Chapter 84: Stir-fried Willow Meat with Green Bamboo Strips
After hearing what Gu Jiayue said yesterday, she went to the village entrance to wait for Gu Yushan.
In the afternoon, Gu Yushan came back from the county town and was detained by his mother as soon as he arrived at the village entrance.
"Mom, what are you doing? Can't you see I'm busy?" Gu Yushan was a little impatient.
He is really tired.
He and Huzi took the grandfather and grandson to the clinic. After giving him money, Huzi took him to the county town to buy things, from tools for work and daily food to ointments for injuries. Although they had a carriage, he felt completely exhausted after half a day.
He never thought that dealing with people was more tiring than doing farm work.
His aunt rolled her eyes at him and slapped him on the back. "What's so tiring about lying in a carriage all day? I have something urgent to talk to you about."
My aunt is not a delicate and weak woman. She is a woman who can work as hard as a man. Gu Yushan felt that his waist was about to break after that slap. "Mom, what's the urgent matter?"
Isn't it just gossip about someone in the village? He doesn't have time to listen.
"I just asked Jiayue, saying that I want your five uncles to come over and help with the work. Jiayue asked me to ask you, as long as you agree, it will be fine."
The aunt-in-law played a trick here and did not say what Gu Jiayue said exactly.
But she didn't say anything. She just meant what she meant, right?
But who was Gu Yushan? He was his mother's offspring, so he knew immediately whether his mother was telling the truth or not. "Mom, did you ask this privately? Without asking Grandma?"
When the aunt heard this, her eyes subconsciously darted around, and her words were not very confident. "Why bother your grandma with such a small matter? Besides, it's Jiayue who needs the workers. Isn't it enough for her to agree?"
Gu Yushan looked at his mother speechlessly. All the words in his heart turned into a sigh.
Then he turned to look at Hu Zi who was standing beside him. "Brother Hu Zi, would you mind sending the Third Ancestor and the others back first? My mother and I have something to deal with."
Hu Zi, standing by, didn't say much. The steward who had taught them since they were little had always said that a qualified servant should work more and talk less. "Okay."
Watching Hu Zi driving the carriage away, Gu Yushan finally spoke: "Mom, what you did was not right. You should have gone to find grandma."
The eldest aunt looked at her son in confusion. "Why? What if your grandmother doesn't agree? You have five uncles and five aunts, and each one earns twenty wen, which is two hundred wen a day. I estimate that I can do that job for at least a month. Can you calculate how much it would cost?"
Looking at his mother, whose intelligence vanished when it came to money, Gu Yushan's honest face showed a worry. "I don't know what to say, but I just feel that Grandma needs to know about this. After all, our family hasn't split up yet, and Hu Zi and I are responsible for this. If I let my uncles do the work, what about Yue'er's family? What about Second Aunt's family? And what about my grandmother's family? And even Third Aunt's family? This isn't something I can just say no to."
After being reminded by Gu Yushan, the aunt realized that she had not handled the matter properly. She looked at him with a somewhat gloomy expression and said, "How about I go and tell your grandmother now?"
It was her fault, too. She only thought about her own family, which was short of money and had many idle people. If she could come and work, she could earn a lot of money in a day. She completely forgot about the Gu family. Who doesn't have relatives? Who doesn't need money?
Gu Yushan reached out and patted the back of his mother's hand, comforting her, "It's okay. I'll discuss this with Jiayue when we get back. If we still need help, I'll tell the whole family. If we don't, I think it's better not to ask the uncles to come, otherwise I'm afraid grandma and second and third aunts will have opinions about you."
The aunt nodded quickly. Although she wanted to help her parents, she knew that she had married into the Gu family and would have to deal with them for the rest of her life. Furthermore, she was the eldest sister-in-law, so she would definitely be the one to support the elderly in the future.
So I can't get into trouble with my family. Otherwise, the chaos will never end. "Okay, I'll do as you say."
"My Dashan is still smart."
Gu Yushan didn't take my mother's insincere compliment to heart.
The first thing I did after returning home was to look for Gu Jiayue.
After hearing what he wanted to express, Gu Jiayue couldn't help but look up to her cousin.
It seems that she still doesn't know these people in the family very well. This cousin looks very honest on weekdays, but unexpectedly his mind is so sharp that he can even think of problems that his aunt has not thought of.
"I don't have any problems on my end. I'll leave this matter to you and Hu Zi, and I won't be interfering any further. You need to consider how many people are needed to build the school I want within a month. You and Hu Zi discuss it, I just want the results. Do you understand?"
In fact, it’s not that they completely ignore it. After all, this is a big project, and the silver that needs to be spent is not just one or two taels, but several thousand taels.
However, since she has given the power to Hu Zi and her elder brother, she will delegate power to them so that they can go about their work freely. She only needs to grasp the general direction.
"Okay, then I'll discuss it with Hu Zi."
Gu Yushan found Hu Zi again, and the two of them discussed it and decided that this number of workers was not enough to complete the task assigned by Gu Jiayue within a month.
Besides, we haven't even started working yet, and we don't know what kind of people the villagers are. If anyone tries to cheat while working, they'll have to be kicked out. She won't be allowed to work anymore.
So, with this calculation, the shortage of workers is still quite large. So it is completely possible to call in the relatives from Gu's maternal side.
After the two of them came to a conclusion, Gu Yushan went to find Grandma Gu and shared his idea. He successfully earned her praise. "You are worthy of being my eldest grandson. You didn't forget your uncle for such a good deed."
"Your uncles' families are also in a difficult situation, especially your second uncle's family, who has to support a grandson who is studying. They have to tighten their belts to make ends meet. If you could come to work, I think you could barely scrape together enough money for next year's salary." Speaking of her life, Grandma Gu couldn't help but sigh.
Her family had a hard time, and the situation was similar for her brothers' families. There were more than a dozen mouths to feed every day, and they could only barely keep from starving by working over and over again in the fields.
During the slack season, everyone flocks to the county town to find work, but the county town is so small and there is only so much work. It is rare to find work, and everyone has to fight for it, and some people even try to bargain for it.
People in the county town have food to eat and a place to live, so they can do it even if they are paid one or two cents less. But people in the countryside can't do it. It's originally ten cents a day, and people in the county town have lowered the price, so people in the countryside can't do it.
There is no work to do, so I can only sleep at home.
"No, I'll go find your great-uncle now and ask him to ask a few boys from his family to come over tomorrow." Grandma Gu threw down the half-finished shoe sole and was about to get out of bed and go out.
Gu Yushan quickly grabbed Grandma Gu. "Grandma, since you have no objection, I'm going to my uncle's house and Yue'er's parents' house later. I can just tell my uncles on the way."
"But grandma, we have to be frank. If a few cousins come here to work and try to be cunning, I will still ask them to leave according to the rules."
Gu Yushan first stopped Grandma Gu from putting on her shoes, and then gave her a shot of prevention according to Hu Zi's instructions.
He wasn't very familiar with his cousins. Although Taohua Village was not far from Dale Village, they were busy making a living and rarely visited each other except for weddings and funerals.
So he was not very clear about the personalities of his cousins, so he didn't dare to take on too much responsibility and promised to let them work until the project was completed.
If I don't explain it clearly to grandma, and then I get fired for slacking off, she will be unhappy.
Grandma's eyes glared! "How dare they! If it weren't for our relationship, how could they find a job like this for twenty cents a day? When you go, tell your uncles clearly that you can come to work, but if they dare to cheat, not only will they be fired, I will also treat them to fried willow meat with green bamboo strips!"
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