Chapter 68

No one dared to wake up late because someone would visit the next day

As soon as the family had breakfast, the village head brought some people to the house. These people had been here before, so Xu Ran explained the details to them, “My friends, this time I am offering a permanent job. As long as you are willing to take a fixed and permanent job, you are welcome to stay. If you are not, you are free to go. I won’t give you any demanding requirements. You only need to help me reap the crops in the season of harvest. As for the payment, I won’t let you down.”

A permanent job meant they would work for Xu Ran for a long time and they had to sign a contract as well. Most people were unwilling to do such kind of thing. The payment of a permanent job was higher, but it allowed less freedom than short-term jobs. Although they had no idea what was the meaning of freedom, they would feel jealous when they saw everyone else could relax when they wanted, have fun when they wanted, and do whatever they wanted to do.

However, there was no doubt these people who were terrified with poverty would still agree to take the job after considering how handsome the payment was for a permanent job.

Xu Ran had given those people enough time to consider about it since he wasn’t in a hurry. Although the village head had helped him by talking with them first, it wasn’t as effective as the words came out from the master of this house.

After a while, some people left and some stayed. Xu Ran said nothing to those who left. As for the people who stayed, he naturally welcomed them.

After confirming the people who would accept the job, Xu Ran finally started to talk about the payment. Three pences would be paid to workers compared to the pervious wasteland reclamation job. The lunch was included and they would receive a bonus if they had worked for one year. As for how much the bonus would be, it was based on their daily performance. There was a lowest bonus but no highest. That was a great temptation for the people who stayed.

They could receive over ten pences for one-day work. Meal was included and they could live in their own places. Thus, it was much better than to find a job in the town or somewhere else.

Xu Ran had a close inspection on the ten people who left at the end. They had worked here before and performed well. In addition they were all honest. Since Xu An had to help him on building the handcart later, Xu Ran let Xu Fa and Xu Zhen to manage these workers.

Xu Ran completed the contracts and every worker signed it under the witness of the village head. Each of them signed a one-year contract. If they were willing to stay one year later, they could renew it. If they didn’t want to stay, they could just leave.

Because it was under the village head’s witness, these people signed contracts without any question.

Seeding wheat was much faster than wasteland reclamation. It only took them three days to finish the work. They were all experienced workers. They also helped Xu Ran to get some branches and stuck them around the field. By doing so snow would not cover the newly grown wheats in the winter. Xu Ran gave each of them five more pences and half kilo of meat when giving them payment after seeing what they had done.

After seeding was finished, Xu Ran prepared to start making chili paste. He had nothing to do in the field these days, so he went to fish at the river with a group of children. He really managed to get a lot of fish with those children.

Since he had made enough chili paste and, of course, to thank these kids, Xu Ran gave them quite a lot of delicious food.

It was a great time for collecting chestnuts. They could be seen anywhere in the mountain, so Xu Ran led children into the mountain to pick chestnuts.

These naughty children already knew where to find chestnuts when they ran up the mountain. The oldest child in the group was already thirteen years old, which was equivalent to half of a working labor. He left the house to play with them because there was nothing to do recently. Under his guidance, they all harvested a lot of chestnuts. Xu Ran taught them every recipe he knew about chestnut after they returned, which was thought highly of by everyone.

Xu Ran suddenly thought that this was a good chance to make money after remembering the price of chestnuts in modern days. However, he didn’t have time to manage it so he decided to leave it to Wu Mei. He let Wu Mei sell the chestnuts in the town with Wu Lan and Liu Qing. Warm roasted chestnuts would became very popular since the winter was getting colder and colder.