Chapter 49: Preparing to Build a House
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“It’s about building the house,” Gu Yundong said. “I’ve just arrived, so I don’t know who’s familiar with this place. So I want to trouble the village chief to help me find a reliable person. The salary is 40 copper coins a day. I won’t provide food for them.”
She had asked around. Usually, the construction of houses here cost 30 copper coins a day, but they had to pay for the lunch. She was living in a widow’s house now, so it was not convenient.
“It’s not a problem for me to help you find constructors.” Chen Liang frowned slightly. “I’m just afraid that you won’t be satisfied.”
“What are you talking about? The village chief will definitely find the most suitable people. If I were to do it myself, 1 would really be clueless and wouldn’t even know that 1 had been scammed. However, 1 might have more requests. Please help me communicate with them to avoid any unhappiness. This is two taels of silver. It’s the fee for your help.”
Gu Yundong took out a piece of silver and handed it over. Chen Liang immediately declined her. “What are you doing? I’m the village chief of Yongfu Village. I’ll help you find a few people. How can I accept your silver?”
“You can’t say that. Although you’re the village chief, 1 can’t push everything onto you and ask you to help, right? You know that my father isn’t around. It’s not convenient for a young lady like me to do many things, and they might not listen to me. If you help me find someone, you have to communicate with them, and you have to help me supervise them in the future. This isn’t within the responsibility of the village chief. I can’t let you help me do so many things, right? Then what kind of person am I? If you don’t accept this fee, then I can forget about building my house.”
“Hey, you little girl…” Chen Liang didn’t even know that this young lady was so good at doing things.
There was no one else in the central room. Other than him, there was only his wife, Madam Zhou.
After hesitating for a moment, he still accepted the silver. “Alright, don’t worry and leave this to me. Take this silver as your payment for my service.”
“Thank you, Uncle Chen.” Gu Yundong changed his words and smiled. “1 have to go back and think about how the house should look like. Can I give you the blueprint tomorrow?”
“Alright, I’ll look for someone in the afternoon. Come and meet me tomorrow morning and we can start work.”
Gu Yundong said a few more words to Chen Liang. Seeing that it was getting late, she left a bag of pastries that she had bought from the county this morning and brought the three of them out. The carriage followed behind them and pulled the things to the rented place.
As soon as they left, Madam Zhou opened the bag on the table. When she saw that it was the famous date cake in the county, she was even more satisfied.
“This young lady is much more sensible than the previous two families. The Wang family and the He family talked nicely, saying that the village chief had the ability to help. In the end, you found someone for them, but they’re still unsatisfied. It’s as if you’ve gained something from it. They say that it’s not easy for them to come all the way here because they’re poor. They keep pressing down on your salary. Twenty copper coins a day is too much. Now, people are not willing to help them build it. They’ve been here for five to six days, but they haven’t found anyone. I reckon that by the time the Gu family’s house is built, their houses haven’t even appeared.”
Chen Liang actually liked the Gu family more. Even without two taels of silver, he felt that this young lady’s words were better. He was willing to help her.
However, he still scolded Madam Zhou. “She won’t see the workers until tomorrow. The Gu family might not be satisfied with the people 1 find. Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Regardless of whether she’s satisfied or not, she has given us pastries and silver in advance. As for the other two families, they didn’t even thank us.”
With this comparison, Chen Liang really had nothing to say.
Moreover, the Gu family had given him money without even seeing the workers. This meant that they trusted him.
Chen Liang felt quite happy..