Chapter 43: No Illegal Employment, Please
“It’s the best place in her heart, so why did she only give it 80 points?!”
Jian Xingxia slapped her forehead. Sure enough, the thoughts of adults were always a bit more complicated. When a meat pie falls from the sky, a normal person’s reaction is still going to involve a bit of panic.
Today, she could only hire one temporary worker again.
After a moment’s thought, Jian Xingxia still chose the cook. She still had hundreds of catties of chestnuts at home. Although chestnuts kept well, she wanted to sell them off quickly so she could earn enough money to buy a tricycle.
This time, she changed the working hours to 14 hours.
Lin Sanniang could work from five in the morning until seven in the evening, boiling two hundred catties of chestnuts a day.
But just as Jian Xingxia went to select the duration, the system suddenly flashed a warning—
[Estate Management Compliance Warning: Temporary workers are employed on a part-time basis. Daily employment hours must not exceed 6 hours, and monthly employment hours must not exceed 36 hours. A suitable match cannot be found under the current parameters. Please modify the shift duration!]
What?
A compliance violation?
Jian Xingxia stared at the screen, thoroughly bewildered. “Wait a minute, that’s not right. Didn’t Dahei work fourteen hours the day before yesterday?”
[The temporary worker in question is a Kunlun slave and is classified as a bondservant, not a hired laborer. Therefore, they are not bound by this clause.]
Jian Xingxia fell silent.
Fine.
Very well.
Legal hired laborers couldn’t work overtime, but slaves weren’t hired laborers, so it didn’t count as overtime. For a split second, she honestly didn’t know how to argue with that logic.
Left with no choice, Jian Xingxia adjusted the working hours, changing it to six hours. This worked out fine too; she could have her work until noon, which would precisely fill up the chest freezer, leaving her free to go out and set up her stall in the afternoon.
Once Jian Xingxia posted the recruitment notice, a figure quickly appeared from the back mountain.
It seemed the system’s matching mechanism had its limitations, so it preferred drawing from a pool of familiar faces whenever possible. Sure enough, the person who arrived was Lin Sanniang.
Although Jian Xingxia was slightly miffed that Lin Sanniang had only given her an eighty-point satisfaction rating, her own evaluation of Lin Sanniang remained exceptionally high.
Lin Sanniang was also secretly overjoyed.
After returning home at noon yesterday, she had eaten lunch and immediately taken some of the fresh coarse rice out to trade for more stale rice and old grain.
The “coarse rice” Jian Xingxia spoke of was considered top-tier refined rice back in the Daliang Dynasty. Not a single grain of husk could be found in it, nor was there any grit; it practically didn’t even need to be rinsed. On top of that, it was this year’s new harvest. In a famine year like this, the places in all of Yuzhou capable of producing such plump new paddy rice could be counted on one hand.
Unsure of what the future held, Lin Sanniang seized every moment, heading out that very afternoon to the wealthy household where she used to work to trade with them.
The refined rice from last time had allowed Manager Zhang to win favor before her master, so Manager Zhang was much easier to talk to this time. Although this batch of rice wasn’t ground as finely as the last one, Manager Zhang still traded over three catties of old rice to Lin Sanniang.
She traded two catties with Manager Zhang, and as for the other two families, she only managed to get a little over two catties from them at one catty each. After getting a feel for the market rates, Lin Sanniang decided not to look elsewhere and resolved to only trade with Manager Zhang in the future.
Still, trading those four catties of rice had brought back over ten catties of grain. Combined with what she had previously exchanged, the grain Lin Sanniang currently held was already enough to keep her family sustained until July or August.
She had also paid a visit to Lin Daniang’s house, delivering two catties of rice and an ounce of coarse salt, urging her repeatedly to go see a doctor.
“Even if you don’t get a prescription right away, at least let the doctor see what the illness is first.”
Lin Daniang was deeply moved that Lin Sanniang had specially brought rice over just so she could see a doctor. She naturally didn’t want to die, but because her household’s situation made things difficult, having a few days’ worth of rations meant she could catch her breath.
However, before Lin Daniang could even go see a doctor, Lin Sanniang was actually summoned by Jian Xingxia again the very next day.
