Upon arriving in Liu Yang Village, the father-daughter pair headed straight to the greenhouse.
Today’s weather was rather good, and all the tarpaulins in the field had been gathered up. At a glance, one could see nothing but lush green vegetables standing out prominently in a barren wilderness where grass and trees had withered. A light breeze swept by, creating waves of green.
Peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and others had grown about a foot long, and the dark green branches and leaves looked exceedingly pleasing to the eye. Probably in another ten days or so, they would flower and bear fruit. The tomatoes would need to be propped up with wooden stakes, otherwise, the weight of the fruit could break the main branches. The cucumbers and loofahs would also need wooden fras to prevent the fruits from rotting on the ground.
Several old farrs were carrying buckets and using dippers to water the vegetables. Seeing the owner arrive, they quickly stopped their tasks and gathered around.
"Boss, did the vegetables we sent today sell well?"
The first to approach, Lin Laogen, was twisting his hands nervously, cautiously asking Mo Qingze.
Mo Qingze nodded with a smile, "All three carts of vegetables were sold! I ca here today to ask you to prepare another six carts of vegetables, which we’ll take away early tomorrow morning."
"Great! Great! That’s really great! We’ll go pick the vegetables right away."
Lin Laogen was so delighted with the addition of six carts of vegetables that he kept saying it was great, his forehead wrinkles deepening from his broad smile.
If the vegetables sold well, the owner would continue to grow them, and he would have continuous work. Such a good job was even better than farming; he really couldn’t bear to give it up.
The others hurried over and heard Mo Qingze’s words, their faces beaming with joy, like it was their own vegetables that had sold well.
The father and daughter could guess at their thoughts. Mo Yan took the opportunity to encourage them, "Please rest assured, all you grandpas and uncles. As long as nothing goes wrong with these greenhouses, at the end of every month, our family will also give you an extra reward! It’s just that these vegetables are already making money, and I’m afraid soone might beco envious and try sothing bad. So please take more care in the evenings, grandpas and uncles!"
Having said this, she then bowed to them with a deep curtesy.
Seeing this, the people felt embarrassed and stepped aside, "Don’t worry, boss. We’ll take turns guarding the fields at night, making sure not even a single leaf is stolen."
This was what they were supposed to do anyway. If anything happened to these precious vegetables, not getting a reward and reimbursing silver was a small matter, but they couldn’t afford to lose such a good job.
Mo Yan thanked them with a smile, gave them a few more instructions, and seeing that there was nothing else to be done here, let them get back to their work. Together with Mo Qingze, they went to the village to find Lin Yong and asked for his help in finding reliable people to help sell the vegetables.
The reason Mo Yan sought Lin Yong’s help was to repay him. Previously, when Mo Qingze had been falsely accused by Bu Shi Ren of embezzlent, it was thanks to Lin Yong’s idea that the owner of Treasure Pavilion from Duke Wu’an’s Mansion intervened, preventing the Mo Family from facing an unknown calamity.
Mo Yan later wanted to give all six hundred and sixty Taels of "soothing silver" provided by Duke Wu’an’s Mansion to Lin Yong, but Lin Yong refused to accept it no matter what and didn’t even acknowledge it as his own rit.
There was nothing Mo Yan could do, so she had to drop the matter. Later, when hiring workers at ho, they tried to give first consideration to the Lin Clan as another form of repaynt to Lin Yong.
Having heard the purpose of the father-daughter visit, Lin Yong thought for a while. He indeed had a few candidates in mind, so he ntioned their nas, "These few have nimble minds and should be able to handle selling and calculating the cost of vegetables. How about letting them have a trial run tomorrow?"
The father and daughter repeatedly expressed their thanks; Lin Yong was not one to boast, so when he said "it should be possible," it ant "it will definitely be possible."
With the matter so easily resolved, both heaved a sigh of relief. On their way here, they had been sowhat worried. Besides the Eastern Market, they would also need to set up a stall in the Southern and Western Markets tomorrow. The two of them simply couldn’t cover three market stalls by themselves, so they needed to find soone trustworthy and good at calculating to manage the third stall.
When Lin Yong called several people over, a total of six people ca, four n and two won.
Mo Yan recognized all five of these people, as they were all individuals she had seen before in the refugee camp, including Lin Da, who was on very good terms with Lin Yong. Of the other three n who had also visited her ho for a al last ti, the slightly older one was nad Lin ng, the more robust one was Lin Song, and another was Lin An. As for the two won, she had seen them but was not familiar with them; however, since Lin Yong had introduced them, she was confident there were no issues with their characters.
Mo Yan imdiately made assignnts for these five people. Since she did not know the situation of vegetable sales in the Southern and Western Markets, two people were first arranged to man those stands.
Although they were from the sa village, they weren’t from the sa family, so it was better to separate the n and the won to avoid any suspicion. Therefore, Lin Da, who was articulate and quick at accounting, was paired with Lin Song to watch over the Western Market. Mo Qingze was to take Lin An to watch over the Southern Market, leaving the remaining three people, Lin ng, the Xiong’s, and Mrs. Zhou, to help Mo Yan at the Eastern Market.
"The daily wage will be thirty wen, paid at the end of each day; every morning at the beginning of the third watch, a cart will co into the village to pick up the vegetables, and you can all board the cattle cart together to co here; if there is sothing at ho and you can’t make it, just let know in advance..."
Mo Yan explained the wages and other details once more, then looked at the six attentive individuals and asked, "Does anyone have any questions?"
The six shook their heads without hesitation! With such generous wages and not having to work from dawn until dusk, only a fool would have questions.
The matters in Liu Yang Village were temporarily concluded, and the father-daughter duo hurried back to the city.
Mo Yan asked Mo Qingze to go ho first, while she waited for soone on the street. After a while, she finally saw Elder ng driving his mule cart slowly toward her.
"What’s the matter, girl, are you waiting for this old man here?"
Elder ng noticed Mo Yan as he ca closer and quickly pulled on the reins to stop.
After Mo Yan took the reins, helping Elder ng park the mule cart by the roadside, she said, "Elder ng, tomorrow we need to add six more carts of vegetables, could you help find another six carts?"
Apart from Elder ng’s mule cart, the other three carts used for transporting vegetables today were found through his help. The owners of the two ox carts had ties with Elder ng. Since they had to ask soone, they might as well ask soone familiar and reliable.
"Sure! You think highly of this old man, and I will definitely find the right people for you," Elder ng said with a broad, contented smile, "Looks like, your greenhouse vegetables are selling well, but there’s one thing I must remind you of, though you might not like to hear it."
At the end of his statent, Elder ng paused, his gaze filled with hesitation as he looked at Mo Yan.
Seeing Elder ng’s caution, Mo Yan knew that what he was about to say must be very important, so she beca serious and replied, "Elder ng, you are experienced and wise, whatever you say is sure to be for my benefit, why wouldn’t I listen?"
Heartened by her words, Elder ng felt even more that the young girl was mature and prudent, and without further reservations, he voiced his concerns:
"There are people in our village who work for the wealthy households, and I’ve heard that these households will build greenhouses to grow vegetables in the winter. The cost of constructing greenhouses is sothing ordinary families could not earn in their entire lifetis, yet the vegetables they produce are not necessarily of high quality; I’ve seen the vegetables grown by your family, and they look better than the seasonal ones, but the greenhouse you built is really quite rudintary. Since vegetables are so precious in winter, many wealthy households might be tempted by the benefits your thod brings. If soone forces your family to reveal the techniques for greenhouse vegetables, you all will have no ans to resist!"
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