ch 99 – Expansion of The House; A Deal Was Made (12)
In the afternoon, the Cheng’s sold one-third of they mystical animals to Zhu Bo. And Innkeeper Zhu had assumed his new role as the Cheng’s new steward of the servants. They would now all report to him to learn about all the house rules and other knowledge.
After they have finished busying themselves with that. The Cheng’s father and daughter were invited to Willow by the patriarch.
As for the reason, Cheng Xiao Xiao had an idea, but she didn’t let it bother her and arrived at the Patriarch Liu’s house with her father.
Taking a look around after they have entered, they saw the place crowded with the villagers. A better way to put it was that villagers of all ages who weren’t helping at currently at the Cheng’s attended.
“Mr. Cheng and Xiao Xiao are here. C’mon over, have a seat!” Patriarch Liu stood up to greet them!
The others also followed suit and stood up to greet Cheng Biyuan!
Cheng Biyuan returned the greetings individually. Then, as arranged by Patriarch Liu, Cheng Biyuan settled into a seat across from him and Cheng Xiao Xiao sat next to him.
Everybody was seated after them. All eyes were upon Patriarch Liu. The villagers had already gotten used to letting Patriarch Liu take care of all issues, large or small.
Under everybody’s keen look, Patriarch Liu fake coughed a few time and said to Cheng Biyuan, “Mr. Cheng, we have invited you over mainly because of a few young girls in town. And, more and more villagers are now working for the Cheng’s so we would like to get some approvals from you. We hope that is okay!”
“Patriarch Liu, you are so polite. We all live in the same village, we are always open to discussing any issues!” responded Cheng Biyuan gently and cupped his hand at Patriarch Liu.
Upon observing Cheng Biyuan’s manner, Patriarch Liu nodded with satisfaction. The Cheng’s mannerism toward the villagers did not change after the change of the family. Patriarch Liu was pleased with that.
Stroking his white beard, Patriarch Liu smiled and said, “Mr. Cheng, truth be told, the villagers would like to be employed by your family. As you may know, we only grow limited crops in our village and our main means were hunting in the mountains. Now everyone wish to have a stable job. I know that you have already employed quite a few villagers, and providing them with very good compensation. The rest of the villagers would like to be able to do the same. Do you think you might be able to arrange that, Mr. Cheng?”
“Patriarch Liu, I understand what you mean. I am pleased to hear that everybody would like to work for our family. It is certainly an honor on our part, it’s just that…”
Cheng Biyuan paused for a little bit, then said, “Patriarch Liu, we have just started expanding our family house. We do need some help, but I am afraid I will not be able to provide work for everyone in the village. For now I can only hire basing on my needs. I hope Patriarch Liu and the fellow villagers can understand where I am coming from!”
“What, Mr. Cheng? Are you saying no to us?”
An Hung niang jumped up for her seat and interjected. Then said straight at Cheng Biyuan, “Let me tell you something, Mr. Cheng. Pardon me for being blunt, you guys were the ones who said you wanted to hire some girls from the village to go help out. We sent our girls over, but you only took some of them and sent the rest back. Are you looking down on us? You either take all of them or none of them. Otherwise, you are just looking down on us!”
“Wife of Sanzhen, shut up! This is not your place!” scolded Patriarch Liu with a low voice!
An Hung niang wasn’t going to let him shut her up, “Patriarch, I am telling the truth. Don’t you be defending them because the Cheng’s took your two girls! I want justice!”
“How care you!” Patriarch Liu was truly angry now. Pointing straight at An Hung niang, he said, “Wife of Sanzhen, you are becoming more and more ridiculous. What do you mean that Mr. Cheng was playing favoritism? Have you forgotten that your husband Liu Sanzhen was one of the first employed by them? Why are you trying to cause trouble here? Must they support your entire family before you said he was not playing favoritism?”