Chapter 264: The Apprentices’ Wages
What? They were getting paid wages too?
Sun Dongniang, Fan Shishi, Qin Hua, and the others were utterly astonished.
They had eaten so much food today, and their mid-lesson snacks had been two sponge cakes per person! The silver ear fungus soup had been served in a brimful, massive bowl!
They had only manufactured these few pouches, yet the Manor Owner actually said she was going to distribute wages!
Amid their trepidation and delight, the group only managed to snap back to reality when they turned their heads and saw Lin Sanniang standing quietly to the side.
The women exchanged glances, and Fan Shishi stepped forward to speak on their behalf. “Thank you for your deep affection and generosity, Manor Owner. It’s just that we only managed to complete these few pieces of needlework today. We fear it isn’t even enough to cover our meal expenses, so we truly shouldn’t take any wages on top of that.”
No one disliked money, but one couldn’t be insatiably greedy. Qin Hua and Fan Shishi now fully understood why Ruan Xiang and Shaoyin’s expressions turned so reverent and full of longing every time they mentioned the Manor Owner who commissioned them to make clothes.
Who wouldn’t fight with everything they had to stay in such a wonderful place?
Jian Xingxia could tell that Lin Sanniang had given them a proper lecture beforehand.
This was excellent. She had originally harbored her own plans, but seeing how desperately the impoverished souls were suffering, she had intended to let them overcome their survival crisis first. As the saying goes, only when the granaries are full do people learn manners and etiquette; she had planned to teach them gradually.
But looking at it now, Sanniang had already taken that step ahead of her.
Jian Xingxia smiled and said, “Meals are meals, and wages are wages. Besides, your wages aren’t for me to decide anyway. There’s a specialized party to evaluate exactly how much money these items can offset.”
Jian Xingxia took the items back to her tricycle.
At the same time, she had the system determine the quality and prices to calculate everyone’s wages.
The system churned out a long string of notifications:
[Based on the commodity pricing of the Great Liang Dynasty / Great Yong Dynasty / …and various macro-realm worlds, the recommended retail price for Finished Product 1 is… the recommended retail price for Finished Product 2 is… Finished Product 3…]
[The materials for today’s items were provided by the Manor Owner, calculated at XX yuan, X yuan, X yuan X jiao X fen respectively…]
[The primary contribution of the apprentices at the Manor Academy is time and labor. Based on the average, median, and mode wages of laborers in each corresponding dynasty, the hourly wage corresponding to today’s output can be drafted as…]
[Based on the learning costs of the corresponding crafts in each dynasty, appropriate tuition and miscellaneous fees should be deducted…]
A massive wall of text and currency symbols from various dynasties flooded the screen, making it impossible for Jian Xingxia to read through it all.
Fortunately, the system ultimately delivered its conclusion:
[The recommended retail prices for the items produced by Classroom No. 1 of the Manor Academy today are: 30 yuan, 35 yuan, 50 yuan, 12 yuan, 20 yuan…]
[Deducting material costs and instructional hour costs, the recommended labor compensation for the students of Classroom No. 1 of the Manor Academy today is: 3 yuan, 4 yuan, 5 yuan, 1.5 yuan, 1 yuan, 0.8 yuan…]
Jian Xingxia: !!!
It was even lower than the pay rate for temporary workers!
Unable to believe it, she questioned the system, “Are you sure there’s no mistake in the calculation?”
[Confirmed correct. The above data has been collected and calculated by the system, aligning with the price levels of goods, knowledge, and labor across the various macro-realm worlds.]
Jian Xingxia noticed that the system emphasized the pricing of “knowledge.” On second thought, the existence of the academy itself didn’t place immediate output as its heaviest priority. Rather, it was the crafts and techniques the ancient employees learned here that they could carry back to their respective worlds to continue developing.
Looking at it this way, letting people learn techniques for free and even purchasing their practice products meant the system’s pricing was far from black-hearted. Instead, it continued its usual practice of safeguarding the daily necessities of the ancient employees and apprentices.
Jian Xingxia decisively nodded. “I accept your recommendation!”
Returning to the classroom, Jian Xingxia produced a handwritten “Apprentice Wage Roster.”
