Chapter 65: Hiring Someone
Zhang Zhaodi had just entered the door and shouted inside: “Jing’er, come out quickly.”
Jiang Jing ran out holding a book and saw that Zhang Zhaodi’s clothes were disheveled and her face had injuries. She asked worriedly: “Godmother, what happened?”
Zhang Zhaodi placed two strings of copper coins in Jiang Jing’s hand and said proudly: “I went out and earned two hundred wen, enough to buy twenty back baskets of flower petals.”
Jiang Jing looked puzzled at Su Yaoguang.
Su Yaoguang smiled and said: “Mother went to find Doctor Lin, but had bad luck and encountered a shrew who admires Doctor Lin. That shrew saw Mother talking with Doctor Lin in the courtyard, rushed up without asking anything, and started trouble with Mother. But Mother didn’t suffer a loss; the other side was injured more.”
“I pulled out a lot of her hair; this spot on her head is bald.” Zhang Zhaodi pointed to this spot on the top of her head. “But it was also thanks to Yaoguang coming over. Our Yaoguang is even more useful than a man. That woman saw her strength was so great and obediently gave the money without making any fuss.”
“We just left directly, so we don’t know how Uncle Lin handled that woman. But Uncle Lin is the only doctor here in the village, and many people in the village owe him favors, so they will definitely help him drive that shrew away. We don’t need to worry.” After Su Yaoguang finished speaking, she looked at the book in Jiang Jing’s hand. “Is this the medical book I bought last time? The entire bookstore only had these few medical books. Although they were a bit old, I bought them all back. I originally wanted to learn some medical skills myself, so it would be more convenient when making cosmetics. Now it seems like it was fate; these medical books were more like bought for you.”
“These medical books are very good. Although we don’t know why they ended up circulating outside, their former owner must have been someone with superb medical skills, otherwise they wouldn’t have compiled such excellent medical books. Unfortunately, they weren’t valued, so they weren’t well preserved and are quite damaged. When I have time, I’ll copy them all down to avoid not being able to use them later if they get ruined.” Jiang Jing said.
The sky hadn’t darkened yet. Zhang Zhaodi took her two daughters to clean the courtyard and tidy the rooms. After they finished, they moved the lounge chair to the courtyard to apply face masks for skincare and haircare, not even missing the nail covers.
“When I was fighting that shrew earlier, I heard them say I’ve gotten whiter lately, with fewer wrinkles, and even my hair has turned black. The things Yaoguang makes are really good; I have to use them every day so the people in the village can see my daughter’s skills.” Zhang Zhaodi patted her cheeks and said, “You two can’t be lazy either. We didn’t have the conditions before, but now we do, so you have to take good care of this face.”
“Mother, don’t worry. We’ll definitely take good care of it. In the future, when we three go out, others will think we’re three sisters!”
“No respect for elders, daring to tease your mother.” Zhang Zhaodi huffed.
The next day, Zhang Zhaodi said a few words to Aunt Li next door, then went to find her second sister Zhang Pandi and her daughter Chunni.
Su Yaoguang first drove the ox cart to drop Zhang Zhaodi off near the village where Zhang Pandi was, without entering the village.
They had discussed it: Zhang Pandi’s man was insatiably greedy, and if he saw they had bought an ox cart, he probably wouldn’t let them go easily.
Even if he let them go, he might follow over to get ideas from them.
When Zhang Zhaodi met Zhang Pandi and her daughter later, she only said she had taken on some work and couldn’t manage it alone, asking if they mother and daughter wanted to come help with the work. The daily wages were set at twenty wen per person, forty wen for two.
This amount of money seemed small, but it was enough for that family that liked to take advantage. Anyway, Zhang Pandi and her daughter staying home just did odd jobs and couldn’t earn money. Now there was an opportunity to earn money, so of course they would send them out to earn it. Their family didn’t lack people to do work anyway.
“Second sister, Chunni, are you home?” Zhang Zhaodi stood in the doorway and shouted.
A feeble old voice rang out: “Who is it?”
The person opened the door, saw Zhang Zhaodi, lifted her eyelids like old tree bark, and said sarcastically: “Who did I think it was? Turns out it’s the eldest sister from the eldest daughter-in-law’s family. What wind blew you here? Let me say this clearly: our family is poor, no money to lend you, no grain to lend you.”
“I’m here to see my second sister.” Zhang Zhaodi said flatly. “Not borrowing money, not borrowing grain.”
“Coming empty-handed?” Xu Shi looked at her empty hands and said disdainfully, “Which family visits relatives empty-handed?”
“I’m not coming to your house to eat. I’ll say a few words and leave. Where’s second sister? Call her out. I’m here this time to give her an opportunity to earn money; ask if she wants it.”
“Earn money?” Xu Shi’s eyes flickered, and she shouted inside: “Second daughter-in-law, is your eldest sister-in-law here?”
A slender young woman came out and said with a smile: “Mother, eldest sister-in-law went to the field to work.”
“Call her back, and call Chunni back too.” Xu Shi said. “Tell her to hurry; say her eldest sister is here.”
After a while, Zhang Pandi and Chunni came running back one after the other.
Zhang Pandi was covered in dirt, Chunni wore ill-fitting clothes with her wrists exposed.
The two stopped in front of Zhang Zhaodi.
Zhang Pandi held Zhang Zhaodi’s hand and said: “Eldest sister, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“There is something, but it’s good. Yaoguang and I took on some work and can’t manage it alone. I want to ask if you want to earn some money. But the wages aren’t much: twenty wen per person per day, three meals included, probably about twenty days.”
“What work are you doing?” Xu Shi asked. “Do you need more hands? Can we do it too?”
“You can do it if you can, but it’s a bit tiring and dirty, from getting up in the morning until going to bed at night. Can you do it?” Zhang Zhaodi said.
“From morning to night, and tiring and dirty work at that—I won’t do it.” Jia family’s second daughter-in-law Hua Shi pursed her lips and said disdainfully.
Xu Shi hesitated a bit too.
She wanted to earn money too, but only twenty wen from early morning to late night seemed not worth it.
“I still have work to do; I’m afraid I can’t earn that money.” Zhang Pandi said troubled.
“It’s not busy farming season now; what work can you do? Your maternal family eldest sister tells you to go earn money, so go earn it. Twenty days can earn…”
Xu Shi counted on her fingers, but after half a day still couldn’t figure it out.
Jia Chunni said weakly: “One person can earn four hundred wen, two people eight hundred wen.”
Xu Shi, who had been hesitating, immediately said upon hearing this: “Do it. Pack your things and go right now.”
She couldn’t earn this money herself, but sending these two money-losers to earn it was always right. Anyway, they hadn’t divided the family, so in the end the money would be handed to her.
“This work is very tiring; are you really willing to let Chunni do it with us?” Zhang Zhaodi deliberately said. “Forget it then; let Chunni stay, and second sister come with me.”
“Chunni is very diligent and can do housework inside and out. Let Chunni go with you too. It’s settled; go pack your things quickly.”
