Three families arrived in the morning.
When they came, they brought all of their belongings with them.
In reality, all three families were poor, so they didn’t have very much to bring in the first place.
By noon, practically everything had been settled.
Two large tables were placed in the central courtyard, and Jinyi calmly took the seat of honor.
The three girls took care of bringing the dishes and rice to the two tables.
There were four dishes, two of them prepared with strips and small pieces of meat.
There was plenty of white rice and refined-flour steamed buns.
At the main table, the four girls sat on one side, while the three heads of the families sat opposite them.
Although they were sharing the same table, their food was kept separate.
After spending so much time in Old Man Zhao’s household, the girls had grown increasingly accustomed to cleanliness—to the point that they actually enjoyed it.
The thought of dipping their chopsticks into the same pot as other people and serving themselves from it was genuinely difficult for them to accept.
After all, those men were their own fathers, yet even the girls themselves couldn’t stand the sense of filth that seemed to cling to them.
At the other large round table, eleven people sat packed together.
“Today is the first day you’ve moved in. Sir said that we should invite everyone to their first meal here. Don’t be shy. Help yourselves. There’s more than enough food for everyone to eat their fill, but be considerate of the children. Don’t let them eat until they burst.”
Before their eyes were dishes they couldn’t even afford during the New Year celebrations.
Everyone secretly swallowed.
Some of the younger children even tried grabbing the food with their hands, but their mothers smacked the backs of their hands with their chopsticks.
“Stop staring and eat!”
Jinyi was the first to pick up her chopsticks.
Only then did everyone else begin eating.
Jinyi and the other three girls ate with such delicate manners that the three men, who were already under enormous psychological pressure, became extremely careful with their own eating habits.
That didn’t mean they were slow, though.
Small, steady steps weren’t necessarily much slower than taking great strides.
“Eat more slowly! Were you reincarnated as a starving ghost?”
“Can’t you leave your sister some dignity? You’d better choke!”
At the other table, however, the situation was completely different.
It looked like a battlefield.
The mothers could barely keep so many children under control.
There were dishes and rice that they couldn’t even eat during the New Year, and that alone had already driven some of the little ones into a frenzy of happiness.
So what if their mothers had beaten the backs of their hands until they were swollen?
The food had to get into their stomachs first.
Everything else could be dealt with afterward!
After everyone finished eating, they cleared and cleaned the tables.
Jinyi waved her hand, and Jinxiu placed three small money pouches on the table.
“Sir knows that none of your families has much money to spare, so he’s advanced part of your wages. Five hundred wen per family. If there’s anything you need at home, you can use it to buy it.”
The men stared at the little pouches in disbelief.
Even their breathing became heavier.
Five hundred wen!
They could work from dawn to dusk for an entire year and still only see an amount like this when they finally sold their harvest.
“The advance will be deducted from your future wages.”
“As for your wages, I’ve already discussed them with Sir. You’ll be working under a contract system. For each day you work, uncles, you’ll temporarily receive ten wen.”
“The women of the family will receive seven wen.”
“Children who are old enough to work can also do so. Their wages will vary depending on their age.”
“These amounts aren’t fixed. Depending on your performance, your wages may change at any time.”
“Wages will be paid every ten days. If you have any problems, you can come and ask me.”
“If there’s nothing else, you may leave. We’ll officially begin working tomorrow.”
The men’s breathing became even faster.
Ten wen a day?
That meant three liang, six qian, and five fen of silver a year!
And their wives could earn around two and a half liang a year.
That added up to more than five liang!
And even the children could work and earn money!
Even a well-off family with eight or ten mu of land might not be able to earn this much in an entire year, right?
Problems?
Of course there was a problem!
“Miss Jinyi, I have a question! I don’t want to rest! I can start working this afternoon! My whole family can work!”
Jinyuan’s father, Wang Dagou, was breathing faster and faster.
For the sake of those wages, he was genuinely willing to put his three children—Dalu, Daniu, and Dama—to work like beasts of burden.
