Chapter 214: New Year’s Gifts

Chapter 214: New Year's Gifts

The oranges in Xiwu Prefecture were gradually ripening. The glass workshop, rubber workshop, and the Xiwu Treasure Canning Workshop, which Meng Wan had asked Song Tingzhou to name, all began operations. At the end of the year, Meng Wan was so busy that he hardly had a moment to rest.

At the end of the year, there was also the matter of auditing the accounts of the sugar workshop and lotus root workshop in Heshang County. Neither he nor Tang Jinshuang had time to go, so they had to send Huang Ye to take over. It happened that Huang Ye wanted to go see Jin Gu, so it worked out conveniently.

Meng Wan practiced a "fill-in" education with the servants around him: if they were capable, they were given tasks; if not, someone else was sent in their place. At home now, aside from Zhu Yan and Zhu Sha, there were two more girls bought at the same time, named Zhu Tong and Zhu Gu. Zhu Tong, the oldest among this batch, was only fourteen this year. She was honest and steady, a bit slow, but diligent in her work.

Zhu Gu was the opposite. At thirteen, she had many little schemes but was not as steady as Zhu Yan. It was just right for Huang Ye to take her out to gain some experience. Adding Xue Sheng to accompany them to Heshang made the plan reliable.

Bi Yun from the sugar workshop and He Niang from the lotus root workshop were trustworthy managers, but Meng Wan never tested people's loyalty with interests. Besides stipulating that they come to Xiwu to report accounts every three months, he insisted on personally inspecting the workshops during the year-end audit.

Everything else was superficial. If someone truly intended to deceive, the accounts could be falsified. As the senior master, he had to establish his authority, so the workers in the workshops knew who was really in charge. This reduced the potential for conflicts at the grassroots level and false reports from managers.

Moreover, on-site auditing allowed a direct grasp of production progress, equipment wear and tear, raw material inventory, and other details. He couldn't just stay at home waiting for income and be completely ignorant of workshop affairs.

"When selecting oranges, be careful. The fully ripe ones go to Zone 2 to be juiced, and the firm ones go to Zone 1 for canning."

"You! When washing oranges, don't use so much force."

"If the basket for orange peels is full, replace it right away! The peels on top are falling off. These are food items—how can you be so careless!"

The Xiwu Treasure Canning Workshop was divided into several areas. Meng Wan had just come over from Fengzhong's rubber workshop when he saw Tang Jinshuang darting around the sorting area, scolding people while keeping a sharp eye left and right.

No boss would be dissatisfied with such a diligent and responsible subordinate. Meng Wan smiled and said, "I'll give you a big red envelope at the end of the year."

Tang Jinshuang forced a bitter smile. "Then I thank the master in advance." He had been very irritable lately, and Rou Niang kept avoiding him. A large, painful blister had formed on his lip from the heat in his body. A Xun had prescribed two bitter medicinal decoctions, which he poured into his portable bamboo container. He would take a sip while working, feeling numb all over.

Since Meng Wan was here, Tang Jinshuang handed over his duties to the junior manager and accompanied Meng Wan to inspect the most important canning processing area.

Selected high-quality oranges were transported batch by batch to the processing room. This labor-intensive work was done by a group of male workers.

When Meng Wan first proposed hiring men in the factory, Tang Jinshuang had been quietly opposed. In his eyes, men were always an unstable factor. Moreover, something like that had happened in the lotus root workshop, nearly driving Dong Geer to his death.

But Meng Wan invited him for a long talk in Chang Jinhua's room. That day, besides Tang Jinshuang, Xue Sheng, Huang Ye, Chu Ci, and several newly purchased maids were also present.

"The sugar workshop and lotus root workshop in Heshang County also only employ women and xiaoge. Why can't it be the same in Xiwu Prefecture? Husband, I don't understand." Tang Jinshuang couldn't accept working alongside men in the workshop.

Meng Wan patiently analyzed with him. "Xiwu Prefecture is not like impoverished Heshang. It should be vast and inclusive. In the countryside of Heshang County, as the origin of sugarcane, the sugar workshop indeed employs only women and xiaoge. But have you forgotten that men, old people, and even children all work in the fields? The sugarcane is also transported by male workers to the sugar workshop for further processing. Everyone has their own meaning for survival—male, female, xiaoge—no difference, only different roles. Working together can achieve twice the results with half the effort."

