Chapter 38: Settlement of Lin Sanniang’s Wages
Lin Sanniang was instantly struck with embarrassment, feeling that she was overstepping her bounds.
The Proprietress had allowed her to eat, but she certainly hadn’t allowed her to take anything. She hurriedly apologized, “Forgive me, Proprietress, Miss, it was my fault. I…”
“It’s not that I won’t let you take any,” Jian Xingxia waved her hand. “You have the final say over your wages, and you get to choose exactly how much you take home.”
“But as for these chestnuts, eat as many as you want while you’re here so they don’t count against your wage allowance.”
Seeing that Lin Sanniang was still a bit dazed, Jian Xingxia rephrased it another way.
“While you’re here with me, food and drinks are on the house. They don’t count against your wages.”
“I’ll calculate your wages right before you leave, and you can pick out what you want then.”
“However,” Jian Xingxia smiled, “I wouldn’t recommend taking chestnuts. Once I finish packaging them in a bit, I’ll bring out some other things for you to choose from.”
Lin Sanniang had never encountered such generosity in her life.
She had only done a small amount of work. Under normal circumstances, her wages wouldn’t even be enough to buy this many chestnuts, let alone sugar-simmered ones.
Now, Jian Xingxia was not only letting her eat to her heart’s content but was also taking the initiative to explain the wage arrangement and letting her choose freely.
Lin Sanniang’s psychological defenses were dismantled time and time again, yet she was still struck by wave after wave of shock.
What Taoya said was true.
The employer here really is an immortal!
The work was light, no one berated her while she worked, meals and drinks were provided, the Proprietress spoke softly and gently, and the pay was exceptionally high.
If she weren’t holding a spatula and stirring chestnuts right now, Lin Sanniang would have wanted to kowtow to Jian Xingxia all over again.
She had suffered for half her life and prayed to countless gods and buddhas. This time, her prayers had finally been answered.
Lin Sanniang silently wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes and carefully stirred the chestnuts in the pot.
By the time it neared nine-thirty, four pots of chestnuts had already been completed—three original flavor and one rock-sugar flavor.
Jian Xingxia put the newly cooked chestnuts into the freezer and transferred the packaged ones into a massive stainless-steel basin.
Since she couldn’t move the freezer outside, she resorted to the insulation method used for selling popsicles in the countryside during her childhood.
The outside of the massive stainless-steel basin was wrapped in a thick insulation sleeve woven from straw.
Another large basin was flipped upside down on top of it to serve as a lid, similarly wrapped in a straw insulation sleeve.
Finally, she brought out an old quilt from the west wing and draped it over the top.
With this setup, combined with several frozen blocks of ice she had made using mineral water and soda bottles, it should keep things cold for a few hours.
Jian Xingxia placed a phone call to Little Hu the Sixth. “You can head over now.”
She had already arranged it with him last night. Once the chestnuts were packed today, he would borrow a tricycle to pick her up, and then she would ride it to town herself.
She would drop him off in the village along the way so she wouldn’t delay his own business.
As Little Hu the Sixth agreed on the other end, Jian Xingxia turned around to see Lin Sanniang standing to the side, looking terrified and helpless, as if she wanted to say something.
“Is your time almost up?”
Lin Sanniang nodded, feeling utterly terrified inside. Jian Xingxia had suddenly started speaking to the empty air just now, looking perfectly normal as she engaged in a back-and-forth conversation.
Yet Lin Sanniang hadn’t seen a single thing.
Who could head over now?
Head over for what?
Lin Sanniang desperately tried to convince herself in her heart, telling herself that the young mistress was a good person and didn’t look like a villain—after all, she had just let her eat chestnuts!
But on the other hand, she couldn’t help but wonder: Could it be that she really intends to eat me, and the chestnuts were just to make sure I don’t die on an empty stomach?
And now she was asking if her time was almost up…
What time?
Time to be sent to the afterlife?
Lin Sanniang felt like she was about to faint.
Jian Xingxia had no idea what was going through Lin Sanniang’s mind. She quickly ran back to the small parlor to fetch the “wages” she had prepared for the temporary workers.
“This is coarse rice and gray flour. I bought them together, and including the processing fee, the price is about two yuan per catty.”
“This is coarse salt, one and a half yuan per catty. However, I don’t recommend taking too much. Taoya mentioned that your side has salt officials, salt taxes, and strict laws regarding salt, so just take a little bit.”
“And these are fabric scraps I bought on the internet… uh, I mean, at a large market. They’re all cotton, and the price is four yuan per catty.”
