The Evil Mother-in-law: Torment Children, Work Hard, Be Rich! Chapter 584: The Whole Village Sewing Cotton-Padded Clothes

Winter is fast approaching, requiring us to quickly stockpile charcoal and cotton. Mr. Lu and Huang Yuanwai wasted no ti and left Qinghe Bay.

Lu Zhaozhao initially wanted to stay, but now that Mr. Lu was personally teaching her the ways of business, she naturally couldn’t stay in Qinghe Bay as casually as before.

This ti, Mr. Lu intended to train her, letting her follow the shopkeepers in accumulating resources like charcoal, cotton, and grain.

After Mr. Lu left, Tong Huaqiong thought about sending Nie Xiaofeng to the Liu family in Pingchuan County. Usually, if there was a joyous event at Tong Huaqiong’s house, County Magistrate Liu’s mother, Mrs. Han, would attend. This ti she didn’t co, and it was heard that she caught a cold.

Tong Huaqiong asked Nie Xiaofeng to deliver dicine to Mrs. Han and take the opportunity to pass on a ssage to County Magistrate Liu.

"Just say that I suffered from a chill when I was young, and in winter, my bones would hurt. This year, the pain is especially severe, and I’m afraid there will be an extrely cold weather this year."

Whether County Magistrate Liu believed it or not, she sent the ssage along.

Tong Huaqiong, mulling it over, still hoped that the local officials could anticipate the extrely cold weather before it arrived.

The next day, Aunt Tang hurriedly delivered two thousand taels of silver notes.

Next, Magistrate Yao sent soone with a deposit for cotton garnts.

Tong Huaqiong’s weaving workshop was initially a trial, but now it was to be a major operation.

After all, producing tens of thousands of cotton garnts in two months was substantial business for a village weaving workshop.

However, for Tong Huaqiong, working overti was not an issue; it’s the season when there’s no fieldwork, and most villagers had already started preparing to stay ho for the winter.

Gathering manpower was easy.

Her weaving workshop could not accommodate so many people, so she planned to keep tasks like preparing cotton and spinning yarn in the workshop, while tasks like sewing cotton garnts could be distributed, allowing each household to sew at ho.

With this in mind, she turned and sought out the village chief.

After all, she needed many hands, so she needed the village chief’s help to spread the word to neighboring villages, eliminating the need for her to visit each village personally.

Thus, the won in neighboring villages who envied the opportunity to work in Tong Huaqiong’s weaving workshop flocked back after hearing that the workshop needed hands again.

Tong Huaqiong asked Su Qing to retrieve the list of won workers who weren’t initially selected, and she hired them directly into the weaving workshop.

They were not selected because their weaving was inadequate but because those chosen were more outstanding.

Tong Huaqiong specifically had Gu Taohua explain to them that they were hired because there was a batch of urgent cotton cloths and garnts for rush jobs, which did not an they could continue working in the workshop indefinitely.

Those who were not initially selected didn’t mind; they were just glad for the opportunity to work in the workshop, even if only for two months, as they could earn so silver to support their families.

Moreover, it didn’t an the workshop wouldn’t need people in the future. If they perford well, in the future, should the workshop need manpower again, Manager Tong would likely welco them back.

As for the task of sewing cotton garnts, every household was eager to take it up.

After all, from now until spring the following year, everyone would be idle at ho, and having the sewing work available was like a windfall for the won in the village.

They didn’t have to leave their hos or endure the elents, and engaging in sewing was sothing they were accustod to doing; eting deadlines was hardly an issue for them.

The cotton garnts bound for the borders needed to be warm yet lightweight; clumsy attire would impede movent, making it difficult to march and fight.

Tong Huaqiong constantly retained faith in the wisdom of the people of any era, believing that even rural housewives could co up with clever solutions for making warm and lightweight garnts.

As expected, when Tong Huaqiong laid out the requirents for sewing cotton garnts, several young won and elder won ca forward with suggestions.

In all of Qinghe Bay, the most skillful hands belonged to Mrs. Zhao, the mother of Liu Yueer.

Tong Huaqiong had seen Mrs. Zhao’s handiwork before, so she requested Mrs. Zhao to sew several cotton garnt samples to distribute to various villages as standards for everyone to follow.

Just as the cotton garnts were about to be sent out, Gu Fengnian’s wife, Mrs. Wei, visited.

