bottles of orange-flavored soda from the shelf and handed them to Xiao Ran, then took out a pack of disposable cups and handed them to Xiao Yi:
"Xiao Ran, Xiao Yi, pour some tea for the uncles, aunts and uncles who are helping out outside, so they can quench their thirst."
Fortunately, I hadn't used any of the copper coins I'd saved from running the shop before, and now I had a whole bag full of them. They'll come in handy.
Every villager who came to help had money, regardless of when they came or whether they were male or female.
Jiang Ling came out carrying the money box, and everyone was already drinking soda.
"Thank you all for coming to help today! Please have some water and rest for a bit. I'll distribute the wages to everyone in order. Everyone who contributed today will get paid! Please line up in separate men's and women's lines for easier access."
Upon hearing this, Aunt Qian, who was drinking tea, quickly put down her cup and waved her hand:
“Miss Jiang, we don’t need to. We weren’t really that helpful. We just moved a few light boxes. Why should we be paid? You can give the wages to the men who did the hard work!”
Aunt Zhou, who was standing nearby, quickly chimed in, "Yes, yes, we just came to join in the fun and lend a hand since it's so lively at Miss Jiang's door. A cup of tea is all we need."
"Yes, yes, how much strength can women have? The men do all the work, so we just need to pay them wages."
“Miss Jiang has always been very kind to us. We’re just helping to move some light goods. How could we possibly ask for wages?”
Jiang Ling insisted, "That won't do. One thing at a time. As long as you put in the effort, you should be paid. It has nothing to do with gender."
Jiang Ling was about to hand out the money when the women, upon hearing this, became unwilling.
"If Miss Jiang insists on being so formal, then we'll have to leave!"
"Yeah, yeah, don't always make it seem like we're taking advantage of Miss Jiang!"
"Miss Jiang has helped us so much over the years, I just wanted to repay her, I really didn't want any wages!"
The dozen or so women were of one mind and all insisted on not taking Jiang Ling's money.
This put Jiang Ling in a somewhat awkward position.
Several of them had already stood up, as if to leave, but Jiang Ling stopped them.
At this moment, Grandpa Zhao came out and spoke:
“Miss Jiang, just listen to them. This is all the villagers’ good intentions. You’ve helped them so much, so they want to lend you a hand, not for the money. Besides, most of the able-bodied men who came to help are the men in their families. One share of wages is enough for the whole family, so why do they need to split it into two?”
He paused, then added:
“At first I thought it was just moving some small things, and I thought everyone would lend a hand and I wouldn’t have to pay them. But I didn’t expect it to be a whole store of grain. The men were sweating profusely, so it’s only right that you pay them for their work; but the women were just helping out, and if they didn’t want it, you shouldn’t force them, so as not to hurt their feelings.”
He thought it was just moving some small things, and didn't even think he needed to pay the men's wages.
But to my surprise, it was an entire storeroom full of grain. I saw fifty villagers, each covered in sweat from their hard work.
Even if he were to persuade the villagers not to take the money, Jiang Ling would not agree.
The villagers all agreed.
"Uncle Zhao is right! Miss Jiang, please don't insist!"
"We're not doing this for the money, we just want to help you out!"
Seeing that she couldn't refuse everyone's sincere efforts, Jiang Ling thought for a moment and had no choice but to propose a compromise:
"How about this? The men will each receive twenty coins as agreed before; as for the women, I won't give them any money, but each of them will receive a packet of pastries to take home as a treat and for the children to try. Is that alright?"
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