si-mexico Chapter 164 Half of the Workshop Was Given Away
Chapter 164 Half of the Workshop Was Given Away
"Which military camp did you join?" Song Jiaojiao was quite curious about this.
There's a fork in the road ahead, which way do we go?
"The right side," Song Jiaojiao said, pointing to the road on the right.
After Zhang Li changed the subject, Song Jiaojiao wisely refrained from pursuing the matter further until they arrived at Qingshui Village.
"Let's go this way, we'll go to the village chief's house first," Song Jiaojiao said, pointing to the road in the middle.
Spring planting has finished these past few days, and the village chief happens to be at home.
The sound of hooves echoed from outside the courtyard. The village chief looked up curiously. Horse-drawn carriages were not uncommon in the village; even Song Jiaojiao's family had escort agency carriages arriving at any time.
However, very few people were coming this way. Looking up, he saw Song Jiaojiao sitting on the edge of the carriage, waving to him.
I've never seen the young man driving the carriage before; he must be a new servant that Song Jiaojiao recently hired.
He quickly opened the courtyard gate. "Jiaojiao, you're back! Have the shops in town reopened?"
The village chief spoke with a smile, and Song Jiaojiao, who had jumped off the carriage, replied with a smile.
"The shop is open, and there's nothing for me to do. Mu Qing did a great job, so I came back first."
After finishing her sentence, Song Jiaojiao turned to Zhang Li and said, "Zhang Li, you can wait for me outside, or you can wander around the village if you want, just make sure the horse is tied up."
Then he went into the courtyard with the village chief.
"Jiaojiao, what brings you here?" The village chief knew that Song Jiaojiao wouldn't come looking for him if there was nothing wrong.
"There are some things to take care of. Are you home alone?" Song Jiaojiao thought that this was no small matter and that she still needed to call her third uncle.
"No, your brother Fugui is repairing the pigsty in the back. He plans to buy two piglets to raise in a couple of days so we can have meat during the New Year."
“That’s perfect, Uncle Wang. Have Brother Fugui go to Third Uncle’s house. I have something to say to him,” Song Jiaojiao said with a smile.
After listening, the village chief called out to the backyard, "Fugui, Fugui, stop what you're doing for now, go to your third uncle's house and invite him over."
“Okay, I got it. I’ll wash my hands and go.” Wang Fugui replied loudly.
After getting ready, Wang Fugui nodded to Song Jiaojiao and went out, glancing curiously at the young man sitting in the carriage at the courtyard gate.
"Jiaojiao, is something important that you need to call your third uncle here?" the village chief asked, puzzled.
“I’m going on a long trip and may not be back for a long time. I’m worried about the workshops in the village. It’s mainly because of the workshops.”
Song Jiaojiao then asked, "How is the village school doing now?"
"It's going well. The two students we hired are very responsible. They've discovered several children with talent in this area, and we plan to send them to town in the second half of the year."
The village chief couldn't stop smiling at the thought that there were scholars behind his village.
"If someone has good talent, try to send them to the county town, where the teaching is much better than in the town."
"I will tell those families." The village chief nodded in agreement.
"If you don't have enough money, I can cover it first." Song Jiaojiao still hopes that the village will get better and better; only when everyone is doing well will it be good for her.
"How could it not be enough? Putting aside everything else, the scholarship you mentioned is more than enough. In addition, now that there are workshops, even if every household in the village is not rich, they can still afford to send their children to school."
I'm afraid those short-sighted people only see immediate gains. It seems I'll have to make time to visit those companies more often.
As they chatted and laughed, Wang Fugui brought over his third uncle.
"Third Uncle, please sit down."
The village chief and Song Jiaojiao quickly stood up.
"Yousheng, Jiaojiao, is there something you need that you called me over in such a hurry?"
The third uncle, who had just sat down, asked openly, "I just asked Fugui, but he doesn't know anything, except that it's related to Song Jiaojiao."
"You'll have to ask Jiaojiao about this; I'm not entirely sure either."
Both of them looked at Song Jiaojiao, and only she could explain.
"Third Uncle, it's like this. I'm going on a long trip soon, and my return date is uncertain. The workshops in the village are now on the right track, but I'm afraid something will go wrong if no one is watching over them for a long time. So I'm planning to take out half of the shares. I plan to give two shares to Uncle Wang's family, one share to Third Uncle's family, and use the remaining two shares for village construction investment."
Song Jiaojiao smiled and explained her plan. As soon as she finished speaking...
"Jiaojiao, are you saying you're going to give us half of the workshop?" Third Uncle asked incredulously.
"That's right. I don't want the same thing to happen again. I put a lot of effort into building this workshop, and I don't want it to fall into disuse."
The leak of sweet potato flour last time still made Song Jiaojiao feel sad. The sweet potato workshop was the first workshop she started in this era. She said it was nothing, but she was still upset inside.
“Jiaojiao, even if you’re not here, we’ll still take good care of the workshop. There’s no need for this.” The village chief said. He also bore some responsibility for what happened last time. If he hadn’t felt sorry for that family and let his wife select people for the workshop, this wouldn’t have happened.
“I know, Uncle Wang, Third Uncle, I’ve actually wanted to do this for a long time. This trip is a good opportunity. I’ll only feel at ease when everyone is doing well. I don’t have any great skills. If it weren’t for the villagers helping us back then, there wouldn’t be Song Jiaojiao today.”
“Jiaojiao, you’re a good person, but none of us work in it. We just feel uneasy about taking a share. How about my family just let it go? Yousheng’s family has contributed more, so let him take it. The rest can be put into the village fund for road repairs and school construction. The school is still a bit small now, so it’s a good opportunity to expand it and build a proper place for the teacher to live.”
Third Uncle felt that he hadn't contributed anything, yet he had taken over this share, which made him suspect of taking advantage of the situation.
Aunt Lin's daughter-in-law later became pregnant, and this pregnancy was extremely difficult. In order to take care of her daughter-in-law, Aunt Lin quit her job at the workshop and devoted herself to taking care of her at home.
"Third Uncle, your family is essential. If it weren't for your help back then, we would still be entangled with the Wang family, and we wouldn't have the life we have now."
“Yes, Third Uncle, as the clan leader, how can we go over your head? Here’s what we’ll do, Jiaojiao, our family doesn’t need two portions either. We’ll just take one, like Third Uncle. The remaining three portions will be used for village construction, and the scholarships for the school will come directly from this.”
The village chief thought that if he did the same thing as his third uncle's family, no one would gossip.
"Uncle Wang, you can decide on this matter. The workshop will continue as it is, and there shouldn't be any major problems. After I leave, if anything happens, you can have someone from the escort agency pass on a message to me. The Sifang Escort Agency is located all over the Great Jin Kingdom. I will write to you when I receive the message."
Song Jiaojiao had no intention of getting involved in how the five shares were divided, since she would ultimately take the lion's share anyway.
"Alright, I won't refuse anymore. Let's do as Yousheng says. Even close brothers should keep clear accounts. We still need to sign the contract properly."
"I should tell the villagers about this good deed; let's not forget who we were kind to."
Third Uncle wanted to establish Song Jiaojiao's authority so that the gossipy women in the village wouldn't spread rumors all day long.