Chapter 147 Recruitment
(Thanks to Gusu Flower Shopkeeper for casting a monthly vote.)
"Hey, wait a minute, how did my sister know?"
Li Shiyue looked at Li Qiutian with some confusion. She really couldn't see anything wrong with Li Chunli. All she could see was that Li Chunli was dressed well, with a silver hairpin in her hair, silver earrings on her ears, and a pair of delicate silver bracelets on her wrist.
Li Qiutian blushed slightly as Li Shiyue pressed her with questions. Not knowing what to say, she turned to look at Zheng Meiniang, who was standing next to her mother.
"When your mother was young, my father sent her to learn a trade from a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, and when I was young, my father sent me to learn from a midwife."
Later, my mother passed away, and my father couldn't keep up with the meat stall by himself. So, I decided not to wait until I got married to become a midwife, and instead picked up a knife and learned from my father how to butcher and butcher pigs.
But I haven't forgotten what the midwife taught me. I told your older sister about it when she was little, and I also taught her to observe the women who came to my stall to buy meat.
Li Shiyue raised her hand and touched Li Qiutian, smiling as she said, "Wow, sister, you can do this too!"
They've already mentioned Li Chunli; after all, she's someone else's daughter, and it's none of their business. Even if they knew about it, they'd just let it go after hearing about it.
On the contrary, Zheng Meiniang said this last sentence: "The fact that she was able to catch up with the carriage and go to the Prince's mansion back then meant that this was destined to happen."
Although being a servant is a job of serving others, it is still a royal palace. In fact, the maids in the royal palace should live better than us commoners.
You have to give up something to gain something.
After discussing this matter, everyone began to discuss the contract in their hands with great interest. They talked about how to prepare the land after the soil softened in the spring, how to build the house, and how to start their own business. The family talked non-stop, and the lights in the house did not go out until late at night.
Even in winter, life on the farm is never leisurely.
Just taking care of the two horses at home requires feeding them three times a day. If they are not fed even once, they will make "uh-uh-ah" noises.
There was also the donkey that the family had bought earlier. A couple of nights ago, the heavy snow damaged the roof of the donkey shed. Li Shiyue, who sleeps soundly, heard it and got up in the middle of the night to rescue the donkey and repair the snow-damaged roof of the shed.
Winter is cold. After the 20th of the twelfth lunar month, it is really freezing cold. To exaggerate a bit, it is so cold that your butt will freeze when you go to the outhouse to pee.
Li Shiyue also came up with a solution for the two horses, finding wooden planks to reinforce the stable and even lighting a fire inside to keep them warm.
In the last few days of the twelfth lunar month, Li Shiyue drove his donkey cart to Zhao You's house near Sunjia Kiln to inquire about buying bean cakes.
When they arrived, the entrance to Zhao You's village was bustling with activity, as there were quite a few carts with large animals parked by the roadside.
After asking around, Li Shiyue learned that every year at the end of the year, Zhao You's family would give one free bean cake for every ten they bought, and if you bought a hundred, you would get ten more free.
Everyone rushes to buy bean cakes at the end of the year, after all, who wouldn't want to get an extra one?
Let the stones wait in line ahead. Li Shiyue found an old man smoking a pipe by the roadside, put his hands in his sleeves, and took out a handful of roasted beans from the cloth bag at his waist and handed them to him.
The old man put down his pipe, looked at the fried beans in Li Shiyue's palm, and asked when he met Li Shiyue's smiling face, "Where are you from, young lady?"
What does this mean?
Li Shiyue placed the handful of fried beans directly next to the big rock where the old man was sitting. She then took out a handful for herself and, while eating, asked the old man, "Old man, I'm a new resident of Liujiatun."
Hehe, this is my first time here, I've come to ask you something.
These beans were roasted by my mother with sugar cubes, so they're sweet. Try some.
The old man wouldn't hit someone who was smiling, especially since Li Shiyue had politely handed him a handful of fried beans first. Moreover, Li Shiyue's question wasn't something he couldn't answer, so the old man crunched the beans and told Li Shiyue what was going on.
Li Shiyue was asking about the Zhao Youtian and Zhao Youcai brothers who had tried to rob her and Li Qiutian with short sticks that day.
