Chapter 168 Hiring People to Grow Herbs

Chapter 168 Hiring People to Grow Herbs

Xie Wanniang still felt it was inappropriate to make the children work for her for free. After a moment's thought, she said, "Then I'll pay them half of what the two senior brothers earn. As they gain more experience and get older, I'll gradually increase their wages."

As for the interview or trial period, Xie Wanniang skipped both of those steps.

She had frequent contact with Dr. Chen's family and knew them fairly well. In addition, she had Jiang Yuan, Hao Yu, Wang Xiaozhi, and others to ask around indirectly, so she could trust the character and personality of Dr. Chen's family.

Not to mention that Dr. Chen is a respectable man; he wouldn't have recommended his son and grandson if they weren't hardworking, honest, and reliable.

After the two discussed the matter, Doctor Chen was even more concerned about buying the barren mountain than Xie Wan Niang.

Based on his years of experience in collecting medicinal herbs, he recommended many barren mountains suitable for planting medicinal herbs to Xie Wanniang.

Xie Wanniang valued these valuable experiences highly. She not only wrote them all down in a small notebook, but also took the opportunity to suggest that she hire Doctor Chen's eldest grandson as a technician.

Dr. Chen's eldest grandson is certainly not a qualified doctor yet; he is still Dr. Chen's apprentice and has not yet graduated to practice medicine independently.

Xie Wanniang invited him for two reasons: first, because he was young and more suitable for climbing hills than Doctor Chen; and second, because if he encountered a problem he couldn't solve, Doctor Chen would definitely step in personally.

She essentially paid for two technicians for the price of one, which was incredibly profitable.

Carrying a small notebook recording Dr. Chen's experiences, Xie Wanniang, accompanied by a broker, spent two days traveling around before finally identifying six mountains about four or five miles from Mingfu Village.

The low hills, which had little of value and were too difficult to cultivate crops on, were as cheap as the barren hills in Yi County. Xie Wanniang bought six of them in one go and hired people to help build walls and some houses, which only cost her half of the money she had brought back.

Considering that she probably wouldn't return to Mingfu Village from Yi County in the spring or summer, Xie Wanniang left some money with Doctor Chen.

In addition to Dr. Chen's two sons and three grandsons, she plans to hire two or three more people to help her with the six barren mountains she recently bought.

These two or three people don't need to understand pharmacology; they just need to be diligent, obedient, and able to assist the Chen family members who understand pharmacology.

She no longer intended to handle the recruitment herself, but instead entrusted it directly to her nominal mentor, Doctor Chen.

Dr. Chen is a native of Mingfu Village and a shrewd old man who has lived most of his life. With him helping to oversee things, Xie Wanniang, the carefree mother, has no worries at all.

She didn't mind if Dr. Chen prioritized hiring his close relatives and friends, as long as they were capable and honest, and she didn't mind if they were related to Dr. Chen.

Xie Wanniang, who is always straightforward, directly explained her requirements to Doctor Chen and entrusted him to help recruit, manage, and control the finances and accounts.

Of course, she didn't intend for Dr. Chen to work for nothing. Since Dr. Chen helped her recruit people, manage people, manage money, and do accounting, she would also pay Dr. Chen an extra salary.

Doctor Chen was surprised that Xie Wanniang had even arranged for him to be included. He said, "Isn't it a bit inappropriate to use all my family members? Why don't you hire someone else to help you manage these things?"

Xie Wanniang shook her head, "There's a contract. Everyone just needs to do what's written in the contract. Status, kinship, and such don't matter."

Even if she misjudged him and Dr. Chen and his family were all unreliable, she could still find a respectable reason to politely dismiss them.

At least for now, the Chen family is still her best option. She cannot abandon the best solution and choose to settle for second best in order to avoid any potential risks.

Xie Wanniang took out a stack of contracts she had carefully prepared and gestured for Doctor Chen to read them carefully.

At first, Dr. Chen didn't take it too seriously, but soon his expression became solemn and serious.

After reading the incredibly detailed contract, Doctor Chen finally understood why Xie Wanniang wasn't worried at all that her family would conspire to deceive her because of the lack of supervision.

He sighed, "You silly girl, I don't know how your brain works."

Xie Wanniang smiled. It wasn't that she was smarter than others; she was just lucky enough to stand on the shoulders of giants.

After Doctor Chen had read through all the contracts, Xie Wanniang began to discuss the follow-up arrangements for the medicinal herb cultivation with him.

During this time, Xie Wanniang kept writing, drawing, and revising with charcoal pencils, recording her discussions with Doctor Chen.

The two of them, taking into account local conditions, spent most of the day drafting a medicinal herb planting plan suitable for Xie Wanniang's new medicinal herb garden.

After a lot of work, Xie Wanniang prepared a clean version without any corrections, and then carefully handed the few pages containing the contents of the clean version to Doctor Chen.

Dr. Chen carefully took the few pages of paper and then immediately hid them carefully in a compartment of his medicine box.

"Now that we've finished discussing things, I'll head back first." Pretending not to notice the way Dr. Chen's family looked at her like she was a rare animal, Xie Wanniang calmly stood up. "I'll leave the follow-up matters to you, Master."

Dr. Chen's wife quickly stepped forward to persuade the guests to stay, saying, "Have a meal before you leave."

Xie Wanniang smiled and shook her head, "Thank you, Master's wife, but there's no need for dinner. I have other things to do later."

Dr. Chen's wife held Xie Wanniang's hand, "No matter how busy you are, you still have to eat, right?"

Xie Wanniang smiled and shook her head, "Haitang has already prepared the meal, I can eat it as soon as I get back."

As she spoke, Xie Wanniang gently withdrew her hand, turned around, and walked out of the Chen family's house.

The other members of Dr. Chen's family also chimed in, urging her to stay for dinner. Only Dr. Chen calmly stood with his hands behind his back and, without any hesitation, escorted Xie Wan Niang out of his courtyard.

His wife glared at him, but he still complained to her with great self-righteousness, "You've known that girl for so long, don't you know what kind of person she is? If she says she won't eat it, then you can't change your mind no matter how much you say."

Dr. Chen's wife slapped him angrily, "Then I have to give way to them too! Like you, when someone says they're leaving, you don't even try to stop them, you just see them to the door. Aren't you afraid that the young lady will misunderstand and think you have a problem with her?"

Xie Wanniang is now the family's breadwinner, and Dr. Chen's wife doesn't want Xie Wanniang to misunderstand that their family doesn't respect her enough.