Chapter 318: The Accountant Went Home to Have a Baby
Old Madam Luo called out to Brother-in-law Jiao once more: “Help your second elder brother carry the beans inside.”
Brother-in-law Jiao stepped forward hurriedly to lend a hand.
Right at this moment, someone in the crowd blurted out out of nowhere, “Why should he get to go in first?”
Old Madam Luo didn’t catch who said it clearly either, but she scanned the area regardless and spoke up: “Why? Just because he calls me Eldest Sister-in-law! Alright, the rest of you follow the order of who arrived first—the five households that came earliest can stay, while everyone else can head home. Come early tomorrow to queue up. Everyone will get to press theirs anyway, so what’s your hurry?”
Saying that, Old Madam Luo prepared to enter the workshop alongside Little Madam Luo and the workers. After a moment’s thought, she turned back and added a line: “Who came first and who came later—my family has eyes watching everything right here. So don’t make a scene and don’t fight. Disperse now!”
Saying this, she led Little Madam Luo and the workers inside.
Outside, a clamor indeed persisted for a short while, but everyone understood Old Madam Luo very well and didn’t dare make too fierce a scene, quieting down before long.
Little Madam Luo was somewhat worried that things outside might get chaotic, looking outside repeatedly.
Old Madam Luo, however, remained entirely composed: “Stop looking—they won’t dare cause trouble.”
Seeing her elder sister looking so certain, Little Madam Luo calmed down as well. Old Madam Luo explained to her, “As long as the people from Jiao Village don’t cause trouble, the people on Gutong Village’s side won’t be able to stir up a fuss. Who would dare cause trouble at my doorstep right now? Wouldn’t that just be asking for a scolding?”
A woman working nearby chimed in with a smile: “That’s right, Auntie Luo! Just put your heart at ease in your belly. As long as my aunt is in this courtyard, they won’t be able to stir up trouble. Whether a loud argument feels good, or having oil to eat from now on feels good—they can still tell the difference.”
Sure enough, the outside quieted down quickly, though one could still tell that many people remained outside.
“They’re all waiting to watch the oil pressing! Let them wait—if they don’t see it with their own eyes, they won’t feel at ease after all.” Old Madam Luo had no intention of minding them either, stepping straight into the separately partitioned oil mill instead.
“Yao Yao, get things started for your Second Grandfather’s household first. There are still people waiting outside,” Old Madam Luo said.
In just that short moment, the beans belonging to Second Master Wen’s household were already tossed into the wok to begin roasting. To grind the powder faster, a shed had been specifically erected at the entrance, inside of which Big Yellow stood obediently, prepared to pull the millstone.
By now, Lady Li and Lady Cai were capable of operating everything independently. Ultimately feeling short-handed, they temporarily reassigned two strong women from the soybean paste workshop to help with the labor. After all, a day’s wage was the same regardless—whether making soybean paste or pressing oil, labor was labor.
By the time the bean grinding got underway here, the very first household queuing outside could be brought in to roast their beans.
Wen Yao had Carpenter Zhang block off all the key parts of the oil press with wooden coverings, so even if someone saw what the oil press looked like, they wouldn’t be able to build an identical one. As long as core technology remained in their hands, there was no fear of being imitated by others.
As the doors of the oil mill opened, the people outside finally caught a clear view of this grand contraption in its entirety, each wishing they could rush inside to take a close look.
Old Madam Luo did nothing at all, merely pulling a stool to sit at the entrance; no one dared step half a pace closer.
Second Master Wen had only brought one hundred catties of beans. Because Old Man Wen had told him a day in advance that keeping this oil for too long would ruin its flavor, and since it was all their own property anyway, he should come press more after finishing what he had, Second Master Wen brought only one hundred catties of beans, serving as an example for everyone else.
Although the crowd didn’t dare step inside to watch, many still craned their necks long. When they saw glossy, bright liquid truly trickling down from the oil press, everyone began shouting in excitement.
Old Madam Luo cast a glance at them, saying nothing further, though the corners of her mouth curled slightly upward—she seemed to be in quite a good mood.
Throughout the morning, Wen Yao helped set up two households, after which everything was handed over entirely to Lady Li and Lady Cai to lead the workers in managing it. Whichever household’s beans were being processed, that family would lend a hand to work alongside them, making the work go by quickly.
