Chapter 20 Assigning Work
Seeing everyone excited but disappointed, Gu Xiyue walked slowly through the crowd, touched the child's little face, shook the woman's hand, and comforted her softly.
Her smile was very contagious, as if surviving was really a very simple thing. After a round, the villagers gradually calmed down under her comfort.
There was a stone mill next to the square. In order to let the people behind her hear her talking, Gu Xiyue simply climbed onto the stone mill. This way she could overlook the entire square and see everyone.
"I want to tell everyone that these past few days, Brother Zhao and I have been discussing how to keep the villagers of Nanhuang alive, and how to make them live better than before. In the end, we found that there is only one solution."
The villagers subconsciously looked at Zhao Yancheng and his family. Seeing that Zhao Yancheng and his family of four nodded at them, they shifted their gaze to Gu Xiyue.
"The court doesn't care about us. Our shops are destroyed. We can't rely on others. Even if we rely on the sky, it will collapse. Fortunately, we can rely on the sea."
"By the sea?"
The villagers were bewildered.
In the past few years, they have lived by the sea every day. The sea water is extremely salty and cannot be eaten or drunk. If you accidentally fall in, you may die. Therefore, they are too lazy to go to the beach on weekdays, and they don’t let their children go there, for fear that their children will fall in while playing.
If they could rely on such a useless sea, why didn’t they discover it?
Everyone suddenly felt that Miss Gu was a little unreliable and the situation was a little out of control.
Gu Xiyue's mouth corners curled up slightly.
"If you guys don't believe me, we can make a bet together!"
Gu Xiyue raised her voice so that everyone could hear.
Everyone was a little unhappy when they heard about the bet.
It's already this late, and Miss Gu is still in the mood to make a bet with them. This is nonsense. Miss Gu is still too young. She discovered that mosquito repellent grass is true, but now she knows that she is about to starve to death, she is still joking with them.
But thinking that Miss Gu had stockpiled so much food and was willing to give it to them for free, they were willing to play with her even if it was just nonsense, as a little reward for her before she starved to death.
"What bet?"
Wang Hu's voice was so loud that it drowned out everyone else's. When everyone heard Wang Hu ask this, most of them quieted down and looked at Gu Xiyue, wanting to hear what she had to say.
"I want to make a bet with everyone. In a month, we can have a new way out! And in this month, I will not only make sure everyone has enough food to eat, but also make money!"
A new way out?
Everyone stared with wide eyes. Could it be possible that there would still be food in a month?
The villagers all thought of the wheat sprouting in their homes and fields. Could these wheat seedlings grow quickly and mature in another month?
Many people were amused by what they thought, and the scene was a bit funny for a while.
Moreover, Miss Gu also said that this month they would not only have enough food to eat, but they would also be able to make money. The more I listened, the more dreamy it seemed, and it seemed unreal no matter how I thought about it.
"Ms. Gu, if we want to find a new way out, we must leave this place in a month!"
A middle-aged man in the crowd shouted.
"What this elder brother said makes sense!"
Gu Xiyue nodded heavily and gave his eldest brother a thumbs up. "But eldest brother is half right. We don't have to leave this place, but we can come and go freely."
The crowd was alarmed. If they were allowed to move freely and the imperial court found out, would they and their families be able to survive?
Gu Xiyue knew they would react like this. Some things need to be done slowly and cannot be done all at once, otherwise it will cause panic.
"Everyone, don't panic. We still have a month. During this month, we will be in the Southern Wilds. Don't think about anything else. Work hard to earn money, eat well to take care of your body. After a month, if everything goes well, we can come and go freely without affecting ourselves and our families. If not, at least we have tried. Even if we die here together, we will have no regrets. Isn't that right?"
She didn't say everything and left some room for maneuver. After all, she herself was not completely sure whether Xiao Heng could succeed in rescuing the families of the three military lords.
She wanted to motivate everyone, but at the same time she wanted everyone not to have too much hope, to be able to advance or retreat, but still have hope.
After all, people's desire to survive is innate.
"Do you dare to bet?"
"If we lose, we die together. If we win, we work harder to live."
"Bet! I agree to the bet!"
Wang Hu was the first to shout, "If we win, we will all listen to Miss Gu from now on."
"We agree to the bet too!" The middle-aged man who had just spoken also shouted loudly: "Let's take a gamble. Even if we die, we won't regret it. Otherwise, dying now would be so unfair!"
With them taking the lead, everyone thought about it carefully and realized that this was indeed the truth, so they all agreed.
"If we win the bet, we will all listen to Miss Gu from now on."
Seeing that everyone was willing to gamble, Gu Xiyue breathed a sigh of relief.
Then she divided the villagers into four groups according to their residences, namely groups one, two, three and four from east to west, and appointed Zhao Yancheng, Qian Fu, Xue Jun and Zhou Daying as the group leaders respectively.
What to do specifically, how to do it, and how to allocate these people are all arranged by each team leader based on the personnel in the team.
The scene suddenly became lively. The villagers were divided into four groups and stood in four piles. Zhao Yancheng and others went to their group according to where they lived. As soon as they arrived, they were surrounded by the crowd.
