Madam Yu rolled her eyes and said mercilessly, "The whole family lives in one room, and you live alone in one room. Fifteen coins is the price of one room. My mother said that if you don't pay, you won't be allowed to stay."
At this point, she quietly apologized to Mrs. Sun in her heart, indicating that she did not mean to drag her into taking the blame.
Zhou scoffed and laughed, "Look at how you keep calling her 'mother,' I think you've been corrupted by this family. You can't even tell who your own mother is anymore!"
Hearing her talk about her mother, Madam Yu's eyes instantly turned cold: "Whether I can tell or not is none of your business. If you don't want to work to pay off your debts, you can leave now. Anyway, the New Year is over now, and you said before that you would only stay at home for the New Year and then leave."
Upon hearing this, Zhou's face instantly changed, and she pointed at Yu's nose and cursed, "Yu Xiao'e! I am your own sister-in-law. I am the only one left in your family. I went through so much trouble to find you, and this is how you treat me?"
She was a head shorter than Yu, so she had to look up when she cursed. Seeing Yu looking down at her made her resentment even more intense.
She did want to turn her back and leave; she wasn't going to starve if she left. But remembering that she had important things to do, she forced herself to hold back.
Madam Yu didn't react much to being scolded like that. She just said calmly, "I told you before, even if you are my sister-in-law, we are not related by blood. I have already fulfilled my kinship duty by taking you in. If you are willing, you can work to pay off the debt. If you are not willing, you can leave now."
Having gone through so much, Yu knew who she should treat with sincerity. As for Zhou, her sister-in-law who had never liked her before, she felt she had done everything she could.
"Oh right, I forgot to tell you, our family has split up now. Although we still eat together, everyone has to pay for food expenses, regardless of age. It's one tael of silver per person. We'll pay more when we run out. If you want to stay, you have to pay one tael of silver for food expenses. If you can't afford it, you'll have to work to pay off your debt."
Zhou had finally calmed down, but upon hearing this, she almost jumped up in anger again.
She went through countless hardships to get from Changzhou to Jingzhou, and the government only gave her three taels of silver as a resettlement allowance.
One tael of silver is enough for her to live on for a year, but here, one tael of silver is just for food expenses!
"As you know from your time at home, we eat quite well and spend a lot of money. One tael of silver per person is enough for two or three months of expenses. If you want to eat well with everyone, you have to work hard to earn money, otherwise you won't even be able to afford the food."
"Don't think it's not worth it. Even a three or four-year-old child like Gou'er costs one or two taels of silver. Anyway, it's up to you. If you don't want to, you can go to the food workshop and eat with some girls."
The Yu family didn't mention the garment workshop at all. The sewing machines in the garment workshop were a big secret. If the Zhou family found out and leaked it, it would cause trouble for the family.
Zhou's eyes widened. So she had to work hard just to get food here, and the money she earned was directly mortgaged to her food expenses without her even seeing it?
They even made her go to the food workshop to eat with a few young maids. Those maids were servants of the Lu family. If she ate with them, wouldn't she also become a servant of the Lu family?
Dream on!
Anyway, she wasn't going to stay here forever, so she should try to keep these people calm first.
She thought it over carefully, then smiled in a conciliatory manner and said, "Sister, you know that you're my only relative now. Since you've separated your family, you must have some money. Could you lend me that one or two taels of silver first? I'll pay you back when I make some money. What do you think?"
"Not very good!"
Yu rolled her eyes. Just a moment ago she was calling her by her full name, Yu Xiao'e, and now she's calling her "little sister." This person's attitude changes faster than the weather!
“The family is starting a business, and there are many expenses at the beginning of the year. I only kept enough for the food expenses of my own family members, and used the rest for the business. You can only work to pay off the debt. This is only because you are my sister-in-law, and that's why the family agreed to give you this opportunity. Don't make things difficult for me.”
Seeing her heartless and ungrateful appearance, Zhou lost all hope and had no choice but to agree.
On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, the sky cleared up, a good day, and also the day the Lu family workshop started work.
As dawn broke, a large group of people gathered in front of the Lu family's house. These were all people who worked for the Lu family, including the workshop workers and long-term laborers.
Thanks to working at the Lu family workshop in the second half of last year, every household in the family had a prosperous New Year this year, which was unprecedented in history.
Everyone remembered the kindness of the Lu family, so on the morning of the first day of work, everyone arrived very early, hoping to earn more money in the new year and have a prosperous year ahead.
It was at this time that Zhou realized how big the Lu family's business was, with so many people working there, and how much they had to pay in wages every month.
The Yu family is clearly very wealthy, yet they still make her pay rent and cover her own food expenses; it's obviously targeting her.
Just wait, all of you, just wait!
She wanted to make them even poorer than they were back in their hometown, to see if they would still dare to act arrogantly towards her!
After everyone had arrived, Boss Lu gave a brief speech as a representative, a task that He Jiuniang had arranged for him a few days in advance.
Speaking in front of so many people, Lu was both nervous and excited. As the eldest son in the family, he always had to be at the forefront in everything he did.
Moreover, his sister-in-law said that this was an opportunity for him to practice, and that other family members would take turns speaking on his behalf to help him develop his courage and communication skills.
"Everyone has been working at our Lu Family Workshop for a while now, and we know you are all hardworking and capable. We at Lu Family will not treat you unfairly. In the new year, we have introduced some new regulations and benefits, giving everyone the opportunity for promotion and a raise. Let's work together to make our Lu Family Workshop business bigger and better, so that every family can live a good life!"
He didn't say much; it was He Jiuniang who had taught him to speak beforehand.
Nevertheless, he studied it diligently again and again, all so that he could now recite it fluently in one breath.
After he finished speaking, he took a deep breath and smiled. It was worth the two days of practice; it was pretty perfect, and he was very satisfied.
He Jiuniang led the applause, and the others followed suit. Then they became curious about the new regulations and benefits, which were mostly related to the garment workshop. Lu Guilan would explain them in detail in the workshop later.
The rules are basically about healthy competition. Lu Guilan is in charge of the overall management now. With so many people, oversights are inevitable. So, we need to start electing group leaders, but these are not big deals. He Jiuniang doesn't participate; everything is left to Lu Guilan to decide.
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