On the mountain.
Cheng Yue was explaining the blueprints to everyone. The workshop was quite large, having been expanded to twice the size of the old house.
The workshop was laid out in three rows, with the first two rows being the braising spice workshop and the vermicelli workshop, and the last row being Chen An's carpentry workshop.
The three rows of houses are not connected. When they are enclosed, only the front braised food workshop will have a main entrance, while the other two rows will only have side entrances.
The workshop doesn't have a special layout, but the interior is a bit different. Each room for the braising ingredients is a little smaller because it's impossible to grind more than a dozen kinds of braising ingredients together. To ensure that the recipe isn't leaked, everyone has to make them separately.
In addition to abrasives, there are separate rooms for mixing materials, loading, and storage.
The vermicelli business is almost done. Although they haven't started yet, Cheng Yue has already planned out the layout in advance, including making starch, making vermicelli, and even having a yard for drying it.
Cheng Yue didn't understand the carpenter's workshop; it was Chen An's own plan.
The plan wasn't difficult. After Cheng Yue explained it to Chen An, everyone understood, and with a shout, they immediately got to work!
Having experience in building houses, everyone had a clear division of labor and worked in an orderly manner.
Chen An watched from here. Cheng Yue explained the blueprints clearly and was about to go back to get things done when she turned around and saw a group of people standing behind her.
"Aunt Zhou, Aunt Li, what brings you up here?" Shouldn't you be up in the mountains gathering herbs at this time?
Aunt Li chuckled, hands clasped behind her back. "Cheng Yue, we came up to take a look when we saw someone delivering bricks and tiles. This workshop is quite big..."
They waited a while because they saw Cheng Yue was busy, but the more they listened, the more frightened they became. There were eighteen rooms in total. Wasn't that bigger than the place where they lived?
Cheng Yue immediately understood. It seemed they had come to inquire about news. That's how people in the village are; there's nothing new, so it's no wonder they gossip.
She never intended to hide it; she just wanted to wait until the workshop was built before talking about hiring. It was too early to talk about it now.
But since everyone had come, she saw no need to hide anything. Cheng Yue led everyone to the open space in front and said:
"Aunties and ladies, I'm building a food workshop. I'll be hiring once it's finished. I was planning to tell you all about it after it was completed, but I didn't expect you to come up here now."
As for the candidates, I already have a plan: each household will send one person.
Everyone was overjoyed upon hearing this; it was truly a wonderful thing!
They had only intended to come up and ask around, but they didn't expect that Cheng Yue had already taken them all into consideration, even sending one person from each family, leaving no one out!
Aunt Zhou's face beamed with joy: "Cheng Yue, do you only want women? Can't you let my eldest daughter-in-law come instead?"
It's one thing for her to be clumsy, but the second son's wife is a bit temperamental, so it's best not to send her! The most suitable one would be the eldest son's wife, she's very honest and kind!
Cheng Yue smiled and said, "Okay!"
Yang Yuan's wife, Fang Hui, was someone he knew well. She had a round face and was short. She didn't talk much and just kept working all day long, but she was always smiling and cheerful, which made her quite likable.
Aunt Zhou was even happier. Then Cheng Yue added, "However, we're not just hiring women. We also need a man to watch the workshop. He'll have to work at night and rest during the day."
Oh, and we need a man to watch over the chicken and duck coop too, also working the night shift.
She plans to expand the chicken and duck coop this time, raising another thousand or so. She's afraid that the three black wolfhounds alone won't be enough to keep an eye on them, so she feels more at ease with someone else around.
It was fine when we lived in the old house. We could hear noises, and it wasn't far away, so we could run out quickly if anything happened.
New houses nowadays have multiple doors and thick, soundproof walls, which is inconvenient.
Aunt Li clapped her hands with joy, "Oh! That's perfect! Cheng Yue, what do you think of my son Heidan?"
