After Aunt Zhou left, Su Qingliu and others asked her why she set the wages so high?

Wouldn’t it be easier to just give a fixed monthly salary? She had to keep a tally every day.

Su Qingyu smiled and asked Su Qingliu, “If you had to pluck feathers every day, would you be willing?”

Su Qingliu thought about the extremely quiet and happy days during this period and nodded: “Of course I am willing. It is much easier than working in the fields and easier than squatting on the bluestone slab to wash a basin of clothes. I am willing to sit on the bench and pluck feathers every day.”

Su Qingyu glanced at her.

She asked again, “But if you had to pluck fifty duck feathers a day, I’d give you ten wen a day for that. If I also gave you ten wen for plucking just one, would you prefer to pluck fifty or just one?”

“One!” Xiao Qingxing said quickly.

“Yes, I would definitely like to pull out only one.” Xiao Qingyang also agreed.

Seeing that her brother agreed with her, Xiao Qingxing nodded happily at Su Qingyu.

Su Qingyu smiled and held her in her arms. Seeing that everyone seemed to be thinking about something, she said, “If you only pluck a few poultry feathers a day, and suddenly one day you have to pluck many more, many times more, but the money you get is the same, then you will definitely feel upset. You won’t be as careful in your work. But if you get paid for plucking per poultry, the more you pluck, the more you get. Then if you pluck a few more poultry, wouldn’t you feel happier even if the workload is heavier?”

“Yeah, I’m happy, because I can get more money if I pluck more.” Xiao Qingxing interrupted again.

“Yes, Xiao Qingxing is very smart.” Su Qingyu said approvingly.

Su Qingliu looked at her two youngest siblings. Seeing them right in front of her, and seeing them becoming more and more lively and cheerful day by day, she felt as happy as if she were eating honey in her heart.

It was great to be able to live with her brothers and sisters from her mother’s side, eat well, live well, and get paid for her work.

These days felt like a dream.

After Su Qingyu said this, everyone present understood. Su Dahu and Zhou Dajiang nodded repeatedly. It turned out that there was so much knowledge in this. They felt that they had learned a lot.

Su Dahu looked at Su Qingyu, who was in high spirits in front of him and felt both sweet and bitter in his heart.

After thinking for a while, he said, “Qingyu, when Granny Zhou comes, my elder sister will go to the front store to help. I’ll help you run around to collect the goods. Go farther to see if there are any new and exotic fruits or wild fruits. There are still many people in the town who are willing to eat fruits.”

Su Qingyu nodded. Fruits accounted for half of the store’s profits.

She already had some ideas, and when Su Dahu brought them up, she started discussing them with him.

Tell him to pay close attention. Watch for any special fruits, whether they’re ripe or not. Make sure to sign a contract with the other party. Start collecting before the season arrives to avoid being caught off guard when the time comes.

She had a ripening method, so there was no need to wait for the fruit to fully ripen before collecting. If they waited, the fruit wouldn’t last long, and transporting it back would result in significant losses. By the time it hit the market, the influx of produce would lower the price.

Su Dahu had always resolutely implemented Su Qingyu’s decisions, nodding as he listened.

After giving instructions to Su Dahu, Su Qingyu gave Zhou Dajiang a few more words.

This kid was quick and hardworking and had a keen eye, but he was not very good at dealing with people. When he encountered a tricky customer, not only was he unable to solve the problem, but he also often made mistakes, and Su Qingyu had to help him to solve the problem.

Su Qingyu still wanted him to be able to stand on his own and take charge of his part.

Seeing Su Qingyu teaching Zhou Dajiang, others also started talking and adding to his advice, pointing out his problems.

“Jiang biǎogē, you are just shy and can’t save face. That old lady clearly loves taking advantage. A few garlic cloves and she wants a separate basket, a few pieces of fruit and she wants another one. We bought those baskets with our own money, and she took several without even buying much.”

Xiao Qingyang said.

“That’s right, we paid for the basket. That old lady was wrong, you should have stopped her. But you blushed when she teased you, and you let her take it away. I winked at you, but you didn’t see it. My brother and I wanted to grab it, humph.”

Su Dahu also smiled and patted his shoulder: “That’s right, men are so easily embarrassed. There’s no marriage, so what’s there to be embarrassed about? Her daughter is not pretty, and you dare not look at her. She is embarrassed to look at you, but you are embarrassed to look at her?”

Zhou Dajiang buried his head and responded stammeringly.

Su Qingliu smiled and said, “Da Jiang is doing very well now. In the first few days, he was embarrassed to confront people who took the food without paying.”

“Biǎo jiě, I will study hard in the future.”

Su Qingyu nodded: “When the store is not busy in the future, you can go to the countryside with your brother Dahu to see how he talks and negotiates with people. He has now trained himself to be invulnerable to swords and guns, and his skin has become much thicker.”

Su Dahu smiled and said, “Yes, I’ll take you with me next time when I’m not busy.”

“Okay. Then I’ll learn more from my brother.”

The next morning, before the store opened, Grandma Zhou came.

As soon as she arrived, she went into the kitchen to boil water, then swiftly caught a chicken from the chicken coop in the backyard and plucked its feathers. She even had time to help make breakfast. By the time the shop opened, she had already slaughtered more than a dozen chickens and ducks.

It made Su Qingliu feel a lot more relaxed.

On this day, with Granny Zhou helping out in the backyard, there was never a shortage of meat at the meat stall and customers were never kept waiting.

After a few days, customers would bring their chickens and ducks bought from outside to them for help in plucking them, the charge being two cents per bird. Almost half of the people who bought chickens and ducks would ask them to help in plucking them.

Anyone who could afford a whole chicken or duck would be willing to spend two cents.

They had to clean up when they took it home and clear out the dirt, so why bother with those two cents?

Some people in the vegetable market wanted to follow suit, but most of the chickens and ducks sold were from the countryside, and it was difficult to make money without a shop, water, or tools. The pork shop had the conditions, but the people there didn’t care about this small amount of money.

As a result, Grandma Zhou rarely stopped working for a single day and her business was booming.

Occasionally, Su Qingliu saw that she was too busy and wanted to go over to help, but the old lady waved her away.

She spoke with conviction, “Why should you young people get involved in something as bloody as this? Let us, who already have one foot in the grave, handle it. Don’t block your children’s fortunes.”

She refused to let Su Qingliu and others help.

After hearing what Grandma Zhou said, even those who wanted to save a few cents brought their chickens and ducks over to ask for help in plucking the feathers.

Although Grandma Zhou was busy all day, she always had a smile on her face.

To facilitate settlement, Su Qingyu paid the wages for feather removal on the same day.

Every day after closing the shop, the old woman would go home with a heavy purse, and she could also take home some leftover vegetables that didn’t look good. When she left, her steps were flying and her body was light. The next day, she would come to work before dawn, full of energy.

Later, Su Qingyu saw that she had been squatting on the ground for a long time and her waist was not good, so she asked Su Dahu and Zhou Dajiang to build a half-high platform so that she could stand or sit to operate. The old woman thanked her repeatedly and became more motivated.

When she was not busy, she helped take care of Yaya. Because she was patient, Yaya was willing to let her take care of her, and the old and the young had a good time.

A few days later, Granny Zhou came to see Su Qingyu.

Author’s Note: I wonder how much it costs to kill a chicken in the city where you live? Here it’s three yuan. But I haven’t bought a live chicken in the market for two or three years. I wonder if the price has increased.

(End of this chapter)