Chapter 59.1 - Admirer
When Ge Qian An arrived, the people in front of the rice shop had already scattered.
An Zi Ran was standing in front of the counter and talking with Manager Feng. Although not many people were hired this time, it did not mean that others did not have a chance. In the future, he intended to recruit more workers. Hong Province was known as the province of rice paddies. Of course he had to make good use of this to increase the production of rice and at the same time promote the development of the county.
Ge Qian An glanced at them once, but did not go over to disturb An Zi Ran. He went over to Fu Wu Tian, who was the only one leisurely drinking tea inside the rice shop. "Master, this subordinate has returned."
Fu Wu Tian nodded at him. "Wait until we find a quiet place and then talk."
Ge Qian An stood behind him and stopped talking.
By the time that An Zi Ran and Manager Feng were done talking, the hired workers were nearly done moving the bags of rice. The shop's warehouse was almost filled to the brim with bags upon bags of rice. Manager Feng then settled the wages with the workers based on the amount of work that each person put in. Those who were more muscular and had better stamina were able to carry more bags of rice, about twenty to thirty bags, those who were weaker carried about ten bags. When the people got their wages, their expressions were very excited.
An Zi Ran came in front of the crowd.
The people immediately stopped talking and looked at him with bright eyes.
To this young landlord, the people only felt respect. In their eyes, every time this young landlord made a decision it was to benefit the masses at the expense of himself. Just based on this bit of heart, not even his father, An Chang Fu, could catch up to him.
Of course, they didn't actually know.
An Zi Ran's actions were all made to pave the path for his following plans.
"The An family is preparing to recruit a group of workers. If you are interested, you can go to Manager Feng to find out more and sign up. In terms of monthly wages, the An family will not treat you badly."
When An Zi Ran finished talking, everyone cheered and ran to Manager Feng to sign up.
Although they managed to grab this job of moving the rice, it was not a long-lasting job. So when news spread that the An family wanted to recruit some people, those who heard were very jealous, because it sounded like long-term employment. As for monthly wages, people were already clamoring for information from those who have just been hired.
The average monthly salary of the common folk in Da Ya was two strings of four hundred coins*, and the monthly salary given by the An family was three strings of coins. Compared to the country's average, they were earning an average of twenty coins more per day. If they saved a bit here and there that meant that each family could amass up to twenty or thirty coins. Such good treatments, how could it not make others jealous?
[*T/N: 文钱 wen qian: this is ancient money, but there doesn't seem to be a proper English translation, so I used 'coin.' I'm not sure of its exact money value, but one wen qian should be the lowest denominator of money and it is less than a tael 两 liang]
As a result, this news spread through An Yuan County with lightning speed.
Rumor has it, that Manager Feng's sign up register was almost full.
But these were all after words.
An Zi Ran told Manager Feng not to let anyone near the back courtyard.
The three people entered a room in the back courtyard. Ge Qian An, who was walking in the back, closed up the door as he entered. When he turned around he saw his own master personally pull up a chair for his wang fei. His eyes could not help but flash.
He knew that wang ye didn't actually care about taking a wife in marriage. Whether the marriage partner was rich or poor, a man or a woman, none of that mattered, because the things that the wang ye cared about were too few. So he always thought that wang ye took An Zi Ran as his wife out of a moment's interest. But he never would have guessed that the wang ye would capitulate and become a good husband.
Ge Qian An put away the complicated thoughts in his head and said, "This subordinate went to investigate as per wang fei's words, and indeed learned about a few situations. There has been no rain for three consecutive months in many places in Chang Province. Furthermore, summer had yet to arrive, but the temperature in Chang Province has started to rise rapidly and the water level in the river is also falling. It is said that the water level is still falling. It fell nearly one meter in a month, and the drought that wang fei speculated should happen soon."
An Zi Ran murmured, "And the other thing that I had you take note of, what have you found?"
Ge Qian An paused. "Wang fei's conjecture is… correct."
When he went to investigate yesterday, he did not believe it, because that kind of thing happened only once in the history of Da Ya, and it was twenty years ago. The consequences were very big at that time, and the local elderly people were not even willing to think about it.
Because as time passed and no similar disaster had happened since then, many people thought that this would not happen again, including Ge Qian An, but once he understood the situation, his thoughts changed.
"Wang ye, if both of these natural disasters break out at once, a lot of people will die in Chang Province," Ge Qian An said with concern.
There was no expression on Fu Wu Tian's face. It was impossible to guess his thoughts. He looked towards An Zi Ran. "Wang fei, you had Qian An run to Chang Province to investigate, is it because you already have a countermeasure?"
According to his understanding of wang fei, if he only wanted to make a fortune, then he didn't need to do so many things for the people of An Yuan County. He could've just oppressed them like his father, An Chang Fu, did. Not to mention conducting an investigation. He only had to stuff his warehouse full of provisions and then wait for the disaster to happen.
An Zi Ran nodded and said, "Yes, I do have a way."
"What kind of solution?"
Fu Wu Tian had yet to open his mouth, but Ge Qian An impatiently spoke up. When he went to Chang Province, he saw a lot of miserable scenes that shocked him to the core. It was only after he finished asking that he realized he had overstepped. He quickly withheld the anxiety that was beginning to leak onto his face.
"I am afraid that I will have to ask wang ye to step forward for this one." An Zi Ran looked at Fu Wu Tian.
Welcome to Grace An for joining our family! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°
Thank you to Zain for your support on ! (≡^∇^≡)