The villagers helped build the house last time without expecting anything in return, but Yin Lan and Chen Yourun treated everyone to meat as a gesture of goodwill. Naturally, everyone was very happy to do so, and even competed to help carry the meat and offal.
A long procession marched into the house.
Old Master Chen puffed on his pipe by the roadside, glanced at the crowd, snorted, and, not wanting to look any longer, went straight back.
Fortunately, a new house has been built now; if it were the old thatched hut, it simply wouldn't have been big enough to accommodate everyone.
However, a new house is definitely not suitable for storing pig offal, since it's still quite dirty and has a strong fishy smell.
So they simply put it in the old thatched hut.
The current low temperature is like a natural refrigerator, so food won't spoil.
Everyone looked at this small, once marginalized place in the village. Outside the little thatched hut was a beautiful house that looked very clean and tidy.
The house is piled high with meat, and there's so much pig offal.
Life is really booming these days.
Not far away is the village school, which is always bustling with activity.
After a long winter break, the weather is warm now, and it's time to go back to school, so the workers have already started cleaning inside.
This corner, which was originally forgotten by the village, is now the best place in the village.
Many families, seeing Chen Yourun and Yin Lan's new house, were also tempted to build a new, bright and spacious one. Moreover, they wanted to build their houses here and were discussing land matters with the village head.
Before long, all the pig offal had been brought over.
Everyone was about to leave; they had all received their share of meat and were eager to go home.
Yin Lan stopped them, saying, "Everyone, please wait a moment."
Yin Lan looked at everyone and said, "Thank you all for coming to help today. It's like this, I need help with so many pig offal. I wonder if anyone is free to help me wash them? It costs five coins to wash one pound."
Upon hearing that there was money, everyone's eyes lit up, especially since there were five coins!
Yin Lan had no choice. The pig offal weighed several hundred pounds, and her family certainly couldn't wash it all by themselves. Moreover, Yin Lan had very high standards; it had to be thoroughly cleaned. Now that it was winter, the water was very cold, so in Yin Lan's view, this money was not easy to earn.
However, the women in the village did not think so.
After all, men could go to the county town to work, earning at most a dozen or so coins a day, and the work was not easy, with them coming and going so late.
You can earn money by washing things in the village; you get five coins per pound, and if you wash a lot...
Yin Lan had already made it clear to the women beforehand that everything had to be washed clean, and if it wasn't, they wouldn't need to bother her in the future.
Everyone readily agreed.
Yin Lan had already told them that it would begin in a couple of days, and she would inform Chen Laosan's wife then, who would then come and notify everyone.
Chen Laosan's wife was flattered and overwhelmed. "Sister-in-law...I...can I do it?"
"Why not? It's very simple."
Chen Laosan's wife originally wanted to come and wash the pig offal, but she didn't know if she would be selected. But now, her sister-in-law actually asked her to inform everyone? That means...
“I may not be home all the time in the future, so I will need my younger brother and sister-in-law to help me with the task of washing pig offal and keep an eye on it,” Yin Lan could tell from her clothes that her third sister-in-law was a clean person, a good person, and kind, so she naturally asked her for help first.
Chen Laosan's wife was overjoyed.
"As for wages, how about ten coins a day?"
The third son's wife's eyes widened. "Ten...ten coins?" That's too much! She...she didn't do anything, how could she get so much money?
Yin Lan then explained what she needed to do: "Checking whether everything is clean, how many people are needed each day, managing these people, as well as home security, meat storage and organization, etc. All these things add up to quite a lot."
The third son's wife, however, thought that these were no big deal at all, too simple.
"Um...sister-in-law, what if I wash too?"
"The cost for washing is also five coins per pound, it's the same."
"Hey!" The third son's wife was so excited she almost jumped up. On the way home, her tail was practically wagging in the air, and she couldn't suppress the smile on her face.
After returning home, she went back to her room with her husband and whispered to each other.
Chen Laosan was also very surprised, "Ten coins? Has your sister-in-law gone mad?"
"How would I know? But my sister-in-law used to help collect old clothes for wealthy families, so she must have made some money."
"You can't just squander money like this. It's just some pig offal, yet you're paying someone to wash it."
“When Mother made the clothes before, my sister-in-law also spent money,” Chen Laosan’s wife reminded her, adding, “That wasn’t just a little bit of pig offal, it was several hundred pounds! The house was piled up with it.”
"Several hundred pounds, even if we eat it until next year, we probably won't be able to finish it. The weather is getting hot, and it will spoil later. I don't know what Sister-in-law was thinking, she actually bought all the pig offal. Brother didn't know either."
The third brother's wife found it amusing. "Advice? What's there to advise? I think the eldest brother's eyes are glued to his sister-in-law. I guess whatever she says goes."
After the two finished joking, although they were worried about Chen Yourun and Yin Lan, they didn't know the situation.
Hu, who was outside, also heard the news, and her expression instantly turned sour.
She lashed out at her husband, "Isn't this older brother going too far? He's second in line outside, and he even had the only grandson in the Chen family. Why doesn't he invite us to any of the good things?"
Chen Lao Er's expression was also not good. "Stop talking. What do you mean by the only grandson of the Chen family? What about your eldest brother's three children? With your words, how can your eldest brother and the others take care of you? I think it's because you're talking nonsense outside and have angered your sister-in-law and eldest brother. Now look, they don't tell us anything about their family affairs, and they don't even think about us when they do good things."
Mrs. Hu couldn't stand it anymore. "Me?"
She sneered, "Chen Lao Er, do you have any conscience? When he was building a house in Jiuli, you came to ask about it, but you refused because you thought it was too tiring. In the end, he got to eat meat, and Lao San's child got some, but our son didn't get a single bite!"
Chen Lao Er was speechless.
"There's also the matter of the children's schooling. The third son's daughter has already gone, but our son insists on going to school this time. We must go to Madam Yin; she has to agree to this."
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