What Jian Xingxia had purchased was “all-cotton industrial wiping rags.” She had specifically selected new material, neatly cut to a standard size of 40 by 60 centimeters.
This was because the fabrics with printed patterns couldn’t be brought back by the temporary workers, so Jian Xingxia had spent a “premium” to select this plain, new material.
If she could accept prints, used materials, and irregular sizes, the price would be even lower—she could buy them for just one or two yuan per catty.
Back in university, there was a period when she was severely broke, so she had worked as a cleaning lady.
It was a helpless choice, but cleaning paid faster than other part-time jobs; it was just dirty and exhausting.
She took on the heavy grease and decades-old grime that others refused to touch.
She couldn’t afford brand-new rags or professional cleaning cloths, but a senior cleaning lady at the same company told her she could buy these wiping rags. They were disposable and significantly cheaper.
The day she decided to “sustain” these temporary workers, Jian Xingxia had placed an order online.
She bought twenty catties, which came in an exceptionally large bundle, yet it only cost her eighty yuan.
She said to Lin Sanniang, “If there’s anything else you want, you can let me know, and I’ll see what I can do.”
Staring at the massive bundle of fabric before her eyes, Lin Sanniang stammered, unable to even speak clearly.
“Th-these are fabric… fabric scraps?”
Jian Xingxia felt a little embarrassed. “Whole bolts of cloth are expensive. There might be cheap leftover inventory at the fabric wholesale markets, but I just haven’t had the time to go.”
Nor did she have the money for bus fare.
Jian Xingxia assumed Lin Sanniang found the pieces too small. After all, with a size of 40 by 60 centimeters, let alone the loose, flowing garments of ancient times, even a modern short-sleeved shirt would require piecing several sheets together.
It was fragmented and troublesome.
But Jian Xingxia had seen how terribly ragged Taoya and Dahei dressed. Old Man Xu was slightly better off since he was a craftsman and his family didn’t lack food, but his clothes were just as heavily patched.
The shoulders, elbows, knees, cuffs, and collars were all covered in patches.
Jian Xingxia said to Lin Sanniang, “If all else fails, you can use them to make patches. This size should be plenty.”
By now, Lin Sanniang had entirely forgotten her panic about “losing her life.” She stroked the fabrics in disbelief, lifting them layer by layer to inspect them.
Her whole being was in a daze. “A piece of cloth this large… is actually called a scrap?”
“Huh?”
Jian Xingxia finally realized what was going on and couldn’t help but laugh. “So you don’t think they’re too small?”
“No, no, no…” Lin Sanniang hurriedly corrected herself. “Of course not! Miss, these fabrics are wonderful. They are all fine cotton cloth! Woven so tightly—how remarkably skilled those hands must be!”
The women of the Daliang Dynasty mostly had to tend to domestic affairs; there wasn’t a single one who couldn’t cook, wash, or sew.
The moment Lin Sanniang touched these fabrics, she knew it was top-tier, fine cotton cloth.
Jian Xingxia couldn’t resist reaching out to touch a piece herself. “…Is this really considered fine?”
If a factory used this kind of fabric to make clothing, the customers would march right to the manufacturer to beat them up.
These were all flawed textile cutoffs and couldn’t be considered high-quality cloth at all, which was why they were so cheap.
But seeing how Lin Sanniang couldn’t bear to put it down, this material must be a premium commodity back in the Daliang Dynasty.
Jian Xingxia felt a bit pleased.
Lin Sanniang was even more overjoyed.
The destitute families of the Daliang Dynasty could only afford to wear hemp and kudzu linen; cotton cloth was reserved for making formal, outer garments.
Even for high-ranking officials and noble lords—setting aside what they wore on the outside—cotton cloth this soft and dense would be used to make undergarments worn closest to the skin.
The scraps in Jian Xingxia’s eyes were, to Lin Sanniang, already whole, sizable pieces of excellent cloth.
To her, a palm-sized scrap of cloth could still be used to sew half a shoe upper for Taoya or Xing!
Brother Shu went without saying; he was still young enough that they didn’t need to segregate him by gender, so he still wore his older sisters’ hand-me-down shoes.
Truth be told, a palm-sized piece of cloth could make a whole shoe upper for a toddler.
Witnessing this substantial “wage” with her own eyes, Lin Sanniang felt both unworthy and filled with a dreamlike ecstasy.
She looked up at Jian Xingxia with wide, eager eyes and asked, “Miss, how many pieces of this can I take?”
