"Furthermore, Father, Mother, you must understand that from the moment they officially join our dye shop, they are considered our formal employees. Even when our dye shop is on holiday or there is no dyeing work, we still have to pay them the wages that were set for them."
Li Mai then explained it to Zhao.
“Okay,” Zhao replied.
“When Zhou Quan and I are not around, your parents will help manage the dye shop. Mother will still handle the accounts and money, and Father will be in charge of the tasks I give you, arranging what colors and fabrics to use,” Li Mai said to Old Man Zhou.
Old Zhou was taken aback, then quickly sat up straight and cleared his throat. "Yes, that's fine, but I don't know much about dyeing."
“That’s alright. In the next few days, Zhou Quan and I will go over and try dyeing the first batch of fabric. We’ll mainly dye a few colors first, and then gradually add more colors later,” Li Mai said.
“Okay!” Old Man Zhou agreed.
During dinner, Zhuzhu and the magpie returned.
When she saw her parents return, Zhuzhu was overjoyed. She turned around, put Little Pretty in Magpie's arms, and rushed towards Limai, "Mom, Dad, you're back?"
Zhou Quan was startled when he saw this. Fearing that Zhuzhu would knock Li Mai over, he quickly reached out to stop Zhuzhu and picked her up, tossing her up a few times. "Let Daddy see if the little girl has gained weight these past few days."
"Haha, Daddy, throw it again, and Zhuzhu will fly high!" Zhuzhu shouted happily.
Li Mai smiled and said, "Be careful not to drop the child."
Zhou Quan smiled, teased her a few times, put Zhuzhu down, and instructed, "Be careful not to knock your mother over."
"Oh, right, Mom is pregnant with a little brother and sister! Ah, I almost fell into Mom's arms just now. I'm sorry, Mom, I'm sorry for the little brother and sister!" Zhuzhu quickly apologized and nervously said sorry to Limai's belly for her little brother and sister.
Zhuzhu's adorable behavior amused the whole family.
"Sweetie, your little brother and sister haven't grown ears yet, so they can't hear you. Once your mother's belly gets bigger, they'll be able to hear you." Zhou Quan picked up an orange from a basket and handed it to Zhuzhu so she could eat it.
When they returned, Li Mai filled a small basket halfway with oranges for her mother-in-law's family and Zhu Zhu to try.
This is the big basket of oranges that Gu Zhe delivered last night.
Zhao and Old Man Zhou shared one, but found it too sour, so they didn't eat any more and told Li Mai to eat more.
Zhuzhu took it and asked curiously, "Dad, what is this?"
"Orange, peel off the skin, just the orange segments inside." Zhou Quan taught her, but didn't peel it for her, letting Zhuzhu learn to peel it herself.
Peeling an orange yourself is a novel experience for someone eating an orange for the first time.
Zhuzhu peeled it open, her eyes questioning Zhou Quan's judgment.
Zhou Quan hummed in agreement.
Li Mai watched the father and daughter's interaction with a smile, then reached out and handed a magpie a peacock, saying, "Magpie, have a taste too."
Magpie was surprised for a moment, then put Little Pretty on her shoulder, quickly took her with both hands, and grinned, "Thank you, Madam."
When she returned to the village, she called Zhao Shi "Old Madam," since she was someone Li Mai bought and recognized Li Mai as her master.
Magpie was also glad that she was bought by Li Mai to follow Miss. The young master and madam only had Miss as their daughter. Miss was very smart, not troublesome, not spoiled, and easy to serve. She was also allowed to learn medicine with Miss from Doctor Niu.
She felt that she had suffered too much in the past ten years or so, which was why she was able to meet such a good master and a good family now.
Li Mai waved her hand and asked, "Miss, have you been memorizing the medicinal properties these past few days?"
"Yes, we've been testing each other, and we've almost memorized half of the first volume," the magpie reported respectfully.
"That's good progress. You both deserve a reward. Go into the carriage and see, I brought you both gifts," Li Mai said with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Zhuzhu was overjoyed. Holding Xiaopiao in one arm and pulling Xique with the other, she eagerly went outside.
The four adults inside the room burst into laughter.
"Then I'll go cook noodles. We'll have noodles for lunch." Zhao stood up.
She had already prepared the whistle and was just waiting for Zhuzhu and Xique to come back!
Now that Zhou Lin and his brothers no longer live at home, the two elderly people were a bit lonely. But when Li Mai and Zhou Quan left last time, they left Zhu Zhu at home, and they felt much more lively. Especially with Xi Que, the little girl is very sensible. In addition to keeping Zhu Zhu company, she also does housework with Zhao Shi.
When Zhou Quan heard that his mother was going to cook noodles, he quickly washed his hands, got a bowl and chopsticks, and scooped out some pickled vegetables.
He loved eating the pickled radish strips his mother made. He felt that noodles without pickled vegetables and vinegar were soulless.
For once, Li Mai ate a bowl and a half of noodles for lunch. After eating, her stomach felt a little bloated and she couldn't sleep, so Zhou Quan accompanied her for a walk in the village.
When they encounter villagers on the road, they will greet them or stop and chat for a while.
Zhou Quan would ask them about this year's autumn harvest. Knowing that there were no disasters this summer and the harvest was decent, Zhou Quan nodded and told them to try to turn the soil over once before it freezes in winter. It would be even better if they could turn in some wood ash, so that the deeper soil could have more time to absorb the nutrients in the wood ash, which would be good when planting crops next spring, especially radishes and sweet potatoes.
Those who believed Zhou Quan's words kept it in mind, while those who didn't just smiled.
Zhou Quan was just giving them a hint; he couldn't force them to listen to him.
When no one was around, Li Mai turned to look at the villagers and said, "I wonder how the worst-off family in the village fared this year?"
"I don't know. There are about ten families. They're lazy and stubborn, and they don't want to work for others or have to put up with other people's attitudes. There's nothing we can do to help them. Let's see what Brother Shizhou has to do!" Zhou Quan said softly.
Li Mai nodded. If she guessed correctly, Zhou Shizhou would definitely come looking for Zhou Quan within three days.
The two strolled to the center of the village, to the small square in front of the school and the Zhou family ancestral hall, and simply sat down to rest at a stone table.
Zhou Quan tried the stone bench and asked Li Mai if it was cold, and if she wanted to sit on his lap.
Li Mai smiled, shook her head, found a stone bench not under the shade of a tree and sat down. It was still warm in the sun.
Just as the two sat down, they saw two people pulling and tugging as they walked out of the courtyard of the ancestral hall.
Li Mai and Zhou Quan glanced at each other and recognized Zhou Shu and Xiao Zhao Shi.
As the two were tugging at each other, they inadvertently spotted Zhou Quan and Li Mai sitting on a stone bench in the small square.
Especially when she saw Li Mai's ambiguous look, Xiao Zhao suddenly went crazy, pushed Zhou Shu aside, and rushed towards Li Mai.
"I'll kill you, you vixen! It's all your fault! You're the one who ruined me! You must have seduced Zhou Shu! You vixen, I swear I won't rest until I kill you today!"
Xiao Zhao's words were filled with sobs and anger, and coupled with her somewhat disheveled hair, she looked like a madwoman rushing towards Li Mai.
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