Chapter 368 (1/2)
”Xiaocao, these people are…” When Liu Hu entered, he noticed the Huang Family of four, so he was a bit perplexed.
Yu Xiaocao smiled at him, ”The young royal prince saw that we've been extremely busy and sent us some helpers over. These people will reside in the small residence in the back. Uncle, let's first have Huang Dachui follow you around for a few days. When he becomes familiar with the route, you can give the task of buying and slaughtering pigs to him. Our shop should also have a head manager around to handle issues!”
Huang Dachui already called over his son and they both went up to start preparing the live pigs that Liu Hu and his son were working on. Liu Hu gestured with his head towards the horse cart outside, hinting that they should bring it to the back.
Liu Hu observed that Huang Dachui looked honest and hardworking and was also very strong. He chuckled, ”Oh ho, our little boss gave me a promotion ah! From a procurer of goods to the head manager. I need to do my job well, otherwise I won't be able to live up to our little boss's expectations!”
Yu Caifeng laughed and leveled a glare at him, ”Are there any other elders like you ah? Stop speaking so much nonsense!”
Yu Xiaocao started giggling, ”Uncle, what you said is wrong! This braised food shop is the cooperation between our two families, so you are also considered one of the bosses. Doing the head manager's work is only natural!”
These words were said for the sake of the Huang Family. Before they bought servants, their stores were considered family businesses and they took care of everything. Now they had to make it clear to the four members of the Huang Family who was considered an owner and manager to make sure they were respected properly.
Her uncle was in charge of Huang Dachui and his son, who were both working very hard. From time to time, he would give them some pointers. Yu Xiaocao turned her attention to Huang Xiaomei, who was cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks, ”Let's go, I'm going to tell you the prices of all of the pickled vegetables and you need to memorize them. In the future, you'll be in charge of selling pickled vegetables...do you know how to do arithmetic?”
Huang Xiaomei was two steps behind Yu Xiaocao and blindly followed her as she nodded her head, ”I know how. My father taught me how to use the abacus.”
Yu Xiaocao glanced at her in surprise. There weren't a lot of girls who knew how to use the abacus! In a moment, when there were more customers in the store, she planned on testing this girl's ability.
”Half a catty of beans brined in wine and a catty of sweet and crispy radishes will be a total of thirty-eight copper coins. Take good care, and if you think the food is good, feel free to come back next time!” It wasn't a busy time in the store right now, so Madam Liu was able to handle the flow of customers by herself. After two years of practice, Madam Liu's gentle personality had been worked on and now she was an old hand at calculating totals.
Yu Xiaocao poured a cup of water for her mother and gave it to her as she smiled, ”Mother, it's been hard on you! You should go into the residence to rest a bit, Xiaomei and I will take over for you!”
”There's nothing hard about this type of work. All I have to do is weigh out the pickled vegetables and handle the money. The tall chairs here in the shop are pretty good. When there's no one around, I can sit around and rest my legs. It's quite comfortable! Oh right, the shop's sweet and crispy radishes and pickled cabbage are very popular, so the vats are almost empty. The next time your father comes over to transport goods, have him bring two more vats over from Tanggu Town!” Madam Liu was quite used to managing businesses now and was able to think for herself.
Yu Xiaocao looked at every single vat of pickled vegetable in the store and nodded her head, ”It's not only the sweet and crispy radishes. The marinated cuc.u.mbers, garlic pickled in sugar, and a.s.sorted pickled vegetables are all running low! It's too hard for Father to go back and forth between Tanggu Town and the prefectural city every day! If it was summer, he definitely wouldn't be able to keep up. How about...we hire someone from the village to help? What do you think?”
Xiaocao originally planned on having Huang Dachui take over her father's job, but when she saw that the shops here needed a person to personally manage them, she changed her plans. It looked like they still didn't have enough people to help out so they needed to hire one more person.
Madam Liu thought for a bit and then said, ”Yangfan's wife once told me that your Uncle Yangfan had been fired by his previous boss and was looking for some suitable work. When I go back, I can ask if he's willing to do this job.”
”Alright!” Uncle Yangfan is an honest person and he works very hard! If he's willing to do the job, we can give him a salary of eight hundred copper coins a month.” The two matrons who were helping out in the back to clean and prepare the pig's head meat, trotters and offal got around twenty copper coins a day, so eight hundred copper coins a month...shouldn't be too little, right?
Huang Xiaomei's eyes were wide open in shock and her mouth opened and closed a few times. Yu Xiaocao asked, ”What's wrong? If you want to say something, just say it. No need to stay quiet!”
”Isn't a monthly salary of eight hundred copper coins a month a little too high? My father had once worked in town helping to do work for someone and only got around four hundred to five hundred copper coins a month.” Huang Xiaomei thought that the young miss was being a bit too generous.
Yu Xiaocao thought for a bit and then said, ”Eight hundred copper coins a month isn't considered too much. After all, he has to travel regardless of what the weather is like. Transporting goods isn't an easy job. Xiaomei, your family will also get a salary. If you guys do well, you'll also get a bonus at the end of the year.”
In the capital, her G.o.dmother's head maidservants received a salary of eight maces a month and the junior maids got three maces a month. The Huang Family had just started, so they would each get three hundred copper coins a month for now!