Chapter 466: Chapter 242 New Store_1
After midnight, seeking pretty pink.
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Lady Zhang and the other two women grabbed brooms and began sweeping the chicken coop, then used the dustpan to throw chicken droppings and other debris outside the main door. To accumulate fertilizer for their own land, Lian Manman’s family had created a manure pile, located opposite the Upper Room’s pile. Lady Zhao and Lian Yeye also helped, even thoroughly cleaning out the temporary unused chicken nests.
After such cleaning, they still couldn’t put the chicks inside.
Just then, Lian Shouxin found some free time and came back. He saw that Lady Zhang and the others had finished tidying up the chicken coop. It was quiet inside the Upper Room and he finally felt relieved.
"Dear husband, you’ve come back just in time," Lady Zhang, upon seeing Lian Shouxin, expressed her joy and pointed out the chicken coop to him. "Look at our chicken coop, it needs another layer of earth. We also lack a trough, and we don’t have a door for the coop."
"That’s easy to fix," Lian Shouxin immediately replied, "We have sand already, I’ll have someone send some over for you shortly. For the trough and door, I’ll have the carpenter use some scraps, and it can be done in no time."
"That works." Lady Zhang smiled; these days, Lian Shouxin had become more efficient, which pleased her greatly. "Is everything going smoothly over there? There’s not much here, so you better hurry back. Our shop is the real priority."
"I’ve got people looking after that, no worries," Lian Shouxin said, "Where’s Manman? We need green bricks tomorrow afternoon, and I want to arrange the finances with her so we can go get a load in the evening."
"Manman just went inside, come on, I’ll go with you to find her," said Lady Zhang as she and Lian Shouxin went into the West Wing Room.
"Manman, your father is here to arrange finances." Once inside, Lady Zhang spoke to Lian Manman while turning to pour a bowl of water for Lian Shouxin, "Here dear, drink this, Manman put honey in it, it’s really tasty."
Lian Shouxin smiled warmly, took the bowl, and drank it all in one go.
Lian Manman had just washed her hands when she heard Lian Shouxin needed to arrange finances; she quickly brought out the ledger and ink, and carried out the money box.
After the latrine modifications, Lian Manman’s family started discussing the construction of the shop. Although the lease on the temple housing wasn’t up until the end of the year, it seemed like they could wait until after the autumn harvest to start building. However, after debating the matter, they decided to build the house earlier to avoid any unexpected issues, as their shop had flourished since the new year, attracting much attention. Among the onlookers, there were those with jealousy and ill-intentions.
Therefore, the family decided to have the shop built before the spring plowing began.
The construction of the shop was a bigger project than the latrine, and the family invested a great deal of effort and money into it. Ordinary laborers could be found in the village, but for skilled craftsmen, they sought the help of Wu Yugui to hire a few well-known master builders from around the area.
The Lian Family also organized a simple division of labor: Lian Shouxin was the general supervisor of the construction site, and Lian Manman was the chief financial officer. Every single Wen Money spent on the shop construction was under Lian Manman’s control and disbursement.
"Dad, what kind of finances do we need to arrange, and how much?" Lian Manman opened the ledger, readied her pen, and asked Lian Shouxin.
"Money for the green bricks and for the cart transportation," Lian Shouxin put down his bowl and said seriously, "We’ll first buy six hundred green bricks, it will take about three carts to bring them back, which will cost a total of one thousand three hundred and fifty Wen Money."
Lian Manman did the math and found the amount was correct. She then checked it against the budget listed previously in the ledger, and only then did she write down two entries.
"Which cart service are we using?" Lady Zhang asked Lian Shouxin.
"Remember on the day we started digging the foundation, Wang Shiliu came searching for me, asking me to give him all the transportation work," Lian Shouxin said, "Those three carts of bricks can be perfectly transported by his large cart, I just told him, and he’s going to... Wang Shiliu told me he’ll handle the loading and unloading himself, as a hand to help us, and he won’t charge extra. I think it might be too much for him alone, so I’ll have another person follow the cart and help with the bricks. When Wu Lang comes back, I’ll send him with the cart to handle the payment."
"That sounds good, we all know each other well in our village, Wang Shiliu and his wife are honest people," Lady Zhang said.
"These past few days, Wang Shiliu and his father have been helping us out, and they have really put in a lot of effort. I’m happy to give him the carting work," Lian Shouxin replied with a smile.
While the couple talked, Lian Manman had already recorded the transactions. She handed the pen to Lian Shouxin to sign off, then opened the money box and took out One String of Coins, three strings of coins, and Fifty Wen Money in copper coins.
