Zhou Quan smiled and said, "Don't worry, nobody is born unable to walk. Everyone learns by studying and practicing."
"Before I started doing business with Xiaomai, I didn't know anything either, and I learned slowly. As long as you are willing to learn diligently and do your best to help us, I believe that living a good life will not be a problem," Zhou Quan encouraged his brothers.
"Okay, I'm willing. I'll do whatever Brother Quan and Sister-in-law say."
"Me too!"
"Me too!"
Several people expressed their opinions one after another.
Zhou Heng looked at the five people and smiled, "Don't worry, your sister-in-law will teach them very seriously."
"Yes, then we'll have to trouble you, sister-in-law!" This time, everyone said in unison.
Li Mai smiled and said, "Okay, right now our main business in the village is the dyeing workshop, the weaving workshop that will be started soon, and flower planting."
“Tell me which one you’re interested in, and I’ll assign you to that area. You’ll work and learn at the same time, and you’ll also be in charge.” Li Mai looked at the group of people.
“I’ll go to the dye shop!” Zhou Chongxian raised his hand; he was interested in that.
“I’ll go to the dye shop too!” Zhou Huang raised his hand, then said with a smile, “My name is perfect for the dye shop.”
Pfft!
Everyone laughed when they heard that.
"Then I'll take care of planting flowers. My family has also signed up for flower planting," Zhou Zhang said, raising his hand.
“Then I’ll plant flowers too. I’ve also signed up to plant flowers,” Zhou Tao said, raising his hand.
Zhou Cheng glanced at the group of people and said, "Then I'll go spin cloth. Cough cough, although I don't know anything about spinning cloth, I can learn."
Seeing that they had divided the tasks themselves, Li Mai smiled and said, "Okay, here's what we'll do. Among you, Zhou Zhong is currently single, so he has more freedom and more time. You can be the head of the village for your group. You should supervise everyone's studies and, if there are any issues with your work, when my wife and I are not back, you should go to town more often and report to us on the situation here."
"In addition, during the flowering season next year, you will be escorting flowers to town every day. Of course, your monthly salary will be one tael more than everyone else's, which will help you save up for getting married. However, you will also have to learn more. Since you will be in charge of more things, you will naturally have to know more."
“Of course, you need to learn technical skills, and you also need to learn how to manage people and things. I will teach you all of that, okay?” Li Mai asked Zhou Zhong.
Zhou Zhong was taken aback, then quickly stood up and said, "Okay, I will definitely study hard, thank you sister-in-law."
"Okay, then I'm relieved. You two will sign the contract with Zhou Quan in a bit. It's also for three years, the same as Aheng's. My wife and I will do our best to teach you during these three years. You must learn and work hard. If any of you want to start your own business after three years, we will definitely give you our full support."
"Of course, there's one thing you must remember during these three years: we will not tolerate betrayal. If what you've learned is used by our adversaries to bribe you into revealing our internal information, then the consequences are something you probably don't want to know. Zhou Chun is an example of what happened to him." Li Mai glanced at them.
The group nodded. "Don't worry, sister-in-law. We've been close to Brother Quan since we were kids. We'd rather starve than betray our brother."
Li Mai nodded. "Can you all read?"
"I know a little bit. I studied before attending the village school, but I didn't go to the town school later." In the village, you can pay the teacher with the rice and grains from your family, but in the town, you need silver, and their family can't afford those few taels of silver.
Li Mai nodded. "Alright, then for these two months of winter, I'll have Zhou Quan deliver writing materials to you. Besides working during the day and studying your professional knowledge, you should also read more and practice calligraphy at night. We're not aiming for any exams, but you must be able to recognize and write common account books, shop signs, and the names of business people you deal with. Not only you need to learn these things, but Aheng is also learning them now. He practices calligraphy and memorizes the Four Books and Five Classics every night."
The other five people were dumbfounded. The Four Books and Five Classics?
Good heavens! If they learn all of this, will they all be able to take the imperial examination to become scholars?
This completely excited the group.
We must study, we must study diligently!
After Li Mai finished speaking, she went to rest. Zhou Quan started writing contracts and signed cooperation agreements with all the brothers. Of course, Zhou Zhong was slightly different from the others. He signed a contract as the head manager, which meant he would earn more, learn more, and have greater responsibilities. He also had the duty to supervise the others.
After the group signed the contracts, Zhou Quan told them to go home and talk to their families about it so they could make preparations. He would take them to work the next day and introduce them to the people who were doing the work.
As for the head steward arranged by the town, Zhou Quan said that it would take more than a month for him to arrive. Before those people arrive, he would personally come back often to keep an eye on things, and usually let a few of them start to take on their responsibilities.
Several people agreed, even finding it somewhat surreal. In just one day, they had all become managers, and even received a monthly salary of three taels of silver—something they had never even dreamed of.
They felt that even the government officials didn't earn as much as they did.
With this in mind, the group suddenly became very energetic, thinking that they should work hard with Brother Quan and his wife from now on.
After they went outside, they ran into Zhou Ermao, Zhou Erleng, Zhou Ju, and Zhou Yuan, and asked if they had seen Brother Quan, as they had some new information to tell him.
Zhou Heng and Zhou Zhong asked what was going on, saying that they were now Quan Ge's managers and that he should speak to them first if there was anything.
After thinking for a moment, Zhou Ermao and the others told them that Zhou Shu's relative, a girl, had secretly left the village to visit Zhou Chun's family, where she met Zhou Chun and his mother. Afterward, she secretly returned to the village and went to Zhou Shu's family.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Heng and Zhou Zhong immediately led the group back to Zhou Quan's house.
Li Mai went to rest. Zhou Quan was cooking noodles for Li Mai and the children in the small kitchen in the yard. When he heard what they had said, he took the noodles back into the house for the children and Li Mai to eat first. Then he left with Zhou Heng and the others to deal with some matters.
After Li Mai and the others finished eating and put the dishes in the kitchen, Li Mai slowly washed the dishes. Zhou Quan still hadn't returned.
She then arranged for the magpie to take the children back to Zhuzhu's house for a midday rest.
She then released her divine sense, using her spiritual power to envelop the entire Zhoujia Village and Zhouquan, to see what the situation was.
Upon seeing this, Li Mai frowned; she sensed the presence of a mutated beast.
Li Mai pondered to herself, could it be that Zhou Chun really is related to the mastermind behind the mutated beasts?
She didn't go inside, but sat in the yard basking in the sun, while calling upon Gu Zhe with her consciousness.
She felt that Gu Zhe should be able to sense her call.
If she weren't currently pregnant and didn't dare to use her powers too much, and if she hadn't already sealed Zhou Quan's memories of his past life, she wouldn't have wanted Gu Zhe to help him.
Li Mai comforted herself in this way. Besides, since a mutated beast had appeared, it was only right to call Gu Zhe to help Zhou Quan.
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