“Hey, have you heard? That bastard who arrived a few months ago is up to his old tricks again.”
“Bastard? Which one?”
“Bah! How many bastards are there in Qingniu? Naturally, I’m talking about the worst one of them all.”
“Oh, you mean Mr. Zhao, the grain merchant? What’s he done this time? Besides selling that Immortal’s Drunk, what else has he gotten himself into?”
“I heard he’s gone crazy this time. The moment he made a few coins, it went straight to his head.”
“I heard he’s been looking everywhere for people to cultivate wasteland. They say hard workers can earn ten wen a day!”
“Ten wen a day? Then wouldn’t that be one liang of silver in three months? I don’t believe it.”
“Neither do I, but there are idiots who do. Hahaha. Apparently, there are quite a few of those idiots.”
…
In the valley, Mr.
Wang, the construction supervisor, was busy working alongside his men near the small lake.
This was the area Zhao Baihui had designated for commercial and residential development, occupying two-thirds of the valley.
This time, he wanted to build a commercial street.
Once it was completed, residential areas would be built on both sides.
Mr.
Wang probably wouldn’t have to travel from place to place looking for construction work for quite some time.
Immortal’s Drunk had begun generating money, allowing Zhao Baihui’s development plans to accelerate and form a virtuous cycle.
From now on, they would probably be able to build faster and faster.
However, the commercial street would not be built quite so quickly this time.
Because they were no longer constructing simple earthen houses, but actual buildings.
They would even be two stories tall!
The plan was to construct two rows of two-story buildings.
Considering the construction standards of the era and the abilities of Mr.
Wang’s rural construction crew, this was practically the limit.
However, Zhao Baihui had heard from Jinyi that, in order to keep up with the pace of development in this place, Mr.
Wang seemed to be planning to travel all the way to the county seat, or perhaps even farther, to recruit skilled workers.
As expected, wherever there was demand, development followed.
Demand was the driving force behind the development of society.
And he was precisely the one creating that demand.
As evening fell, columns of smoke slowly began rising from the kitchens in several places throughout the valley where people had gathered.
Zhao Baihui and the girls ate in the rear courtyard, while the three families living there usually gathered in the central courtyard to eat together.
The women from the three families were responsible for cooking.
Jinwen’s mother was the most skilled cook among them, while the other two helped her.
The kitchen was located in a room in the central courtyard, close to the rear courtyard, which had been specially arranged for preparing meals.
Jinwen’s mother’s cooking was indeed somewhat better than Jinyi’s, although the main reason was that Jinyi had been far too busy lately.
Every day, she had countless matters to deal with, and in the afternoons—even after nightfall—she still had to continue studying.
They had also begun taking responsibility for various matters.
Jinyi was the chief administrator, while the other three were junior administrators.
For now, they simply didn’t have all that much work to do, and they were still too young.
Once they grew a little older, they would have to shoulder responsibilities as heavy as Jinyi’s.
“Is the food ready yet? I’m getting a little hungry.”
Jinxiu had just finished her lessons and felt as though her head was about to turn into mush when she arrived in the kitchen.
“Only the last dish is left. It’ll be ready in a moment.”
Jinwen’s mother, who was standing in front of the stove, answered quickly.
The other two women were also busy serving the food and peeling eggs.
Even Dama, four, and Huzi, three, helped add firewood to the stove to earn their work points.
Because that day, Zhao Baihui had suddenly developed a craving for eggs.
Boiled eggs served with minced-meat sauce—one bite, and the salty, savory flavor spread across the tongue, accompanied by a soft and tender texture.
The main idea could be summed up in just two words:
perfect with rice.
That was why the kitchen had prepared ten eggs.
“Jinwen’s mother, Sir says you’re a good cook. From now on, your daily wage will be ten wen.”
“Really?”
Jinwen’s mother was enormously surprised.
The other two women, including Jinxiu’s mother, looked at her with obvious envy, waiting for their own turn.
However, she didn’t seem to notice and simply said,
“Sir said that as long as we work hard, things will gradually get better.”
“Yes, yes. From now on, I’ll work even harder.”
Once the food was ready, the three women carried it to the rear courtyard.
Jinxiu took a small tray of eggs.
Seeing the two children staring at them with longing eyes, she smiled, took two soft, white peeled eggs, and handed them over.
“Eat quickly. If your older brothers catch you, be careful or they’ll take them away.”
“Thank you, Sister Jinxiu.”
The two children quickly stuffed the eggs into their mouths.
The three women didn’t begin preparing their own food until they had finished preparing the food for the masters of the household.
The masters’ family could eat white rice and refined wheat flour.
Naturally, the women couldn’t afford such things.
But now they could even eat coarse grains without mixing them with wild vegetables, and they were already very satisfied.
A short while later, Jinxiu and the other girls returned the kitchen utensils.
There was still some food left inside.
It wasn’t much, but it nevertheless made the three women very happy.
When cooking for the masters of the household, they had to carefully calculate the quantities.
If they deliberately cooked extra food in order to take advantage of it, they would be punished.
So from time to time, there would be a little food left over from the masters’ meal that they could take to the children so they could have a treat, although this didn’t happen at every meal.
The food at Zhao Manor had already been prepared, and things were more or less the same elsewhere.
At the commercial-street construction site beside the small lake, it was also time to eat.
The food was fairly ordinary, but at least everyone could eat their fill.
This was largely thanks to Mr.
Wang, who had received so many jobs from Zhao Baihui that he now had a little more room in his budget.
At the liquor factory, there were ten families, more than fifty people in total.
They worked for Zhao Baihui, and although their conditions were somewhat worse than those of the three families living at the residence, compared with the outside laborers at the construction site, they were living much better.
At the factory, everyone’s work was clearly recorded.
The rule established by Zhao Baihui was simple:
The more work you do, the more you earn.
Whoever worked more earned more.
An adult man earned an average of six to seven wen a day.
His wife and children could also help with the work.
After all, people were paid according to what they actually did.
For the time being, there wasn’t much work at the liquor factory, and everyone was extremely enthusiastic.
So they finished most of their tasks by mid-afternoon, and after three or four o’clock, they had nothing left to do.
Therefore, after eating early, some of the men gathered together to chat.
The women also took advantage of their free time to gather together, although they couldn’t exactly remain completely idle.
Some had to look after children who were still too young, while those who didn’t had to do so chatted while doing needlework.
The slightly older children gathered together to play, while the oldest ones ran out of the courtyard.
“Today is payday, isn’t it? Do you think the new master will keep his word?”
“I don’t know. We used to receive our entire year’s wages at the end of the year. And now they’re saying they’ll settle our wages every ten days. It’s hard for me to believe.”
“Why worry so much? With the wealth Mr. Zhao has, do you really think he’s going to cheat us out of our few wen?”
The man who spoke tried to hide his uneasiness, but the fingers tapping nervously against his hand betrayed what he was really thinking.
“Let’s wait a little longer. Maybe he’ll pay us tomorrow.”
“She’s coming! She’s coming! Miss Jinyi is here!”
A seven- or eight-year-old boy came running into the courtyard from outside, his face filled with excitement.
Everyone stood up.
When they saw Jinyi and Jinxiu enter accompanied by two men, everyone greeted them somewhat cautiously.
Jinyi smiled.
“Don’t be nervous. I haven’t come to collect anything from you. I’ve come to give you money.”
“Today, we’ll be paying your wages here, in the main factory building. From now on, we’ll do it in the office.”
Paying them today in front of everyone had precisely that purpose:
to demonstrate that their master would not fail to pay them what they were owed.
And, at the same time, to use those wages to motivate everyone.