novelhk Chapter 167 Arrangement
Chapter 167 Arrangement
There were still dozens of people waiting to be accommodated. After buying things, Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang headed back to the village. After arriving at the city gate, they met up with the more than 30 people waiting there.
Wei Qinglang drove one carriage, with Cheng Shuang and Cheng Guqiu sitting on it, and another carriage loaded with grain. The remaining two donkey carts, one loaded with other things, and the other could only seat seven or eight people at most.
Cheng Shuang ordered the woman and the only child to get in the car, and the others followed and walked back.
These people have lived a hard life since they were young, so walking a little distance is nothing, and it is not far. When they arrived at the village, they were all in good spirits.
The advantage of living at the entrance of the village is that if something happens, you don't have to go through the village to show off and be watched by the whole village. At this time, most villagers go to their own fields to open up new fields, so bringing back so many people did not attract anyone's attention.
However, when these thirty or so people stood in the yard, they still scared the other people in the family.
Cheng Xu ran out of the room, eyes wide open, and asked Cheng Shuang in disbelief, "Sister, are all these people going to live with us from now on? Is there enough room at home?"
Cheng Shuang was amused by him and pinched his face. "Of course there is no room for them. These people are here to help our family with work. We need to find another place in the village to build houses for them to live in."
The thirty or so people lined up in the yard with their heads down, secretly looking at the yard they were in. When they heard this, they all lowered their heads.
They thought that the family that could afford so many servants would be a wealthy family living outside the city, but they didn't expect that they were just villagers, and their residence looked ordinary.
These people couldn't help but wonder, does a family like this really need so many servants?
Cheng Shuang didn't care what they were thinking. She discussed it with Wei Qinglang in a low voice, then spoke loudly to everyone, "Everyone, let me say a few words. My name is Cheng Shuang, and my husband's surname is Wei. You can call me Madam Wei."
She pointed to Wei Qinglang beside her and said, "He is Wei Qinglang. According to your saying, he is your big boss. You can also call him Wei Langjun. The composition of our family is quite special. Let me tell you once, everyone should remember it."
"This is my aunt, you can just call her Aunt Cheng..."
Cheng Shuang introduced everyone in the family one by one according to their age, and everyone nodded in unison to indicate that they remembered.
Cheng Shuang then began to make other arrangements. She asked the family with the little boy, "What are your names?"
The boy's mother stepped forward and said, "My name is Wu Junniang, and my husband is Song Gaoshan, who is honest and not very good at speaking. I am Song Qi, your son. I wonder if you have any instructions for me."
Cheng Shuang nodded. "Our house can't accommodate so many people. You all need to live somewhere else. Sister Wu, you, Aunt Peng, and Aunt Peng's little daughter, will come home every day to do some housework and help my aunt take care of the vegetable garden. As for Xiaoqi."
Cheng Shuang looked at the skinny child, thought for a moment and said, "Xiao Qi, just follow Chen'er and Xiao Si for the time being. You can go to the private school with them as a servant. My two brothers are not the sons of wealthy families. You can follow them and do what you can. We can talk about the future when you grow up."
Wu Junniang's eyes instantly turned red. "Thank you, madam. Xiaoqi will definitely take good care of the two young masters."
Song Gaoshan was also grateful. On the way here, he and his wife had been worried that the new master would dislike their son for being too young and useless, but they hadn't expected him to be assigned to be a servant. This was the easiest job in a wealthy family, and being by the master's side would broaden his horizons.
Cheng Shuang said calmly, "There's no need to say thank you. After buying you back, I naturally have to make good use of you."
After hearing what Cheng Shuang said, Cheng Xu ran over and pulled Song Qi to play. He was naturally happy to have an extra playmate.
Afterwards, Cheng Shuang arranged for the remaining two women and two teenage girls to be responsible for cooking for the twenty or so people working there and taking care of the livestock.
As for the twenty or so laborers, they are naturally responsible for the more than 200 acres of land and an entire mountain. There are a lot of things to do but no rush. They still need to plan the mountain carefully.
Cheng Guqiu and four women prepared lunch in the kitchen. They steamed rice and fried a big pot of shredded potatoes and pork slices. The group of people who hadn't eaten rice for a long time ate it all up without leaving anything.
Then, under the leadership of Wei Qinglang, a group of people took their tools and carried the remaining wood at home and went out to the foot of the mountain to choose a place to build a house.
Considering that so many people have nowhere to live, they can only build a few thatched huts to get by for a few days. Starting tomorrow, everyone will start building houses together. There is a lot of wood in Taohua Village, so they will all build wooden houses.
It was impossible for such a large group of people to pass through the village without attracting attention. Wei Qinglang didn't want to hide it. He didn't have so many tools at home, so he borrowed sickles, saws, axes and other tools from many people along the way.
The villagers knew that because Wei Qinglang bought the mountain, each family could get more than 20 taels of silver, so they were very generous in lending things.
They all thought that these people were workers Wei Qinglang had invited back from outside to clean up the mountain. Wei Qinglang did not explain and took them to the land at the foot of the mountain near the peach blossom forest and started working.
The men went to build the house, and the women stayed at home temporarily. All the housework was divided among them, and the family was a little uncomfortable with suddenly not having to do anything.
Cheng Shuang called Wei Nanxing and said to him, "Nanxing, I realized I forgot one thing. So many people are staying in thatched huts at night without bedding, and the weather is still cold at night. You should go to the county town and buy more mats and bedding."
Wei Nanxing scratched his head. "Sister-in-law, can we go later? My brother asked me to go to Taohua Village to buy wood before he left. We need a lot of wood to build a house."
"Is that so?" Cheng Shuang thought for a moment. "Then go call Peng Jiang and Peng He back and ask them to go to Taohua Village to buy wood. I can see how capable they are at doing things."
Wei Nanxing nodded, "Okay, I'll go right away."
The Peng brothers arrived very quickly. They were all young men of about seventeen or eighteen years old. They stood in the yard with their heads down, not daring to look up at Cheng Shuang.
Cheng Shuang asked Wei Nanxing to buy bedding according to the number of people, and then wanted to give him money. Wei Nanxing refused, saying that he had money on him and had more than 30 taels left after buying things the day before yesterday, which was enough.
After Wei Nanxing left, Cheng Shuang looked at the two Peng brothers standing in the yard and asked, "Can you read?"
Peng Jiang whispered, "I used to work as a helper in a bookshop, so I recognize some of them after seeing them so many times."
Cheng Shuang sat down at the table. "Taohua Village ahead sells timber. You two should go there and select two households to buy some timber from. I don't know much about building houses, but there are craftsmen in Taohua Village. You can ask a few skilled craftsmen to come back and teach everyone. Also, ask them what kind of timber is suitable and how much timber is needed."
The Peng brothers listened very carefully, nodded and wrote down everything.
Cheng Shuang could tell that both of them were smart people, so she asked, "Can you write?"
The two shook their heads at the same time. Writing requires paper and pen, so how could they have the chance to write?
Cheng Shuang felt a little sorry and turned around and called out, "Qiu Yan and Dong Yun, you two go with them and help make the relevant records and quotes. Give them a deposit of two or three taels first, and settle the rest after the wood is delivered."
"Okay, cousin." The two agreed and went back to the room to get a blank booklet and a pen, without asking Cheng Shuang for the deposit.
In the past few months, Cheng Shuang gave each of them five taels of silver every month, and the two of them now have quite a bit of money.