Divorce with three kids? I'll build a house and eat meat, driving my in-laws crazy.

Chapter 203 Maltose Contract

Upon hearing the mention of contracts, the group naturally turned to Fang Xingzhi.

The village head's wife found paper and pen and respectfully handed them to him.

Fang Xingzhi ground the ink, spread out the paper, and asked Li Ruru, "Li, how exactly should it be written?"

Li Ruru looked at Lü Da and said, "Let's divide the shares according to the proportion of investment. I roughly calculated that to build a workshop, buy materials, and hire workers and pay wages, it will cost at least 500 taels."

Upon hearing this number, the corners of their mouths twitched involuntarily.

500 taels of silver! They toil in the fields from dawn till dusk, and they could never earn that much in their entire lives.

Li Ruru could tell what everyone was thinking just by looking at their expressions. She added, "This 500 taels isn't coming from one person; it's coming from all of us. 100 taels counts as 20% of the shares, and that's how the profits will be distributed."

How much do you think you can offer? The rest is on me.

She has money and could even contribute all of it, but one person's strength is ultimately limited.

If we want everyone to work together to run the workshop well, everyone has to contribute capital and take a share.

Employees who work for a boss only need to complete the assigned tasks, but once they become bosses, their mindset changes.

He wanted to manage and care about everything, big and small, in the company.

A maltose workshop is essentially a company.

As a staunch supporter of Li Ruru, Pan Dayan was the first to declare, "I can contribute 100 taels."

She didn't understand what shares or dividends meant, but she knew that following Li Ruru would make her money.

What could be more profitable than maltose right now?

Pan Dayan had more than 200 taels of silver. She wanted to keep the remaining 100 taels for her two sons to get married, and also to save some money for her retirement.

Hai followed up, saying, "My family will also contribute 100 taels."

Lady Hai didn't have that much silver on hand, but she could still scrape together the money by pooling her resources with her sons and borrowing from them.

Hai's daughters-in-law all supported their mother-in-law's decision and even said on the spot that they would go back to their parents' home to borrow money.

Seeing that both families were generous with their contributions, Lü Da, as the village head, naturally couldn't fall behind.

He said, "Then I'll contribute 100 taels as well."

He had saved up a considerable amount of money over the years, and with the money he made from selling konjac before, his family could afford to pay 100 taels if they gritted their teeth.

Li Ruru breathed a sigh of relief and said happily, "Okay, then I'll cover the remaining 200 taels and all other expenses."

Fang Xingzhi picked up his pen and quickly wrote the contract. When he got to the shareholding percentage, Lü Da suddenly stopped him.

He looked at Li Ruru and asked, "Have you decided where to sell this maltose?"

If you were to set up a stall in the county town, you would need to hire a lot of manpower, and 500 taels might not be enough to cover your expenses.

If you sell it to a restaurant, you'll have to find people and channels, which inevitably involves entertaining guests and giving gifts, and that's quite an expense.

He felt it was unfair to Li Ruru if she had to take on these responsibilities as well.

Before Li Ruru could speak, Bai Lu said, "Grandpa Village Head, you don't need to worry about that. My godmother has already contacted Master Bai, and all of his restaurants and shops can be sold."

In order not to reveal her identity, Bai Lu pretended to be Aunt Li's distant niece.

Li Ruru chimed in, "Yes, Uncle Da, don't worry, sales won't be a problem."

Seeing her confident expression, Lü Da couldn't help but admire her, saying, "Aru is really amazing."

To actually manage to persuade Master Bai and even get him to agree to sell maltose in the Bai family's shops and restaurants—that's not just impressive, it's incredibly impressive.

Lu Da then turned to Hai Shi and Pan Dayan and said, "We didn't actually contribute much money. Aru has a lot of things to take care of, so we can't take advantage of her."

The two nodded. "That's right. How should we do it?"

If they didn't have enough money, they planned to squeeze out more, cut back on expenses, and borrow more; they couldn't let Li Ruru suffer any loss.

If we're short-handed, that's even easier; we may lack many things, but we certainly don't lack people.

When grinding konjac tofu, Pan Dayan called her two nephews over to help.

It's perfectly reasonable to bring more people from my family to help with such a great event.

Lu Da said, "How about this, the three of us will each take 15% of the shares, and Aru will take 55%." "Okay!" Pan Dayan and Hai Shi agreed in unison.

Their straightforwardness and easygoing manner made Li Ruru a little embarrassed. She said, "Third Aunt, Aunt Pan, aren't you...aren't you at a disadvantage?"

Fearing they might not understand the difference between 20% and 15%, she said, "Think about it, if our workshop makes a profit and earns 1000 taels, you could have received 200 taels, but now you can only receive 150 taels. That's 50 taels less for a 5% share."

Moreover, her profit forecast was very conservative; Pingchuan County alone earned more than that amount.

After a heavy rain, wheat sprouted in more than just one county.

Hai said nonchalantly, "You can never earn all the money in the world, as long as there's something to earn."

Pan Dayan said, "I am already very satisfied with 150 taels."

They have no ambition; they're content as long as they don't lose money.

Lu Da smiled and said, "Then it's settled."

Fang Xingzhi picked up his pen and wrote down 15% of the shares for all three companies. When he got to Li Ruru's name, she suddenly said, "Wait a minute."

Fang Xingzhi put down his pen and looked at her with a leisurely air.

She knew she was going to say something.

The man kept frowning and looking left and right, as if he was hesitating about something.

Li Ruru glanced at Fang Xingzhi in surprise. How did this old man seem to know what she was thinking?

Thinking about it, it's kind of scary!

She looked away and said to Bai Lu, "Add your share."

Bai Lu shook her head: "Aunt Li, no need, I didn't do anything."

There are some things she can't say in front of everyone.

The most arduous part of running the workshop and making maltose is the actual production, while her family only needs to sell it.

The selling process is easy and profitable, and this stuff doesn't spoil easily.

Li Ruru ignored her and looked at Chu Xiu, saying, "I'll add some more for you too."

Chu Xiu was taken aback at first, then smiled and said, "Okay."

Aunt Li is such a good person; she's getting him involved in making money.

After saying that, he secretly glanced at Chaochao. It was all because of Chaochao that such a good thing would not have come his way.

Is Aunt Li now treating him as her future son-in-law?

Chu Xiu felt elated, and a sense of pride welled up within him.

Chaochao noticed that his ears were red, and she secretly pinched his sleeve in annoyance.

What's he thinking? He's being inappropriate.

At Li Ruru's strong suggestion, Chu Xiu and Bai Lu each received 7.5% of the shares, Li Ruru received 40%, and Pan Dayan, Hai Shi, and Lü Da each received 15%.

After Fang Xingzhi finished writing the contract, he said to everyone, "500 taels, to be divided according to the new proportions."

Li Ruru 200 taels, Lü Dahai Pan Dayan 75 taels, Chu Xiu and Bai Lu 37 taels and 5 mace.

The contract was written in seven copies, one for each person, and one left with Fang Xingzhi.

After everyone signed and sealed the contract, Lü Da looked at Bai Lu's signature and suddenly asked, "Your name is Bai Lu? What is your relationship with Master Bai?"

Bai Lu was surprised that he suddenly asked this question and felt a little guilty.

My identity, which I had kept well hidden, was unexpectedly exposed just by signing a document.

If Xue finds out about her in Chenjia Village, she might send someone to kidnap her and take her back, just like last time.

This could even affect the subsequent sales of maltose by the workshop.

Bai Lu was extremely anxious, but didn't know how to answer.

(End of this chapter)