Village Chief Lin nodded, "Then I'll trouble you two sisters-in-law to teach us this afternoon. The foundation for the workshop has been dug, and we can start building it this afternoon. The foundation for the wall at the entrance to the village has also been dug."
An Shuyi nodded, "Okay, Hua Hua and I will go teach them this afternoon."
The eldest son then spoke up, "Mother, all the ice for today has been taken away, but there are still some people who haven't bought any. However, they didn't order yesterday. I've already recorded all the ice orders for today, and the money is in the box." He handed over the notebook containing the records, and the box was placed on the table.
Xia Hua took the ledger, looked at it for a while, and then said, "Boss, our workshop is not yet built. From now on, we will only accept the amount of ice we receive today. We will not accept any more than that. We will increase the quantity once our workshop is built."
"Okay, Auntie!" the eldest son said. Actually, he was quite worried about the ice they ordered today, since his mother and auntie worked very late every night.
An Shuyi opened the box, inside were ten ingots of silver and several hundred-tael silver coins. She knew exactly how many ice blocks she had made last night, and now she had four hundred and eighty taels. She took the silver from selling ice blocks yesterday from her sleeve, which was actually the warehouse, and then put it into the box.
There wasn't much ice yesterday, so it only sold for 234 taels. The woman bought 3 taels of it. Also, the ice blocks that day came in different sizes, and the price of silver varied accordingly.
They now sell ice blocks for over seven hundred taels of silver each. It has to be said that the ice block business is extremely profitable. However, this is only because the weather is hot, making it difficult to transport ice blocks to Jinnan City, and there are not many people who know how to make ice blocks, which makes it so easy for them to earn money.
Village Chief Lin was standing nearby, so she naturally saw the silver in the box. Not only did she see it, but the people eating nearby also saw it. After Village Chief Lin came over, the clansmen also brought their bowls and squatted down to eat.
"Sister-in-law, is the ice business doing so well? Is there too much?" After Village Chief Lin asked, the others nodded in agreement.
Before An Shuyi could speak, Xia Hua said, "You think this is a lot of money? Have some ambition! Once the workshop is built and other businesses are established, you'll know what 'a lot' really means."
Actually, looking at Sister Xia speaking, if they had heard her say this before, they would have just thought she was bragging. But now, the silver in the box made them realize that Sister Xia was telling the truth.
"Hurry up and eat, then get to work. Look at the silver here. Each of you will get 10%. That's how much. The more you do, the more you'll get. See the foundation I had Wood measure over there?"
Seeing them nod, Xia Hua continued, "Our houses will be built there from now on. Each house will have two courtyards. Of course, you will pay for it. I and Shu Shu can't pay for it for you. Don't think that a two-courtyard house requires a lot of money. As long as you work hard, it won't be long before it's built."
Eating meat and drinking wine during meals is not an easy task. Hurry up and finish eating so you can get back to work. The younger children who can't do heavy work should also collect stones, just the size of a fist. Pile them up in the open space far from the workshop. As long as you work hard, Shushu and I will send you to study at the academy in Jinnan City later.”
An Shuyi watched Xia Hua making grand promises to her people. Although her promises were real, wasn't it a bit too early to be making them?
But the tribespeople didn't mind that the cake was too early; on the contrary, they thought it was very big and fragrant. Lin Changnian came over and asked, "Sister-in-law Xia, is what you said true?"
If what my sister-in-law said is true, even without other business, the ice business alone would bring in a lot of money. In just two days, they had earned more than 700 taels of silver, and their family would receive 7 taels. If so many people came to buy ice every day, then over two months, each family would receive 700 taels of silver.
If they sell for a few more months, they'll accumulate more and more money, and building a house won't be a problem at all. Just as Mu Tou said, their two sisters-in-law are really good; they're practically giving them money for free. It seems they can only repay their two sisters-in-law by working hard.
"Can't you see for yourself whether it's true or not? Hurry up and eat your food. Why are you running around here instead of eating properly?" Xia Hua glared at the people around her before continuing to eat.
Of all the people there, only she and Shushu were sitting at the table eating. Everyone else was just squatting or sitting anywhere. It's only because they're thick-skinned that they're not embarrassed. If it were anyone else, they wouldn't even dare to eat.
Of course, only the two of them are of the highest generation here; the other older people eat at their own homes.
After finishing their meal, An Shuyi and Xia Hua split up and went to teach each other how to use cement and sand. The road has now been dug to the entrance of the village. In a little over a day, the road will be dug up. After that, it will take another day to pave the roads in the village.
Looking at the foundation that was already being built, An Shuyi asked, "Does anyone here know how to build walls? If you do, come and build the walls tomorrow. If you don't, continue digging the road. But you absolutely must know how. Don't come here to watch if you don't know how, or you won't get paid."
As soon as she finished speaking, many people offered to build the wall. An Shuyi selected more than thirty people, and then found more than ten others who looked strong. She asked them to mix cement for them, and waited until it was almost dark before asking them to come and collect their wages so they could go home.
After the villagers went back, she returned to the village, with the eldest and third sons following behind. As for the third and fourth sons, they went to graze their horses on the mountain with the families in the clan who had cattle early in the morning and would not return until evening.
Although the villagers of Xinglin Village had already returned home, the clansmen in the village had not yet finished work. Some were building walls, and some were digging the ground. Now, besides earning money, planting crops was the most important thing. The eldest son also carried a hoe to dig the ground, but An Shuyi let the second son go with him.
Zhao and Wu were responsible for cooking and washing clothes. When they had time, they also made clothes and shoes for the family and took care of the children. They were never idle.
When it got dark, everyone stopped what they were doing, ate dinner, and then started making ice again by lighting torches.
An Shuyi saw that the tribesmen were already making ice blocks and were doing it very skillfully. "Mu Tou, Boss, you two take the others to make ice blocks. Hua Hua and I have something to do tonight and need to go out."
Village Chief Lin put down the basin in his hand. "Sister-in-law, why are you going out so late? Whatever you need to do, go tomorrow!" Although the two sisters-in-law were very capable, it was too late to go out now.
Others also chimed in, advising them to postpone their trip until tomorrow, as it was too dangerous to go now, so late.
"Don't worry, nothing will happen. Hua Hua and I will ride off and be back soon. You two just need to hurry up and make the ice cubes; we're waiting to sell them tomorrow!" After saying that, An Shuyi jumped onto the horse that Xia Hua had brought, and the two of them rode away quickly.
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