He works as a laborer year-round, carrying heavy loads; he's incredibly strong! Whether it's watching over a workshop or tending to chickens and ducks, nobody dares to approach him!
She had thought that her daughter-in-law was too injured from childbirth to do heavy work, and even considered taking over herself. But then Cheng Yue said she was looking for men, which was quite a coincidence!
Cheng Yue thought to herself: Black Egg looks so dark and strong. When he's not smiling, he looks like he's about to punch someone. If he were to laugh at night, he could probably scare people into fainting. No one would dare to approach him...
Cheng Yue cleared her throat. "Either family can send one. You can discuss who to send yourselves. As long as they are honest, clean, and efficient, that's fine."
The families she hired were all good-natured people who came with her to collect medicinal herbs. Everyone has their own little schemes, which is understandable, as long as they are not malicious.
Food must be clean. If it's messy and sloppy, even an honest person wouldn't want it. She doesn't want diners to find anything strange in their food...
Having received confirmation, the group dared not delay Cheng Yue's work any longer, and after saying goodbye, they descended the mountain.
The corners of their mouths never turned up the whole way. The conditions weren't high, and everyone was thinking about who in their family would be suitable to come.
If the young wife isn't enough, there are still unmarried girls. If they can have a stable income, matchmakers will look at them more favorably, and their future lives will be much better.
The problem is that this marriage can't be arranged too far in advance. It's inconvenient for work, and we need to carefully select the person. Who knows if they're just after money?
As everyone thought about it, their thoughts drifted far away...
After everyone left, Cheng Yue went home to make pastries. She had a lot to do lately, so she left the task of gathering medicinal herbs to Chen Tong, Chen Ning, and A Tu.
With Ah Tu and Chen Tong keeping her company, Chen Ning no longer went all day; instead, she spent her mornings making pastries with Cheng Yue.
Wang Chunmei and her colleagues diligently ground the braising ingredients, working tirelessly except for mealtimes, just to earn their thirty copper coins.
As noon approached, Wang Chunmei finished work and went home for lunch. Cheng Yue and Chen Ning had been making pastries for three days, so they stopped to prepare lunch.
This time, Cheng Yue added five more coins to the wages for building the house, but didn't provide meals. She had a lot of things to do and was too lazy to find someone else to do it.
She thought everyone would be even happier to receive an extra five coins in wages!
Chen Tong and A Tu also returned from the mountain. It was already midsummer, and Chen Tong exclaimed that it was hot as soon as he entered the door.
Cheng Yue felt sorry for her, "I told you to go earlier and come back earlier, but you wouldn't listen. You've been working until now. You're not allowed to go this afternoon."
They have plenty of money right now, but Chen Tong is too proud and insists on earning his own money, despite Cheng Yue's repeated attempts to persuade him.
Chen Tong grinned, "Mom, I was just saying that. It's really not hot. There are lots of trees on the mountain, so it's shady everywhere. And the sun hat you made is really useful! It keeps me out of the sun at all!"
Cheng Yue tapped her forehead, "You! I can't control you anymore!"
Then he went straight to the kitchen and brought out a watermelon, which had just been soaking in well water and was ice-cold.
Chen Tong and Chen Ning's eyes lit up. "Mom, we want to eat watermelon!"
They've been craving it for so long, and finally they can eat it!
Cheng Yue patted the watermelon, "Didn't you say it was hot? Eat some watermelon to cool down!"
As she spoke, she took it to the table in the yard and cut it into many pieces. Chen Ning exclaimed in surprise, "Is it really red inside?"
My mother told them before, but they didn't believe her, because they thought a melon could be red.
Even the cats, dogs, and rabbits couldn't take their eyes off the strange and wonderful things the lady had brought out! And everything looked so delicious! This watermelon must be quite good too!
Cheng Yue handed each of them a piece, saying, "Try it! I guarantee you'll love it!"
Just as they were dividing the melon, Chen An walked in from the door, deliberately keeping them in suspense, "A-Yue, guess who's here?"
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