Everyone asked their team leader what they were going to do next.
Someone saw Gu Xiyue still standing, so someone who lived close to home ran back and brought her a bench for her to sit on.
The four team leaders briefly told the villagers about the sea salt, but the villagers were furious when they heard about it.
"You mean the salt we usually buy for fifty cents is everywhere on the seashore?"
"Oh my God! I have to eat less to buy a pound of salt a year, just to save food to sell for money to buy salt, and now you tell me that it's everywhere around us?"
"Then it's like silver is growing all over the ground. Why didn't I notice it before?"
"This is all thanks to Miss Gu. She was the one who discovered the sea salt!"
"You know what? I've seen white frost on thatch at the beach before. I thought it was poisonous and wouldn't let my children touch it."
"Ms. Gu is brave enough to try it herself. I really admire her!"
Meixiang happened to hear that sentence. Thinking of the day when the young lady tasted the sea salt, she was so scared that her legs went weak and she burst into tears. Thinking about how useless she was, she realized that she was not the only one who thought that thing was poison.
The situation was a little out of control for a while, and everyone expressed their admiration for Gu Xiyue. At the same time, they felt more confident to survive.
Since this barren southern wilderness has now become a treasure land because of the sea salt, if people can really enter and exit freely in a month, this will really be a good place.
Seeing that everyone had almost finished their discussion, the team leaders led everyone to gather around Gu Xiyue and listen to her.
Gu Xiyue briefly talked to everyone about the work model. It is a family unit and both men and women can participate. She will take everyone to divide the beach into four areas, one area for each group. Some people will start digging salt flats for drying salt on the beach, and the other part will collect sea salt from the thatch on the beach. In order to be fair, if there are two adults in the family, the men will participate in digging salt flats and the women will collect sea salt. If there is only one person in the family, the team leader will make the distribution.
Each group is assigned an accountant to record everyone's attendance and salt production.
Gu Xiyue also took into consideration that there were quite a few children in the village, with more than forty children aged from two or three to thirteen or fourteen. So he selected five talented ones and planned to pick an empty house in the village, have someone clean it up, and let the children study there every day, thus freeing their parents.
For the elderly, those over 50 years old just rest at home and do some simple housework. There are four or five pregnant women in the village, and these women do handicrafts at home to maintain their health.
As Gu Xiyue spoke, Meixiang and Wei Lin took notes behind her. After counting, they found that excluding the elderly, children and pregnant women, there were a total of 213 young and middle-aged laborers who were able to work.
Among these people, there were four team leaders and four accountants. Granny Liu led the women of the four team leaders to cook for everyone, five gentlemen chosen by everyone to take care of the children, and finally there were a total of 195 people who dug the salt flats and mined salt.
There are about fifty people in a group.
Gu Xiyue was very patient. He led Meixiang and Wei Lin to register the situation of each family, not leaving anyone out, so that it would be easier to manage in the future.
She was very kind and by the end of the discussion, almost everyone was smiling. The dark clouds hanging over their heads finally dissipated, and everyone began to look forward to tomorrow.
The sun shone on the land of the southern wilderness, and the sea breeze was cool. For the first time, the villagers felt that the sea breeze blowing on their faces was not unpleasant at all.
"Ms. Gu, you just said there is still wages. Is there really wages?"
Wang Hu rubbed his hands and asked embarrassedly. Although his voice was very low, many people heard it.
When Xiao Heng, the three military officers and Hu Mazi came over, they happened to hear Wang Hu asking this question. Gu Xiyue, who was sitting in the front, smiled broadly, and her hair on both sides of her pretty face was blown by the wind, flying around, looking bright and charming.
Xiao Heng moved his fingers slightly. If he was closer, he really wanted to tuck those naughty strands of hair behind her ears.
Gu Xiyue was about to talk about the wages when Wei Lin called out from behind, "The young master is here!"
Wei Lin always calls Xiao Heng "Young Master" in front of outsiders.
Gu Xiyue turned her head and met Xiao Heng's gaze with smiling eyes. Xiao Heng nodded slightly at her. She felt a little relieved, knowing that their plan had been finalized.
The villagers liked Miss Gu and naturally respected Xiao Heng, but they didn't dare to talk to him. In their eyes, although Xiao Heng looked gentle, he always had an aura of majesty without anger. Unlike Gu Xiyue, he looked friendly and wanted people to get close to him and be convinced.
Many people also wondered about the relationship between Xiao Heng and Gu Xiyue. Miss Gu was his wife, but she also knew about mosquito repellent grass and sea salt. Xiao Heng just let his wife do whatever she wanted, and he silently supported her from behind. It was really not simple.
However, when the villagers heard Wei Lin, who was beside Xiao Heng, calling Xiao Heng "Young Master", they could guess that Xiao Heng and Miss Gu were definitely not from an ordinary family.
As a result, the villagers admired the couple even more.
But when the villagers saw that there were three military officers coming with Xiao Heng, they suddenly became a little nervous and looked at Gu Xiyue at a loss.
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