"Tu Gou Auntie, your wages for this month are thirteen taels, plus an additional monthâs year-end wages, totaling twenty-six taels of silver," Gu Jinli reported the accounts. "Go to my mother to collect the silver, then to Mo Chunyue to receive the New Yearâs gift, and remember to leave your fingerprint."
"Ah!" The response from He Tugouâs wife was quite loud. Since the spice workshop added handy tools, their speed at grinding spices had increased. Now she could collect over ten taels of silver in wages each month, truly making her rich.
Mrs. He Yangâs daughter-in-law, who had recently started working in the workshop, heard He Tugouâs wife had received so much silver and whispered enviously to Mrs. He Yang, "Mother-in-law, Tu Gou Auntieâs wages are really high."
Mrs. He Yang smiled and said, "Whatâs high about it? Your mother-in-lawâs wages are much higher than hers. Eldest sonâs wife, your wages wonât be less either, work well in the workshop, and life will be better than at your parentsâ home."
Mrs. He Yangâs eldest daughter-in-law had married her motherâs village chiefâs granddaughter. Although she was the village chiefâs granddaughter, her family didnât have a profitable business and lived a worse life than hers.
After getting married the year before last, she gave birth to a chubby boy during the wedding night rituals. The child was now over one year old, and she left her child at home taken care of by her daughter, while Little Miss He Yang came to work at the spice workshop to earn money.
Indeed, Mrs. He Yang didnât lieâher wages were sixteen taels, plus the additional year-end monthly salary, making a total of thirty-two taels of silver, which made everyone present envious.
"Dazhuangâs wife, how come youâre so good at working? What would happen if you worked less? Your daughter-in-law is married, and the house is built; leave some work for us to make money to support our families."
Mrs. He Yang said, "I have married off a daughter-in-law, but I still need to marry off a daughter. Does marrying off a daughter not require a dowry? My eldest grandson will go to school in the future; I need to save silver for that, how can I not work hard?"
Mrs. He Yang said this and after collecting her wages, she went to pick up the New Yearâs gift.
Next to collect money was Little Miss He Yang, who nervously rubbed her hands, "Y-Young Master, Iâm here to collect money."
Gu Jinli looked up at her smiling, "Little sister-in-law, your wages for this month are four taels of silver, plus the year-end monthly salary total eight taels of silver, go to my motherâs place to collect the money."
"Eight, eight taels of silver!" Little Miss He Yang was almost fainting, that was so much money already more than her fatherâs annual wages.
Gu Jinli nodded, "Yes, only so much, once you get more experienced and grind spices faster, your wages will increase."
Only this much?
Little Miss He Yang felt she was going to faint, eight taels of silver already seemed a lot to her, and she couldnât imagine getting more: "Thank you, thank you, Young Master."
Little Miss He Yang continually thanked and dizzily went to collect the money and also received her New Yearâs gift.
The New Yearâs gift was very generous, including cotton fabric, cotton, glutinous rice, sugar, alcohol, ten pounds of meat, and a live chicken, but no mutton since each family could only get half a sheep, and hers was already taken by Mrs. He Yang.
Mrs. He Yang looked at her own daughter-in-law, who was stupefied, quite proudly and said, "How about that, the job I found for you wasnât wrong, was it?"
Little Miss He Yang nodded, "Thank you, mother-in-law. Without you, your daughter-in-law wouldnât have been able to earn this silver."
After saying this, she hurriedly handed the silver over to Mrs. He Yang: "Mother-in-law, keep it, our family hasnât separated yet."
Mrs. He Yang, although fierce, was generous, "We donât lack this little bit of silver in the house, save it as your private money, itâll be convenient for you and your husband to buy whatever you want in the future."
After hearing this, Little Miss He Yangâs eyes welled with tears: "Mother-in-law..."
Mrs. He Yang said: "Stop talking nonsense, our family doesnât do such things. Quickly bring out the New Yearâs gifts, your man is still waiting outside."
"Eh." Little Mrs. He Yang responded, hurrying along with Mrs. He Yang to carry the New Yearâs gifts outside.
Outside the workshop house, many people had already gathered, some from the family came to help carry the New Yearâs gifts, others were there to watch the excitement. Seeing people from the workshop bringing out the New Yearâs gifts, everyone was green with envy.
He Sanlai, holding a stick, blocked those people: "Watch if you want, but donât step over the line and start trouble."
After saying that, he also fiercely glared at Fourth Son He and He Daqian.
Fourth Son He and He Daqian have bad characters; Guâs Workshop doesnât hire them to work, and they donât even accept Mingya Grass from their families, fearing they might tamper with the herbs.
Fourth Son He and He Daqian were very angry about this, but as Gu Family grows richer, maintaining a bunch of skilled servants, they couldnât do anything but fume silently.
However, they didnât have to hold back when facing He Sanlai because: "You eunuch who canât sire children, you childless creature, what are you glaring at? Glare all you want, your wife still wonât lay an egg!"
Due to Mo Chunyue nearly four years without pregnancy, He Sanlai and his wife had heard plenty of idle gossip in the village, especially from the families of Fourth Son He and He Daqian, who always insinuated something sarcastically when they saw the couple.
"What the hell did you say? Say that again, and Iâll beat the life out of you dogs!" He Sanlai was furious, raising his stick towards Fourth Son He and He Daqian.
But he still had duties to attend to and couldnât really chase after them to fight, so he could only threaten fiercely: "You just wait, once Iâm off duty, Iâll smash your doors!"
Fourth Son He and He Daqianâs families are so poor that their doors had been broken for eight hundred years, they didnât care at all and joked towards He Sanlai by slapping their butts: "Come on then, you sterile thing, even if you smash our door, can you kill my son? Iâve got a son!"
He Sanlai was pissed off but couldnât find words to retort, so he just fumed silently.
Village Chief He originally came to Guâs Workshop to check on the mutton, wanting to buy half a sheep to take home, but he ended up seeing Fourth Son He and He Daqian mocking He Sanlai, immediately stomping his foot in anger: "Fourth Son He, He Daqian, are you tired of living in the village, wanting to be driven out of the village, is that it?"
He Daqian chuckled: "Village Chief, what did we do? Just told a couple of truths, are you really going to drive us from the village because of that?"
Village Chief He was choked; indeed, they were telling the brutal truth as He Sanlai and Mo Chunyue still had no children.
He Daqian seeing Village Chief He speechless, laughed again: "Exactly, we merely said itâs like a castrated rooster and a hen that doesnât lay eggs, itâs not violating any clan rules."
He Sanlai and Village Chief He heard this and were even more infuriated, but the angrier they were, the happier He Daqian and Fourth Son He became.
Amid their schadenfreude, Xiao Ji suddenly ran out, seeing He Sanlai shouted: "Come inside quickly, your wife has fainted."
He Sanlai was confused: "What? Chunyue fainted, what happened, is she sick?"
He Daqian maliciously said: "Definitely sick, you better start preparing the white cloth for the funeral."
Back then, it was his brother He Dacai who fancied Mo Chunyue. If Dacai could marry Mo Chunyue and live under the same roof as him, his eldest uncle, he would find chances to mess with Mo Chunyue several times.