Chapter 73: Work
Hui Niang was stunned. She glanced sideways at the silent man with his head down and nodded solemnly. "Hui Niang, write this down."

Tang Zhao watched the couple walk away with relief.

Gu Ci raised his eyes, "Did you just instigate Hui Niang to beat her husband?"

Tang Zhao said casually, "When a man makes a mistake, it's probably because he has too much water in his brain. Just give him a couple more beatings and he'll be fine."

Gu Ci pursed his lips, "If it were me, what would you do?"

Tang Zhao thought about it seriously, "I will stand by the river and watch you drown. After a year of mourning, I will take your inheritance and leave in style."

Gu Ci broke her fantasy, "I don't have any inheritance." After a pause, he added, "The Gu royal family will not allow you to leave and remarry."

Tang Zhao declared, "I don't want to get married again!" If she hadn't been unlucky enough to be put into the bridal sedan, she would have run away long ago.

A slight ripple appeared in Gu Ci's eyes, but disappeared in an instant.

Seeing that the man was still staring at her, as if he wanted an explanation, Tang Zhao considered the cruelty and reality of feudal society and said, "Then I will stay in Prince Xuan's mansion and be a beautiful, happy and wealthy widow alone!"

Gu Ci:.
When the two returned to the courtyard, Aunt Fang was standing at the door looking out. "The general and his wife are back. The banquet is ready, just waiting for the general and his wife to take a seat!"

Dozens of tables were placed inside and outside the yard, each filled with vegetables and meat.

Gu Ci and Tang Zhao were led to the only chair where there was one.

The two sat down, and Gu Ci was about to continue his good habit of not giving a speech before a meal when Tang Zhao pulled his sleeve.

Gu Ci paused, "Quiet, Madam has something to say."

There was a moment of silence at the table, and everyone's eyes turned to Tang Zhao.

Tang Zhao stood up and said, "Thank you all for your hospitality today. My husband and I are delighted."

Everyone waved their hands.

"You are so polite, ma'am."

"It's just simple food. Madam and the general don't mind it."

Tang Zhao held his hand, and after the crowd quieted down, he continued, "Changshou Village is a good place, with mountains, rivers, and land. But it's also not good. The land is small and barren, and the annual output is just enough to keep people from starving to death."

The villagers looked at each other, and their originally excited hearts slowly cooled down.

"If you are alone, you can feed your whole family, but who in this world is alone?"

"Even if you're single right now, there's no guarantee you won't meet someone you truly care about and start a family with, and have a few more children."

Jiang Sheng and Hui Niang came over supporting each other and heard these words.

"But can you afford to raise a child?"

"Can you afford to marry a wife?"

This question hurts the heart. If they could afford to raise children and marry a wife, their lives would not be so meaningless.

The bachelors seemed to have swallowed a ton of coptis chinensis.

Tang Zhao gave a passionate speech, "Have you ever thought about why you can't afford to marry a wife or raise children?"

The people below answered sparsely.

“Because I’m poor.”

“Because of disability.”

“Because I can’t make any money.”

"That's right!" Tang Zhao slammed the table, "Your life is so hard, it's all caused by poverty."

"Do you want to stay poor like this forever?!"

This time the answer was very loud, "No!"

"Is he the only one who doesn't want to?"

The men looked around and yelled, "No!"

Liang Kang whispered, "What's the point of not wanting to? Baiyin Town is so poor, there's not much work even for hard labor."

Tang Zhao glanced at him and said, "So I came to give you some work."

Jiang Sheng suddenly looked up and looked straight at Tang Zhao.

Gu Ci frowned and squinted at him.

Jiang Sheng quickly averted his gaze and shuddered uncontrollably. Liang Kang asked anxiously, "Madam, what kind of work is this?"

"How long can it last?"

"What's the point of keeping everyone employed?"

But don't just ask for a few people, otherwise they will have to compete.

Tang Zhao waved his hand and said, "We want soybean oil pressing. It's a long-term job that can provide for your retirement and see you to the end of your life."

"Really?" The men looked at Gu Ci.

Gu Ci nodded.

The men shouted excitedly and the women cried with joy.

"If you're willing, after dinner, we'll discuss the division of work and try to get started as soon as possible!"

The men all agreed, "It's better to start work early. The earlier you start working, the more money you can earn!"

Tang Zhao was very satisfied, "Let's eat!"

The villagers received great news, they were in good spirits and had better appetites, and they carried out the "Clean Plate" campaign very thoroughly.

Tang Zhao sighed, fortunately she and Gu Ci were at a separate table, otherwise they wouldn't even be able to get a chicken bone.

After the meal, after cleaning up the mess on the table, the women would leave.

"Hey? Don't go!" Tang Zhao said, "Don't you want to do it?"

The women paused. "Is there a share for us?"

Tang Zhao nodded and said, "We want everyone." She still felt that there were not enough people!
The women were surprised and delighted, and sat next to their men and listened attentively.

Tang Zhao selected several capable and reliable people to be team leaders, each leading a pair. A team was responsible for one process of pressing soybean oil, and each team only did this process.

The captains nodded.

Tang Zhao first told all the employees about the main work of the past three months, then dismissed everyone and left the team leaders to explain the main tasks that each of them was responsible for one by one.

"Whether the longevity village can live a good life depends on you."

The team leaders nodded solemnly.

Was sending her away a typo? Tang Zhao, the carefully (okay, not so carefully) selected team leader, lay sprawled on the kang, "I'm exhausted."

It's really hard to talk to these soldiers.

Gu Ci poured her a bowl of water and asked, "When did you plan this?"

"After meeting Mr. Jiang and Mrs. Hui," Tang Zhao took the bowl and gulped it down. It wasn't enough, "Another bowl!"

Gu Ci poured her another bowl and asked, "Why?"

"Why did Mr. Jiang commit suicide? Isn't it because he felt that he was useless and could only be a burden to Hui Niang?" Tang Zhao drank half a bowl of water and left the other half. "Then I will give him a job to make him feel useful."

"Besides, seeing so many bachelors makes me nervous," Tang Zhao asked him. "Aren't you afraid that if they continue to remain single, they will become a hidden threat to public security in Northwest China?"

Gu Ci held the bowl and said, "They don't dare."

Tang Zhao crawled into the warm bed and said, "Don't be so confident. Just because there's no such thing in Changshou Village doesn't mean there aren't any in other places. Can you guarantee that other places also have such upright leaders as in Changshou Village?"

Gu Ci was silent.

Tang Zhao yawned and said, "I'm so sleepy. I'm going to sleep first. Good night."

Gu Ci poured out the remaining water in the bowl and sat at the table to carefully think about Tang Zhao's words.

"Gu Ci," Tang Zhao mumbled drowsily, "It's too cold. Don't sleep on the floor. Be careful not to catch cold legs."

"The kang is big enough, I'll give you half of it," he said, turning over and leaving a large space at the edge of the kang.

Gu Ci stood up and walked to the edge of the kang. After hesitating for a long time, he took off his boots and got on the kang.

He was lying at the very edge, some distance away from the people around him.

Tang Zhao turned over and brought him a quilt.

Gu Ci covered himself with the quilt, the heat quickly spread throughout his body, he closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep.

Gu Ci: Warmth.

Author: Please reward me with monthly tickets, recommendation tickets and comments!


(End of this chapter)

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