Starting from a thatched cottage, the farmer embarked on the road to wealth through imperial examina

Chapter 218: Subtraction

Since March, with the rising temperature, the sound of spring thunder and rain, the mountain flowers are competing for beauty and mushrooms are gradually popping up.

The children in the villages surrounding Shanglin Village also became busy. Carrying baskets and backpacks, they ran up the mountain in groups of three or five to pick wild flowers.

Last year, many villagers joined the team picking wintersweets. This year, more villagers from the surrounding villages have joined the team picking wild flowers.

They can earn at least 20 to 30 dollars a day. If they are lucky enough to find a place with a lot of wild flowers and are quick, it is common for them to earn over 100 to 80 dollars a day.

These people told their relatives, and their friends told their friends, and people from the towns neighboring Qingshan Town also gradually joined the team picking wild flowers.

The mushrooms are growing well after the spring rain. The shiitake mushrooms cultivated by Ye Changyan using the Jing mushroom last year have grown on a large scale. Now the task of picking mushrooms mainly falls on the siblings Fang Xiaotong and Fang Xiaomei.

Fresh vegetables are delivered to the kimchi processing workshop every day. Fortunately, several long-term workers in the workshop are familiar with the operation procedures, which frees up Erniu's hands.

Seeing Lian, Erniu, and Fang Xiaotong and his sister busy distilling fresh flowers and making fresh chicken all day long, Ye Changyan felt that this was not a solution. However, these things could not be leaked easily, so he had to find some reliable people to help.

The first person Ye Changyan thought of was his aunt and cousin-in-law from his maternal grandparents' family. It would be even better if his grandparents could come and live with him.

Ye Changyan mentioned this matter to Ye Xiaozheng and Lian. Lian was naturally very happy, and Ye Xiaozheng had no objection.

However, Ye Xiaozheng thought about it, looked at his wife beside him, and then turned to look at Ye Changyan.

"Sanlang, how about asking your aunt and the girl to come over and help?"

Ye Xiaozheng lowered his voice a little, and turned to look at Lian's reaction after he finished speaking.

Lian didn't have any particularly obvious reaction, but remained silent, wanting to hear what Ye Changyan had to say.

Hearing Ye Xiaozheng's question, Ye Changyan also raised his eyes to look at Lian's expression and reaction.

In fact, Ye Changyan had considered asking everyone in the old house to help, but except for Liu who was responsible for housework and taking care of the old lady, everyone else was working in the processing workshop.

At present, Dalang and Silang are familiar with several workshops and are doing a good job.

Xu and Da Niu have always been the star employees in the packaging workshop. The wages and bonuses of this mother and daughter last month added up to more than two taels of silver. They are among the highest paid people in the entire processing workshop.

Ye Xiaowen and Dalang’s wages were not bad, about one tael and five cents of silver. The family of four earned nearly ten taels a month.

Ye Xiaowu and Silang were still carrying bags in the loading and unloading group. After what happened last time, the father and son had become much more honest. After all, Silang was younger, and was obviously more efficient in carrying bags than Ye Xiaowu.

Carrying bags for the loading and unloading team is hard and tiring work, so the wages are naturally high. Silang's wages are more than two taels, and Ye Xiaowu also earns less than two taels.

Silang is the most down-to-earth and hardworking of the father and sons. Although he does not learn things very quickly, he has mastered them very well. Last month, he was paid one or two or three taels of silver.

However, the more than five taels of silver earned by the second wife's father and son were all handed over to the old lady in accordance with her previous request.

Liu was very envious of Xu who earned nearly ten taels of silver a month, while she was ordered around by the old lady every day, exhausted like a donkey, and did not have a penny in her hands.

Seeing that Lian didn't react much, Ye Changyan spoke.

"In fact, I have also considered asking the people in the old house to help, but the people in the old house have a bad record, and they all have their own little calculations. Things like chicken, hydrosol and perfume cannot be easily leaked. For now, I can only find someone who is absolutely trustworthy."

Ye Xiaozheng also knew that what Ye Changyan said was the truth, but he still felt a little uncomfortable and depressed.

"However, during this period, the performance of the people in the old house in the processing workshop is quite remarkable. I am willing to give them some opportunities and let them get involved in some peripheral affairs first. If they really perform well, I will give them more important things. In this way, they may learn to cherish it, and we can safely hand over the things to them."

A smile appeared on Ye Xiaozheng's face, and Lian nodded in agreement.

Ye Changyan then agreed with his parents and asked Fang Xiaotong to drive a horse-drawn carriage to take Lian to Changxi County in the afternoon to discuss the matter with his grandfather and his family, and then to drive them to Shanglin Village early the next morning.

Ye Changyan and Ye Xiaozheng went to the old house in the evening to see what everyone in the old house thought.

In the afternoon, Mr. Cai gave lessons to Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng in the study. During the break, Ye Changyan mentioned this matter to Liang Jingcheng and Mr. Cai.

Mr. Cai thought about it for a while and told Ye Changyan his opinion.

"Now your family has more and more businesses, and they are getting bigger and bigger. You and Wulang have to focus on your studies. Your parents and Erniu are too busy to handle it anyway. Of course, it is a good choice to support your relatives, but this is just a stopgap measure."

Ye Changyan nodded, and Liang Jingcheng also listened carefully. Both brothers knew that their teacher was teaching them the principles of being the head of a family.

"Some key and core matters must be handled by people you can trust, but some important and complicated matters may not be handled by so many people you can trust. At this time, how to delegate power and how to control are the most important things. In this process, what you need to master is the art of controlling people."

Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng both nodded thoughtfully.

"The cooperation between you, Zhong Yunfeng and Huang Huamin is a good idea. Usually people are used to adding things, thinking that they can only feel at ease if they have everything in their own hands. However, they don't know that a person's time and energy are limited. In fact, we need to do subtraction. Leave unimportant things to ordinary people, leave important things to familiar people, and leave core things to people who are absolutely trustworthy. You only need to control the core personnel, then you can liberate yourself and spend more time and energy on more valuable and important things."

Seeing that the two fellow disciples seemed to be lost in thought, Mr. Cai continued.

"Why are you willing to entrust such confidential matters as distilling fresh flowers and making fresh chicken to Fang Xiaotong and Fang Xiaomei? It's because you don't treat them as outsiders, and this pair of siblings are absolutely loyal to you."

Mr. Cai's advice was a sudden enlightenment for Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng, and their minds instantly became clear.