Ye Daquan said, "If you're going to work outside the city, you'll have to live outside, right?"
Ye Erquan nodded: "Yes. They said they'd cover our food and lodging. After we finish our two jobs, we'll probably leave in about seven or eight days. We'll be busy for about one or two months, but we'll also have time to rest and go home in between."
Ye Caiping nodded: "Be careful."
"Hehe, don't worry, there's still Sanquan and Tieniu. I'll go find Tieniu and the other one first. I need to tell her about the money I received today. I'm off now."
After saying that, he left in a hurry.
After chatting for a while, Ye Daquan and the others went back to their rooms.
Only Old Lady Ye and Ye Caiping remained in the main room.
Grandma Ye sighed, "Your eldest sister-in-law is very straightforward and her thoughts are always on her face. She's also loud and doesn't act steadily. Your second sister-in-law seems honest and timid, but she's very thoughtful and tends to overthink things."
“I used to think I knew my two daughters-in-law’s personalities all too well, but I never imagined that my second daughter-in-law would change so much after she got some money.”
Ye Caiping said, "People change with their environment. Mother, don't overthink it, just let her be!"
Grandma Ye sighed softly and nodded.
...
When Ye Erquan returned home, Mrs. Wei was a little uneasy.
As she placed the food on the table, she whispered, "Why so late?"
Ye Erquan looked at the scrambled eggs, stir-fried cabbage, and a large bowl of brown rice in front of him, picked up his chopsticks, and said calmly, "I have a lot of work to do, so it's naturally a bit late."
Mrs. Wei breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he was still unaware.
Thinking to herself, she needed to explain the furniture workshop first. It wasn't that she was unwilling to spend the money, but that the family income was already enough, and he was busy from morning till night and didn't have time to do that.
But she was afraid he would scold her, and she struggled several times but couldn't bring herself to speak.
Because of this incident, Wei dared not ask Ye Erquan about the money he had received for building the outhouse during this period.
After finishing his meal, Ye Erquan went to take a shower.
Mrs. Wei watched his retreating figure, hesitant to speak, but in the end, she said nothing.
Ye Erquan was too lazy to scold her anymore.
So what if I scolded her? Haven't I scolded her enough before? She agrees readily now, but then she goes back to her old ways. Anyway, she's not going to change.
He told her to keep the money for building the outhouse and delivering the spicy soup, and that he would keep any dividends from the seven shares.
...
Ye Lizheng and his second uncle returned home and began to pool their money.
Uncle Ye was alright. After building the outhouse, Ye Sanquan gradually brought home more than thirty taels of silver. Adding the wages from Siquan and Wuquan, the wages from Sanquan's previous deliveries, and a little of his own savings, he had enough.
Ye Lizheng, however, is facing a bit of a problem.
Ye Lizheng was a minor official, receiving a monthly stipend of 300 wen from the government. Over the years, he had saved more than 20 taels for his coffin. Adding Ye Bajin's wages for the past six months, he had managed to scrape together 30 taels.
The rest could only be borrowed from relatives. The relatives all knew that Ye Bajin worked in the workshop and had a fixed monthly wage. In addition, Ye was a kind-hearted person and was very willing to lend. One person lent an ounce, another borrowed two ounces, and they all raised the money.
Three days later at noon, everyone gathered in the hall of Ye Caiping's house.
Ye Caiping took out six contracts, and Ye Daquan, Ye Erquan, Ye Lizheng, and Ye Ershu signed them without hesitation and even pressed their fingerprints on them.
Wang Shuantou glanced at the contract and signed it.
Once the money was received, the furniture workshop was officially established.
Wang Shuantou laughed and said, "It will be some time before the workshop is built. Yong'er will learn the craft from me from now on, and I won't charge him any tuition fees."
Ye Daquan was very happy: "Then thank you."
Now that we're all running the workshop together, we're like family, so we don't care about these things anymore.
Ye Caiping said, "Let's talk about the division of labor in the workshop. I'll draw the workshop blueprints, I'll leave the buying of bricks and tiles to my eldest brother, and the money and hiring people to build the workshop to Uncle Village Head and Uncle Second."
Ye Lizheng became anxious: "I can't handle the money? But... that's 800 taels, I dare not take it."
With such a large sum of money, I'm afraid it will be stolen if I leave it at home.
Ye Caiping said, "Then I'll give you 50 taels first. Ask me for more when you're done. If you need anything, just get the money from the village head. Uncle Village Head, give me the total bill later."
Ye Lizheng then nodded.
Ye Caiping added, "Uncle Wang, just focus on honing your skills. Buying woodworking tools like planes and hiring workers will be your job later."
"No problem," Wang Shuan said, patting his chest.
"As for Second Brother, you just need to build your outhouse; we'll take care of the workshop."
Ye Erquan looked apologetic: "Thank you for your help, little sisters."
Ye Caiping said, "Everyone, please stay for dinner today. I've prepared some top-quality Daughter's Red wine."
"Alright, let's drink until we're drunk!"
The group chatted as they walked into the house.
After the meal, Ye Caiping said to Ye Lizheng, "Uncle Lizheng, let's go to the government office to register the workshop first thing tomorrow morning."
Businesses always operate on a transaction system, and the Hulatang (spicy soup) workshop was naturally registered with the government before it opened.
"Alright." Ye Lizheng paused for a moment, then said, "Today is April 11th, right? Isn't the county exam on April 15th? Will Xuan'er be taking it?"
"Next time." Speaking of this, Ye Caiping thought of Shen Zhiyan and decided to visit Master Shen tomorrow.
After the village head returned, Ye Caiping went into the main room and saw Old Man Ye smoking a water pipe.
Ye Caiping leaned on the armrest of his chair: "Dad, let's go dig cassava first thing tomorrow morning."
Ye Caiping treasured those few yellow-fleshed cassava plants. She was afraid of breaking them while digging them up, since Old Man Ye was an expert at digging cassava.
"Are those the ones you planted in the vegetable garden last time?"
"Um."
Now she's set up a furniture workshop, which should be more profitable than the hot and sour soup workshop.
Spicy soup isn't universally accepted, so sales are limited. But furniture is a necessity for new houses.
So she needs to find a powerful backer; otherwise, the more money she makes, the more envious she'll become. To make her business last, she must cultivate good relationships with those in power.
The bitter cassava from last time brought her too little.
This time, the yellow cassava is hoped to make a good impression on those in power and gain the magistrate's favor.
Old Man Ye said, "Alright, I'll dig with you around 7 a.m. tomorrow. I still need to go to the fields to keep an eye on things later."
Ye Caiping sat down in the chair below him and poured tea: "What's so interesting? Aren't there farmhands busy in the fields?"
The family's eighty acres of land had long been cleared, and rice seedlings were being planted where needed, and cassava was being planted where appropriate.
After the crops are planted, they need to be cared for, including watering and weeding, all of which must be done by the farmhands.
Old Man Ye chuckled, "I just love looking at it. Seeing those fields every day makes me feel good."
The next day, Ye Caiping went to dig cassava with Old Man Ye.
Ye Caiping couldn't bear to dig up all five cassava plants, so she only dug up one.
That cassava plant had nine tubers, each weighing two or three pounds.
Ye Caiping packed all nine cassava potatoes into a basket, and when Ye Lizheng arrived, they went to the county town together.
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