By the time Song Wan Yue and Song Shen returned home it was already the end of the Shen hour. After a full meal Song Wan Yue made some more arrangements and asked the six guards to start teaching the twelve men martial arts tomorrow.
When he heard the commotion, Elder Song came out of the house, “Yue’er is back.”
“Grandpa.”
Old Master Song sat down on the threshold and watched her finish washing her face with water, “Grandpa asked you something, when will the workshop start recruiting people?”
“Just these two days, I’ve already told my second brother.”
Only then did she realise what was going on, wringing out her handkerchief and putting it on the shelf, she came and sat next to Master Song, “Did the village chief ask you?”
“Well, he’s thinking of trying to get as many people from our village to be recruited as possible.”
“I also told my second brother that 30% of the people in the workshop will be recruited from our village, and the remaining 70% will be divided among the other four villages, but this time the death contract should be signed for a long time, especially for the pill makers, at least fifteen years.”
“I understand.”
Elder Song couldn’t wait to get up, “You go back and rest first, I’ll go to the village headman’s house.”
The village headman took his cigarette pouch and squatted outside the darkened door, staring in the direction of Song’s house. When one pouch of cigarettes was finished, he went back inside to renew another. The second pouch was about to be finished when he saw the old man Song walking this way, he immediately got up and almost trotted to meet him, “How is it?”
Elder Song held out three fingers, “Thirty percent.”
The village chief breathed a sigh of relief, there were five villages in total and the Song family village had taken up thirty percent, this was already a great honour given to him by Song Wangyue.
“But Yue’er said that the death deed will be signed for a longer period of time this time, especially for the pill making, at least fifteen years.”
“If I wasn’t so old, I would have wanted to join the workshop. Once I’m in the workshop, I won’t have to worry about earning money for fifteen years.”
In the countryside, when the weather is good, it’s fine, the family can fill their stomachs, but if the gods are a little unlucky, there are many families who go hungry.
The village chief knocked his cigarette bag on the bottom of his shoe, “It’s getting late, you should go back to bed early.”
Old man Song turned around and went back.
When he was far away, the village chief turned his figure and went to the nearest household, but came out in a moment, and then went to the next one. Half an hour later, every household in the village knew that the workshop was going to recruit three adults in the village and sign a fifteen-year contract, and they didn’t sleep anymore, discussing who in the family would go.
Song Wan Yue did not know that the village head was so impatient, she slept until dawn, ate her meal and then took the carriage to the county town.
The progress of the restaurant was fast and the ground floor had already been built.
When she saw him coming, Zhang San and the others greeted him and Song Wan Yue nodded in response. After a quick turn around, she gave Song Lin a word and went back to the mansion to find Meng, “Grandma, shouldn’t we go and buy some people back first?”
“Your mother and I were just talking about this, we don’t know the place, and we don’t know where the tooth woman is.”
“That’s fine, I’ll ask Xu Liang to ask Sheriff Zhang to come over, he knows her well.”
Meng nodded, and Song Wan Yue sent Sister Wu to tell Xu Liang, who went to the magistrate’s office and quickly invited Sheriff Zhang to come. When he heard that they wanted to buy someone, Sheriff Zhang said, “Don’t come to the door either, tell me the terms of the purchase, and I’ll have the tooth woman bring it over.”
“Fourteen years old and above, quick-witted, to be a running mate.”
Sheriff Zhang went to find the tooth woman, who quickly brought the men over. Ever since she knew that Song Wangyue was going to re-build the restaurant, she had guessed that she would have to recruit people, and had bought quite a few people back in the past few days.
When she arrived, the toothwoman bowed to Song Wan Yue and spoke with a bit of flattery, “Miss Song, these are the best boys I have, take your pick.”
Song Wan Yue instructed Sister Wu to bring out a chair and she helped Meng to sit down.
The tooth-woman took one look at the situation and guessed that it was Meng who was making the choice, and turned sideways to introduce her to–
Meng waved her hand, gesturing for her to stand to one side, and said to the people she had brought with her, “Starting from the left, come forward one by one and introduce yourselves, saying your names, how old you are, where your family is from, and why you were sold.”
At these words, the first person on the left stepped forward and stumbled over his or her introduction.
The tooth woman was anxious to hear this and coughed lightly to remind them.
Meng glanced at her.
The toothwoman, startled, choked on her own saliva and literally coughed, coughing up a red face and neck.
“Sister Wu.”
Sister Wu understood and instructed the maid to bring a small tea table out and place it in the shade of the courtyard, brought tea and said to the tooth woman, “Please sit down and have tea over there.”
She was so flattered that she went and sat down after thanking her repeatedly, and took a sip of the tea.
By the time the dozen or so people had been introduced, the toothwoman had finished the teapot full of tea.
Meng left ten people with ten taels each.
The toothwoman gave gave the deeds of sale to these people, and happily took a hundred taels of silver tickets and left with the rest.
Meng asked Sister Wu to take the ten men down to be housed.
“Now we’re just short of the chef.”
If a restaurant is good, it all depends on the chef’s skill. If it was good, more customers would come; if it was not, the restaurant would be closed in no time.
“No need for a chef.”
Meng was surprised.
“We do buffet roasts and hot pots in our restaurant.”
The hotpot Meng knew, the buffet roast she didn’t understand at all.
Song Wangyue explained it to her.
After listening, Meng found it unbelievable that there was such a way of eating.
“The buffet is charged according to the number of people, as long as the people who enter the restaurant pay the same amount of silver no matter how much they have eaten.
“That’s no good, if we catch the ones who can eat, we’ll have to lose our money.”
Song Wangyue smiled, “It won’t be.”
Seeing that she was confident, the little worry Meng had in her heart receded.
“Madam, Steward Jin has arrived.”
The maid reported from the courtyard door.
“Send him in.”
A man in his fifties walked in, with a slightly chubby body and a dusty appearance.
“Greetings, Madam, Miss Sun.”
“You’re just in time, Yue’er said the restaurant does buffet roasts and hot pots.”
“A barbecue buffet?”
Steward Jin had never heard of it and his eyes fell on Song Wangyue in passing, he had always only heard of this Miss Sun but had never seen her.
“Miss Sun, I wonder if this barbecue buffet is?”
Song Wangyue gave him another speech.
After hearing it, Steward Jin’s eyes lit up.
He had joined the Meng family at the age of six, followed Meng Yang’s business at the age of ten, and came to the capital at the age of twenty as Meng’s dowry to help run the shop.
At that moment, all the fatigue was lifted and he said impatiently, “Miss Sun, can we talk about it in detail?”
“There’s no rush ……”
Seeing how dusty Steward Jin was, he must have come all night after receiving her letter, Meng said, “Go down and freshen up first, and come back in an hour.”