422 Not in Charge Anymore
At this point, Xue Dagui was chuckling at Xue Dafu.
“I just went to see Father and told him about this idea. Father said that as long as I don’t slack off, I could ask you about it first. No matter what, my crops do not grow well. I’ve just been bumming around. Otherwise, no matter how much money I have, I will use it all up eventually.
“I also realized how expensive it is to pay for his studies. How long has Gouzi been in town? I spent so much money buying a brush and ink. I did say that I would buy it for him so I gritted my teeth and stuck to my words. That purchase was too expensive. I really don’t know how you guys provided for Xue Yan in the past.”
Xue Dafu felt that it made sense. He couldn’t let his brother sit around like this. Moreover, his father didn’t have any objections. He was even surprised that his brother went to his dad for advice before coming here. This brother of his would never lie when it came to their father.
He thought about it for a while before speaking.
“Alright, I’ll make the decision on this matter. You can go to the stall and help out. Sifu can arrange something for you to do. I’ll also give you fifteen coins a day. You should know this beforehand, Sifu isn’t as easy to talk to as me. If you slack off or act like a scoundrel, I don’t think Sifu will need to remind you, Sanfu will just beat you up as a reminder.
“Although I’m still the head of the family, I’ve given my kids free reign and don’t care much anymore. I’ll listen to what they want and I’ll take care of myself.”
Xue Sanfu didn’t say anything even after being called. He stood there coldly, waiting to move his things to Dagui’s house.
“Thank you, dear brother! I knew you would agree!” Xue Dagui immediately expressed his thanks and chuckled, looking very shameless. “Don’t worry, I still want you as my brother. Things like before won’t ever happen again.”
Even though Xue Dagui had said all that, he still believed Xue Dagui’s words.
“Let’s go to your house and put the things away.” Xue Dafu said. There were so many things that needed to be moved, so the sooner they moved, the better.
“Sure, sure.” Xue Dagui quickly agreed and immediately led the way like a loyal servant even though everyone was actually very familiar with the roads and didn’t need him to lead the way.
After everything had been moved to Xue Dagui’s house, Xue Erfu returned the ox cart to Tian and told him that he would borrow it from him every day for the next two months. Tian was overjoyed and agreed without a second thought. Borrowing the ox cart for two months required a huge sum of money.
When Xue Erfu returned from Tian’s house, Jiang Yue, Xue Yan, and Xue Sifu also returned.
When the three of them heard that they had hired Xue Dagui as staff, they immediately agreed. It seemed that Xue Dagui had anticipated that they would be hiring someone and immediately rushed over to recommend himself; the three of them were not surprised at all.
Xue Dagui had always been very smart.
“We can let Xue Dagui sell popsicles. It’s not a heavy job.” Xue Sifu said.
No one had any objections.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to hire a few people? Other than Xue Dagui, how are you going to hire the rest?” Yu Hongyan asked.
Xue Sifu laughed.
“We can just let Erfu handle this. He’s not only friendly in our village, but also in other villages. I’ve thought about it, and I want to hire two men who specialize in chiseling ice and breaking it. I want to hire a few others as well.
“One can be responsible for washing the dishes, another can be responsible for preparing rice noodles and liangpi, the third can be responsible for preparing the crushed ice with sweet red beans and sour plum juice, two should be responsible for bringing things to the table and helping to clean it.
“These people will be divided into two-two-three teams to deliver ice as well if need be, and Xue Dagui will be selling the popsicles. If it isn’t enough we can hire two more popsicles sellers. These people will definitely do some other chores when it’s all sold out.
“We should also hire people to drive the ox cart back and forth. About five to six of them would be enough. That’s about it. I’ll be in charge of collecting money and managing these people and dealing with the customers who come to eat, while Xue Yan and Jiang Yue will be in charge of people who come to buy ice and write up a receipt for them.”
