Traveling to an ancient peasant family: I got rich by doing business

After explaining the pros and cons of doing business, Li Yu let them go home.

Then go back to the house to rest.

Han Xiaomei handed Li Yu a glass of water and said, "Second sister-in-law, I still don't understand."

Why must we do business with them? If we want to thank them, why not just hire them to help and pay them more? What the second sister-in-law did was to give money to others for nothing.

Li Yu put down the teacup. "Thanks is one reason, and another reason is that I don't have that much energy. When you hire someone, they generally don't think too much about it. They usually do whatever you arrange. Although I don't have to make rice cakes, I have to arrange other things, big and small.

It's different with a partnership. I don't have to worry so much because I know how much money I make is related to my final return, and everyone will work hard. In this way, I may earn less money, but I can save a lot of time to do other things. "

Han Xiaomei: "Can't we hire a powerful person to help? Like... the owner of a restaurant."

"It's hard to find such people. If you meet a bad one, you may not be able to do business. Xiaomei, we live in the village. No matter how powerful we are, we will need help from others. It's not appropriate to use favors because favors will always run out. So the best way is to give them benefits. With benefits, they will stand on your side. This rice cake business is both a thank you and a bargaining chip for everyone to help us in the future."

Han Xiaomei: "I understand. By the way, Xiaocao was here yesterday, too, why doesn't she count?"

"There can only be one person in a family who can cooperate. This is what I decided in advance."

Han Xiaomei nodded.

*

The next day, several people responded one after another, and without exception they all agreed.

The village chief's wife said, "Your uncle Li told me to follow you and do a good job. He fully supports me."

"My family is willing too. You don't know, after I told them about the situation, they were so happy." Han Shui's wife Zhou Qinghe smiled brightly, "No matter what happens in the future, I will follow your lead."

Mother Han said, "Xiao Cao and I are willing."

Liu Guilan: “Me too.”

"I'm definitely willing." Li Xiangyun hesitated, "But if we go to make rice cakes, who will wash the vegetables and make skewers for you in the afternoon?"

Aunt Wu was equally worried: "Yes, Xiuwen's wife, who will wash the vegetables and meat for you?"

"Don't worry about that. I'll find other people." Li Yu said, "We won't be short of people."

*

Since the cooperation was confirmed, the next day the seven of them went to the village chief to write a deed and put their fingerprints on it.

The villagers were surprised when they heard that they were going into business together.

"Several people working together, is this possible? It doesn't feel right."

"I heard that it was Xiu Wen's wife who proposed it. Is she crazy? She actually gave the money away for nothing."

"Xiu Wen's wife is really not a good person. She doesn't keep her own money well, and she wants to share it with others. She is a spendthrift."

Everyone spoke one thing after another, and their words showed their misunderstanding of Li language.

There are also those who are envious.

"We are so slow. We didn't help Xiu Wen's wife at the beginning, and now we have nothing. Look at those families who helped us, they are all going to eat meat."

"Really? Why didn't I think of helping Xiu Wen's wife? She went to the county twice, but I didn't help her once."

"I regret it so much that my intestines are turning green."

*

Li Yu, as always, didn't care about these outside comments.

Now that the cooperation has been reached, it’s time to prepare the ingredients for making rice cakes.

First, the workshop. Li Yu discussed with the village chief's wife and decided to make rice cakes in the village chief's old house, which was the small courtyard where she lived before. No one lives there now, and the space is large, which is convenient for everything.

Next came the tools for making rice cakes: chopping boards, molds, pots, water tanks, and most importantly, stone mills. Making rice cakes requires grinding rice into paste, which takes a long time to do with stone mills, so they needed to prepare a new stone mill.

This is what Li Yu was most worried about. After thinking about it, he asked the village chief to help find it. Fortunately, the village chief had a wide network of contacts and found it quickly. The stone mill was not cheap, it cost eight taels of silver, and the village chief bargained down to seven taels, and several people each paid one tael to buy it.

*

After everything was in place, Li Yu began to teach them how to make the most common rice cake.

The location was in the main hall of the courtyard. Li Yu stood facing the door of the main hall. In front of her was a table with a chopping board on it. She worked on the chopping board while others stood in front of the board and watched.

“Put rice paste and yeast for making steamed buns together, then add flour and sugar, and wait for the dough to rise…” Li Yu explained each step clearly and let everyone try.

"Xiu Wen's wife, what if we can't do it well?" The village head's wife looked at the white flour piled up in a point and felt a little worried. Flour is expensive, and it would be a luxury to put it in here.

"It's okay. If it doesn't taste good, we can just eat it ourselves." Li Yu said, "This rice cake is not made in one go. I made it many times before I got the taste I have now.

So don’t be afraid, I’ve taught you how to make ordinary rice cakes today, so go home and practice more. The day after tomorrow will be the spring ploughing season, so you can try it at home in the next few days. When you make it, remember to give me a piece so I can taste it. Let’s try to make the rice cakes taste the best before we officially start working.”

Perhaps because of her calm expression, the people at the scene gradually gained confidence. "Then I'll try more at home, just a little at a time. If it doesn't taste good, it won't affect anything."

Li Yu nodded: "You need to invest in the early stages of doing business. These are our investments, but please rest assured that as long as we do it well, there will be no problem in getting our money back later."

Everyone felt completely relieved.

*

After arranging matters concerning rice cake, Li Yu turned to prepare for his own spring ploughing.

This year, all of their land will be planted, corn in the dry land and rice in the paddy fields.

Because there was a lot of land, Li Yu decided to hire people to do the work.

This time she planned to look for the same group of people who helped her with the work last year. However, before she started looking, several villagers found her first.

"Xiu Wen's wife, we have a small plot of land, and we can finish the tillage in two days. I see that you have a large plot of land, so you may need to hire someone to help. Do you think I can do it?"

"We don't have much land, and we can finish it in one day. Xiu Wen's wife, let me help you plow the land. I only need a few cents a day."

"I'm a good worker. Just give the land to me and I'll make it beautiful for you."

These people all looked honest, except that they came from poor families and were very skinny. Li Yu thought about it and agreed.

Since we are looking for outsiders anyway, there is nothing wrong in asking the villagers for help.

But there are too few people, we need to find a few more.

More people means faster work.

When Li Yu was making plans at home and preparing to go out to look for someone, a member of the Han family suddenly came to his door.