Chapter 266

266 Fishy

Li Xiaoqing thought for a moment and asked, “Father, do you know how much oil the oil mill produces?”

Li Shun thought for a moment and replied, “I heard that a catty of vegetable oil can produce one or two taels of oil!”

“A tael of oil?” Li Xiaoran frowned when she heard this number.

If she remembered correctly, in modern times, a catty of vegetable seeds could produce three to four taels of oil.

!!

Why was there only one or two taels of oil here?! Could it be that the people from the oil mill had embezzled it?

Luo Ziyang thought of something and said, “Actually, it’s more than that. We can produce two taels of oil. However, the oil mill has to split half of the oil that was fried, so we gave one or two taels of oil to the person who brought the vegetable oil.”

“No way? The oil mill asked us to pay for the oil?!” Li Shun’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“This is actually the unwritten rule of the oil mill. People who don’t work inside don’t know about this at all. Usually, people who work in the oil mill sign contracts and can’t say anything about this. Otherwise, it will bring disaster to their family.” Luo Ziyang explained.

“How do you know so much?” Li Xiaoran looked at Luo Ziyang and asked.

“Because he used to work in the oil mill!” Luo Cheng explained for Luo Ziyang.

Luo Ziyang nodded and didn’t elaborate.

This was because the reason he had returned to the oil mill to work was to complete a mission arranged by his brother.

However, it was inconvenient to tell the Li family about this, so Luo Cheng explained without elaborating on the crucial points.

Li Shun and the others only thought that Luo Ziyang worked in the oil mill to earn a living, so they didn’t ask further.

Li Xiaoran was focused on something else at this moment.

Since the oil mill was so profitable, should they start a business focused on it?!

Thinking of this, Li Xiaoran gave Luo Cheng a look.

“Husband, there’s something I want to discuss with you! I can’t explain it verbally. I’ll draw it out for you!”

Upon seeing Li Xiaoran’s meaningful look, Luo Cheng nodded. After eating the last piece of pot potato in his bowl, he stood up and followed Li Xiaoran back to the room.

After they reached the room, Li Xiaoran looked around. After confirming that there was no one around, she asked softly, “Husband, where are the disabled soldiers you mentioned? When will they arrive?”

When Luo Cheng heard Li Xiaoran mention this, he replied, “They’ll be here in a few days! However, I arranged for them to stay at the barren mountain. The houses there haven’t been built yet. We can only build wooden sheds for everyone to make do with first before we finish building a place for everyone to live!”

“I suddenly thought of a business idea. Why don’t we build an oil mill?! I can increase the oil output of the oil mill to three or four percent!” Li Xiaoran suddenly looked at Luo Cheng and said.

“Yes, do whatever you want!” Luo Cheng subconsciously replied when he heard that Li Xiaoran wanted to start a new business. However, at this point, he suddenly stopped and looked at Li Xiaoran. “Wife, what did you say just now?”

“I said that I have a way to increase the oil output of a catty of rapeseeds to three to four taels!” As Li Xiaoran looked at Luo Cheng’s shocked expression, she said with a smile.

“Are you serious?” Luo Cheng asked in disbelief.

“Why would I lie to you?” Li Xiaoran raised her eyebrows proudly. “However, we need someone with great strength to extract oil. When the time comes, we’ll collect the rapeseeds ourselves and extract the oil directly. Then, we’ll take them out to sell. This way, we’ll give those injured soldiers an extra source of income, and we’ll have another profitable business!”

“But those soldiers are all injured. I’m afraid they can’t do any hard labor!” Luo Cheng thought of something and said worriedly.

“Husband, you don’t have to worry about that! As long as there are workers, I’ll think of a way to solve this problem. At that time, they won’t have to spend too much effort to extract oil from the rapeseeds!” Li Xiaoran said confidently.

Luo Cheng glanced at Li Xiaoran and thought for a moment.

“If that’s the case, then the barren mountain I bought previously is just right. It’s more than enough to build an oil mill.”

“Of course, in addition to the construction of the oil mill and finding workers, someone has to buy rapeseeds. We have to consider all of this. Also, we have to find an accountant in advance!” Li Xiaoran thought of something and said, “I suddenly realize that we’re short of manpower!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll have more people soon!” Luo Cheng looked at Li Xiaoran’s worried expression as he said with a smile, “We’ll have as many as you want!”

“Do you think we should hire a few people to work at our shop?” Li Xiaoran suddenly said, “Actually, there are some people in the village who are quite nice. Their families are very financially burdened, so it’s good that we can help them!”

“Just do as you see fit!” Luo Cheng didn’t care about these things.

In the past, he had thought it was fine. Now, he felt the same.

If any workers slacked off, he didn’t mind confronting them.

He believed that after what had happened previously, the people in the village had already understood that he wasn’t to be trifled with.

Therefore, Li Xiaoran could do whatever she wanted. Even if she caused trouble, Luo Cheng would help her deal with it.

It just so happened that his fist had been itching recently. Since he couldn’t go up the mountain to hunt, he might as well beat up the people who came knocking on his door.

With Luo Cheng’s words, Li Xiaoran immediately knew what to do.

Now, her shop was short of manpower.

In the future, she would have to sell pot potatoes and fast food.

They needed people to help wash the vegetables, serve customers, and get food.

However, it would definitely be too much to handle for the few of them. They felt like they were lacking people everywhere.

After everything was settled, Li Xiaoran went to look for her mother.

She had to find a nimble woman to wash the dishes.

She naturally had to leave the task of hiring workers to her mother, Zhao Xiu.

After all, Zhao Xiu knew the situation in the village the best.

Zhao Xiu knew who were struggling to get by in the village and which women were efficient.

When she heard that her daughter wanted to hire more workers, Zhao Xiu knew what to do.

Zhao Xiu thought for a moment and asked, “Daughter, tell me how many people you want to hire and what you want them to do! How much will they be paid?! I only know who to look for after you tell me all this!”

Li Xiaoran calculated carefully and gave her the data.

“We have to recruit a total of five people. As for the salary, let’s start with 60 copper coins a month!”

“Isn’t 60 coins too much?” Zhao Xiu was shocked and asked.

“Is 60 coins too much?” When Li Xiaoran heard her mother’s words, she thought for a moment and said, “Why don’t we pay everyone 40 copper coins a month first? When the time comes, we’ll pay some bonuses according to everyone’s performance. The diligent ones will give ten more copper coins.”