My sister became the empress, but I'm still growing vegetables and raising chickens

The next morning, my sister hung a sign outside the food store with the address of the new store written on it, and greeted all the regular customers when she saw them.

Someone also asked: "Your porridge shop is moving away? I thought you were opening a new store."

The younger sister smiled and said, "We want to separate the porridge shop and the food shop. We might consider opening it in the evening as well."

"Really? That's good. You have a hundred orders a day. The county is so big, it's really not easy to get food."

After finishing the work at noon that day, everyone worked together to move the things to the new porridge shop.

The new store was simply decorated. Although it was not as spacious as before, the people from Zhu Laoer and Zhu Laosan's families were extremely happy. Dachun ran around with his younger brothers and sisters, knowing that this would be their new home.

Zhu Laoer and Zhu Laosan discussed it carefully and told Si Muyan.

"Here's what we've planned. Let's take turns. We'll do it for half a month first, letting my third brother and his wife learn. Then we'll let them do it for half a month. This way we can look after each other and split the money we earn. Plus, we can still help you at noon."

Zhu Laoer planned this because he thought that since they moved in, there would definitely not be enough staff at the food store at noon.

Si Muyan smiled and said, "That's fine. We're short on manpower, so it would be great if you could be free to help. How about this: at least two or three of you go a day, either regularly or in rotation. You'll mainly do odd jobs and wash dishes. I'll pay you, ten cents per person a day, okay?"

Zhu Laoer and Zhu Laosan waved their hands together.

"How can this be? Yan girl, you brought us out so that we can earn money instead of just digging in the fields for food, which might not even fill our stomachs throughout the year. It's our duty to help, so how can we ask you for money?"

"If you don't want money, then don't go. I'll find someone else."

Seeing Si Muyan's insistence, Zhu Laoer no longer insisted on not taking wages. They were happy as long as they could get money and help the Si family with their work.

When she returned home, the younger sister calculated the money she could get from the porridge shop every month and the money she paid to the Zhu family, and she became curious.

"Sister, we earn a little over one tael of silver every month. If three of them come, they'll earn thirty wen a day, which would make nine hundred wen a month, or nearly one tael of silver. From this perspective, the difference in income and expenditure isn't that big. Why not just offset it?"

Si Muyan shook her head and said, "Money and affection must be separated. You have to remember that even with your own family, it's a cooperative relationship. Any cooperative relationship requires clear accounts. If you rely on affection, you won't get far. So no matter whether I have any favors for them or not, if they come to help, they must be paid. As for me asking them for 10% interest, it's because a little kindness comes before a big one. I support their mother and take care of their family. Now it's a favor, and they are grateful, but over time, perhaps they will take it for granted."

"You're right. This is the principle of even close brothers settling accounts. Besides, we're not even close to them," said the younger sister. "No wonder you give everyone pocket money every now and then. So this is the reason."

Si Muyan continued, "Our business is still in its infancy, so we'll put all our money together and give you some pocket money. When the business gets bigger, we'll have to sign contracts and set different wages for different positions."

I originally wanted to ask, how should the wages be determined?

But think about it, it's not time yet, and since my elder sister said so, she must have some ideas. She should have her own ideas too, so why not think about it slowly, formulate it herself, and then bring it up with my elder sister later so we can discuss it.

The porridge shop business was arranged. Mrs. Zhu felt a little melancholy when she heard that her two sons had taken their grandchildren to live in the county town and would probably rarely come back in the future.

Seeing Si Muyan and her second sister busy in the kitchen, she looked at them for a long time, then came to her youngest sister holding Xiaoxiaer.

The younger sister took the paper and pondered the current wages of Aunt Wang, He Song, and the previous wages of Song Erqiang, Zhu Laoer and his wife, and Aunt Zhu San. At the same time, she wondered how much her own family should be paid, and what regulations would apply if she added more people in the future.

Seeing Mrs. Zhu coming over, she quickly put down the paper and pen in her hand, walked over, picked up Xiaoxiaer and asked, "Mrs. Zhu, I'm sorry, we were busy today, so we came back late. You've worked hard."

"No, no, your father and Xiao An were busy before. Xiao Xia was also very good and was sleeping the whole time. She just woke up a while ago."

The younger sister hugged Xiaoxia and coaxed her, then nodded and said with a smile, "Our Xiaoxia is so well behaved."

Mrs. Zhu hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Well, I want to ask, how often will Dachun and the others come back? If this business continues, then... what will happen to the fields?"

"That depends on how they arrange it..." The younger sister said, feeling amused, "If the business is booming, they naturally won't have time to farm the land. Farming doesn't make that much money, so are they going to ignore the business just to make money?"

After hearing this, Mrs. Zhu's face changed. She waved her hands and said, "Wan girl, you can't say that. For us villagers, land is our foundation. Only with land can we have hope. Business... business..."

Business may fail or something may go wrong, but land is something that can truly give people a sense of security.

The younger sister looked at Mrs. Zhu thoughtfully.

She had never liked working in the fields; it was too tiring. Although she had rarely worried about it before, she saw the girls in the village busying themselves until their faces darkened and their hands became rough, a very unsightly sight.

Even a beauty like her second sister had lost her youthful energy after working for a long time. She could even imagine that if her second sister continued like this, in another ten years, she would be no different from those rough women in the village.

This is not the life she wants.

But what Mrs. Zhu said today made her alert.

People can live in all kinds of ways, but the one thing they cannot lose is land, which is the foundation of human beings.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Zhu. If you don't have time to farm, there are other ways, such as hiring someone to farm or renting out the land."

Mrs. Zhu hesitated and wanted to say that she should do what she wanted with her own land. But she didn't say it in the end. She said, "We'll talk about it next year then."

Si Muyan prepared the base ingredients, put them into the pot, asked her second sister to look after it, and went to the village head's house.

Four days have passed, and Song Erqiang should be almost recovered.

Carrying the brown sugar eggs over, the village head's wife waved her hand and said, "Hey, why are you being so polite, Yan girl? You come to visit every day and bring so many gifts every day. We are embarrassed to accept them."