This time, there was no fear left in Lin Sanniang’s heart, only absolute anticipation.
Parting the tall wild grass, she caught sight of the familiar white two-story… or perhaps three-story small building, and a wave of relief washed over her. The fact that the employer was willing to call her back meant she must be satisfied with her work.
She walked briskly to the edge of the backyard gate. Jian Xingxia was currently standing by the back door munching on an ear of corn. Seeing Lin Sanniang, she gestured for her to come right in.
“The gate isn’t locked, just come on in yourself,” Jian Xingxia said, her hands full.
Lin Sanniang stared at the massive iron block hanging from the gate. After studying it for a long moment, she could only say with a flushed face, “Miss, I do not know how to open this lock.”
“Hmm? It’s not locked… Ah!”
Jian Xingxia slapped her forehead, quickly putting down her corn. She wiped her hands and ran over. “I’m so sorry, I forgot you’ve probably never seen a padlock before.”
The backyard gate used a modern padlock commonly seen today. It was perfect for locking gates because it wasn’t picky about the fit; it could be hooked onto the iron railings at will.
Lin Sanniang felt quite ashamed. As a hired worker, she still required the employer to personally come open the gate for her.
But Jian Xingxia didn’t care in the slightest. Not only that, she even asked considerately, “You arrived so early, have you eaten yet?”
Lin Sanniang wanted to say she had. She felt embarrassed taking advantage of the employer; she could just endure it, as she had done for the better part of the past year. But her stomach refused to cooperate, letting out two distinct gurgles.
Lin Sanniang was practically burning with mortification. She had no choice but to say, “Thanks to the items Miss bestowed, my family ate a full meal last night. It is just that I know not why… in the past when I did not eat my fill, mornings were manageable. Yet after eating my fill yesterday, my stomach is crying out this morning instead.”
Jian Xingxia burst out laughing.
She was all too familiar with this sensation. If she was rushing to an 8:00 AM class and skipped breakfast, she might not even feel hungry by 10:00 AM, easily lasting until noon before eating. But if she ate a high-carb breakfast like steamed buns or fried dough sticks in the morning, she would invariably be starving before ten o’clock, and by noon, half her soul would be gone from hunger.
Jian Xingxia smiled and said, “It’s totally fine. Like I said, meals are provided here. I steamed a huge pot of sweet potatoes, corn, and eggs. Let’s eat first, and you can get to work once you’re full.”
Lin Sanniang instinctively glanced toward the kitchen. The Mao hour had only just passed, yet the kitchen didn’t look like a fire had been lit at all; there wasn’t a single wisp of heat rising from it.
Jian Xingxia didn’t notice her glance and simply turned around to walk back into the small parlor, carrying out a plate from inside. On the plate were two ears of corn, four sweet potatoes, and two eggs.
“Here, take a look and grab whatever you want to eat.”
Lin Sanniang swallowed her saliva and plucked up the courage to take the smallest sweet potato. She couldn’t bear to peel off the sweet potato skin; during a famine, people couldn’t even dream of getting sweet potato skins, so it absolutely couldn’t be wasted.
She took small, delicate bites, standing slightly below the steps of the back door, just like she used to do when serving and helping out at other people’s estates.
Jian Xingxia took a few bites of her corn before realizing something was off. “Take a seat! Why are you eating standing up? That’s so inconvenient.”
Lin Sanniang had already figured out Jian Xingxia’s personality. If there was something she didn’t want Lin Sanniang to do—like entering the house—she absolutely wouldn’t bring it up. But whenever she did speak up, one could rest assured and simply follow her instructions.
So, Lin Sanniang sat down on the other side of the small wooden table. Seating herself quietly on the low stool, she finished the small sweet potato in her hand.
Just as she was about to ask Jian Xingxia what tasks needed to be done today, an egg was stuffed into her hand.
“Eat an egg too. I haven’t had time to cook real meals these past two days, but you’ve got to eat your fill of eggs.”
Jian Xingxia had already grown very adept at “handling” these impoverished folks, decisively picking out another large sweet potato and handing it to Lin Sanniang.
