Jiedi was initially reluctant, but she thought raising sheep on the mountain was a good idea, and she enjoyed interacting with these animals.
Xu Lanzhi told her that selling wool alone was cheap and difficult, but if it were spun into thread and woven into cloth, the price would increase several times over.
Moreover, cotton needs to be planted after spring, and then it needs to be processed into thread and cloth, which is something that must be done.
Yindi's shop was doing well, so as the third daughter in the family, Jiedi should take over the wool spinning factory.
Hearing Xu Lanzhi's words, Jiedi found it difficult to refuse. After all, everyone was working diligently for the family's development, and as the elder sister, she naturally had a responsibility to do so.
But she was still worried about the ranch. Xu Lanzhi said, "Baogen has been helping our family with work all these years. I treat him like my own child. I see that he is doing a good job at the ranch. I want to give him a promotion. When you are at the ranch, do the workers you hire listen to you or him? His position is very awkward!"
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Jiedi said thoughtfully, "So that's how it is. I was wondering why Brother Baogen had asked me to share his good ideas so many times. It turns out everyone was just trying to save face for me. Okay, I'll come back and run the wool mill, and let Brother Baogen be the rightful ranch manager."
Xu Lanzhi smiled happily. Being easygoing has its advantages. Jiedi is upright and considerate of others, which are rare and precious qualities.
Now it seems that what Cuixi meant by "having taken a liking to someone" is probably that Baogen has feelings for Duidi, while his own daughter clearly knows nothing.
Xu Lanzhi felt that separating them now was a wise move, so that the children could develop in the future and their manners would be acceptable.
To build a factory, they need to hire construction workers. Xu Lanzhi plans to hire the same group who built the courtyard before, while Tang Qiqi wants Qingfeng to give it a try.
After all, this was a factory building, not a residential house; she wanted to build a simple and spacious assembly line factory.
She explained the meaning of the assembly line to Xu Lanzhi and told her about its advantages. Although the entire production process is relatively complex, each worker only needs to master their own production step.
This is equivalent to dividing a job into several parts, with everyone working together, making it easy to get started. Although the parts are interconnected, they are also independent of each other, and everyone's work efficiency is clear at a glance, fully reflecting the concept of "more work, more pay".
Xu Lanzhi thought this was a great idea, as it would save her the trouble of training employees to complete all the procedures.
Xu Lanzhi and Jiedi first familiarized themselves with the processes of combing wool, spinning yarn, and weaving cloth. The mother and daughter learned from each other and constantly summarized their experiences until they were quite proficient before they started hiring people.
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They only recruited female workers for this batch, focusing on training skilled workers.
Women from dozens of miles around Tangjiagou came to work there because Tangji was known for its generosity towards its workers; as long as you did a good job, you were guaranteed to earn money.
Xu Lanzhi is no longer as thin-skinned and embarrassed to refuse others as she used to be. After so much time, she knows that she needs to know people well and assign them appropriate tasks, and she also knows that having a good heart alone is not enough to accomplish anything.
Therefore, when choosing people, Xu Lanzhi told Jiedi to pick those who were clever and capable, and she would not consider those who were too old or too young.
Those who were chosen were overjoyed, while those who were not chosen reacted in all sorts of ways.
There were people pleading with Xu Lanzhi. One girl, about eight or nine years old, said that she was the eldest child in her family, her mother was seriously ill, and she had younger siblings to support. She begged Xu Lanzhi to take her in.
Hearing this, Xu Lanzhi felt very sad. She had almost agreed, but looking at the crowd of people who hadn't been selected, there were many children the same age as that girl. She knew that if she gave in this time, there would be no way to change things later.
Xu Lanzhi could only apologize to the child, saying, "Child, it's not that your aunt doesn't want you, but our work requires operating machines, and you're too young to do it. Wait until you're a little older, and your aunt will definitely take you in."
The child cried immediately, saying that his younger siblings were going to go hungry. Xu Lanzhi's heart broke; wasn't this just like her own family's situation a few years ago?
But Xu Lanzhi still decisively rejected the girl.