Over the course of the morning, the villagers all came to believe that these beans could truly yield oil, having witnessed this grand contraption of an oil press with their own eyes. Once noon passed, aside from the few households still waiting in line, the crowd at the entrance had cleared away—after all, which household didn’t have a pile of chores waiting to be done?
By the end of the day, including Second Master Wen’s household who entered first, a total of six households had their oil pressed before nightfall. As for the processing fee, it was set at twenty文 per hundred catties. Across the entire day—aside from Second Master Wen’s hundred catties—the other five households brought two hundred catties each, earning a total of over two hundred文.
Counting the copper coins inside the money jar, Old Madam Luo felt no great surprise. When the processing fee was set at twenty wen per hundred catties earlier, Old Madam Luo had never expected to make much money off this.
Having finished calculating the accounts, Old Madam Luo handed the small jar of copper coins entirely over to the two brothers, Wen Xiuzhu and Wen Xiuqing.
“Second Son, Third Son, keep today’s money for yourselves. There’s no work in the fields during this period, so you two work here for a few days. Once your father and your eldest brother finish this busy stretch, I’ll have him pick two reliable young lads from the village to replace you two.”
After speaking, Old Madam Luo cast another glance at her two daughters-in-law, saying, “As for roasting the beans, grinding the beans, and steaming the beans—the people who bring their beans can do those chores themselves. Your duck shed side is short-handed as well, so just one of you needs to come tomorrow. Bring Little Qiao’s mother along to teach her thoroughly, and let her keep an eye on things here from now on.” Little Qiao’s mother was also a female worker in Old Madam Luo’s soybean paste workshop; she worked nimbly and was honest, so Old Madam Luo felt at ease with her.
It wasn’t as if it involved any key technical skills anyway, so there was no need to keep hiding things, ending up working their own family to death in the end—it truly wasn’t worth it.
Having arranged these matters, Old Madam Luo returned home to help Wen Yao prepare the meal.
Wen Yao noticed that the old lady seemed to have something weighing on her mind, asking, “Grandma, are you unhappy?” The old lady had clearly looked radiant earlier.
Old Madam Luo let out a sigh: “Sigh, your Second Cousin-Aunt is pregnant now, isn’t she? The accounts for the workshop were all kept by her. This month, her morning sickness has been severe, so I told your Little Aunt-Grandma not to bring her back and forth to suffer. But if she doesn’t come, what about the workshop’s accounts?”
“Ah? In that case, how about we hire an accountant like Sister Rongrong did?” Wen Yao suggested.
Wen Yao truly didn’t have to worry much about bookkeeping. Qiu Rongrong’s side had an accountant for everything, leaving her to merely sit back and wait to receive money; her partnership with Li Yi was even more so—she simply waited to split profits.
Only the winery belonged entirely to her, requiring no complex bookkeeping at all; Uncle Qin merely gave her a monthly report, and whether it made a profit or a loss was all her own affair.
The orchard hadn’t begun making a profit yet, so accounts didn’t factor into it either.
The soybean paste workshop belonged to Old Madam Luo, yet Old Madam Luo refused to take any income from the century eggs and salted duck eggs, having Jiang Lady Yue keep a separate set of accounts for Wen Yao and settling silver for Wen Yao at the end of each month.
The accounts for the soybean paste workshop were separate from those of the salted duck eggs and century eggs.
Old Madam Luo’s brows knitted tightly as if weighing the feasibility of this matter. Hiring an accountant wasn’t like buying cabbages or green onions—this person would manage the money for the entire workshop! She had to find someone trustworthy, yet how could outsiders be as trustworthy as family?
Wen Yao added, “Grandma, I think you ought to discuss this with Second Cousin-Aunt. Think about it—earlier, it wasn’t easy for us to encourage her to take on this accounting work. Back then, she always felt she wasn’t capable, but later she worked hard to learn bit by bit. Look at her now—has there ever been a problem with the workshop’s accounts?”
“Indeed, Lady Yue is truly a capable one,” Old Madam Luo nodded.
Wen Yao continued, “Now Second Cousin-Aunt is pregnant. If we hire another accountant without consulting her first, what if she thinks we’re looking down on her work? Wouldn’t the confidence she built up previously suffer a blow? So I think you should ask her first.”
