Gu Jinli’s mouth twitched slightly, Mrs. Chen really was... the type that if you give her a ray of sunshine, she could start a firestorm, a truly divine character.
She didn’t pay attention to Mrs. Chen, instead, she calculated how much spice Mrs. He Yang and the others had ground.
With tools like the Iron dicine Mill, Mrs. He Yang and her group had indeed ground quite a bit of spices, but it still wasn’t enough. According to this pace, they wouldn’t be able to deliver 2,400 kilograms of goods before April 26th.
Mo Chunyue saw Gu Jinli frowning as she watched Mrs. He Yang and the others grinding spices. After hesitating for a mont, she finally gathered courage and said to Gu Jinli, "Young Master, what do you think of Aunt Kui Zi and Sister Qin?"
Gu Jinli looked at her, "Why, did they ask you to co and put in a good word for them?"
Mo Chunyue quickly shook her head, "No, no, Aunt Kui Zi didn’t co to plead with , I wanted to help Aunt Kui Zi."
Even though she was also living a hard life, at least she had work, food, and wages. But Aunt Kui Zi’s family was truly struggling. The whole family was bullied by the elders, money scraped together to buy food, yet their own household could barely eat. It was really miserable.
The reason Mo Chunyue spoke up for Mo Kui’s wife was because on the night she married He Sanlai, Mo Kui’s wife took advantage of the darkness, and quietly went to her house, brought her so coarse grains, and even stuffed her with thirty copper coins, calling it a contribution to her dowry.
At that ti, Mo Chunyue cried. When she married He Sanlai, none of her family mbers ca. They all scorned her for marrying into poverty without any benefits, only Aunt Kui Zi ca to contribute to her dowry.
Mo Chunyue rembered the kindness of Mo Kui’s wife, which is why she spoke up for her.
Hearing this, Gu Jinli was quite pleased with Mo Kui’s wife. If Mo Kui’s wife had dared to instigate Mo Chunyue to co and speak good words for her, this was not soone she would want to employ.
"Is anyone here?"
While they were talking, a woman’s voice ca from outside the courtyard, the voice trembling, carrying a hint of fear.
"Who is it?" As soon as Mrs. Chen saw soone coming, she imdiately got up, ran to the entrance of the main hall, stretched out her neck, and shouted towards the courtyard entrance, "This is Gu’s Workshop, a place for working and earning large money, idlers are not allowed."
Ms. Zhang from Mo Kui’s family was standing outside the gate with her daughter, holding a basket. Upon hearing this, her face flushed red and she quickly explained, "I, I am from Mo Kui’s family, here to deliver a congratulatory gift, not to cause trouble."
Ms. Zhang specifically ntioned causing trouble because she knew that Elder Mo’s family had co to the workshop to cause trouble today, and had been caught red-handed by Village Chief He and severely reprimanded.
When Elder Mo’s family got caught by He Dacang, she and the head of the household were not far away. They had specifically co to send congratulations gifts to several families including the Gu Family, Luotian, and the Luo Family, celebrating the opening of their workshops.
Unexpectedly, they encountered Elder Mo and his family being arrested, which was a terrible embarrassnt.
Feeling ashad, the couple didn’t co out, thinking of waiting until Elder Mo and his family had left before going to Gu’s Workshop to deliver the congratulations gifts.
Unfortunately, shortly after Elder Mo’s family left, Gu’s Workshop held its unveiling and opening ceremony. Then, Lord County Captain and his entourage grandly left the workshop, they did not dare to disturb the Lord County Captain and thus went ho, delayed until now to bring the congratulatory gift.
"Here to bring a congratulatory gift." Mrs. Chen imdiately put on a cheerful face, personally went to greet Ms. Zhang, "We’re all villagers here. Why so formal? What good things did you bring?"
Ms. Zhang’s face turned even redder, "Nothing, nothing good, just so things from the countryside."
With that, she handed the basket to Mrs. Chen.
Mrs. Chen took one look and imdiately pursed her lips, showing a look of disdain as she sifted through the items in the basket: "Just three eggs, a handful of spring vegetables, a bowl of broken old rice."
Mrs. Chen’s words almost made Ms. Zhang cry.
However, Sister Qin who ca with Ms. Zhang was quite tough. Hearing Mrs. Chen’s words, she looked up and said to her: "Aunt Gu, our family is poor, we can’t offer a decent congratulatory gift, but these are the earnings my father got from doing hard labor in town, and the intention behind them ans more than anything."
Mrs. Chen was countered, and her face looked unpleasant. She glared at Sister Qin and said to Ms. Zhang: "Your daughter has too much temper; girls should be gentle, like the daughters of our Gu family, look at them, each one of them gentle and virtuous."
Pfft~
Gu Jinli couldn’t help but laugh upon hearing this: "Thank you, Aunt Gui, for praising ."
She’s sharp as a knife, where does gentleness and virtue co in?
Gu Yui has nothing to do with being gentle and virtuous either, arguing with Mrs. Chen at ho every now and then, their bickering can be heard from afar.
Only Gu Jinxiu could be truly called gentle and virtuous.
Mrs. Chen glared at her dissatisfiedly, picked up the congratulatory gift from Mo Kui’s family, and entered the courtyard, saying to Ms. Zhang, "Co in, I’ll get you so bean dregs cakes."
This was the return gift for the villagers; everyone who ca to congratulate got one, and although Mrs. Chen was stingy, she did not withhold the bean dregs cakes from Ms. Zhang.
Ms. Zhang hadn’t reacted yet, but Sister Qin was already pulling her mother into the courtyard, nodding and greeting Gu Jinli: "Sister from the Gu family."
She then greeted Mo Chunyue standing by the door: "Big sister."
After calling out to them, Sister Qin directly spoke to Gu Jinli: "Sister from the Gu family, my parents rented a new house in Back Village, we are moving out tomorrow, and won’t live with Elder Mo’s family anymore. Our family is filled with honest folks, all capable of working. If your family doesn’t mind and has work that can’t be handled alone, could you please hire us? We are not demanding high wages, and we can do any work, even carrying water and dung in the fields to manage crops, not necessarily needing work in the workshop."
Then she added, "We are willing to do any work, and our wage demands are low, whether in the fields or elsewhere."
Gu Jinli saw Sister Qin in a new light after hearing what she said. She wasn’t fond of frail girls; Luo Huiniang and Sister Qin, tough as they were, suited her taste.
And Sister Qin was clever too, speaking directly to her at the outset, distancing her family from Elder Mo’s household, a point that made this person employable.
"Do you want to work in the workshop?" Gu Jinli also spoke directly, "If you want to work here, you need to sign a contract, and the terms are quite strict. If one person makes a mistake, everyone is liable, aning compensation or even prison ti."
Sister Qin knew that working in Gu’s Workshop required signing a strict contract, but she imdiately nodded: "Yes! I’ve dreamt of working for your workshop, earning Silver Coin for my family."
Her family was barely scraping by, her father striving every day to find work, but people in town were reluctant to hire refugees, and even if her father found work, his wages were lower than others.
Seeing her father struggle so hard was both urgent and heartbreaking for her; she had to find work no matter what, to lessen her family’s burden. No matter the job, as long as it brought money in, that was enough.
Gu Jinli said: "Alright, we can hire you at Gu’s Workshop. Co over tomorrow morning, sign the contract, and you can start working."
She settled the work arrangent with Sister Qin in just a few words, leaving Ms. Zhang and Mrs. Chen utterly dumbfounded.
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