“Fan Shishi, three yuan. Qin Hua, four yuan. Sun Dongniang, five yuan. Taoya, one jiao five. Xing Ya, one yuan. Xu Sanniu, eight mao.”
The six of them looked at one another. Amid their joy, they were completely filled with bewilderment—
Was this wage of theirs considered a lot or a little? What kind of things could it buy?
Everyone instinctively looked toward Lin Sanniang—Sanniang was their teacher. While they didn’t dare ask the Manor Owner about such things, they could certainly ask Sanniang.
Lin Sanniang turned it over in her mind, and just as she was thinking of a way to explain it using terms everyone could comprehend, Jian Xingxia cheerfully produced three small boxes. “It’s fine if you don’t understand. Just come over to my side to collect it.”
Collect what?
Everyone was utterly dazed.
Only Lin Sanniang and Taoya had ever seen the “money” used on the manor’s side before, but they also knew they couldn’t use the manor’s actual currency back home.
So what did the Manor Owner want them to collect?
According to the roster, Fan Shishi was the first to step forward.
Jian Xingxia opened the boxes, revealing game tokens of different colors inside to display them to everyone.
“This brass-colored coin represents one mao, or one jiao.”
“The silver coin represents one kuai, or one yuan, which can be exchanged for ten brass coins.”
“The gold one represents ten kuai, or ten yuan, which can be exchanged for ten silver coins.”
Jian Xingxia pulled out three round, silver plastic game tokens. Printed in the center of the tokens was the star symbol that served as the logo for Xingxia Manor.
“Shishi, your wage is three yuan, so here are three silver tokens for you.”
Fan Shishi extended both hands, catching those three copper plates… no, they looked more like silver plates.
However, the weight that settled into her palms was much lighter than she had imagined.
“This… doesn’t seem to be made of silver,” Fan Shishi spoke up cautiously.
Jian Xingxia laughed and said, “Correct, this material is called plastic.”
This was something Jian Xingxia had specially custom-ordered. Ever since she learned that the Manor Academy could purchase the apprentices’ creations, she knew more people would come to exchange their earnings for supplies.
After all, she didn’t possess ancient coins, and the ancients couldn’t carry modern currency back with them anyway.
Therefore, everything had to be converted into material supplies.
But as the number of people grew, she wouldn’t have that much time and energy to test, calculate, and exchange items for everyone one by one.
So she went online and custom-ordered plastic game tokens in three colors.
Jian Xingxia had intentionally selected plastic. First of all, plastic was cheap to buy; she had selected the ones with the best quality and finest tactile feel, ordering a thousand pieces of each of the three colors for just over a hundred yuan.
Secondly, and most importantly, the ancients couldn’t carry plastic objects back to their worlds, which prevented them from being accidentally carried away if things got chaotic with too many hands.
With a cheerful smile, Jian Xingxia distributed the tokens representing the apprentices’ wages.
Taoya and Xu Sanniu even received the brass-colored tokens.
Then, while everyone was still turning over and examining these “coins” made of a bizarre material, Jian Xingxia pushed a small utility cart she had prepared earlier into the classroom from outside the door—
“Ta-da! This is your wage exchange cart!”
The three-tiered rolling cart had different items arranged on each level. They had all been tested and verified to ensure that the vast majority of the employees could carry them back.
There were various staple foods and snacks, coarse salt and brown sugar, needles, thread, fabric, and small metal tools…
Every single commodity was placed inside a neatly sized small box, and tucked onto the boxes were small cards printed with images of the tokens.
It was concise and clear; one look was enough to know the price.
Now, let alone the newly arrived apprentices whose eyes went completely wide, even Lin Sanniang stared in sheer daze.
Xing Ya was lively and active by nature. Staring fixedly at the cart, she couldn’t resist calling out to ask Jian Xingxia, “Sister Manor Owner, this square card shows a copper coin and a piece of maltose candy… does that mean one copper coin can be exchanged for one piece of maltose candy?”
Jian Xingxia stroked Xing Ya’s upward-curling little braid. “Exactly! Xing Ya is so smart!”
Sun Dongniang pointed at the small box containing sewing needles in utter disbelief. “Madame Manor Owner, a single silver coin can be exchanged for 10 sewing needles?”