The two men weren't lying; they really were from the Zhao family. Their parents were also deceased, and their grandmother was the only one left in the family, making a living by farming two acres of low-quality land.
The two brothers did have their own land, but after paying taxes and seed money, they had nothing left at the end of the year; they could barely make ends meet.
Therefore, these two brothers are in their mid-twenties and still haven't gotten married.
After Li Shiyue inquired about the two brothers' residence from the old man, he saw that the stones were almost lined up, so he quickly bowed to the old man and headed over there.
The old man was still calling out from behind, "Young lady, what are you asking them about?"
Li Shiyue turned to the old man with a smile and said, "Spring is here, and we're building a house. We'd like to hire people to do the work. I met Brother Youtian in the county town before, so I thought I'd ask him when I come to buy bean cakes."
After buying a large quantity of soybean cakes, Li Shiyue got on the truck and directed Shi Tou to head towards Zhao Youtian and Zhao Youcai's house.
Li Shiyue's two horses and one donkey certainly couldn't finish most of the cartload of bean cakes; she also had some to buy for Li Wangshui's mule.
Even Dog Lao San was given some by Li Shiyue, who said he would also go to the cattle and horse market next year to buy a mule for his family.
The Zhao family's house seemed to be more compact than that of Liujiatun. After turning into this area, Li Shiyue saw Zhao Youtian, who was quite tall, chopping firewood in the yard from a distance.
After parking the car outside and telling Shi Tou to watch it, Li Shiyue reached the door and called out to Zhao Youtian, "Hey!"
Zhao Youtian looked in the direction of the sound and was startled. He almost dropped the axe in his hand and screamed "Ah!" so much that he fell to the ground with a big thud.
Hearing the commotion, the old grandmother inside rushed out of the house, her back hunched, asking, "Youtian, what's wrong? What's your name?"
When the old grandmother saw that Zhao Youtian had only fallen on his bottom, she said, "What's wrong? You're a grown man, and you fell down, don't you know how to get up?"
The old grandmother glanced to the side and saw Li Shiyue standing at the door with a beaming smile.
"Young lady, who are you looking for?"
As the old grandmother was about to come to the door, Zhao Youtian, who was sitting on the ground, was so frightened that he jumped up and took two steps forward to block her way. He then told her that he knew Li Shiyue and asked her to come inside and pour a bowl of hot water to entertain her.
The old grandmother's eyes were full of disbelief at Zhao Youtian's words. Where did her grandson get to know other people's daughters?
However, since they are guests, a bowl of water still needs to be poured for them.
Seeing his grandmother smile at Li Shiyue and go inside, Zhao Youtian looked like the sky had fallen and bowed to Li Shiyue, begging for forgiveness.
"Grandma, Grandma, spare my life!"
We never dared to do anything bad again!
Really! I swear to God, really…
Zhao Youtian pointed both fingers upwards, as if he was about to swear an oath, which amused Li Shiyue.
She interrupted Zhao Youtian's vow and said with a smile, "Your cousin is here? I haven't seen him."
“Youcai went to work odd jobs at the clan chief’s house. The clan chief took care of us, so that we could have work right at our doorstep and earn a few copper coins.”
Li Shiyue nodded, and without saying a word, took out a piece of silver from his pocket, which was about two taels.
"Before the spring planting next year, my family is going to build a house and we need to hire people to work. You and Zhao Youcai will work for my family. This is the deposit."
Find me a few honest, hardworking men in your village, and two clean, good-natured women who can cook.
The price is the same as working in the county town, including a meal, and wages can be paid daily.
But you two only got half the pay for the work, so you have to compensate us for scaring us sisters that night.
If you disagree, then go to the authorities.
Zhao Youtian stared blankly at Li Shiyue, unable to believe what she was saying. Before he could react, his grandmother, carrying a bowl of hot water, came out of the kitchen.
Li Shiyue tossed the loose silver to Zhao Youtian, then bowed and smiled at her grandmother, saying, "Thank you, thank you."
Li Shiyue took two sips and then took the bowl to give some to Shi Tou, who was watching the cars outside.
After returning the bowl, Li Shiyue bowed to her grandmother, got into the car, turned it around, and headed towards the village entrance.
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