Meng Wan was a master at inspiring people. A few words moved Tang Jinshuang, but he still had reservations. "But the workshop is enclosed. Men, women, and xiaoge working together inside might lead to gossip and rumors. There could also be various inconveniences while working."

Chang Jinhua, holding A Yan on the kang bed, listened to their debate and silently agreed. As a widow raising a son alone, she knew all too well the power of slander and rumors.

"What Shuang Ge'er said is reasonable. How about we keep it like the sugar workshop: let men handle the outside transport, and women and xiaoge work inside the workshop?"

Meng Wan sat beside Chang Jinhua, playing with the gold bangle on her wrist in an intimate gesture. "We're too busy, Mother. At the start of the workshop, not many women or xiaoge dared to come work. The canning workshop is much more complex than the sugar workshop. It's divided into different sections, and we're short on both long-term and short-term workers. To keep the workshop running smoothly, we need a large workforce."

Tang Jinshuang had been responsible for hiring, so he understood this problem. But changing his mindset overnight was difficult, and his concerns were not unfounded—Meng Wan had also considered these issues.

The only solution he came up with was gradual assimilation.

The three workshops were massive, several times the size of the Heshang Sugar Workshop. Ignoring the glass and rubber workshops, the Xiwu Treasure Canning Workshop alone was divided into five major areas. The administrative area was at the outermost layer, responsible for receiving and checking goods. If individual vendors brought oranges in small quantities, the workshop would also accept them if the quality was good. These tasks were handled by several managers in the administrative area, who took turns on duty. Whoever was on duty handled the negotiations.

Further inside was the sorting area. The work here was simple but required sharp eyes and nimble hands. Most of the workers were women or men in their forties.

The sorting area classified the incoming fruits by ripeness. Overly ripe ones were sent to Zone 2 to be made into fruit wine or juice. Fruits at the right ripeness and firm were selected and sent by the male workers to the most important Zone 1, the canning area.

Outside the two zones, there was a small peeling area where workers manually washed and peeled the fruits. This area also employed many middle-aged women from the city.

Half of the women in the sorting and peeling areas were from poor families in the city, even widows. The other half were village women Tang Jinshuang had recruited while collecting fruits.

They all signed short-term contracts, earning seventy wen per day, paid at the end of the next month.

If in the first month they were still skeptical, after receiving two strings of cash plus a hundred wen in the second month, their inner joy was impossible to suppress.

They could earn money too—even more than some men!

If seventy wen a day for short-term workers was ecstasy, the workers in the most important and delicate canning area were stunned by the high wages Meng Wan offered.

The canning workshop was further divided into the boiling area and the jarring-and-sealing area. The workers in these two sections included men, women, and xiaoge. In the boiling area, male workers tended the fires and boiled the cans. In the jarring-and-sealing area, all workers were women and xiaoge, and a few of them were brought by Meng Wan from the Zhuang tribe.

They were responsible for filling the boiled cans into glass jars and then fitting the jars with finely woven bamboo covers handmade by the Zhuang tribe.

This work required meticulousness, so the male workers in the boiling area and the women and xiaoge in the jarring-and-sealing area were paid the same: three taels of silver per month.

What did three taels a month mean in Xiwu Prefecture? As the two major merchant families in Xiwu, the Qin and Yu families only paid their shop managers two taels and eight qian. But ordinary workers in the canning workshop were getting three taels a month?

Those who knew the inside story all thought Meng Wan was crazy, or even that he didn't understand business—setting up such a big operation only to mess it up.

Indeed, the issue of men and women working together in the workshop now only caused a few people to gossip. Instead, everyone thought the master was abnormal in many ways.

Meng Wan thought it was fine, completely unaffected. Now Tang Jinshuang had also gotten used to seeing men in the workshop. The workers who had taken the first step to come out had to adapt themselves for the sake of those two or three taels of monthly wages. After all, since the first month when everyone got paid, there were plenty of people desperate to get into the canning workshop.

---

On New Year's Eve, Meng Wan's busy steps finally came to a halt. He gave each short-term worker two chickens and each long-term worker half a pig. The chickens were ordered from the poultry sheds in Heshang County, and the pigs were arranged in advance with all the butchers in the city.

On the twenty-ninth of the twelfth lunar month, slaughtered pigs and chickens were transported cartload by cartload to the workshops.

Two temporary shelters were set up outside the workshops—one for distributing chickens, one for pigs. The scene was extraordinarily lively, and even people from the city came out to watch the excitement.

