You are unlucky and I am tough

Chapter 217: Paying wages

Wei Qinglang moved a box of copper coins in and placed a table on it. When he heard that it was time to pay wages, Wei Nanxing also came to help and counted out the strings of copper coins together with Cheng Pan.

Cheng Shuang found Peng Jiang and asked him to notify everyone to pay the wages.

Soon, more than a dozen people stopped their work and gathered in the yard at the entrance of the workshop, each with joy in their eyes.

Some of them have been working for more than a month and have not received their wages.

Cheng Shuang flipped through the booklet that recorded everyone's working hours, holding a brush in her hand, calculating how much wages those who had worked for more than a month should be paid.

Wei Qinglang told the dozen or so villagers who were whispering in front of her what she and Cheng Shuang had discussed before.

"Everyone, we have been watching you all for a while now. You have all been working very hard, and since some of you have been so busy that you haven't had any time off this month, we will give you an extra 200 coins each as a reward this month."

"Two hundred wen." Cheng Fu became excited. "Brother Qinglang, you guys are really generous."

"Yes, two hundred coins can buy twenty catties of new rice."

The others were also very excited, and the yard suddenly became noisy.

Wei Qinglang raised his hand for silence and continued, "Starting from April, everyone will work six days and have one day off. That means you can rest one day after working six days. And next month, your wages will increase to 600 wen. After three months of work, it will increase to 800 wen. After a year, it will increase again to 200 wen."

"If you work for a full year, you'll get one ounce of silver every month."

"I can have four days off a month and still get such a high salary. Am I dreaming?"

"Oh my God, my relative used to work as an accountant in a shop in the county. He only made a little over one or two taels of silver a month, and he couldn't take a break. If he couldn't go to work due to something, he would have a day's wages deducted."

"Brother Qinglang, you are simply a god-like boss. I will work for you for the rest of my life." Cheng Fu shouted the loudest.

Cheng Shuang finished the account and stood up, smiling and said, "Everyone has worked hard this month. We didn't do a lot of things well at the beginning. We will recruit another group of people. From now on, we will divide the soap, shampoo soap and floral soap into three groups, with ten people in each group."

"Not much more to say. Now, those whose names are called will come up to receive their wages and give their fingerprints."

Cheng is responsible for calling out names from the roster.

"Peng Jiang."

"Penghe."

"Xu Daqing."

"Cheng Fu."

Wei Qinglang and Wei Nanxing were responsible for distributing the money, Cheng Pan was responsible for registration, and those who received the money came over to press their fingerprints.

There were only a dozen or so people, and the wages were paid quickly, with only half of the box of copper coins left.

Everyone who got the money was grinning from ear to ear. It was such a blessing to be able to find a worker with such high wages in the village.

Before the corners of her mouth fell, Cheng Shuang spoke again, "Today we will pay you and take a half-day break. Everyone doesn't need to work in the afternoon. Come back tomorrow morning."

There was a sudden cheer in the yard. Although they were all from the same village, many people began to follow Cheng Fu and call him the godly boss.

After the villagers were happy, they took the money and went back to work.

Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang took the remaining money to the foot of Yunxi Mountain, found Peng Laosan and Song Gaoshan, and gave them 700 coins each as wages.

Both of them were very excited when they received their wages and said that they would work harder in the future. Song Gaoshan planned to buy some cloth to make two new sets of clothes for his son.

Afterwards, Wei Qinglang asked them to call back all the people who were working in the fields.

Among the people they bought, except for the Peng and Song families, the two of them have been wondering whether to pay them monthly wages.

The slaves bought and raised by wealthy people are different from servants hired from outside. They only need to provide the slaves with basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing, housing and transportation, so that they can survive and better serve their masters. They usually do not receive any wages.

However, as long as they do their job well, they will receive rewards from their master, and they will not be penniless.

The two had discussed it before and finally decided to give it out, a small amount of one hundred coins per person per month.

Then give the two aunts who are responsible for cooking and shopping a little more money so that they can eat better, and send some cloth to make new clothes, and give them some year-end bonus at the end of the year.

Twenty or so young and strong men were called back and stood in the open space in front of the kitchen, each with a puzzled look on their face. The four people in charge of cooking and growing the vegetable garden next to the house stood under the eaves of the kitchen with their heads down.

Wei Qinglang opened the box containing the money without further ado and said in a loud voice, "Everyone has worked hard during this period. Today's gathering is to distribute monthly wages to everyone, 100 coins per person. Please line up and come to receive it."

The workers looked at each other in bewilderment. Weren't they bought slaves? And were they even paid monthly?

After coming to this village, they eat well and live well every day. Although farming and growing vegetables is physical work, they only need to work for three hours a day and can freely choose the time period. They feel quite satisfied and have never expected to have monthly wages.

"What are you standing there for? Come here." Peng Lao San shouted in a loud voice.

The crowd finally came to their senses and scrambled to get in line. Wei Qinglang and Peng Laosan distributed money to them. Some of them had never touched money since they were sold into slavery, and their eyes were red with excitement as they held the copper coins.

After all the money was distributed, there were still some copper coins left in the box, so I took them home.

In a few days, the pond at the foot of the mountain will be dug, and the workers there will be paid. Then you can exchange the money from the mall and put it in.

After returning home, Cheng Shuang gave Wu Junniang, Aunt Peng and Peng Xiangsui two hundred coins each, and everything was finally settled.

After having lunch with their family, the two of them took two boxes of snacks and went out to find Cheng, the village head, to discuss the soap workshop's recruitment again. They asked the village head whether it would delay the workers in the fields if they recruited a dozen more people from the village.

Cheng Lizheng sat on his antique chair and said with a smile, "There are more than 120 households in our village, and many of them have large families. It won't be a big deal if one or two people are missing to do the work."

"That's good. This time we need four women, and the rest will be men." Cheng Shuang stood up and patted Cheng Lizheng's shoulders attentively. "Grandpa Lizheng, you have a keen eye and chose the best for us last time. This time, we'll have to trouble you to help us choose. Whoever you say is suitable, we'll take him."

Cheng Lizheng pretended to put on a stern face. "When I saw you guys carrying things, I guessed it. Don't put up a big advertisement for job openings this time. I'll go to each family and ask them to come directly to your house to register their names later."

"Thank you for your hard work, old man." Wei Qinglang picked up the teapot on the table and poured him a cup of tea.

There were two boxes of snacks on the table. The two children in the yard had been staring at them for a long time. When Cheng Zhengyi's youngest son saw the adults finished speaking, he ran over and asked, "Grandpa, can we eat these snacks?"

Wei Qinglang handed one to him and said, "Take it and eat it."

He wanted to give the other box to Cheng Zhengde's youngest daughter, but Cheng Lizheng said, "Leave one box for me, Yaya, go and share it with your brothers."

Cheng Shuang smiled and said, "Grandpa Lizheng likes snacks too? But the snacks in this shop are too sweet and not suitable for you."

"It's not that I want to eat it." Cheng Lizheng said, "I just saw that the packaging of this snack is so beautiful, and I plan to take it to the old scholar's house tomorrow as a gift to show my respect."

Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang looked at each other. If it weren't for him mentioning it, they would have almost forgotten that the old scholar had sent an invitation, so they had to prepare something as well.

Cheng Lizheng chatted with the two of them, "I heard that the old scholar spent money to hire the chef from Taibai Tower in the city to cook this time, and Wan Peng also invited some classmates from the academy and new friends he made recently, and they are preparing a big feast."

"Not many people from our village go there. You two must dress up well tomorrow to give our village chief face."