Seeing that Sun San Niang still had a vegetable garden to work on, Wang Lan didn't want to delay her, so she went home first. She was calculating in her mind who she would find to do the work if Wang Dahe didn't work out. The person had to be honest and hardworking. Not only should the person doing the work be diligent, but the family couldn't be too shrewd either, otherwise the family would keep coming to the Lu family every few days, and the Lu family wouldn't be able to stand it.
As Sun San Niang watched Wang Lan leave, she grew anxious, inwardly cursing herself for being tongue-tied and unable to speak properly. She hoped the Lu family wouldn't think she had refused the job. So she got up to leave, only to see the basket on the table. As soon as she opened the cloth covering it, she exclaimed, "Oh dear!"
Sun San Niang was stunned. Three soft, plump white steamed buns lay quietly inside. The Lu family actually had white flour steamed buns. If she went to work for them, even just one big white steamed bun a day would be fine. Dahe hadn't eaten a decent meal of rice or noodles for years. The tall man was exhausted every day, like an ox, with only his skeleton standing there, not a bit of flesh on his body. Over the years, she had been dissatisfied with her own body and felt sorry for Wang Dahe because her illness was dragging this man down.
No, she'll make the decision today, and she'll agree to this on behalf of Dahe.
Sun San Niang carried her basket and chased after him to the end of the village, finally catching up with him at the Lu family's house.
Qin Xiaozhou was processing mulberries in the yard. First, she crushed them with a stone mortar and pestle, then squeezed the juice out with gauze. The purplish-black juice was added to the whipped cream, and just two or three drops were enough to dye it a light purple. Qin Xiaozhou was very happy and carefully preserved the remaining mulberries, humming a song.
Wang Lan returned from Wang Dahe's house, her face full of worry as soon as she entered the courtyard. "Granddaughter-in-law, things are not settled yet. I need to think about who to ask."
Sun San Niang stood at the courtyard gate, a little timid and embarrassed. "Auntie, Auntie, my Dahe can come, so don't go looking for someone else." As she spoke, she handed over a basket. "You forgot to take this basket."
This was the first time Qin Xiaozhou had seen Sun Sanniang. She was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, about 1.62 meters tall, slender and thin, with a sallow complexion, sunken cheeks, and high cheekbones, looking like a dried-up corpse whose blood had been drained. But she was clearly still alive. Whether she was tormented by illness or starvation and cold, she looked a bit creepy.
Qin Xiaozhou became even more determined to make money.
Wang Lan didn't expect her to come after her. She pushed the basket over and said, "Okay, it's settled then, Dahe. These steamed buns are a small token of our Lu family's appreciation. You can take them back and eat them."
"Wait a minute." Qin Xiaozhou covered her face. Wang Lan really wasn't a good manager. How could she hire someone without specifying the salary and working hours?
Just as Sun San Niang was about to refuse the steamed bun, she became uneasy after hearing these words. She had also heard that the new daughter-in-law of the Lu family was formidable, superior to all the Lu family members. Even elders like Wang Lan had to be mindful of the new daughter-in-law's feelings. If the new daughter-in-law was not satisfied with Dahe, she was afraid that the job would be ruined.
"Niece-in-law, don't worry, my husband Dahe is tall and strong, and he can do the work."
Qin Xiaozhou suddenly felt a pang of sadness, but she only mentioned the requirements and salary for the job: "You have to arrive when the sun is high in the sky above our orchard. You have to fetch water from the foot of the mountain, change the water troughs in the chicken coop, clean the chicken coop, put out the wheat bran, let the chickens out, clean the chicken coop, and make sure the droppings are properly disposed of. You'll be provided with lunch, and in the afternoon you'll not only have to let the chickens out, but in a few days you'll also have to help pick fruit."
"You get twenty coins a day, and lunch is provided, but it's not good food, just enough to fill you up. You can only go home when the sun is about to set and the chickens are properly locked up. You have to work on this mountain from morning till night, and you can't just run home whenever you want."
Twenty coins a day, plus meals? Sun San Niang was stunned and overjoyed. "This, good, I, I'll go back and tell Dahe that I'll come first thing tomorrow morning."
In her excitement, Sun San Niang turned and ran away.
The shop is opening tomorrow. Lu Yunfeng returned alone in the evening. He needed a lot of firewood in the kitchen, so he came back to prepare a cartload of firewood for tomorrow morning.
Zhao Fang, Lu Yu, Lu Yan, and Xiao Si stayed in the city. Lu Yunfeng gave Zhao Fang five taels of silver. Since there were people living in the house in the county town, they needed to buy more sheets and blankets. Also, because of this job, the clothes needed to be presentable. Zhao Fang bought several bolts of cloth today. She only had time to make clothes in the evenings in the city, so Lu Yunfeng brought back two bolts of cloth for Wang Lan to help make clothes.
Lu Yunfeng brought back a bag of rice, ten catties of flour, and three bolts of cotton cloth.
Wang Lan stroked the fabric, her head bowed, her hands trembling slightly, and said repeatedly, "Okay, I'll make clothes for them right away. The food my granddaughter-in-law makes looks beautiful, so you all need to dress up nicely so that they'll buy from you."
During dinner, when the topic of the morning's events came up, Lu Yunfeng's face darkened. "I won't be home much from now on. I'm going to the village chief's house later to have a drink with Wang Hui."
Wang Lan also ran with a bamboo pole today, and she didn't feel uncomfortable at all. She felt much better. "From now on, I'll walk around the neighborhood and keep an eye on the ducks. These local thugs in the village are the most annoying. It's good that Xiaoyu Yanzi went to the county town; she'll be safe there."
After finishing his meal, Lu Yunfeng took a string of meat to the village chief's house. Only four or five days later, he heard that Wang Hui and a group of close friends had given Wang Daneng a severe beating, and that Wang Daneng had been taken in by his father and was now bedridden.
Wang Hui was the village chief's grandson. He had received some education and was known for his righteousness. He was highly respected in the village. After Wang Daneng was released from the ancestral hall, he returned home and could only eat coarse food. After several days without meat, he couldn't stand it and started looking around. Wang Hui and others caught him red-handed, and Wang Hui immediately beat him up.
But that's a story for later. Right now, Qin Xiaozhou is getting annoyed by the mosquitoes and is fanning himself with his hand.
The weather was warm, and the grass around the Lu family's house was knee-high. It was also not far from the river, so the mosquitoes gradually increased. They couldn't sit by the stove at night and could only talk in the yard. Lu Yunxing slapped a mosquito to death. "These mosquitoes are so annoying."
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