CHAPTER 268: CHAPTER 259: HOTPOT BASE WORKSHOP

Just as Mrs. Sun worried, Sun Manyang’s marriage didn’t work out, as the woman disliked Sun Manyang for not having a house.

A few days later, Matchmaker Wang introduced another match to Sun Manyang, a girl from the old Ma family in the neighboring Xinghua Village. However, the Ma family wasn’t looking to marry off their daughter but rather to recruit a live-in son-in-law.

Fourth Uncle Sun didn’t want his grandson to become a live-in son-in-law, but Sun Manyang agreed to it, and there was nothing the others could do.

Fourth Uncle Sun looked at Sun Manyang coldly, "If you become a live-in son-in-law, you’ll have to settle in the woman’s home, change your surname to match hers, and even the children you two have will follow the woman’s surname. Are you sure you won’t regret it?"

Sun Manyang’s lips moved up and down a few times; he really didn’t want to be any live-in son-in-law, he just wanted to get married.

He was already twenty-two, while others at twenty-two could have kids helping out with the groceries, he was still single, how could he not be anxious?

He dreamed of marrying a wife.

Fourth Uncle Sun, seeing Sun Manyang’s attitude, knew he hadn’t made up his mind. To win his grandson back, Fourth Uncle Sun quickly said, "Do you think being a live-in son-in-law is easy? A live-in son-in-law has no voice in the family, and must listen to everything the wife’s family says. You’ll have to work like an ox or a horse, doing all the hard and tiring work..."

"Grandpa, stop!" Sun Manyang suddenly shouted.

Fourth Uncle Sun was shocked by Sun Manyang and stared at him in disbelief.

"I won’t become a live-in son-in-law. I’d rather stay single for life than do that." His grandfather made it sound so scary, worse than military service.

"Ah, now that’s my good grandson. Yang, don’t worry, in at most two years, I’ll find wives for you, Manjiang, and Manliang.

If you behave, I’ll build new houses for you all then."

Fourth Uncle Sun became happy again seeing Sun Manyang drop the idea of becoming a live-in son-in-law.

Mr. and Mrs. Sun Dalin also disagreed with their son becoming a live-in son-in-law, and seeing Fourth Uncle Sun successfully persuade Sun Manyang, they finally relaxed.

But their joy didn’t last long before Sun Manyang announced that after the New Year, he would go to a restaurant in Luocheng to find a job as an assistant.

He wanted to save money to build a house and marry a wife himself.

The family had little land, and not enough work for everyone, so Fourth Uncle Sun supported Sun Manyang’s plan to work outside.

Before February ended, Sun Manyang went to Luocheng to find work. But at that time there were too many people and too little work; manpower was the least valuable. He ran to the city several times without finding suitable work.

Finally, he sought help from Yu Xiaolian, and with her help from Zhao the guard captain, Sun Manyang got a job in the Meishan Building’s kitchen as a helper, providing food and accommodation, and earning a monthly salary of 1 tael and 2 qian.

Sun Manyang was satisfied with this job. Earning 1 tael and 2 qian a month meant more than ten taels of silver a year, enough to build a thatched house. If he worked solidly for two years, he wouldn’t have to worry about a house or a wife.

Finding a good job made Sun Erlin’s sons, Sun Manjiang and Sun Manliang, quite envious. They were not young anymore; Sun Manjiang was the same age as Sun Manyang, both twenty-two this year.

Sun Manliang was sixteen, also at the marriageable age. They understood that if they didn’t plan for themselves, who knew when they’d be able to marry.

With this idea in mind, the two discussed and also approached Yu Xiaolian, hoping she’d help them find jobs.

Yu Xiaolian felt embarrassed to bother Zhao the guard captain again since Meishan Building didn’t originally need more people; Zhao the guard captain had gone out of his way to arrange it.

Meishan Building’s Shopkeeper Zhao even asked Yu Xiaolian about whether she would grow chili next year, mentioning that the chili from last time was used in a culinary competition in the Capital and had yielded good results. Many food lovers in the Capital were clamoring for chili freedom.

Shopkeeper Zhao also tried to persuade Yu Xiaolian to sell him some chili seeds, offering a high price, but Yu Xiaolian wouldn’t agree. She was waiting for the first batch of chili to harvest, so she could make a good profit.

After large-scale planting, the next year, the seeds would definitely spread, and every household would have chili, making her chili no longer special.

By then, she planned to set up a workshop for hot pot base production, with the help of the two families, Sun Fourth Uncle’s and Sun Fifth Uncle’s, providing enough manpower. If needed, she could hire some from Taohua Village.

When the hot pot base workshop was mentioned, Yu Xiaolian thought of starting construction right after February, since her father had already built the house to be used as the workshop when building the house.

Sun Manjiang and Sun Manliang wanted to find work, so it made sense to have them prepare the preliminary work for her.

Except for Sun Manbo, Yu Xiaolian had a good impression of Sun Manjiang and Sun Manliang, understanding their desire to change their situation.

Helping them indirectly helped herself too, as they were her relatives, and having them in a poor state wasn’t good for her reputation.

Yu Xiaolian thought it through, then sent Sun Manjiang and Sun Manliang home first, as she needed to prepare a plan and couldn’t start rashly. The hot pot base formula must not spread.

Staffing needed careful consideration.

Yu Xiaolian pondered for several days before finally writing a perfect plan.

She decided to implement a division of labor in the workshop, fixing each person’s role. Those picking and washing chili would keep picking and washing chili, those boiling beef fat would keep boiling beef fat, those stir-frying spices would keep stir-frying spices...

From production to segmentation and packaging, Yu Xiaolian considered everything before returning to Taohua Village to announce the opening of her workshop.

As for wages, she’d initially pay 30 coins per day, which could increase when the workshop becomes profitable.

However, there was one thing Yu Xiaolian hadn’t considered.

Some of the spices in her base formula were not only spices but also medicinal herbs, and several of these were now expensive.

This meant the base cost increased.

There was no choice, expensive as it was, she had to do it.

Her base was intended to be wholesaled to restaurants in various States, truthfully, ordinary people couldn’t afford it.

Once the spices are ready, the workshop officially starts operating.

For now, it’s just small-scale, so apart from the Sun family, she didn’t yet hire outsiders from Taohua Village.

Beef fat was hard to get, but Yu Xiaolian got access to a supply through Shopkeeper Zhao.

Yu Family’s backyard.

The first group consisted of Mr. Sun Daji’s wife and Mr. Sun Erji’s wife, responsible for refining beef fat.

The second group was larger, with five daughters-in-law from Sun Fourth Uncle’s family, responsible for cooking the chili and chopping it up. This work was tough, as chopping the chili was tiring for the arms and stung the eyes.

Besides cooking and chopping chili, they also had to peel and chop onions, ginger, and garlic.

The third group was all male, consisting of sons and grandsons from Sun Fourth Uncle’s family, responsible for crushing spices with stone mortars, as there were no blenders, it had to be done manually.

The last group was the boiling group, a crucial one since the previous three groups were preparing for them.