“It’s about building the house,” Gu Yundong said, “I’ve just arrived, and I don’t know who here is skilled in construction. So, I’d like to ask the village chief to help me find reliable people. I’ll pay them forty wen a day, excluding meals.”

She had inquired before, and generally, the daily wage for building a house here was thirty wen, including lunch. But since she was currently living in a widow’s house, it wasn’t convenient.

“I can help you find someone without any problem,” Chen Liang said, but his brows furrowed slightly. “I’m just worried you won’t be satisfied.”

“There’s no need to worry about that. The village chief’s choice will definitely be the most suitable. If I were to handle it myself, I’d truly be in the dark and wouldn’t know if I was being cheated. But my requirements might be a bit more, so please communicate more with them on my behalf, to prevent any unpleasantness. This is two taels of silver, it’s the fee for asking the village chief for help.”

Gu Yundong took out a piece of silver and handed it over, but Chen Liang immediately declined, “What are you doing? I’m the village chief of Yongfu Village. I can help you find a few people, how can I accept your silver?”

“That’s not the case. Although you’re the village chief, you can’t handle everything and let you do it all, can you? You also know my father isn’t here, and it’s not convenient for a young girl like me to handle many things. Moreover, people may not necessarily listen to me. If you help me find people, you also need to communicate with them and adjust afterward. This is not within the village chief’s duties. I can’t just take it for granted that you’ll help me with so much, can I? Then, what kind of person would I be? If you don’t accept it, then I won’t build the house.”

“Hey, you…” Chen Liang didn’t know what to make of this girl; she had her own way of doing things.

There were no other people in the main hall except for him and his wife, Zhou Shi.

After hesitating for a moment, he still accepted the silver, “Alright, you can rest assured and leave this matter to me. This silver, consider it as payment for hiring me.”

“Thank you, Uncle Chen.” Gu Yundong changed her address and smiled, “As for how the house should be built, I need to go back and think about it. Can I give you the drawings tomorrow?”

“Sure, I’ll find people this afternoon. Come and see me tomorrow morning, and we can start work.”

Gu Yundong exchanged a few more words with Chen Liang, then seeing that it was getting late, she left behind a package of pastries she had bought from the county town this morning, and took Yang Shi and the other two out. The carriage followed behind them, carrying their belongings to the rented place.

Once they left, Zhou Shi opened the pastries on the table and saw that they were famous date cakes from the county town, making her even more satisfied.

“This girl is much more sensible than the previous two families. The Wangs and the Hos talked big, saying how capable the village chief was and how he could help, but in the end, when you found people for them, they still complained and weren’t satisfied. It was like they thought you were benefiting from it somehow. They said things like how they had traveled a long way here and how difficult it was, yet they still wanted to haggle over the wage. Now it’s good, they’re not even willing to help build their houses. It’s been five or six days already, and they haven’t settled yet. I guess when the Gu family’s house is finished, they still won’t have shown up.”

Actually, Chen Liang also preferred the Gu family. Even if they hadn’t given him two taels of silver, he found this girl’s words more pleasant to hear. He was willing to help more even if it meant doing more work.

But he still scolded Zhou Shi, “We’ll see the person tomorrow, the Gu family may not necessarily be satisfied with my choice. Don’t go blabbering.”

“Whether they’re satisfied or not, they still brought pastries and even gave the silver in advance. Those two families didn’t even say thank you.”

With this comparison, Chen Liang really had nothing more to say.

Moreover, the Gu family had given the silver without even meeting the people, which showed trust in him.

Chen Liang felt quite pleased in his heart.