Meng Wan stood on a tall stool between the two shelters and said to the workers, "Everyone, listen first. Because there are so many of us, we've collected as many chickens and pigs as we could to ensure everyone gets something. However, I cannot guarantee the size of each chicken or pig. When you get yours, don't compare with others. Just happily carry it home and celebrate the New Year, alright?"

They were all free, tangible goods. Who would be crazy or foolish enough to complain? They only shouted happily from below, "Alright!"

"Thank you, Master Meng!"

"Master, don't worry, I won't mind even if I only get one!"

"Aunt Hua, if you only need one, give the extra to me?"

"Pfft! Are you afraid of getting too greasy from eating too much meat? Yesterday I saw your mother-in-law stewing pork hock for you."

"That wasn't for me; it was for my Luan Ge'er. He now earns more than his father and several uncles combined. His grandparents treat him like a treasure and cook whatever he wants at home."

"My Chun Niang too. Her elder brother and sister-in-law said to keep her at home for a few more years, no rush to marry her off."

The crowd below was boisterous, but no matter what they said, everyone was beaming with joy.

The workshop managers were all efficient. Everyone wanted to take their silver and meat home for a good New Year. As soon as Meng Wan finished speaking, the managers in the shelters organized and started distributing chickens and pigs.

As nice as it sounded, when the women saw the young people each carrying half a pig, they couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy.

These women's sharp eyes swept around, either thinking of marrying off a suitable girl from the workshop to their son or calculating if there was an eligible woman or xiaoge in their family.

As for those young people, especially the women and xiaoge, most had family members coming to pick them up. They carried the pork on their shoulders for their siblings or children, holding their backs straight and raising their heads like victorious roosters—indescribable pride.

At this point, no one mentioned the gossip about men and women working together anymore. Even if they did, no one cared. What they cared about was the real silver in their hands and the half pig that would ensure the whole family had a good New Year.

Meng Wan slowly paced, stepping out of the shed to gaze at the lively scene before him. His eyes crinkled at the corners, and he felt an indescribable satisfaction.

"So happy?" Song Tingzhou came to pick him up, walking over and skillfully taking his hand.

Meng Wan raised their joined hands, swaying them playfully. "I don't know why, but this feels even better than making money myself. It's so strange—some indescribable feeling."

Song Tingzhou clearly understood his meaning and could also sense that peculiar feeling. "You see others, moved by your example, go from hesitation to steady steps, their lives brightening from dull to vivid. You've smoothed the road ahead and cleared the sky above."

Hand in hand, the two walked slowly back toward the city. They had walked this way outside Heshan County before, and now it wasn't just them—there were many others whose lives had been changed because of them.

——

After New Year's, Meng Wan and Song Tingzhou were free, but Chang Jinhua was nearly at her wits' end—mostly from the mental strain.

This year, their family had moved to Xiwu Prefecture, and Song Tingzhou had been promoted. The social obligations were complicated and chaotic. Starting from the second day of the lunar new year, gift carts kept coming endlessly to the Song residence.

To let Meng Wan rest more, Chang Jinhua took on the task of sending New Year gifts and handling social visits.

The simplest ones were the Tao family in Heshan County and the Miao family who had moved to Xiwu Prefecture with them. These were close relations, so the gifts could be lighter or heavier without anyone raising an eyebrow. Chang Jinhua was happy to handle them.

Then there were the Lin, Zhu, Wu, and Nie families in the capital, and Mr. Xiang and Lord Lin in Yangzhou. Meng Wan had already prepared these gifts. They were not necessarily expensive, but they were all rare curiosities from Lingnan. Given the long distances, they didn't have to arrive during the first month; in previous years, Third Master Zhu would deliver them on his return trips with goods.

But dealing with gifts for Song Tingzhou's official connections was tricky. For Prefect Zeng, who was one rank above Song Tingzhou, they had to visit and present gifts first. The gifts had to be slightly more valuable than those for officials ranked below Song like the Vice-Prefect, but not so extravagant that the Zeng family would struggle to reciprocate. The "measure" had to be carefully considered.

Chang Jinhua wrestled with it for a long time but dared not decide. Finally, she took the warehouse ledger to ask Meng Wan.

"If you hadn't mentioned it, I almost forgot. I'll choose the gift for the Zeng family. You just handle the returns from others." Meng Wan took charge of returning the Zeng family's gifts and led Huang Ye and several maids directly to the warehouse.