"Nothing has been found yet. Zhou Cheng is keeping an eye on it," Zhou Heng said softly.
At this moment, the curtain was lifted, and Li Mai came out wearing a cotton cloak.
The brothers quickly stood up and greeted Li Mai, "Hello, sister-in-law!"
After everyone greeted her as "Sister-in-law," Li Mai smiled and nodded, then sat down on the couch, gesturing for them to sit as well.
The group quickly changed seats, no one daring to turn their backs to their sister-in-law, as that would be disrespectful. They sat separately on either side of Zhou Quan, all facing Li Mai, knowing that their sister-in-law had something to say.
Zhou Quan simply moved a stool over and sat down by the couch, then turned to ask Li Mai, "Does Madam have something to say?"
Li Mai nodded and looked at the group of them.
Zhou Zhang, Zhou Zhong, Zhou Huang, Zhou Tao, and Zhou Heng—these five people, plus Zhou Cheng whom they just mentioned, all six of them have a good relationship with Zhou Quan.
Moreover, through their multiple meetings, Li Mai felt that these five people were of good character.
Although they only took Zhou Heng out for important positions that year, it was because Zhou Heng took the initiative to come to them. The couple had not yet offered to promote or give important positions to their brothers. Li Mai and Zhou Quan had their reasons. They also wanted to see if Zhou Chong and the others would treat Zhou Quan the same way they used to after their family's changes.
Fortunately, these people were all honest and kind. During the two years that Zhou Quan was injured and paralyzed on the bed, they only visited him occasionally when they came back from work. They didn't dare to go otherwise, for fear that Zhou Quan would be upset, and that his parents would be upset to see them healthy.
Now that Zhou Quan's life has taken a turn for the better, they know they haven't been able to help him, so they're too embarrassed to get close to him and are simply staying at home farming and making a living.
And this is exactly what Zhou Quan and Li Mai admired in their hearts.
This time, because the clan elder wanted to agree to Zhou Chun's request, Zhou Quan and Li Mai changed their mind about personally settling down in the village. So, they needed to find someone to manage the village's affairs. Although they would send someone to manage things themselves, they also needed to have their own people in the village.
The couple discussed it last night and decided to mentor these younger brothers.
As for who will ultimately accompany them through their growth and help them change their family's circumstances, that depends on themselves. If they can endure hardship like Zhou Heng and are determined to learn new things, then changing their lives is only a matter of time.
"Aheng, go and call Zhou Cheng over too!" Li Mai said, looking at Zhou Heng.
Zhou Heng responded, turned around and went out the door.
Soon, the two returned.
Li Mai glanced at the group of people and said with a smile, "I know you are my husband's good brothers who grew up together. Now, our family is fortunate enough to change our circumstances through business, and my husband often talks about how he can help you."
"Whether we open a dyeing workshop or a weaving workshop in the village, or we plan to have the villagers grow flowers, we all want to help everyone live a better life through their own hard work. I remember that apart from Zhou Zhong and Zhou Heng, everyone else in you is married now, right?"
When they were away, Old Man Zhou and Mrs. Zhao also attended several wedding banquets on their behalf, but they were busy with other things and missed the banquets.
Zhou Heng and Zhou Zhong exchanged a glance, smiled sheepishly, and nodded.
The other four exchanged glances. "Yes, sister-in-law, Cheng and I got married this year, and Zhou Huang and Zhou Tao got married last year."
It was Zhou Zhang who spoke.
"Yes, Zhou Quan and I will probably be busy in town more often from now on. As for things in the village, we will arrange for someone to oversee them."
"However, I'm afraid that one person in charge won't be able to manage things in the future. So, I plan to assign one or two deputy managers to each manager. I'd like to find people from the village to be the deputy managers, but we can't trust anyone else."
"I'm comfortable hiring you, but you lack professional knowledge. If I want to use you, I'll need to train you and teach you some work methods. You'll also need to learn some knowledge. I wonder if you're willing?"
The group couldn't believe Li Mai's words. They looked at each other, speechless for a moment.
They were willing at the time, but they were tongue-tied and didn't know how to express themselves.
Li Mai smiled and continued, "Aheng is now working for us. Starting in September, he officially became the manager of my clothing shop, taking over Xiao Tao's job and managing the shop for me."
"Of course, he has been learning as he works since he started working with us. Now he can recognize all the fabrics and clothing styles, and he can remember the name of every piece of clothing in my shop. He can also remember the names, identities, appearances and preferences of the customers who frequent our shop. Every time they come, whether they buy anything or not, he can make them come and leave happy, and they will think about coming back to see what new styles are available next time."
"These things aren't about him telling people to come back for the new styles next time and they'll come. It's about his attitude and hospitality making customers feel like they're being treated like friends when they enter the shop, so that they'll think of our shop when they want to buy clothes in the future."
“And these are things that Aheng didn’t understand or know when he first arrived. He learned them all through study.” Li Mai glanced at Zhou Heng as she said this.
Zhou Heng coughed lightly, smiled apologetically, and quickly looked at Zhou Quan. Seeing that his brother Quan was also there, he quickly said, "It's like this, I'm very grateful to Brother Quan and his wife for taking me in and teaching me how to do business."
Li Mai smiled and looked at the others, "You probably don't know what kind of contract Ah Heng made with us, my husband and I, is like, right?"
The others shook their heads; Zhou Heng had never told them about this.
“When we buy people from the brokerage, we usually sign life contracts or ten-year contracts. We never sign short contracts. But you are my husband’s brothers, so you are different. Aheng’s contract is a three-year contract, and it’s not a master-servant contract, but a cooperation contract. For these three years, we will do our best to teach Aheng how to do business, and he will do his best to help us manage things and make money.”
"When the contract expires in three years, if he wants to renew it, his monthly salary will be doubled. If he doesn't want to renew it, he can leave us and start his own business. We will lend him the initial capital to start his business, which he can pay off within three years."
“I think that, as brothers, this kind of cooperation should be entirely beneficial to you. As for the deputy manager, the monthly salary is three taels of silver, and the head manager is five taels.”
"If you study diligently and work hard, when you become the head steward, your monthly salary will be five taels. I think that's a pretty good wage for most people."
After Li Mai finished speaking, the group looked at Zhou Quan with envy and asked excitedly, "Brother Quan, can we do it? Will we hold you back? The salary is indeed very high, but we're afraid we won't do a good job!"
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