Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 180
Booming Business
The happiest person to hear that Mo Yan would be staying at the workshop often from now on was Mo Zheng.
After hearing her say she lacked a room, Mr. Zhen was the first to say, “We’re the ones who took your room, you should have it back! We’re used to living outdoors, and we’ll be fine just sleeping in the kitchen.”
His wife supported his statement from the side as well, “Yeah! We’re not in need of a room.”
Mo Yan took the opportunity to say, “Uncle and Auntie Zhen, if you feel uncomfortable with living here for no rent, then how about helping me with something?”
The couple instantly asked how they could help, and Mo Yan patted Mo Zheng on the head, “We’re usually pretty busy, and I would appreciate it if you could help look after Zheng’er.”
The two smiled happily, “No problem, we’re glad to take care of a child.”
Lu Junming stood up after finishing his bowl of tofu pudding, “I’ll move to Chi Jie’s room, you can sleep at mine.”
They came out of the kitchen when they saw Ms. Hua carried the two puppies into the courtyard. Mo Yan asked, “Godmother, the puppies are so small, we don’t need to take them on strolls yet, right?”
Ms. Hua set the puppies down, “I was afraid they’d die if they didn’t eat properly, so I brought them back to nurse from their mother.”
The two fluffy puppies started roughhousing in the courtyard, and Mo Zheng ran over to play with them as well.
The Zhen couple said, “Miss Mo, we don’t have anything to do when we’re idle, so if there’s anything you need help with here, just say the word.”
Mo Yan looked towards the stables and said, “If you’re free, you could help feed the horses, sweep the courtyard or help Ms. Hua cook. Don’t be embarrassed about staying here without paying rent.”
Ms. Hua dragged her to help Lu Junming move rooms, and only spoke when they entered the room, “How could you just let two people with unknown origins move into the workshop? What do we do if they have ill intentions?”
Mo Yan smiled, “That won’t happen, they came here to search for their daughter after she went missing. People who like children won’t have that bad of a heart.”
Ms. Hua complained, “You children are too naive. Like the saying goes, ‘You can’t possess intent to do someone harm, and you can’t forgo wariness towards others.’”
“I know, then I’ll just be more careful.”
Lu Junming didn’t have a lot of possessions in his room, so he just had to move his blankets. However, Chi Jie was a night owl and didn’t like sharing a bed with others, so he had to buy a new bed and move it to their room.
They had just finished packing when they heard someone call from the courtyard gate, “A letter for Lu Junming!”
They ran out to see a postman on horseback with a letter in his hand.
Lu Junming took the letter and handed the fee over. The postman said, “Why doesn’t your workshop not even have a name? It’s lucky I’m familiar with this town, or I wouldn’t know where to send this letter to.”
After saying that, the postman left, and Mo Yan said, “We should probably name the workshop.”
Lu Junming off-handedly replied as he opened the letter, “You name it!”
Mo Yan’s eyeballs spun, “Our workshop begun operations making raincoats, which can help people block wind and rain, so how about we call it the Sunny Day workshop!”
She heard him repeatedly say praises, but when Mo Yan came over to take a look, he was saying it while reading the letter.
“Whose letter is this?”
“It’s from the Upper Valley, my dad said there’s a war on the northern border and he needs to lead the troops. He requested that the general provide raincoats and backpacks for the army, who agreed. Our first set of orders are three thousand raincoats and ten thousand backpacks.”
“So is your dad stepping onto the battlefield?”
Lu Junming nodded, still with a small smile on his face, “Yes! What’s the matter?”
“It’s war, it’s very perilous.”
“I know, but shouldn’t generals step onto the battlefield?”
Mo Yan didn’t quite understand their thought processes. In their opinion, the battlefield is like going to work, it’s not a big deal.
“What’s our deadline? When do they need it?”
“In a month.”
“We’re in such a hurry?! Then we need to import materials as soon as possible in preparation. Also, there aren’t nearly enough workers, we need to heavily recruit and increase work hours.”
The situation was urgent, so the two entered the workshop and started discussing with Chi Jie. Mo Yan would be responsible for recruiting more workers, Chi Jie for training the new recruits on the required skills, and Lu Junming on purchasing materials.
The materials weren’t a problem, as Chi Jie’s textiles workshop could provide the necessary materials. Zhong Cheng was still the most reliable for importing goods, so Lu Junming decided to immediately go to Xiahe Village to ask him to take a caravan to the Upper Valley.
Recruiting workers was a tricky business, as even if they recruited a sufficient number of workers, they would be inexperienced and wouldn’t necessarily be able to produce the required number of products.
When Zhou Liangsheng arrived at the workshop, Mo Yan asked him to write recruitment notices. Even she thought her own letters were too ugly, she didn’t want to show them to the world.
He took out an ink brush and small pot of ink from his briefcase, and started writing recruitment notices. His letters were straight and beautiful, and looked no different from letter stamps. In quick succession, he wrote over a dozen copies. The bottom text was written according to Mo Yan’s instructions: Qianshui Town, Sunny Day Raincoat Workshop.
After the notices were posted and they waited for people to join, they thought it took too long, and Mo Yan asked after a brief moment of concentration, “Liangsheng, how about we ask the governing official to say something about our recruitment drive. We might be able to get more workers that way.” [1]
“Alright, then let’s post recruitment notices on our way to him.”
The two went to the governing official’s to explain the situation, and Liu Fengchun asked, “How many workers do you want to recruit?”
“I roughly crunched the numbers, and if we want to finish this order on time, we’ll need to recruit a hundred and fifty to two hundred workers.”
“I don’t think it’d be easy to find that many people interested in my town alone. It’s also nearing the harvest, and by that time the households with farmland will want to harvest their crops first.”
To make someone work overtime, the best motivator is financial. Right now, the workers all have a monthly salary no matter how much they worked, like a state-owned company. [2]
If they wanted to increase the workers’ productivity, they had to change their management policy and pay the workers via how much they produced.
Zhou Liangsheng had been listening to them from the side when he suddenly asked, “Sister, can this work be taken back home?”
Mo Yan froze, Why couldn’t it? The women of the countryside often had the elderly and children to take care of, and couldn’t leave their homes. If they could take this work back home, and they could not only take care of their dependents, but also earn money. There would be a lot of people willing to work, but it would be difficult to manage.
Liu Fengchun stood up to say, “I’ll go and tell people to spread the news about town, but I can’t guarantee there’ll be a lot of recruits.”
A governing official knew the people and the events in their town very well. If they wanted someone who knew the workers very well, they’d have to select a capable manager.
“Governing official Liu, please tell the townsfolk this job can be done at home. Anyone with the fundamentals of needlework who is willing to learn can learn at the workshop, then take materials back home to make products.”
Mo Yan and Zhou Liangsheng went back to the workshop and handed the list of people who had come over to enlist to Chi Jie. She decided that to find a manager needed to begin with Chenzhong Village. After all, she was familiar with the people there.”
There were quite a few people from Chenzhong Village working at the workshop, Xiaoyue, Dagan, Xiuying…
She ultimately decided on appointing Xiaoyue as a manager. She worked well, was a careful person, and her dad was the governing official of the village, so she had a voice there.
Post-translation notes: It seems all but confirmed there will be minimal contact with the Mo family from this point onwards. As always, thanks for reading!
[1] Considering Mo Yan was formerly (and is still) at odds with Liu Fengchun over Ms. Hua’s husband, this seems like an odd choice to me.
[2] This is your friendly reminder that China is still a communist country.