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Those who weren't chosen started chattering amongst themselves:
"They say the proprietress of Tang's Restaurant is a living bodhisattva, so generous and magnanimous. Turns out she's just like those landlords and rich folks, all obsessed with money. This child is so pitiful, yet she won't take him in."
"That's right. If I had this family fortune, I would definitely help this girl."
Jiedi also felt that her mother had gone too far; they still had the ability to help the child.
She said to Xu Lanzhi, "Mother, why don't we keep this child? It's so pitiful."
Xu Lanzhi said calmly, "There are pitiful people everywhere, how can you help them all!"
After saying that, he said to the crowd, "What you all say is right, this child is indeed pitiful, and I could indeed take her in and help them, but I dare not!"
Look around, there are at least twenty kids in this crowd who are about the same age as this child, not to mention the older women. All of you who come here looking for work are probably not well-off. If I take this kid in, the other kids will follow suit. If I don't take him in, it won't be right. But if I do take him in, I really can't support so many people.
"Fellow villagers, as long as the rest of you don't make things difficult for me, and only allow me to take in this child, I'll agree to it right now!"
After Xu Lanzhi said that, everyone stopped speaking up for the girl. Some even said, "My family is in a worse situation than hers. Madam Xu, why don't you take me in?"
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"I am an old widow with no children. Madam Xu, please take me in. Although I am old and a little clumsy, I am confident in my work!"
"Madam Xu, please accept me! Please accept me!" everyone shouted excitedly.
Xu Lanzhi looked at Jiedi, who immediately said, "Mother, you did the right thing. I was inconsiderate."
Xu Lanzhi ignored those people and kept looking for the little girl from before. She found that the little girl had walked out of the crowd dejectedly and was going home.
Xu Lanzhi whispered a few words to Jiedi, who happily said, "Mother, I knew you couldn't be ruthless, but how come you're so clever!"
Xu Lanzhi smiled and said, "Stop joking, go and see what's going on."
"Okay, I'll go right now." After saying that, Jie Di also slipped out of the crowd.
Seeing that Jiedi had caught up with the child, Xu Lanzhi said to everyone, "Fellow villagers, I'm sorry, I've only just started to study this textile business and haven't gotten the hang of it yet. Right now, we only need this many people. Everyone go back first. If the factory is doing well in the future and we need more people, then you can come back."
Our Tangji plantations often have temporary workers available; you can ask around. That's all for today, sorry everyone!
Seeing Xu Lanzhi's resolute stance, everyone knew that there was no point in continuing, so they all dispersed.
Tang Qiqi didn't say a word the whole time, acting like a clueless little kid. She realized that her mother was getting more and more powerful.
She defused the moral blackmail from those people with just a few words. In the past, she would have definitely softened and taken the child in, which would have caused a public outcry and made things uncontrollable.
But Mother asked Third Sister to do something, and since she was too small and there were people all around, she didn't see where Third Sister went at all.
After the crowd dispersed, Xu Lanzhi said to those who remained, "First of all, thank you all for joining our Tangji. We will start the formal training tomorrow. Now I have a few words to say to everyone."
Xu Lanzhi paused and said, "It's true that Tang Ji pays a high monthly wage, but a high monthly wage means high requirements. We at Tang Ji don't support idlers. Once you start working, you must be dedicated. Anyone who slacks off or drags their feet will be fired."
Furthermore, now that we're in Tang's, we're all one team; we share the same fate. I hope everyone focuses on their work and doesn't gossip or spread rumors. Does everyone understand?
"Understood, Madam Xu!" The chattering people immediately fell silent, showing that Madam Xu's authority was quite strong.
Xu Lanzhi then divided everyone into groups. She only kept twelve people: four for combing wool, four for spinning thread, and four for weaving cloth. With the current amount of wool, these few people were enough.
By the time the cotton harvest is plentiful, these people will be skilled workers. At that time, we can recruit more people based on the yield, and these people can become mentors.
Xu Lanzhi gave a few more instructions, telling everyone to come to the training at 7:00 AM the next morning, and then dismissed them.
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