Joe's Farming

Qiao Yu waved at Li Xin.

"Don't you know the purchasing power of fifty wen in this era?"

Li Xin rolled his eyes, then smiled and said, "But you still have to pay me next month, right? Anyway, my food and accommodation are free."

After saying that, he looked at Qiao Yu warily again: "Brother, you are not going to charge me for rent and food, are you?"

Qiao Yu was so angry that she laughed: "You can't always work for me, right?

When the snow melts, you will still owe me money for selling your body. Don't you want to save money to buy your own house and land someday?"

Li Xin shook his head: "I don't want to. Brother, the people here are nice, the food is delicious, and the food and accommodation are provided, and the salary is paid.

Unless you don’t want me anymore, I will not leave even if you kill me.

Just deduct the money from my salary, just like Da Zhuang, don’t deduct it every month.”

Qiao Yu:......

"Forget it, go play with them."

Gu Feng looked at the sky and asked, "What would Qiaoer like to eat tonight?"

"dumpling!!"

Gu Feng smiled and said, "Okay."

Those who want to eat dumplings for dinner can eat dumplings, and those who want to eat leftovers can eat leftovers. Everyone eats their own food and it is very harmonious.

-

It started snowing heavily over the next few days and lasted for three days.

Gu Feng said that after this snow, the weather will gradually warm up.

Of course it will still be very cold, and the weather will not really get warmer until after the beginning of spring.

Then they can start preparing for spring ploughing.

When Qiao Yu thought about how half of winter had passed unknowingly, he was full of anticipation for spring.

Spring means the revival of the earth, and by then the mountains and fields will be full of fresh wild vegetables.

Qiao Yu felt so happy just thinking about it. He had a colleague who liked to go hunting in the suburbs in spring.

He was especially envious of those who were drying and digging wild mushrooms.

Since we can’t go out on a snowy day, we can only continue eating and drinking at home.

Qiao Yu was glad that although they ate meat every day, half of their staple food was still coarse grains, such as corn tortillas, three-grain porridge, and mixed-flour steamed buns...

It's not that he can't afford refined rice and noodles. But after all, there are many people in his family, and coarse grains are both economical and healthy, so they are naturally more cost-effective.

In the next few days, the Gu family either ate shabu-shabu or hotpot.

In the end, everyone felt a little irritated after eating, so the whole family had to eat vegetable porridge together the next day.

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month soon arrived.

Of course, on this day, everyone makes dumplings together.

The previous glutinous rice ball fillings are still there, and the glutinous rice flour can be kneaded quickly.

This time, except for Li Xin, everyone else wrapped the dumplings very quickly. However, Li Xin made progress this time and happily showed them to the children: "Look, is my dumpling round? Isn't it cute?"

The three children all nodded.

During this period, Li Xin taught them arithmetic every afternoon.

They have completely regarded Li Xin as their own family.

After everyone finished eating the dumplings, Wen Ge'er came home and discussed with Qiao Yu about returning to work tomorrow.

Qiao Yu: "We will go to town together tomorrow. Lin Da and the others are probably still resting at home. I'll give you and Wang Jie one of the carriages at home to take Li Niang and the others to town."

Wen Geer agreed. Then he asked, "My sister-in-law..."

Qiao Yu: "Take it with you. It's a good opportunity to see if you are good at it. If you don't like it, I'll go tell Aunt Shi. Don't worry about it."

Wen Geer smiled and said, "I'm not embarrassed. If I can't handle this kind of thing well, how can I take care of other people in the future?"

"Well said. Even brothers have to settle accounts clearly, so just be fair when the time comes. But having said that, if she does a good job, you should still reward her."

Wen Ge'er nodded: "Don't worry, I really don't have any opinion about her. I just don't like her, that's all."

Qiao Yu felt relieved after hearing this.

"Tomorrow I will go and see if there is a suitable shop next to the snack bar. If there is one, I will buy it and let Aunt Li Niang manage it. So besides your sister-in-law and Xiao Bai, you must hire more people. But Da Zhuang and Su Qing can be used by you this month. If they are not enough, Li Xin can use them."

Wen Ge'er nodded: "Let's go clean up the store tomorrow and then see how the business is."

Qiao Yu was very pleased that Wen Ge'er didn't need him to worry about anything now and was acting just like the head of a store.

Qiao Yu even had a sense of accomplishment. It was really great to be a hands-off boss.

"Work hard! I'll give you a good dividend at the end of the year!" This was all Qiao Yu said at the end.

Wen Ge'er nodded happily.

-

On the second day, two horse-drawn carriages from the Gu family carried everyone to Taoyuan Town.

Li Xin was originally supposed to be left behind to look after the house, but he was too curious about what the town looked like in this era.

He had always stayed in the village and had never been to the town, so he had to follow them.

After arriving in town, Wen Ge'er and his friends prepared to open a store, while Qiao Yu and Gu Feng went to look at the shops.

Because the store is near the pier, it is not as sparsely populated as other neighborhoods. However, the weather is still cold after all, and there are very few ordinary residents in the town who come out.

Qiao Yu went to the soap shop and took a look, and found that it was even busier than the last time she came.

The steward saw Qiao Yu and immediately bowed to wish him a happy new year: "Happy New Year, Mr. Qiao. Are you here to do some shopping today?"

"Happy New Year. The snack bar is open today, I'm coming to take a look. I'll also check if there are any good shops nearby."

The manager understood: "Boss Qiao is going to open a branch? Congratulations."

Qiao Yu thanked him, bought some soap for her family in the store, and exchanged a few more words before leaving.

The manager originally didn't want to take the money, but Qiao Yu insisted and acted like a boss: "Even if Xu Yuan comes, we have to take his money. Otherwise, if everyone comes to take it, who will be held responsible if the bill is not balanced?"

The manager nodded quickly and said he remembered it.

-

After leaving the soap shop, Qiao Yu began to look around the shop slowly.

He not only looked at the empty shops, but also silently memorized some shops with good locations, and then went to the dental clinic.

The dental office just opened today, and Qiao Yu and Gu Feng were the first couple of customers they received.

The clerk in the pawn shop immediately and attentively served them tea and water and asked them to sit down and talk slowly about what kind of shop they needed.

Qiao Yu got straight to the point and said, "I've already picked out a few shops and would like to ask about their prices."

Qiao Yu then told him about the three empty shops he remembered.

When the clerk in the pawn shop heard that Qiao Yu wanted to buy all the shops near the dock, he knew that this guy was not short of money.

"The ones you mentioned are indeed registered in our pawnshop. The largest one has the best location and is indeed the cheapest. It's sold for two hundred taels.

The other two shops asked for 250 taels each and 300 taels each."

Gu Feng felt that something was fishy, ​​so he asked, "Why? Has anything happened before?"

The clerk said somewhat embarrassedly, “Years ago, the boss had an argument with a clerk in the shop, and the clerk couldn’t take it anymore and hanged himself in the shop.

Aren't you two from the town? This incident was widely reported at the time, and the county magistrate even ordered the boss to pay fifty taels of silver to the employee's family."