Upon hearing this, Yang Cui glanced at Wang Xicai in surprise, only to see that Wang Xicai's face was flushed red, and he looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't.
Yang Cui immediately understood what was going on, so she did not deny it and said, "If you think I'm heartless, you don't have to do it. There are plenty of people willing to work, and I don't necessarily have to choose someone from your family. If you are capable, you can find another job. I won't force you."
Wages vary from place to place; even in modern times, there are differences in wages between urban and rural enterprise employees.
Wang Dachun's face was not very good. He had been playing too lazily and his mind was full of thoughts of Monkey King against Ding San with two or four (Pai Gow) or six six six leopards to win!
Wang Xicai was moved once again when he saw that Yang Cui did not expose his lie.
"Sister Cui, we're willing to do it!" Wang Xicai said. "Even if you don't pay us wages, as long as you give us a bite to eat, we're willing to work!"
Wang Xicai publicly embarrassed Wang Dachun, which made Wang Dachun so angry he felt like he was going to vomit blood. This was his only son, and he couldn't bring himself to hit him. He glared at Wang Xicai with resentment.
Wang Xicai, seemingly oblivious, said to Yang Cui, "Sister Cui, our whole family is very grateful to you. Don't worry, we will definitely clean the pigsty and duck shed thoroughly."
Yang Cui spoke in a businesslike manner: "Yes, if the work is not done well, I will replace the person. If your father still has objections, I will have no choice but to replace the person, after all, this way you won't suffer any losses."
Wang Dachun dared not speak. After all, it wasn't easy to find a job these days, and even if it was only four hundred coins, many people in the village were eyeing it.
Back at the dilapidated temple, Wang Dachun was preoccupied, his eyes unreadable as he looked at his busy wife and daughter.
~~
Yang Cui led the people of Zhou'an Village to raise ducks and make money, which made the village chief of An'an quite envious. However, the opening of Yang Cui's farm did increase the employment rate of the people of An'an Village. Even if they didn't raise ducks, they could still make money. The people of An'an Village felt very satisfied and felt that this was more stable than raising ducks, at least they didn't have to worry about losing money.
Moreover, digging for earthworms was a significant source of income. Families like the Wen and Anhuang families had their own families dig for earthworms to earn money. In the early stages of their businesses, Yang Cui had to worry about everything.
Yang Cui spends most of her day collecting earthworms, weighing them, and paying for them. In the afternoon, she also has to cook the earthworms. Yang Cui feels like her feet are never touching the ground.
Boiling earthworms takes a lot of firewood, but she didn't have time to collect them, nor the strength to chop large pieces of firewood. Thinking that there were many strong laborers in the village and that firewood wasn't expensive, Yang Cui decided to buy some.
With the idea of keeping the benefits within the family, Yang Cui first approached An Youfu and An Quanping.
"It's just a little firewood, no need to pay. I know you're busy, I'll chop a few loads for you tomorrow," An Youfu said with a smile.
“Uncle, it’s not about how many loads I need. I’m cooking earthworms and pig feed, but I need a lot of firewood.”
An Youfu thought about it carefully and realized that Yang Cui had to cook nearly 100 jin of earthworms a day, and she also had to feed dozens of pigs, which would indeed require a lot of firewood.
An Youfu said somewhat embarrassedly, "Xiao Cui, how about this? We'll support you for now, and if we can't support you anymore, you can find someone else, okay?"
The two brothers naturally didn't want to let others take over the money-making business. An Youfu's two sons were both twenty years old, and they were perfectly capable of doing this kind of physical labor. The three of them would take turns chopping and splitting firewood, and since the firewood itself burned for a long time, An Youfu was confident that they could provide for them.
An's two cousins, along with their sons, were busy chopping wood and gathering firewood. Soon, the villagers learned that Yang Cui needed firewood and came to ask her again. Yang Cui had promised her two cousins, so she could only politely decline for now.
An Gousheng's family.
Zhang Chuntao was furious and threw a tantrum at home: "That Yang Cui is so inconsiderate! What does she mean? Why doesn't she come to our family for the money-making jobs? We're both uncles, and besides, when she argued with the Lin family before, when did you not help her? That ingrate, she even said that Lin Shikang is ungrateful, but I think she's the ungrateful one!"
"You'd better say less! Don't let anyone hear you," An Gousheng said.
"So what if she heard it? She should hear it!" Zhang Chuntao said angrily. "You only care about your cousins!"
"It must be because we ran away when the officials came last time, and she still remembers it!"
"So what if she ran away? What if she really arrests us? Does she want us to go to jail with her? She gave such a good job of hiring people to that outsider Chen Sumei, and she doesn't even remember us when it comes to chopping wood. What an ingrate!"
"Chen Sumei and her children are so pitiful, Xiao Cui..."
"She's pitiful, but it's not our fault! Who told her to be so blind as to marry such a gambling addict? Pitiful? Our Xiaobai is sixteen and still hasn't found a wife! Xiaohai is engaged to the village chief's granddaughter, and Xiaojiang and Xiaohe have plenty of girls to choose from. What do we have?"
Zhang Chuntao grew angrier the more she thought about it, completely forgetting how she earned dozens of copper coins a day.
An Gousheng was also feeling uneasy. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Now we can dig for earthworms, and Qiuqiu and Xiaomi can help by pulling pig feed. We can earn quite a bit a day. We also raise twenty ducks at home. We'll have Xiaocui sell them for us later. Then we can save up and see if we can build an extra room in the spring. With a house, it will be easier for Xiaobai to find a wife."
When An Gousheng mentioned houses, Zhang Chuntao recalled Yang Cui's extravagant purchase of Wang Dachun's house, land, and homestead. Later, she bought the largest homestead in the village to build duck sheds and pigsties, spending tens of taels of silver in total.
Zhang Chuntao is convinced that Yang Cui is rich!
“We don’t need to wait until spring to build a house,” Zhang Chuntao said.
An Gousheng looked completely bewildered: "Where will we get the money if we don't wait until spring?"
Zhang Chuntao smiled calculatingly: "We don't have them, but others do!"
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