bookcurios Chapter 179 The Village Recruits Laborers
Chapter 179 The Village Recruits Laborers
The location was decided beforehand, next to the existing house. Master Ji walked around and nodded.
“It’s big enough, but the ground is not flat. We can just dig and tamp it when the time comes. There won’t be any problem.
The blueprint will be ready within two days, and the bricks and tiles will be in place the day after tomorrow. Just pick a date, find the workers, and we can start working right away!"
After Cheng Yue nodded, Chen An followed Master Ji to measure the dimensions.
After Master Ji left, Zhao Xiangxiu came up to him and asked, "Sister Cheng Yue, are you going to build a house?"
Cheng Yue smiled and said, "Yes, we will need to recruit some helpers by then, so you can ask Shuanzi to come as well."
Zhao Xiangxiu waved her hand, "Oh! He won't come. Zhuzi wants to learn carpentry from Brother Chen An. He is the only one left at home. Let him stay at home to work!"
They all came. Firstly, it was inappropriate. Secondly, there was really no one left at home. There was no one to cook or do the farm work.
When Cheng Yue heard her say this, she remembered that Zhuzi had also been selected, so she didn't force it.
Although they had agreed before that apprentices only had to study for four hours a day and could arrange the rest of the time freely, their free time was still a bit short, and they certainly couldn't help much with household chores.
After talking to Zhao Xiangxiu, Cheng Yue and Chen An went to find the village head.
"You want to build a house? You want to hire more than 20 people?"
The head of the village was surprised. How big a house were they planning to build? Why hadn't they revealed any news about it before? This couple really were doing something big in silence.
Cheng Yue replied, "Uncle Lizheng, we want to build a two-story courtyard and we want to finish it before the autumn harvest, so we need to hire more people."
There is nothing to hide about this. Everyone can see it once the house is built.
The head of the village stopped waving the fan in his hand when he heard this. He had been to the town and the county town many times and knew what the two-courtyard house looked like.
This lid is so big, it’s really scary!
At the beginning, they thought it was too expensive for Chen An's father to build three brick houses. How much money would it cost to build these two courtyards?
However, he could not find out anything about this matter, so he calmed down and said, "I can just go and shout about it, it's easy to recruit people."
With one meal provided and 30 cents a day as salary, it would be strange if it wasn't easy to recruit people.
In fact, people in the village help each other when building houses. Some pay less, but they just build rough houses. If you help me and I help you, the favor will be repaid.
But Cheng Yue and his team have been building such a big house for a long time, so it would be unreasonable not to pay them. It would be like taking advantage of them for free.
After that, he reminded, "You have to check the date too. There are many things to pay attention to when starting construction. If you don't do it right, you will feel uncomfortable later. No one in our village will check it. You have to go to the town to ask."
Cheng Yue and Chen An smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Uncle Lizheng!"
This is really no different from being my own uncle, I’m just afraid they can’t think of it.
The headman stood up, waved his hand and walked towards the door, "What are you thanking me for? Go ahead, I'll find someone right away!"
Cheng Yue smiled and said, "No hurry, we still have to go to the county town tomorrow, we can just find someone to check the date."
It was a good opportunity to see off Chen Lin, Zhao Changyong and Zhang Shaowen, and also give Cheng Jun some things and go see him.
"Then I'll go find someone first!" said the head of the village and went away in a hurry.
Feng shook her head and laughed, "This old man runs faster than anyone else when he gets something good!"
The village head is always efficient in his work. Cheng Yue then said to Feng: "Aunt Feng, I also have something to tell you.
I have to recruit too many people, and I have to provide them with meals. I have a lot of things to do myself, so I am definitely too busy to handle it. I am thinking of asking sisters-in-law Yulan and Chunmei to help me!
But the wages are not that high, fifteen cents a day, can you ask the two sisters-in-law if they are willing?"
In addition to the small workers in the village, there are also the big workers brought by Master Ji. Their meals must be taken care of, otherwise how are they going to solve the food problem?
Since the senior workers are provided with meals, it is not easy for the junior workers to get special treatment, so they have to be provided with meals together.
Although the meal was only for one meal, it took a long time to prepare food for nearly thirty people, and it required at least two people to finish it.
Qian Yulan and Wang Chunmei went to the fields, so she could only ask Feng to convey the message.
She originally wanted to ask Cui Miao to come, but Liu Chunlai also wanted to come to build the house. There were only four people in his family. If the couple came, only Yang, an old woman, would be left, so it would definitely not work.
After much thought, the head of the village has more people in his family, so a few more people can handle the workload.
Feng slapped her thigh and said happily, "Come, come, come! Of course, it's such a good thing, why do we need to ask them? I, an old woman, can make the decision!"
Fifteen cents for cooking a meal, where can you find such a good job? If the two daughters-in-law knew about this, they would be more excited than she was!
Cheng Yue stood up and said, "Okay, Aunt Feng, it's settled then. I'll let you know when the day is right. We'll be going back first!"
As soon as Cheng Yue and Chen An left, Feng became happier and happier. She clasped her hands together and muttered to the sky.
Cheng Yue is such a good kid! She thinks of her family for all the good things. Not only does she help the mountains and rivers, but she also gives jobs to her two daughters-in-law. She is really a lucky star for her family!
Especially Shaowen, who received several hundred coins in wages as soon as she came back. If this continues, her family might be able to build a brick house one day!
In the afternoon, the head of the village had found everyone, including the Zhang brothers, Liu Chunlai, Zhao Changxi, Li Tieniu, and the two brothers from Aunt Zhou's family. In short, they were all people who had helped them with work before and were on good terms with them.
In addition, Zhao Datou also came. Zhao Luoguo's injuries were recovering well, and he had no problem cooking and going to the toilet by himself. It was not that Zhao Datou was forced to come and help.
After discussing the candidates, Zhao Datou met Chen An and Cheng Yue separately and said that he only wanted half of their wages, and the other half would be considered as a reward for their help.
Cheng Yue would definitely not agree, so she discussed it with Chen An and said that she would give him twenty-five cents, and the additional five cents would be used as Zhao Luoguo's food expenses.
Although Zhao Luoguo recovered well, he still injured his arm, so he didn't have to cook anymore.
Zhao Datou had no choice but to agree. After thinking about it, he always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
When they got home and told Zhao Luoguo about it, they got scolded. They had originally intended to help and repay the favor, but how come in the end they had to prepare an extra meal?
But when the father and son thought about it, they felt that fortunately they deducted five cents, so it was not considered as taking advantage, otherwise it would be really embarrassing.