Jiang Ling had a deep impression of Zhou Daxia. When Wang Tieshuan attempted to raid the village, Zhou Daxia was right next to Hu Yue'er. Zhou Daxia was meticulous and conscientious in her work, even taking care of cleaning tasks. Jiang Ling knew that this girl was a good worker and was thinking of finding some time to train her properly so that she could become a group leader or something as soon as possible.
She smiled at Zhou Daxia and said, "If I remember correctly, your name is Zhou Daxia, right? You and Yue'er have a very good relationship!"
Upon hearing Jiang Ling's words, Zhou Daxia began to feel frightened, nervously clutching the hem of her clothes with both hands.
"Don't worry, I'm not criticizing you. I've seen your hard work these past few months!" Jiang Ling comforted her, then turned to look at everyone and said, "I, Jiang, have seen everyone's hard work. Now there are people from both the new and old Lujia Villages here. I have always treated everyone equally and will never show favoritism. These things are recognition of your efforts over the past few months. Don't refuse them, everyone. These are what you deserve!"
As usual, Jiang Ling stuffed the cloth and pastries into Zhou Daxia's arms.
Zhou Daxia was both surprised and delighted. She stared at Jiang Ling with slightly red eyes and choked up, saying, "Big sister! You...you don't worry, I will definitely work hard and live up to your expectations!"
Jiang Ling smiled faintly and remained silent. After hearing this, the others felt it would be impolite to refuse, so they all accepted the gifts with both hands and thanked Jiang Ling gratefully.
After all the gifts had been given out, Jiang Ling said, "We were supposed to distribute the dividends today as well, but time was too tight and I forgot to exchange them for silver. Please come back tomorrow morning to collect your dividends!"
Jiang Ling's news was like pouring water on a hot pan, and the previously quiet crowd began to whisper among themselves again.
"No, no, we wouldn't dare accept your dividends!"
"Yes, yes, ever since you opened this shampoo factory, my man no longer has to go to town to carry heavy loads!"
"That's right, Sister Jiang, you should keep this money!"
"Yes, you've already been very good to us, working six days a week with one day off... and now..."
Everyone started chattering amongst themselves, but Jiang Ling remained silent, waiting for the crowd to calm down before saying to them, "Everyone, everyone! Don't overthink it. You've helped me with the work, so this is what you deserve! I won't talk about the old Lujia Village people, but as for the new Lujia Village people, don't you want to buy what belongs to you as soon as possible? We are farmers after all, and we still need to rely on the land and fields to eat. How can we survive without land?"
Jiang Ling's words brought tears to the eyes of some sentimental women. They all secretly vowed to work hard here in the future, never allowing themselves to make any mistakes, and to live up to such a good person.
After a while, everyone reluctantly dispersed. Before leaving, Jiang Ling gave them another reminder and jokingly said that if anyone didn't come tomorrow, she would personally deliver it to them on New Year's Eve. Upon hearing this, everyone gave up the idea of not coming to collect their dividends.
At 1:00 PM, Jiang Yaojie drove the carriage back to his home with Jiang Wenxi and Hu Yue'er.
Hu Yue'er placed five strings of coins strung together with cotton thread in front of Jiang Ling, while Jiang Yaojie placed a large bolt of coarse red cloth on Jiang Ling's table. As for Jiang Wenxi, she bought a large pile of snacks and ate them while saying, "Hmm, although there are many kinds of food in Shengjing, I still think the taste of our home-cooked food is the best!"
After hearing this, Jiang Ling chuckled and affectionately pinched Jiang Wenxi's nose. Then she looked at Jiang Yaojie and Hu Yue'er and said, "Yue'er, you're in charge of counting the money. Yaojie, you and I will cut the red cloth together! Three hundred copper coins at a time, put them on the cloth and wrap them up!"
The three of them split up and made several red cloth bags in less than an hour.
Jiang Ling placed one of the cloth bags in Hu Yue'er's hands and said, "This is for you!"
"No, no, big sister, what are you doing?" Hu Yue'er quickly waved her hand in refusal.
"Take it, don't be shy, you deserve it! Everyone in our shampoo factory gets one!" Jiang Ling said forcefully, stuffing the cloth bag into Hu Yue'er's hands.
Having spent time together, Hu Yue'er knew Jiang Ling's temperament, so she could only nod apologetically and carefully put away the cloth bag.
Jiang Ling nodded in satisfaction, then put ten more items into her basket and headed towards the village chief's house.
Right now, the village chief and his wife are busy steaming buns, the two brothers Lu Chengcai and Lu Chengqian are busy pasting paper-cut window decorations, and Lu Gousheng is chasing his own hen, which is clucking loudly.
"Gousheng! Look how scared you've made the hen! Stop it right now!" The village chief pretended to scold, watching the chickens and dogs running wild in the yard.
Jiang Ling stood outside the door and gently knocked, saying to the person inside, "Village Chief, it's me, Jiang Shi!"
The village chief rushed over and opened the door, looking at Jiang and asking, "What's wrong? Is something the matter?"
Jiang Ling shook her head, took off the basket, pointed to the contents, and said, "Isn't it almost the end of the year? The fertilizer factory needs to close for the holidays too. This is this year's dividends and gifts. Please help distribute them, village chief. The rest is yours!"
Upon hearing this, the village chief waved his hands repeatedly, refusing, "I'll pass. I am the village chief, how could I possibly accept your things!"
Jiang Ling raised the corners of her mouth and said, "Indeed, as the village head, you shouldn't accept my gifts, but what if it's just between neighbors?"
The village chief didn't understand Jiang Ling's words at first, and frowned as he asked, "What? What do you mean by that?"
“Village Chief, you’ve helped me a lot since I left Lu Youren’s house. Whether it was the potatoes or Old Lady Lu tearing up my daughter’s books, I, Jiang Ling, remember them all! I was struggling financially before, so I couldn’t just thank you verbally. Now that I’ve made a little money, I naturally want to express my gratitude!”
The village chief felt ashamed after hearing Jiang Ling's words. Although he had intervened in those matters, he had some selfishness and tended to favor the other party because they were members of the Lu family. However, Jiang Ling did not blame him and even sent him food, cloth, and copper coins at the end of the year.
Thinking of this, the village chief shook his head repeatedly. Jiang Ling seemed to have already guessed that the village chief would do this, and quickly said, "Village chief, just keep the things. It's almost the beginning of the new year, and I still need your bamboo tubes! Consider these as advance payment for your wages! Remember to help distribute the rest to the fertilizer factory and tell them that they don't need to come to work from today until the seventh day of the new year! Oh, and remember to return the baskets to me after you've distributed them!"
Fearing the village chief would refuse, Jiang Ling put down her basket, finished speaking, and then disappeared without a trace in the direction of her home.
The atmosphere in Lujia Village was joyous and harmonious. However, in Pingxi County, the owner of Furong Pavilion had a deep frown and a worried look on his face.
On any other day, he would have closed the restaurant early and enjoyed the happiness of family reunion with his wife and children. But now, he was cowering in the courtroom, his whole body covered in cold sweat.
"Xie Changsan, are you going to talk or not!" Magistrate Duan frowned and slammed his gavel on the table.
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