nycdaug Chapter 48 The Hired Person
Chapter 48 The Hired Person
The two were stunned for a moment, but when they saw that it was the village chief, they became obedient.
"If you want to cause trouble, go make it at your own home." The village chief's face was extremely ugly. "If you cause any more trouble, just get out and don't ever come back."
Whether Xia Xiaocao and Xia Baolian were convinced or not, they dared not say a word.
Because in a village, the village chief is the most powerful and has absolute authority, especially in villages with a single surname, where the village chief is often also the clan head. The concept of clan is deeply rooted in ancient times, and once a person is removed from the clan, it is difficult for them to establish themselves.
The brothers Xia Tianci and Xia Tianyou didn't dare to speak, and could only glare fiercely at their daughter.
"Everyone, disperse and get back to work. Did Yunyi feed you all so much meat every day just so you could watch the show?"
So everyone quickly scattered and went to look for any candies or coins that had been missed.
Xia Xiaocao and Xia Baolian, of course, did not leave. They continued to search for copper coins, but they no longer gathered them together.
When the time was almost up, the village chief told everyone to leave the new house, because after the beam-laying ceremony, the beams were to be dried in the sun to increase the yang energy.
Although everyone left the new house, they didn't leave. Instead, they stood outside eating candy and commenting on the house. Xia Songshi became the object of everyone's compliments, who praised her for being lucky and having good taste, saying that her hard times were over and her happiness was just around the corner.
Xia Songshi had very mixed feelings, and could only force a smile.
Yunyi readily accepted the praise, but to be honest, she was still a little dissatisfied with the house, after all, the construction cost was quite high.
This era did not have cement, but it had steamed soil that was similar to modern "three-in-one soil". To make it more solid, glutinous rice was added to the three-in-one soil.
When everyone is often hungry, building houses with grain is indeed something that would make people envious.
Yunyi had been thinking about producing cement, since she had done it more than once when doing missions before. Unfortunately, the control over iron mines was too strict in this era. Even ordinary people needed to report if they wanted to make a sickle. Iron ore slag was one of the raw materials needed to produce cement, so she could only think about it later.
"Yunyi, how many dishes do you want for lunch?" Gao Shunfang asked Yunyi as she came over.
According to custom, on the day the roof beam is raised, the host family will host a banquet for the craftsmen and those who helped, which will have at least three tables.
"Ten... Auntie, just do what you think is best. Try to include as much meat as possible, and let me know if anything is missing." Yunyi originally wanted to suggest ten dishes and a soup, but then she thought about how the cooking skills of these people were just so-so, and besides, the conditions didn't allow her to fry, stir-fry, or cook anything special.
"No problem, don't worry, you've prepared enough ingredients." Gao Shunfang waved her hand. "We've been working for several days now, and everyone seems to have gained weight." After saying that, she turned around and got back to work.
"Mom, have some candy." Qibao handed the candy he had found to Yunyi.
The others also came over, wanting to hand her what they had found.
"Good boy/girl." Yunyi patted the children's heads. "Mommy isn't eating. You go play over there. Erya and Sanya, take good care of your younger brothers and sisters."
The two little girls nodded hurriedly.
"Don't worry, boss, we're here to keep an eye on things." Sixteen, along with Eighteen and Nineteen, followed.
There was no time limit for drying the beams, and it was almost over. The village chief called everyone to continue working.
"Village Chief, something bad has happened! Someone's here to cause trouble!" Just as everyone was busy at work, Gou Dan came running over, shouting all the way, followed by a group of little kids.
"What do you mean someone's causing trouble?" the village chief frowned. "They're always making a fuss."
"Uncle, I wasn't exaggerating, it's true, a group of people are coming over there, and they're all carrying weapons." Gou Dan pointed behind him, "Da Bao and Lv Dan saw them, look, they're here..."
The village chief hurriedly looked over and, sure enough, saw a large group of more than a dozen people heading this way. His heart sank.
"They look like some local thugs," someone recognized the group. "Could they be trying to extort money from us because they know houses are being built here?"
The village chief's expression also darkened: "Send someone over to take a look."
“Uncle Village Chief,” Yunyi quickly called out to him, “Just do what you’re doing and don’t pay any attention to those people.”
"But……"
"Don't worry, it's nothing." Yunyi waved her hand.
The village chief hesitated for a moment, then waved his hand, telling everyone to go about their business.
He Wei and Shen Hu's two groups met on the way. Although they were still not convinced by each other, they did not dare to cause trouble and came together.
"Boss..." Ge Niu, with his sharp eyes, spotted Yun Yi first and raised his hand to greet her. There was nothing they could do; they didn't know their boss's name and had been trying to find out how to do so when she was right there.
Everyone around couldn't help but follow Ge Niu's gaze, and then looked on in astonishment.
Yunyi frowned, turned around and walked over: "What are you doing here? Are you here to freeload?"
"Let's help with the work," Ge Niu said somewhat guiltily, glancing back at his brothers.
“Yes, boss, just let me know if you need anything.” Shen Huye walked over.
"The roof-raising ceremony is over today." Yunyi glanced at everyone. "You've all come here now, it's obvious you're just here to freeload."
Upon hearing this, everyone blushed.
“Yunyi, they…” Xia Songshi saw Yunyi talking to a group of men and couldn’t help but walk over.
Yunyi glanced at Xia Songshi: "These are... people I hired to help."
“Yes.” Shen Long reacted the fastest, nodding hurriedly. “Yesterday in town, this girl hired someone, so we came.” He then looked back at everyone. “We’re late today, so… how about we just forget about today’s wages?”
"Okay, forget it." Everyone nodded hastily.
"Come with me." Yun Yi smiled and handed the people over to the village chief. "These people are here to help. You can arrange them. There are... ten people in total." There was one extra?
“Okay.” The village chief nodded hurriedly. “Let them level the yard. The yard is big, and with more people, they can work faster.” Their village’s only disadvantage was that they had too few people, and even fewer able-bodied young men.
Lunch was served on five tables, with four dishes and a soup on each table. Although the variety was limited, the portions were generous. Each table had dishes served in large wooden basins: one pot of stewed meat, one pot of stewed tofu, one pot of stewed chicken, one pot of mixed radish, eggplant and potato stew with meat scraps, and a large basin of fish soup. The staple food was large steamed buns made from a mixture of wheat, tofu and tofu, each about the size of a person's head, enough to fill you up.
Shen Hu and He Wei exchanged a glance. As expected of the boss, the food was really good. They felt that their decision was right. From now on, they must stick close to his coattails.