The young beggars were now as energetic as if they had been injected with chicken blood, and Huang was also a decisive person. Since she had agreed to hire the young beggars, she was not going to change her mind.
"How many other little beggars are there with you? How old are they?"
The person I need must be able to lift the food box. As you can see, even if the food box is empty, it must weigh at least five or six pounds, and with several layers, it will be even heavier.
Therefore, this person must be at least 13 years old.
Shuanzi immediately rattled off the numbers as if they were his own treasures.
"There are twenty-three little beggars in total. I'm the oldest, sixteen this year. Gouwazi is fifteen, Tietou is thirteen..."
In the end, Huang went to a brokerage firm and rented a courtyard house with a well.
It's about a 15-minute walk from Wenren Alley.
The annual rent was 8 taels. Huang, being a good person to the end, took several little beggars with him to the clothing shop.
Picking out cheap coarse cloth, I bought two sets of clothes for each of the boys, and also picked out two sets of undergarments of similar material for each of them.
Although each outfit wasn't expensive, there were just too many boys.
No sooner had Huang stepped out of the clothing shop than she discovered a major problem. None of the boys owned any proper shoes.
It's ridiculous that delivery drivers don't have shoes to wear.
Then they had to go back and give each of the boys two pairs of shoes.
The total cost for the boys' gear was a little over two taels of silver.
When the boys were walking down the street carrying clothes and shoes, it felt like their feet were floating; it was so unreal.
"This is the result of accumulated good karma over many lifetimes; I've run into this incredible luck today," thought Shuanzi.
Madam Huang is now a dignified and sophisticated old lady; if this were before...
I can't bear to spend money to buy ready-made clothes and shoes; I have to buy fabric and make them myself.
Now that she's earning money, she's acutely aware of how expensive labor is at home. She considers today's expenses as employee benefits.
If we lower their wages later, we'll make everything come back.
Seeing that the boys were all disheveled and dirty, I decided to take them directly to the largest hot spring in Wufang Town, which was actually a public bathhouse.
There were no showers before; everyone just soaked in the hot spring.
A normal soak in a hot spring costs only 20 coins.
But looking at the lads Huang brought, they were covered in mud, which really put the shopkeeper in a difficult position. However, he had no choice but to continue doing business.
"Ma'am, it's not that I'm being unfair."
We change the hot spring water every day. If those lads you brought go in today, my whole pool of water will be ruined.
Therefore, we'll charge thirty coins per person. If you agree, I'll set up a separate pool for them. The others won't need it. Does that sound acceptable?
The boss was very conflicted when he said that.
He couldn't even imagine what would happen if the drain in the pool got clogged after the boys finished soaking.
Mr. Huang understood his boss's feelings and nodded in agreement, since there were only a dozen or so half-grown boys around.
It's only a little over a hundred coins more.
Huang didn't notice that since she started doing business, her mindset and perspective had changed dramatically.
She was no longer the Huang family member who treated even ten coins as a large sum of money.
The old lady told Shuanzi to take his brothers back to their lodgings after he finished bathing.
As for the other children who hid in the dilapidated house with them...
They are allowed to bring it to the dormitory, but the younger children must be kept clean and there must be no lice in the dormitory.
Apart from these small beggars, no other large beggars or outsiders are allowed to stay.
She's not running a charity, but she'll see what kind of work she can assign to those kids later.
After giving a stern order, Huang left with a flourish.
Unbeknownst to Huang, after she left, the little beggars spontaneously bowed to her departing figure.
In the hearts of the little beggars, Huang was Guanyin reincarnated, with the heart of a Bodhisattva.
This strengthened their resolve to follow in the footsteps of the Huang family and never betray them.
That evening, after Zhao Qianci and the other men returned home, Huang told them about the plan to hire the little beggar.
"My wife is the kindest person in the world."
Only you could come up with such a good idea, which both helps those beggars and saves their face.
"I am so proud of you." Zhao Qianci's sweet words came easily.
The children and grandchildren lowered their heads, pretending not to see or hear anything.
Zhao Yonggeng said,
"Mother, since they were hired, was any written agreement signed?"
Otherwise, if someone does something to wrong our shop in the future, how will we hold them accountable?
Huang nodded.
"The main purpose of telling you this is that you should quickly write 12 documents for me, two copies each, which is a total of 24 documents."
I have to sign contracts with these little guys tomorrow. I'm a stickler for contracts. No matter what, I have to get a contract signed.
"Yes, yes, my wife is right."
Eldest, second, and third sons, you all need to help your mother think of something quickly and draft a contract for me to review.
We men, big and small, can't help our mothers with the burden of life all day long. If we can't even draft a contract, I think we might as well not have studied at all.
"Really?" Only one of those few who didn't really want to study at the private school could ask such a question.
Zhao Qianci replied in a sinister tone, "What do you think?"
In an instant, the main room was deserted, leaving only Madam Huang to continue talking to Zhao Qianci about what had happened during the day.
Hearing that Ma had been executed made me feel even more saddened.
Nothing was said that night.
The next day, when a group of twelve young men arrived at the shop entrance and stood there, they looked quite pleasing to the eye.
Mrs. Huang led all the boys into the backyard. She set up a table and began signing contracts.
After signing the contract and affixing their fingerprints, Huang took his sons out.
Today's main tasks are a few, including going to a clothing shop to order an apron embroidered with the words "Zhao's Snack Shop".
Then I went to the general store to order food boxes, and to the carpenter's shop to order a carrying rack, the kind that can hold the food boxes in place.
Although she really wanted to order the four-wheeled cart that Zhao Qingyan had drawn for her before, she hesitated because of the street conditions in Wufang Town.
If you were to deliver goods by pushing one of those small carts, the food on the plates and bowls would probably be scattered and broken by the time you got to the customer's house.
Therefore, light items are carried by hand, while heavy items are carried on the back.
As for how to speed up food delivery, Ms. Huang did recall seeing a video her granddaughter had shown her, which featured roller skates.
I don't know if the carpentry shop can make that thing; I can only wait for my granddaughter to come back and draw up the blueprints for me.
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