Chapter 144 Medicinal Herb Cultivation

Chapter 144 Medicinal Herb Cultivation

In the first month after Hao Zai Lai Restaurant opened, at the end of February, the two cooks, holding a heavy sum of money that seemed suspiciously off, hesitantly reminded Xie Wan Niang, "Boss, did you...did you make a mistake in the accounts?"

Their hesitation wasn't because they had ulterior motives or wanted to perpetuate a mistake, but because they lacked confidence in their own educational level.

As ordinary women who could barely recognize a few characters, who never did addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division when shopping, and who counted money one coin at a time using clumsy methods, they had deep doubts about their own counting abilities.

Hearing their words, Xie Wanniang thought she had given too little. She held out her hand to the two women, "Wasn't it three taels and five mace? Did I put too little money in?"

The two were dumbfounded. "How much?"

“Three taels and five mace?” Xie Wanniang said, somewhat puzzled. “Didn’t I tell you before? The monthly salary for a regular cook is three taels and five mace.”

The two cooks: ......

So, when the employer told them this, it wasn't to motivate them to work harder and get promoted to a permanent position as soon as possible, but rather to directly give them a raise after they were promoted!

The two cooks were overjoyed and so excited that they didn't know what to say.

After opening and closing his lips for a long time, he could only manage to utter one sentence: "Thank you, boss. We will definitely work hard from now on."

Xie Wanniang smiled, "Just maintain your current state. It's hard to keep going for long if you're too tired."

She was simply stating the facts objectively, but the two cooks were moved to tears by the genuine care from their employer.

The two of them were skilled workers and earned the most money, while the six teenagers who worked as waiters and kitchen helpers earned the monthly salary of an ordinary waiter, which was only one tael of silver.

In Yi County, those workers and laborers in similar jobs, but older than them, mostly only earned eight or nine hundred coins a month.

Moreover, those people don't have fixed holidays. They have to work almost every day of the year, and if they occasionally need to take leave, their employers will deduct their wages.

Besides their wages, they also receive no other benefits.

Compared to them, these six teenagers were incredibly lucky.

As for the ten retired soldiers, they were all around forty years old. They were a special group of people who had been training for a long time or were no longer able to fight on the battlefield, but could still exert their highest combat power when they occasionally got into a fight.

If these people are only allowed to do odd jobs in restaurants, it would be a huge waste of talent.

Xie Wanniang didn't want things to go this way, so she took out two of the large gold bracelets her adoptive mother had given her and bought five small hills suitable for planting medicinal herbs on the outskirts of Yi County.

Because it was an ordinary little hill, unremarkable with no beautiful scenery or valuable products, Xie Wanniang not only bought it easily but also spent very little money.

The five mountains, including the large tracts of wasteland between them, cost her only a little over 370 taels of silver, including the money paid to the brokers and minor officials. This was equivalent to buying 20 to 30 mu of land.

After helping her with the renovation of the restaurant, the ten retired soldiers were all sent by her to the eastern suburbs of Yi County, where the five mountains are located.

She assigned them tasks such as building houses, erecting walls, and constructing water conservancy projects tailored to the local conditions. Of course, she also asked Changping to help find reliable craftsmen specializing in construction and water conservancy.

The craftsmen and the men they brought were in charge of the construction, while the ten men were responsible for running errands and supervising the work.

The two gold bracelets, plus the money she had left over from buying the shop and decorating it, were enough for her to build everything she wanted, and then buy some common medicinal herb seeds.

As for those that are uncommon or inconvenient to cultivate from seeds, she could only lead those retired soldiers into the mountains to collect them.

This is not something that can be done in a day. Xie Wanniang is not in a hurry. Just like opening a restaurant, she is mentally prepared to take it one step at a time.

Compared to her side, Hao Yu's side is slightly less popular.

In border counties and towns, most people do want to learn self-defense skills, but their economic conditions do not support them in putting their ideas into practice.

Of the very few families who could afford to send their children to learn martial arts, a large majority preferred to send their children to school so they could take the imperial examinations and enter officialdom.

Compared to the perilous military career, entering officialdom through the imperial examination was undoubtedly both safe and secure. They could expect their children to one day lead them away from the border to the capital region or even the prosperous lands to the south, or they could expect their children to live a long and healthy life, bringing them the same long-lasting wealth and honor.

As a result, Hao Yu's apprenticeship program did not go smoothly.

Xie Wanniang's restaurant business quickly grew from having only a few customers trying it out to being packed with customers, with queues even forming during mealtimes. In contrast, Hao Yu's martial arts school, which had been open for two months, had only taken in six disciples.

Including Atai, the disciple he brought from Tang County who was formally accepted into his school, as well as Haitang, who was arranged by Xie Wanniang to learn martial arts there, and the six orphans of fallen soldiers, he now has a total of fourteen disciples.

Thanks to Xie Wanniang for paying tuition for seven people, his and Chen's daily expenses were barely enough to keep up with their income, so he didn't have to use the money he had saved in his early years to supplement the family income.

Therefore, Chen was very grateful to Xie Wanniang. Although she vaguely knew that Hao Yu's family was well-off and that even if they just sat around waiting to die, they wouldn't have to worry about spending all their money, as a hardworking woman who wanted to live a down-to-earth life, Chen still needed to see the family's income and expenditure in balance before she could feel completely at ease.

It's just that she's physically unable to work now; otherwise, she would have been sitting at her loom diligently weaving cloth to earn money, just like before.

It seemed like only a blink of an eye before time smoothly transitioned from January to May. During this period, not only did Chen give birth to a daughter, but Xie Wanniang also planted some common medicinal herbs on her five hills.

Jiang Yuan, who was being given special attention by Chang Yao, only returned to Yi County once in more than three months, when he was helping to send people to Xie Wanniang. He never came back after that.

However, Hao Yu and Xie Wanniang both received many letters from him. He told them that he now spends most of his time training and occasionally goes out to patrol the border with other soldiers.

Although border patrols are "routine," they are "routine" with a very high risk factor.

Even if they didn't unfortunately encounter a large foreign army heading south, but instead met bandits or brigands active outside the pass, if the enemy outnumbered them and the patrol team failed to detect them in time and retreat to a safe distance for various reasons, they would still have a high chance of never returning.