Carrying the little lucky star, leading the villain on the road to exile

Chapter 278. Doing Things
With so many people suddenly entering the village, Zhu Ziqiang, as the village chief, naturally had to come and ask about it.

When Zhu Ziqiang learned that a major construction project was going to be carried out here, and that a two-courtyard house was to be built, his expression became somewhat complicated.

He used to be one of the best in the village, with two tiled houses, but since these people came, he has become a complete pauper compared to them.

“Construction has already begun,” Zhu Ziqiang said, looking around at the bustling activity. He then went straight to Gu Kaiyuan and asked, “How big of a house are you planning to build?”

With so many materials purchased and so many workers on site, this scene is bound to be large.

That was at the request of the villagers, who wanted to see if they could find some work to do here.

“My mother-in-law has bought several mountains here, and we need to arrange for someone to come and take care of them, so the house needs to be bigger,” Gu Kaiyuan lied through his teeth. “We’ll build a two-courtyard house first, and expand it later if needed.”

"Village Chief Zhu, the environment in our village is really quite nice; it's a great place to live."

"That's right. We have mountains and rivers here. As long as we work hard, we won't starve."

But life isn't easy for everyone, and it's hard to earn a living. You're looking to hire people, so I wonder if you could help out the villagers?

Zhu Ziqiang was good at seizing the opportunity and quickly explained his purpose.

"So that's what it is," Gu Kaiyuan had actually been mentally prepared. Since they would be living in the same village from now on, he would naturally try to take care of them as much as possible. However, whether he was doing it voluntarily or passively was a different matter.

“My work here is quite hard. As you can see, besides having to turn the land over again, building houses is also a lot of heavy work.”

"It doesn't matter. They are all poor families, and the one thing they have in abundance is strength."

Life is tough these days. Besides relying on the village's harvest, there's not much left after paying taxes.

If you want to go to the city to find short-term work, most employers are unwilling to hire strangers. Even if you occasionally get a job, the earnings are limited.

Don't worry, as long as you give them a chance, I guarantee they'll all work diligently.

Gu Kaiyuan asked, "I wonder how many people from our village will be able to come?"

Zhu Ziqiang's voice was somewhat uneasy, "Our village only has about a hundred people, and there are thirty or forty able-bodied men among them."

The number he reported was somewhat inaccurate; he essentially included everyone in the village between the ages of ten and fifty.

Gu Kaiyuan said, "My house construction work will only take about ten days. I can talk to them and share some of the work with them. But with more people, the work will be much faster, so it will probably only take a few days."

Zhu Ziqiang smiled broadly upon hearing this, "This is already very good. We can work as long as we can, and with more income, we'll have a way out if anyone gets sick."

There was no other way; they were really poor, and it was a rare opportunity to make money, so the villagers probably didn't want to let it go.

Bai Suihe glanced at the mountains in front of them and pulled Gu Kaiyuan along, saying, "It's not appropriate to have so many people in such a small place."

Zhu Zhiqiang wanted to refute, but what the other person said was indeed true, "...take as many as you can, I will definitely find people to do it for you."

Bai Suihe said, "Village chief, actually I have another job here that I can do for a long time."

Zhu Ziqiang's eyes lit up. "Please speak, Madam."

“There are several mountains here. We want to plant some fruit trees and raise some livestock. We need manpower for all of this, but we don’t know the people in the village and we don’t know who we need. I wonder if the village chief could introduce a few people to come and try it out?”

"What about the wages?" "The same as the shop assistants in the county town, but the work might be much heavier." Bai Suihe didn't know how much the wages were in the county town, so she could only give a vague answer for now.

Yesterday, they were already discussing using the other mountains to plant fruit trees. Besides wanting an additional source of income and not wasting these resources, they also wanted to cover up the mines behind them. They wouldn't start mining on a large scale until they were able to protect themselves.

"How heavy could this job be?" Zhu Ziqiang was already tempted. Being the village chief was a lousy job, and apart from the occasional small benefit, there was a lot of trouble to deal with.

If there is a long-term job, the whole family can improve their lives.

Moreover, he could tell that the young couple were quite kind and wouldn't mistreat their subordinates.

He couldn't show his face, but he also had young sons at home, and this time, no matter what, he had to get his family members involved.

“These are all skilled workers in our village, especially in farming and raising livestock.”

"These fruit trees are easy to manage, but these livestock are not so easy to raise."

Zhu Ziqiang was worried that if he couldn't raise the livestock properly or if they got sick, the owner would be angry.

"Don't worry, we won't raise too many," Bai Suihe knew what the village chief was worried about. There was some truth to the saying that even if someone is very wealthy, animals with fur don't count.

"Then there's not much of a problem. I'll go and call someone over right away." Zhu Ziqiang couldn't wait to get back to take care of things.

“Village chief, wait a minute,” Bai Suihe called out to him again.

Zhu Ziqiang's emotions were in turmoil, and he was really afraid that Bai Suihe would change her mind again.

“We’re not the only ones coming to the village this time; there are several other families as well. If you’re looking for work, you can go to them too.”

Bringing everyone else from the village here at this point would only invite hostility.

Zhu Ziqiang nodded, "Thank you for the reminder, Madam. I'll go and make a trip there later. Don't worry, I'll definitely leave the most diligent staff to you."

"There's another thing, as you can see. With so many people working here, I'd like to find a few hardworking older women to help with boiling water and cooking. I wonder if the village chief has any good recommendations?"

"Yes, my wife and daughter-in-law are both hardworking, I'll have them come and help right away." Zhu Ziqiang quickly agreed. Even without wages, it didn't matter; being able to earn a living here was a great thing.

"I trust the village chief. How about you arrange for four people to come over for me first?"

Zhu Ziqiang readily agreed and hurriedly left. He needed to get home quickly and get his whole family moving.

Gu Kaiyuan said, "Madam is kind-hearted."

"Since so many people are coming to work for us, we still need to make sure they have water to drink." Bai Suihe had seen the workers go directly to the stream and scoop up water to drink. "Drinking raw water is not good; it can easily make you sick."

“But they’re all used to it,” Gu Kaiyuan said. He used to drink tap water all the time and didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.

However, Bai Suihe didn't touch a drop of water along the way, nor did she allow anyone around her to drink it. Gu Kaiyuan had gotten used to it, but there was no need to force everyone to change.

"If you boil water for them to drink at this time, they probably won't accept it."

Bai Suihe sighed, "It's cold now, so it's better to boil some hot water for everyone than to drink cold water."

(End of this chapter)