Chapter 131: Chapter 130: Collecting the Grain in the Rain

The slap in the face came too quickly, Liu the carpenter felt a bit embarrassed, “That, she’s a woman…”

“Are we going to do something shady? Broad daylight, under the clear sky, what’s wrong with women? What’s wrong with men? We’re hiring workers, as long as they can work, that’s all that matters.”

Qin Yao circled a name with her pen, “Qiao Yun selected, continue, there are seven left.”

Liu the carpenter had no further objections and continued selecting seven people, emphasizing fairness and choosing one from each family.

With Qin Yao’s side, the quarry group wanted Uncle Jiu; he not only knew how to build houses but also had quarrying experience. With a team full of young people being too frivolous, they needed an elder to keep things in check.

After all, quarrying is quite risky; a careless mistake could lead to fatal accidents, which is no joke.

In the polishing group, Shunzi was considered an internal candidate, while the remaining two were from the same extended family, one from each.

With the personnel list ready, Liu the carpenter continued with his woodworking, while Qin Yao notified each household, informing them to gather at the factory site the next morning.

And advised them to bring their own bowls and utensils.

He also arrived at Qin Yao’s house as agreed after dinner to count the number of people eating and decide on the menu.

And for the large pot, He said she could first help Qin Yao borrow one, and return it once the factory has bought theirs.

“We need two pots, one for cooking rice and one for making dishes, and prepare some large ceramic basins to serve the dishes.”

“For the menu, in the morning, white rice porridge, millet porridge, vegetable porridge, just serve it with mixed grain steamed buns.”

“For lunch, we’ll need some richness, add an egg-drop soup, and every ten days, have minced meat stew with vegetables, that should be sufficient.”

Talking about the meal made her crave it; it was indeed quite good.

Qin Yao herself could go home at night to add rice and meat to her meal, knowing He’s experience was ample, she nodded, “Let’s go with what you said, sister-in-law.”

“Alright, so about the food money, should I take money from you daily to buy it, or shall we settle every ten days or half a month, to avoid frequent trouble?”

Qin Yao went inside and got some change, first handing He one tael, “Let’s go by the standard we talked about just now, you use this first, see how many days it lasts, then we’ll calculate an average, and take it from there.”

He agreed readily, carefully put the silver away, and asked if Qin Yao had any special instructions. Confirmed all was correct, she happily went home.

In the second family’s case, only one member went to work, so she and her husband could earn up to six hundred and sixty coins a month, saving for three months, oh dear, it’s almost two taels of silver!

Moreover, once the afternoon work is done, she could go home to weave cloth and manage the household chores, thinking about it was indeed delightful.

Earning money really made a difference, He felt like she was walking with the wind, her back straight.

Mrs. Qiu was naturally envious, but alas, she was pregnant, so she had to wait for the next opportunity.

Early in the morning, before the sky was fully brightened, various sounds were coming from the overgrown grassy area at the village entrance.

Liu the carpenter led the carpenters to build the workshop, while Qin Yao led the quarry group into the mountains to quarry.

The remaining four people from the polishing group went door-to-door in the village to collect timber, once collected, they went up the mountain to fell trees.

These logs were already purchased by Liu the carpenter, felling them oneself could save twenty coins, and with plenty of manpower, self-felling indeed saved quite a bit on costs.

Due to the construction, the entire Liu Family Village was bursting with unprecedented vitality, the village elders watched the bustling young people working hard, sitting under the village well’s old tree, their eyes watered with smiles.

After so many years of chaos, finally today, they’ve pulled through.

A clap of thunder startled the clear sky.

Villagers drying grain near the village well shuddered collectively.

Sanlang and Si Niang, who were playing with village children, also got a fright. The two picked up the football from the corner, turned their heads, and saw everyone suddenly starting to run.

“It’s going to rain, Sanlang, quickly go call your mother back home to collect the grain!”

A shout came from behind, it turned out to be Aunt Zhou.

Their family had drying mats, using wooden shovels to push the grain to the center, fold the mats over, and it’s covered.

Qin Yao’s family didn’t have any, just spread out to dry on the ground. Just one last day, the last batch of grain was almost dry, if it got soaked, that would be troublesome.

Sanlang was still confused. Si Niang’s eyes darted, handing the football to Big Brother, telling him to go home and inform Big Brother and Second Brother, and dashed outside the village.

Small as she was, she ran quickly; her body now nourished, her steps steady, along with not rarely training with her two brothers, passers-by could only feel a breeze passing by.

Si Niang ran all the way to the overgrown grassy area of the water mill, her big eyes searching everywhere but couldn’t see her mother, shouted in worry:

“Mother, it’s raining! Go home to collect the grain!”

Liu Fei lifted his head at the sound, saw the little girl’s anxious expression, and strode over, “Let’s go! Your mother went into the mountains to quarry, she’s not here.”

“Is Da Lang and Second Lang around?”

Si Niang nodded repeatedly, since she couldn’t call for her mother, calling for Uncle was fine, leading Liu Fei home.

The weather was really changeable, in just a moment, large masses of dark clouds had already drifted over, fine rain started falling, scaring the uncle and niece to quicken their pace.

Liu Fei couldn’t bother with the little niece, letting her take her time, and ran ahead himself.

Da Lang, Second Lang, and Sanlang were already hurrying to gather the drying grain, but the children were small and couldn’t beat the speed of the rain, anxiously calling for their mother while crying.

Primarily Sanlang cried, Da Lang and Second Lang were nearly driven crazy by his crying, but they too were desperate.

The stepmother had entrusted such an important task to them, if they didn’t handle it well, who knew how angry she would be.

When Liu Fei dashed into the yard, Da Lang and Second Lang felt they had seen the light.

The rain was already falling, with so much grain drying front and back, it couldn’t all be gathered, could only save some while losing others.

As soon as the backyard was gathered, heavy rain poured; Si Niang just reached the doorway, saw the front yard grain soaked, her small lips quivered, wanting to cry.

This rain was indeed hateful, coming quickly and fiercely, before it left after a while, harming countless farmers.

There was a collective sigh of helplessness in the village.

Up on the hillside courtyard, Sanlang’s wailing grew weaker—muffled by Second Lang’s hand.

“Stop crying, your crying gives me a headache! Who knew it would rain!”

Second Lang pointed at the bright sun overhead, annoyed, asking if this looked like it had just rained.

Liu Fei saw the four of them and really couldn’t imagine what Third Sister-in-law’s temper would be like, but probably wouldn’t be scarier than when she killed the bandit leader, right?

He left the four little ones with a look of wishing them the best, wrung out his soaked clothes, and left.

A gust of wind blew, Sanlang couldn’t hold it in, he grabbed Second Brother’s hand off his mouth and “Ahchoo” sneezed fiercely!

The rapid sound of hoofbeats came from the foot of the mountain, the four siblings collectively lifted their heads, full of panic.

Qin Yao dismounted and strode into the yard, seeing four wet little ones sitting on the equally wet pile of grain, looking frightenedly over with an expression of having done something wrong.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep