Chapter 58: Conquer, Laying Foundation for the Future
Translator: Antonia
After a few words of formalities, Mo Qianxue and general Tang walked out from the management office.
Because general Tang believed that a woman like her wasn’t easy to do business outside, he insisted to follow her to the land to see whether there might be something he could help her with. Mo Qianxue agreed happily.
The other two coordinators, seeing that they had left, whispered to each other.
One claimed that he was getting changed and the other said that he lost something and needed to go and find it. Exchanging a look, the two quickly got out of the management office too, one heading for the east and the other the west.
The one going east sneaked to a place and whispered to a person, “Go and tell Jian family that the one who said their eldest young lady is here.”
The one going west glanced around and seemingly bumped into a porter by accident, then he secretly told the person that dressed up as a porter, “Go to tell manager Gao that the woman that young lord Xin is looking for comes here today.”
Mo Qianxue introduced Wang Tiansong to manager Tang. The two greeted each other and began to chat. Seeing that Wang Tiansong knew well about the construction, manager Tang praised to Mo Qianxue that she had hired a right person before leaving in relief.
After manager Tang left, Mo Qianxue took out a simple blueprint and explained in detail to Wang Tiansong what she required and what to be paid special attention to.
Obviously, the group of men regarded Wang Tiansong as their leader. As for Fang Datang, who was an honest and kind person though, wasn’t clever and flexible enough.
Last time when he had taken Mo Qianxue to buy construction materials, she had known that he was a person that found it hard to talk. Instead, Wang Tiansong behaved like an expert when talking about materials and he also knew how to bargain. For those things that Ning Shaoqing had asked him to do, he could finish satisfactorily. For this reason, Mo Qianxue began to notice him.
She had to admit that Ning Shaoqing was really talented that he drew down exactly what she wanted. With such a clear blueprint, it would save much of her energy.
However, using such a good painter only to draw the engineering sketches of her restaurant was really a waste of talent.
After explaining every detail, Mo Qianxue took out fifty taels and handed to Wang Tiansong, “Take this first to buy the wood, nails, oil, felt cloth and other things that you need. If it isn’t enough, just tell me.”
The house in Wang village could still be built with mud and soil, but the house at the dock was for business, so for the sake of a pretty outlook, it must be built mainly with wood, and solid wood.
Wang Tiansong looked utterly surprised and didn’t take over the money. He just kept refusing nervously and repeated, “I shouldn’t…I shouldn’t…”
Fifty taels was not a small amount. He had never seen so much money in his life.
Mo Qianxue only saw uneasiness but no greed in his eyes, so she immediately rested assured and directly put the silver in his hand.
This person was very capable. She still needed him for bigger career in the future. The purpose of giving him the money was first to check his character and second to examine his ability of doing things.
If he was really a responsible person, she would let him be a manager to take charge of things at the dock so that she could save much energy.
“I can’t take it now.”
“Why can’t you? Do you want me, a woman, to run between the market and dock in wind and rain? Or do you want my husband to give up the work at school and concentrate on buying materials and supervising the construction here?”
“I didn’t mean that. It’s just…it’s too much.”
“Tiansong. I heard my husband praised that you’re clever and reliable, so I trust the work to you. I didn’t expect that you should refuse to take the charge.
Originally, I think Xiaolei is also a quick-doer, so with you, his elder brother, taking the lead, I will let him be the restaurant waiter, but if you…”
Listening to Mo Qianxue’s words, Wang Tiansong felt encouraged. He had wanted to give it a shot, so as the courage was summoned up, he took over the silver and carefully put it into pocket. Then when Mrs. Ning mentioned his younger brother, his hearted jumped higher and higher.
“Please rest assured Mrs. Ning, I’ll be a good leader to help you build a solid pretty restaurant. And don’t worry about the money. I’ll report to you what the money is spent on and the progress of the construction on a daily basis. As for Xiaolei…”
Mrs. Ning nodded. It seemed that this person could be trusted with big tasks, but she didn’t show out her appreciation, pretending to be hesitating to stop his question, “As for Xiaolei, you may further discuss at home. If your parents agree, then when the restaurant is open, just let him work here; if…”
“Unnecessary. I’m his elder brother. I can decide it. I’ll let Xiaolei come here tomorrow.” Wang Tiansong no longer hesitated and hurriedly seized the opportunity.
“I’m not in a hurry. It’s okay that he comes here when the restaurant is open for business.”
“It’ll be too late. Allow me to handle this. Just let him follow after me every day, so that he’ll be clear of what things has been put to where and how to use them. And in the future, he’ll be a handy assistant, right?” Wang Tiansong feared that Mo Qianxue might take back her offer.
“Alright, that’ll be great! You handle this.”
Mo Qianxue’s approval delighted Wang Tiansong, who added, “What else do you need me to do Mrs. Ning? I can see that once the restaurant is open, the business must be good. The money will be too much to count.”
This reminded of the sentence went in the modern society that one counted money so frequently that his fingers cramped, so she laughed, “I even don’t know when the earnings can cover the cost. When will the money be too much to count?”
“Mrs. Ning is clever and has a talented hand. Only by the dishes you made the other day, the restaurant will flourish. I believe in a few months the cost will be covered.”
“Hopefully that will happen. I’ve taken out all my money to invest in the restaurant, which is the same as putting all my eggs in one basket. Brother Tiansong, it’s noon already, so today I don’t offer lunch.”
Mo Qianxue pointed at the old man who was carrying a box selling buns to porters, “Buy some buns for your men. It’s on me. Tomorrow, I’ll send you lunch. Tell them and pardon me. I must go now.”
“You’re too modest Mrs. Ning! We’re very grateful already!” Though the words meant refusing, the tone was approving.
Mo Qianxue smiled and stopped her footsteps to outside, added, “And, let your men rest assured. You’ll get paid on a daily basis like before.”
Wang Tiansong flushed and smiled shyly, “Don’t worry. You can pay us after the construction is finished.”
He didn’t know that the smile between the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes told Mo Qianxue everything in his mind. She didn’t say more and just let him do what she had told him.
After all, in winter there weren’t many opportunities to make money. The young couple could earn one tael of silver after this money to increase domestic income. If this continued, they would be much more at ease either to restore the house for their mother, to marry a wife for his younger brother or to raise a child of their own.
As soon as Mo Qianxue left, Wang Tiansong began to assign tasks of land measuring, wood purchase, and so on to the men…