"Oh, dear sister, I'm not one to stand on ceremony. You don't need to rush to Jiangdu. Just take care of your business first, and come back when things are quieter in winter. Perfect timing, we can get everything done then!" Liu Ying said readily.
Both she and Liu Miaoyin were exhausted from the bumpy ride to Donghai Town.
Old Mrs. Li and Old Mr. Li couldn't bear it any longer.
Although one could travel by water, it would be even more arduous.
She could vomit all the way to Jiangdu; Liu Ying was never one to care about formalities.
I thought I'd just wait until winter, when everyone's less busy, to go then, so I wouldn't have to suffer through it several times.
After spending three days with Liu Ying, Old Mrs. Li learned about Liu Ying's character and way of doing things.
He knew that what she meant was that she didn't look down on him for visiting them in Jiangdu.
Even so, Mrs. Li felt increasingly guilty.
"That's too much neglect of Miaoyin," said Old Mrs. Li with heartache.
As she spoke, Old Mrs. Li took off a silver bracelet from her wrist and placed it in Liu Miaoyin's hand.
“Miaoyin, good child, although this is not worth much money, it was passed down from my mother-in-law. Please keep it.”
The Li family passed down four items: a pair of bracelets, a necklace, and a silver hairpin.
Before her mother-in-law died, she left everything to Mrs. Li.
Grandma Li gave the necklace to Zuo Xiuhong, and of the pair of bracelets, one was given to Gu Chenxi a long time ago, and the other was given to Liu Miaoyin.
As for the hairpin, it was given to Li Xihua as part of her dowry when she got married.
Later, she died and disappeared without a trace.
Giving Liu Miaoyin this bracelet was meant to tell her that the Li family values her.
Liu Miaoyin glanced at Liu Ying, who nodded, before she accepted the gift.
"Thank you very much, ma'am. Miaoyin will be waiting for you in Jiangdu." Liu Miaoyin said, blushing.
She carefully put the silver bracelet she received on her wrist, as if it were a precious treasure.
By accepting the Li family's heirloom, she implicitly acknowledged that she was the Li family's future daughter-in-law.
Grandma Li nodded happily and said, "Oh, good child, when winter comes, our whole family will go to Jiangdu!"
After breakfast, Liu Ying and her daughter set off.
The Gu family also started getting busy.
Gu Yun Chu had handed over all the affairs of the restaurant to Huang Zhi Xiong, and he would go to Donghai every morning and evening to pick up Zhang Da Hua and check on the situation of the restaurant.
Gu Lili then taught Gu Yun Chu how to receive these merchants who came to pick up soap.
Just after seeing off one group of people, the village head arrived with the apprentices he had found.
After searching for several days, I finally have some leads.
At first, when many people heard that Gu Lili's family was recruiting apprentices, they rushed to try their luck.
But after hearing what the village head had to say, they all backed down.
The village head said that this mother-of-pearl inlay would take at least a year to complete.
Although they provided food and lodging for the year, they received no monthly allowance.
They had heard that those who worked in Gu Lili's soap workshop earned fifteen coins a day.
That's 450 coins a month, which is almost 5 taels of silver a year!
They send their children to work for free, but receive no money and have no idea when they will receive any.
After thinking it over, they decided it would be better to stay home and help with the chores; at least they could earn a few coins.
The village headman went to several villages and asked several village heads before finally finding the dozen or so apprentices learning mother-of-pearl inlay. Fortunately, Gu Lili's family left one of their carriages for him to use these past two days.
Otherwise, if they had to walk, the results would probably be even less satisfactory.
As for learning carpentry, there are many people in this village who are willing to do it.
However, it didn't take much effort to gather all the people Gu Lili needed, and the village head told them to come over after lunch.
Let Gu Lili take a look at this group of people learning mother-of-pearl inlay first.
Most of the people who come to learn mother-of-pearl inlay are teenagers, so almost no one is followed by an elder from their family.
They also wanted to come and find out for themselves before making a final decision on whether or not to let their child stay.
"This humble subject greets Your Highness!"
In Gu Lili's courtyard, twenty or thirty people kowtowed and paid their respects to Gu Lili in a grand procession.
Gu Lili nodded and told everyone to dispense with the formalities.
There are just too many people; it would be very crowded if we went into the main room.
Therefore, Gu Lili had stools brought to the courtyard so that everyone could sit down, and she could explain the matter again.
After everyone sat down, Gu Lili slowly began to speak, "I believe Grandpa Village Head has already given you a general overview, so I will explain it to you in detail again."
As Gu Lili spoke, she casually glanced at the people sitting around.
"To become an apprentice here, you need to be quick, smart, and willing to work hard. As long as you are valued by Master Yu, you can become an apprentice. I will provide room and board, but you will only receive your monthly salary after you have completed your apprenticeship. As for when you will learn the skills, it depends on your talent."
Some of the people present began to make their own calculations.
They weren't as insightful as those who thought they might not see money for a long time. At least, Gu Lili didn't specify when they had to learn it.
These kids are just teenagers, the age when they can eat a lot.
Send them here to learn; if they can't learn, they'll just be eating for free for a few months!
There are quite a few people who think this way, so when Gu Lili talked about Yueyin, they didn't show much emotion on their faces.
Instead, they were smug and self-satisfied with their own cleverness.
But Gu Lili's next words made them stop laughing.
"To become my apprentice, you must sign and affix your fingerprint to the documents and go through the government. Since you want to become my apprentices, you must come with the determination to learn. If you are thinking of giving up halfway, that won't do."
When Gu Lili mentioned signing documents, some people felt a pang of anxiety.
Gu Lili continued, "If you're thinking of coming here to eat and drink for free, you can leave now. The contents of this document are very simple."
"First, after completing your studies, you must work for me for ten years before you can leave if you wish."
"Secondly, and most importantly, once you sign the document, you must learn it. If you give up halfway and want to leave, that's not impossible. You just need to pay 55 coins per person per day for food and lodging."
After Gu Lili finished speaking, she saw that many people on the ground were getting restless.
Gu Lili had long expected that there would be such shameless people who wanted to eat and drink for free.
Although she is kind, she doesn't want to be seen as a fool.
Therefore, a solution was devised well in advance.
Looking at the people on the ground, many of whom were getting restless, Gu Lili knew that her suspicions were indeed correct.
Seeing that several people wanted to leave but didn't dare to, Gu Lili didn't care.
No matter what you are learning, you must be sincere in order to learn it.
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