She handed over a cotton garnt, sewn with fine stitches, to Tong Huaqiong.

Upon receiving it, Tong Huaqiong’s eyes lit up. This cotton garnt was even more lightweight and warm than Mrs. Zhao’s, and Mrs. Wei had creatively added an extra layer of fabric at the elbows, while the knees had an additional cotton padding.

"Madam, I heard these cotton garnts are destined for the border. Considering how tough marching and fighting can be, involving crawling and wielding weapons, I thought the elbows and knees, which easily wear out, should be reinforced," Mrs. Wei explained.

Tong Huaqiong gave Mrs. Wei an approving glance.

Gu Youtian and Mrs. Jia hit the jackpot, managing to find such a clever daughter-in-law.

Neither Chen Sufen nor Liu Yueer combined could compare with Mrs. Wei.

Tong Huaqiong only revealed to everyone that the cotton garnts were intended for the border, without ntioning they were military supplies, so even the village chief believed that Tong Huaqiong was rely expanding into the border market, urging her that the risk was too high should there be a border conflict, and she should avoid such significant investnts.

Only Mrs. Wei saw the clue and knew the true destination of these cotton garnts.

Seeing that Tong Huaqiong remained silent, Mrs. Wei felt uneasy and said, "Madam, rest assured, I won’t disclose this to anyone."

Tong Huaqiong waved her hand, saying, "I trust you. Here’s the plan: not only will I assign you to sew cotton garnts, but when the ti cos for deliveries, I’ll have you serve as a supervisor."

Though Mrs. Wei heard of the supervisor role for the first ti, she guessed that Tong Huaqiong wanted her to inspect the garnts for quality.

"Rest assured, I will inspect thoroughly, and any subpar work will be rejected." Mrs. Wei was delighted. She had initially just ant to showcase her sewing skill, hoping to get more cotton garnt assignnts. But unexpectedly, she was entrusted with the crucial task of supervision as well.

Indeed, separating from her in-laws was the right decision.

Even though so in the village whispered that she was not virtuous for urging Gu Fengnian to separate from his parents, how did it matter as long as her aunt didn’t hold a grudge against her?

Then, Tong Huaqiong instructed Gu Xiaoxue to provide more cotton and cotton cloth for Mrs. Wei to make additional cotton garnts, to be issued alongside the ones made by Mrs. Zhao to each village.

Once preparations were set, the various village chiefs led their villagers to collect the cotton and cotton cloth.

Since the weaving workshop had just started, the result is that despite the bustling activity over a few days, not much cotton fabric had been woven yet.

Thus, the first assignnts went to the won in each village known for their swiftness.

Given that the work of sewing cotton garnts mostly fell to won, Tong Huaqiong stipulated that the recipients of cotton and cotton cloth had to be won from each household, a policy which greatly annoyed many of the household heads.

But there was no helping it—needlework wasn’t their expertise.

"Let’s make things clear from the start: I have records of all the cotton and cloth distributed. Don’t think you can deceive ; if anyone is caught skimping on materials or secretly swapping cotton for reeds, not only will you owe ten tis the value in compensation for my cotton and cloth, but you’ll also never be entrusted with my work again in the future."

As Tong Huaqiong’s words echoed, Su Qing stepped forward with a contract to read out the guidelines and penalties for sewing cotton garnts, then asked everyone to place their thumbprints on it.

"Placing your thumbprints signifies acceptance of the terms and penalties; any skimping will result in either tenfold restitution or referral to the governnt," Su Qing said with a broad smile as she shook the paper. "Alternately, you can choose not to press your thumbprint, which signifies non-acceptance of the work assignnt, and you may leave."

Nobody had witnessed such a formal process before, so people hesitated to step forward.

Aunt Qin was the first to place her thumbprint, then took so cotton and cloth, saying to everyone, "Both my son and daughter-in-law work for Manager Tong and have placed their thumbprints. As long as you don’t act unscrupulously, you won’t be penalized."

Aunt Qin set a good example.

"Exactly, I won’t be cutting corners."

"As long as we honestly sew according to the requirents, there won’t be any issues."

"Getting our thumbprint on it also serves as protection, yet you only hear about the penalties and didn’t notice the wages listed, too."

After so discussion in the crowd, everyone stepped forward to press their thumbprints and receive their cotton and cloth.