Jiang Huaixu had not had much contact with the Fan family. Jiang Zhengmao had more frequent interactions with them, and she had heard a lot of good things about this group of people from him, but it was not enough. Since they were going to do business together in the future, she had to know more about this group of people.
So she set a probation period in her mind. As long as nothing happened during the probation period, this cooperation could continue for a long time.
The joining of the Fan family put a lot of pressure on the villagers.
When it was time for dinner, as soon as Jiang Huaixu walked into the tofu shop, he saw a lot of people gathered together talking.
"Xu girl is here!"
As soon as they saw her, many people gathered around her.
"Xu girl, why are those Fans trying to steal our business? If they can sell in the nearby town, we can do that too!"
"That's right! We have ox carts! They can only walk. Don't we earn more than them?"
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Jiang Huaixu: “…”
There were some elderly people inside, so she could only break it down and explain it to them, "Don't worry, don't worry, listen to me. There are more than two hundred of us, not including the children. Do we need to have people to grind and make tofu? If we go to town to sell it, the tofu we grind every day is not enough, and we need more grinding stones. Do we need more people?"
There are also people who pound spices. It can't be done by only the aunts, sisters-in-law and older sisters. Not to mention that their arms are swollen, but the demand for spices is huge, so two groups have to take turns: those who buy them, those who cook, those who do carpentry work, and those who open up wasteland. Now that everyone has their own land, does everyone have to take care of their own land?
There's so much work to do, we can't just take people out. We have to run a business, we have to make a living. In the middle of winter, we can work at home while others go out and sell the goods. What's wrong with that?"
This was said carefully, and everyone understood it immediately. An old man nodded and said, "Xu girl, what you said makes sense. We are here to make a living. We are doing tofu business just to make a better life. We are not idle now. The old man surnamed Fan seems to have good character. It won't hurt us to help them."
The old man's surname was also Jiang, and he was also an elder of the Jiang clan when he was in Shili Village. Therefore, the others stopped making much noise once he spoke.
Zheng Wangshi shouted that the meal was ready, and the people gathered around Jiang Huaixu gradually dispersed.
Jiang Huaixu didn't rush to eat, but instead looked at the tofu shop. Jiang Zhengmao had bought two residential plots in this area, the wall between them had been broken through, and the cowshed on the westernmost side was half built.
The row of houses had been repaired and had not collapsed even after snowfall. In addition to the kitchen and granary, there was also a water room, which was called a water room because there was a well in the room.
It was the first time that Jiang Huaixu saw someone digging a well in a house, but it was convenient as it saved him the trouble of fetching water outside.
After walking around, she went to get some food. After eating, she went to find Jiang Zhengmao who had just returned from the wasteland and told him about the Fan family.
"Oh no!" Jiang Zhengmao slapped his forehead. "They talked to me about this before, and I was thinking of holding a meeting to discuss it, but I forgot about it these days because I was busy!"
"Brother Fan said so, and he knows you're busy, so he came to see you again. Uncle, if you think it's good, then we'll make it a deal."
Jiang Zhengmao pondered for a moment and nodded, "They are honest people, especially Fan Da. He can read and do accounts, and the people over there trust him. I feel at ease leaving this matter to him."
Jiang Huaixu still believed in Jiang Zhengmao's judgment of people.
It was gradually getting dark.
The villagers still hadn't left the yard. Fires were burning everywhere. Someone was making adobe bricks in the northwest corner. The carpenter was still clanging and twiddling a pile of wood. The spice grinder was talking in a low voice while pounding the spices. Even the donkey grinding tofu didn't stop. It had just finished its meal and was all working hard.
Jiang Huaixu had thought before that after a busy day, he would let everyone go back and have a good rest after dinner. However, no one listened to him. They all said things like "you're free anyway".
Jiang Huaixu had no choice but to hand the job over to his uncle and let his uncle send the man home on time.
"Who will keep watch tonight?" Jiang Huaixu asked indifferently.
Since these two houses were used as tofu shops, in order to prevent people from stealing things, even though each room door was equipped with a lock, two people would be assigned to guard it every night.
"Your big brother Danian and your uncle Fugui."
Jiang Huaixu nodded. Perhaps because Fu Tuan was not around, she was a little worried that someone would covet the tofu shop's things.
Jiang Huaixu just thought about it and didn't expect that what he feared would come true. On the third night, the tofu shop was robbed. Not only was the thief not caught, but even his shadow was not seen.
Zheng Wangshi left late last night, so she was the one who locked the door. Before locking the door, she looked around every room. When she saw Jiang Zhengmao and Jiang Huaixu coming, she immediately went to greet them.
"Come here, village chief, girl Xu, look, someone stole half a sack of our five-spice powder. We ground it just yesterday, and there were four and a half sacks in total. Now there are only four sacks left. I locked the door last night, I remember it clearly, but now the lock has been pried open and thrown on the ground."
Jiang Huaixu looked at the lock lying on the ground. It didn't look like it had been broken violently. On the other side, Jiang Zhengmao was questioning Li Qiao'er and Xia Shuanghua.
The two also confirmed Zheng Wang's statement.
"We counted them when we left, and there were four and a half bags."
Jiang Huaixu asked, "Who kept watch last night?"
Jiang Zhengmao shouted: "Niu Er, Dacai!"
Two people walked forward timidly. Jiang Huaixu took a look and saw that one was the second son of Niu Bo's family and the other was the mountain villager they had taken in.
Niu Er said dejectedly, "Village Chief, I slept soundly last night and really didn't hear anything. It was only this morning that I discovered half a bag of five-spice powder had been stolen. I'm so sorry, everyone!"
He kept bending and bowing, and everyone could see the guilt on his face. Seeing him like this, the guy next to him named Dacai also kept apologizing.
"It's our fault. I don't know what happened last night. When I woke up, it was already daybreak..."
Jiang Zhengmao was furious. "I asked you to come here to keep watch. What kind of night are you keeping watch when you're already fast asleep?"
After being scolded by the village chief, the two men lowered their heads almost to their chests.
Jiang Zhengmao couldn't bear to see them like this, so he turned around and asked Jiang Huaixu in a low voice, "Was it the Lin gang who did it? They're the only ones in Jiuxi Village who don't like us."
Jiang Huaixu used his eyes to signal his uncle to calm down and said to everyone, "Everyone, please get busy first. This matter will definitely not be so easy to let go. We have to catch the person."
As she spoke, she observed the expressions of Niu Er and Dacai. Although they lowered their heads, she was able to roughly see their expressions because of her small stature.
Niu Er looked guilty and self-blaming from beginning to end, but Dacai frowned slightly when he heard her say that she wanted to catch the man.
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