And Dama was only four years old!
A four-year-old child already wanted to earn a wage?
Jinyi glanced at the table beside them, where the little rascal was still devouring a steamed bun while his mother kept smacking him.
She nodded.
“All right. One copper coin a day.”
After all, it was like “paying a fortune for a horse’s bones”—you had to set an example if you wanted to attract truly capable people.
At first, Zhao Baihui had thought that paying each family ten copper coins a day would be enough to get them working, and they would be eternally grateful on top of that.
But after thinking it over, he decided it was better to establish certain principles from the very beginning.
For example, everyone should be paid according to their work.
The more effort you put in, the more money you earn.
The more you work, the more you eat.
The three families had fourteen people in total.
All of them had already passed their trial periods, so they generated one hundred and forty yuan a day.
As for wages, he would only have to pay them roughly one hundred copper coins a day.
Wasn’t that basically the same as spending ten yuan?
Zhao Baihui felt like he was making a killing.
And besides, it was still an investment in setting an example and attracting more people.
Once they had been working for a while, they would become living advertisements!
Would he really have to worry about them not bringing along all their relatives, friends, and acquaintances?
“Anyway, take one more day off today. With the children stuffed that full, do you really think they’ll be able to work?”
“Then it’s settled. You’ll officially begin working tomorrow.”
When she saw that the girls seemed to want to stay a little longer with their families, her expression immediately hardened.
The three little ones were so frightened that they hurried after her.
Once the girls had left, everyone felt the pressure lift.
They sent the wives and children to organize their new homes, while the three men remained behind to sit and chat.
After spending most of the day together, the three families had also become quite familiar with one another.
Sun Tiezhu said,
“Brother Dabao, I heard you were sick a few days ago. How’s your recovery going?”
“Much better. It’s all thanks to Daya… Ah, no, I mean Jinyuan. Jinyuan brought money home, so I was able to drink chicken soup for several days. I’ve recovered quite well.”
Little by little, everyone’s conversation eventually turned to their daughters, and each of them spoke about his daughter with immense pride.
At the same time, they all hoped that one day their daughters would have the same presence and authority as Miss Jinyi.
In the rear courtyard, once the girls returned, Zhao Baihui called out to them.
“Come, come! Payday! Payday!”
“From now on, you’ll also be paid every ten days. You’ll receive one hundred copper coins each time. You’re specialized staff, so naturally, you have to be paid like adult workers!”
The girls didn’t understand what this “work points” system meant, but they did understand that money was a good thing.
It wasn’t their first time getting paid, and they were already much more comfortable with the idea.
One after another, they took their respective shares.
Jinxiu squeezed her little money pouch between her hands, her eyes shining with excitement as she imagined all the things she could buy.
Now that her family had also come to live here, their circumstances had improved tremendously thanks to the work and money they were earning, so she no longer needed to support them financially.
At last, she could start saving for a little treasure of her own!
Jinyuan handed her money to Jinyi.
It was to repay what Jinyi had lent her the previous time.
Jinyi said,
“If we pool some of our money together, we can buy more cloth. Combined with what we had left over from last time, it should be enough to make another new outfit for each of us.”
“Then we’ll have enough clothes to change into regularly. We can throw away the old clothes…”
She corrected herself halfway through.
“I mean, we can give them to someone else.”
“Although, if you want, you can also keep them for working. But I don’t think any of us will have to do particularly dirty work from now on.”
“This afternoon, the uncles will probably go into town to buy some things. Jinxiu, if any of you want to go, you can take the opportunity to bring the cloth back with you.”
The girls’ eyes lit up at once.
Without hesitating for even a moment, they all contributed their money.
Zhao Baihui watched the scene and chuckled.
Jinyi, you’ve changed.
You used to be such a frugal and careful girl with money…
And now you’re even thinking about throwing away old clothes!
Good.
Very good.
I like it.
Keep it up!