"Brother, is there something you need from me?" Li Yan asked.
Li Jianmin slapped his head and said, "Oh, I almost forgot about something. I wanted to discuss with you whether I should buy more buns or dumplings for the shop. I can't make up my mind for the moment, so I wanted to ask for your opinion!"
"Why do you have such an idea, brother?"
"Firstly, this spicy soup doesn't take much effort to prepare. Secondly, I feel that just drinking spicy soup is too bland. A man with a big appetite can only feel half full after drinking a bowl. It would be best if we could add some staple food. What do you think, sister?"
"Can you and Xiaocao still handle adding more noodles?" Li Yan did not answer her cousin's question, but asked about what she was worried about.
"You can prepare the spicy soup in advance, it won't be a problem!"
Xiaocao nodded vigorously in agreement.
Seeing this, Li Yan thought for a while and suggested: "Why not make fried dumplings!"
Then he looked at the two iron pots on the stove and said, "These two pots are not suitable for frying dumplings. We need to change to flat-bottomed pots. Big brother, come with me to the blacksmith shop in the city. I just happen to have something else that I need a blacksmith to make!"
Li Jianmin did not hesitate after hearing this and asked Xiaocao to look after the shop. The brother and sister went directly to the blacksmith shop in the city.
The two men are old customers of the blacksmith shop.
Seeing that it was brother and sister, the old blacksmith came forward with a smile and said, "What are you going to fight this time?"
Li Yan was not vague and directly told the old blacksmith what she needed. While gesturing to measure the size, she said to the old blacksmith: "I need an iron pan of this size, but I need it to be flat for frying food!"
There were also snack stall owners in the city who came to him to make this kind of frying pan, so the old blacksmith quickly understood what Li Yan meant by this.
Seeing that the blacksmith had no questions, Li Yan asked him to help make two pots with shields.
After Li Yan's detailed description, the old blacksmith finally understood. However, he still looked at Li Yan with some curiosity. "What a strange request, little girl. How can you use a pot if you block it?"
Li Yan said confidently, "Old man, please help me type it out. Who knows, someone might come to you in the future and ask you to do the same thing as me?"
The old blacksmith just thought that the cunning girl in front of him was joking with him, then shook his head and laughed, not taking it to heart.
The old blacksmith didn't know that just when he had forgotten about this matter, one day, someone actually came to him to make the same pot, and made him earn a lot of money again. But that's a story for later!
After paying the deposit, the two agreed on a time to pick up the goods and left the blacksmith shop.
Li Yan did not go back directly, but took her cousin to the grocery store again.
He also bought a large clay stove that could burn charcoal from the shop.
Because there are not enough stoves, Li Yan plans to put a large clay stove directly in front of the shop. Not only will it be very eye-catching, but more importantly, it will attract customers and make up for the lack of space in their shop.
After purchasing the necessary equipment, the two of them rushed back.
When they returned to the shop, it was already late. Everyone packed up their things and drove home in a mule cart under the setting sun.
On the way back, Li Yan told her eldest brother that she had to dig medicinal herbs tomorrow and would not come to the shop. She also asked the two of them if they could handle it.
The two guys in the shop are already familiar with the job, so just rest assured!
Thinking about harvesting medicinal herbs tomorrow, Li Yan went straight to find Mr. Li after returning home and asked him to help find people to do the work.
"As for the wages, it's the same as when I picked forsythia. Men and women are welcome. Please ask around in the village for me. If we don't have enough people, please go to the mansion I'm building and ask if anyone in those families is willing to do the work!"
Li Yan had this consideration mainly because the main labor force of every household in the village is either in the noodle shop or the fermented tofu workshop. Families with a large population may still have labor, and families with a small population have work to do, so Li Yan gave this additional instruction.
Mr. Li nodded and immediately walked out with his hands behind his back.
As the sun was setting, Mr. Li was worried that the workers would have to get off work, so he went directly to the mansion that was being built a mile away from the village.
From a distance, the outline of the county lady's mansion has begun to take shape.
The tall stone walls and the roof with flying eaves and upturned corners subtly demonstrate the grandeur of the mansion under construction.
When Mr. Li came over, the supervisor was counting the number of people working today.
The supervisor immediately went to greet Mr. Li when he saw him, "Why are you here?"
This county lord's mansion was built for the young lady from the Li family. The supervisor naturally knew Mr. Li, and when he saw the owner coming, he was naturally enthusiastic.
"I have some chores to do at home and I want to find some help, so I thought of coming over to ask if there is anyone in their family willing to do the work!"
Upon hearing this, the supervisor hurriedly led Mr. Li to the group and said in a serious tone, "Mr. Li is kind and has come to find you to do work because he sees that you are in financial difficulty. If anyone wants to go, please tell Mr. Li!"
After hearing this, no one stepped forward to sign up for a moment. They all looked troubled and hesitant, and no one responded for a long time.
Seeing the group of people hesitating, the overseer scolded them, "If you want to, you want to. If you don't want to, you don't want to. Why is it so difficult to just say a word?"
At this time, a man wearing patched clothes, with his head down, asked with difficulty: "Sir, please don't be angry. I...I want to ask if there will be food to eat after I go to work?"
His family was large, with many children, and the money they earned was barely enough to feed themselves. What would they do in the future after the work here was done? The two brothers were worried.
Winter is approaching, and the days ahead will be even more difficult. If the other party can provide meals, their two daughters-in-law and his eldest son can go out to work, so that the family can save some money to buy food!
As for why they didn't think the other party would pay them, it was because they didn't dare to think about it. In their hometown, if the landlords and gentry were willing to give them a meal, it was already the most kind thing they could do!
Even if you meet a tyrannical person, there are cases where you are asked to work for free!
The men whose backs have been bent by the burden of life never dare to have such extravagant dreams.
As a group of outsiders, they would make exceptions when encountering local landlords and gentry.
When they heard that Mr. Li was looking for someone to do some work, they instinctively thought that this was probably another case of having to work for free, and whether they could get a bite to eat depended on whether the other party had a conscience!
The men thought bitterly in their hearts.
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