Aunt Zhao rushed out and said, "Village head, don't say anything more. Fengnian's mother must be right! Whether they believe it or not, I have three hundred coins here, I'll put them all in!"
Granny Han smiled and said, "Xiaohe and I are both earning money, so we don't need much. My family will invest five hundred coins."
In no time, all the female workers in the workshop came out to contribute money. Except for Aunt Fang Cuiying, who contributed less because she had a sick person in her family who needed medicine, no one contributed less than one hundred coins.
Sister-in-law Lin was even more generous, investing two taels of silver directly. Her sister-in-law's idea for this business couldn't be wrong.
When some villagers heard this, they gasped in surprise. The people working in Aunt Lin's workshop were different. They could spend hundreds of coins at a time. Aunt Lin actually gave two taels of silver. My goodness!
The villagers, who originally didn't want to contribute money but only wanted to provide some mud bricks and labor, suddenly started thinking: why don't they contribute some money too, so they can get a bigger share of the profits?
With this idea in mind, someone immediately said, "My family will contribute twenty coins. I'll go home and get the money right now."
“My family will also contribute twenty coins. Come on, I’ll go back with you.”
“My family is poor and has many members. My family will contribute ten coins.”
"......."
Lin Lizheng was overjoyed to hear that these people were willing to pay so much money. He was confident that he could make this business in the village a success. He waved his hand and said:
"Those who want to invest money should register with Er Mu. Er Mu, please write it down carefully. Da Zhuang and Er Zhuang, you two help count the money."
Er Mu had already moved a small table and sat under the ginkgo tree. He was doing quite well in his studies in the ancestral hall and had learned to write many characters. His grandfather had even spent a lot of money to buy him writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.
Lin Ermu responded and carefully wrote down everyone's name. If he encountered a name he couldn't write, he would circle it and ask Peng Tongsheng later.
The area under the big ginkgo tree was bustling with activity. Both of Aunt Fangtou's daughters-in-law had also contributed some money. Some villagers saw this and teased them. The daughters-in-law with both land and property felt ashamed to have such a mother-in-law and insisted on finding a way to separate their land from the family.
Song Anxin didn't go over there to join the fun. She was leisurely sipping tea at home, playing Go with Uncle Bai. Uncle Bai had brought the Go board, and when he brought it to play Go with her, she was completely dumbfounded. Go was such an elegant and profound game that she really couldn't play it. She remembered that when she was in college, she had a crazy idea to join the Go club, where she felt like an idiot and eventually withdrew in tears.
However, not wanting to spoil Uncle Bai's fun, she suggested playing Gomoku. Uncle Bai was initially puzzled, but later he became more and more engrossed in this fast-paced and competitive game. At this moment, they were fiercely competing on the board.
Sister-in-law Lin rushed in through the courtyard gate, speaking with great emotion about what had happened over there. When she mentioned Aunt Fangtou's face, Sister-in-law Lin spat twice.
"How unlucky is this guy? He dares to show his face in front of us! Shameless!"
Song Anxin just smiled lightly. It's normal for a new industry to have doubts when it needs investment. She knew very well that even if it was Aunt Fangtou, other people would come out to say something. Actually, it's good to talk about it. Although she was confident in the persimmon cake, she was still making a living from it. She was afraid of the worst. She really didn't expect the village head to be so generous and give her 20%. It seems that she will have to work hard in the future.
To Song Anxin's surprise, her jinx actually came true.
At this moment, Uncle Bai placed a chess piece and exclaimed excitedly, "It's done! I've won this game, Fengnian's mother! Hehe..."
He then said, "Fengnian's mother, when will these dried persimmons you mentioned be available? You've never stopped providing fresh food. It seems I'll be living here forever, hahaha."
Song Anxin tidied up the chessboard again and said with a smile, "Then Uncle Bai, you can stay here and retire. Let Ah Si get married here so you can enjoy family life. Don't worry, you'll be able to eat these persimmon cakes soon."
Although Ah Si was nominally Uncle Bai's servant, Uncle Bai treated him like a son. Ah Si, standing to the side, said shyly, "I...I haven't thought about getting married yet, hehe~"
"Master Bai, Aunt Fengnian, I've finished making this checkers game." At this moment, Brother Lin walked in from the courtyard gate, and then presented the checkers board to Master Bai with a solemn expression, his face full of respect for Uncle Bai: "Master Bai, what do you think of the workmanship? Please give me your guidance."
Song Anxin: "......" Brother, your preferential treatment is too much.
Unsurprisingly, checkers became Uncle Bai's new favorite pastime, and even Ah Si and Er Xi Dongzi became addicted to it.
After dinner, Lin Lizheng brought Dazhuang and Erzhuang to Song Anxin's house.
Lin Lizheng was very excited: "Every household in Linjia Village has contributed some money, and with the money from the village's public coffers, we now have more than twenty taels of silver. Next is to build the workshop. Fengnian's mother, where do you think we should build the workshop? How big should it be?"
Lin Lizheng now completely trusts Song Anxin, so he feels he should ask Feng Nianniang about everything, since he doesn't understand either.
Song Anxin said slowly, "Now that we've raised so much money, we can buy some high-quality persimmons. After the persimmons are made, we can sell them in different price ranges: high, medium, and low. We don't need to buy too many at first; we can gradually increase the supply once we've established a market presence."
She pondered for a moment and slowly said, "In addition, for the workshop, the windows of the house should be large. Persimmons need to be dried during the day and aired at night, so the yard for drying persimmons must be large. It is best to choose a place with good sunlight and ventilation. The fence of the yard must also be high to prevent the method of making persimmon cakes from being seen and leaked. The workers should also be chosen to be tight-lipped, and the contract should have a confidentiality agreement. This is the industry of the whole village and cannot be taken lightly."
Lin nodded and kept everything in mind. In the end, he chose a piece of wasteland at the entrance of the village. With the help of the whole village, the Lin Family Village Persimmon Cake Workshop was quickly built. The high mud-brick walls made it impossible to see what was inside from the outside.
Inside, there was already a lot of harvested persimmons, all unripe hard persimmons, which were very cheap. You could buy more than ten kilograms for just a few coins. It was difficult for the nearby villages to sell their persimmons anymore, so all the harvested persimmons were sent to Linjia Village.
At this time, Song Anxin, as the technical leader, was teaching the workers in the persimmon cake workshop how to make persimmon cakes. All the workers in the workshop were women. Lin Lizheng was also learning from Song Anxin in this regard. Men could go out and do manual labor, but there were not many jobs that women could earn money on. Moreover, since her two daughters-in-law went to work at Fengnianniang's workshop, the two of them stopped arguing. The old woman was always smiling at the two of them, and the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was very good.
There are thirty workers in the persimmon cake workshop, but their wages are not as high as those in Song Anxin's workshop. They are paid fifteen coins a day. It is a short-term job. Once the persimmon season is over, there will be no more work. Even so, they have tried their best to get in. It is hard to find a job that pays well, let alone for women like them. The village head also said that if the business is good, they will raise their wages.
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