bestfiction Chapter 224 The Excited Villagers of Xiahe Village
Chapter 224 The Excited Villagers of Xiahe Village
After answering Chen Dao's question, Su Qiaoxi asked again, "Young Master Chen, where are you going?"
"I'm planning to go to the village across the street to take care of some business."
As Chen Dao answered, he noticed Su Qiaoxi's gaze, and immediately understood. He took Xiaoyuan off his shoulder and handed her to Su Qiaoxi, then smiled and said, "Miss Su, you play with Xiaoyuan for a while, I'm going to the village across the street!"
"Ok!"
With Xiaoyuan by her side, Su Qiaoxi obviously couldn't care less about Chen Dao. Chen Dao didn't care either, and walked straight through the farmland. He saw a crowd of people gathering in the direction of Xiaohe Village on the other side, as if a large group of people were gathering by the farmland.
"Are they watching our villagers farm?"
Chen Dao shook his head and walked straight towards the villagers of Xiahe Village.
At this moment, the villagers of Xiahe Village, who had gathered by the farmland to watch the commotion, also noticed Chen Dao's arrival and greeted him warmly.
"Brother Dao!"
"Chengjia Village's rice boy has arrived!"
"Brother Dao is here! Everyone, come and greet him!"
"..."
Chen Dao's reputation was well-known in Chenjia Village, and it was equally renowned in Xiahe Village, since Xiahe Village was very close to Chenjia Village and they had heard of Chen Dao's deeds.
"Rice Brother".
Li Qiang, the village chief of Xiahe Village, warmly greeted Chen Dao and said in a refined manner, "I didn't know Brother Dao had graced us with his presence. What brings you here?"
"..."
Chen Dao was speechless. These words would have been reasonable if they had come from Li Zheng, a scholar, but coming from Li Qiang, a bald man, they felt so awkward!
Chen Dao shook his head, choosing not to look at Li Qiang's shiny bald head, and said, "I came here because I have some things I'd like to ask the villagers of Xiahe Village for help with!"
Please ask us for help?
The eyes of everyone in Xiahe Village lit up. Now, not only the villagers of Chenjia Village, but also the villagers of Xiahe Village knew that Chen Dao was a generous man. If you did something for him, you would at least have enough to eat.
Therefore, everyone was excited when they heard that Chen Dao wanted to ask them for help.
"Brother Dao, if you need any help from us, just let us know!"
Li Qiang patted his chest and said.
"Is such that."
Chen Dao paused for a moment and said, "I plan to build roads in the village, but we don't have enough manpower in our village, so I was thinking of asking the able-bodied men in your village to help us build the roads in our village as soon as possible."
Building roads?
Without hesitation, Li Qiang replied, "We can do this. Don't worry, Brother Dao, we'll definitely help you build a beautiful road."
"Yes! We're all experts at road repair, we'll definitely be able to fix the roads in Chenjia Village!"
"Brother Dao, leave this job to us, we'll definitely get it done!"
"Don't worry, Brother Dao, all the men in our village are incredibly hardworking. They'll definitely be able to fix the road!"
"..."
The villagers of Xiahe Village also patted their chests and made a guarantee to Chen Dao. In those days, road construction was not complicated. In fact, many people did road construction work when they were performing corvée labor. Therefore, road construction was not a difficult task for these people.
"Uh……"
Looking at the excited faces of the villagers in Xiahe Village, Chen Dao fell into deep thought...
Has my reputation gotten so good that the villagers of Xiahe Village are already scrambling to do the road repair work before we've even discussed the compensation?
What Chen Dao didn't know was...
His reputation in Chenjia Village and Xiaohe Village has long been associated with the word "generosity". The villagers of both Chenjia Village and Xiaohe Village know that working for Chen Dao will never be a loss. On the contrary, it will fill their stomachs. If they are lucky, they may even be able to earn one or two taels of silver a month, just like Chen Lian and Chen Cheng!
"Fine!"
Chen Dao didn't think for long before saying, "Then let me tell you about the benefits for road construction!"
Upon hearing this, the villagers of Xiahe Village immediately fell silent and stared intently at Chen Dao.
"The compensation for road construction won't be very good!"
Upon hearing Chen Dao's words, everyone's hearts sank. However, before they could speak, Chen Dao continued, "First of all, there is no pay for road repairs. All I can provide are two meals a day!"
Two meals a day?
The crowd's spirits immediately lifted again. Two meals a day were excellent treatment for them, and as for wages...
If not, then so be it. These days, having a job that allows you to eat your fill is already a blessing; who would dare to hope for more!
"Of course, the two meals a day won't be too bad!"
Chen Dao continued, "Like the people in our village, we eat white flour steamed buns for every meal, and occasionally we have egg drop soup."
Steamed bun?
Egg drop soup?
A burning light immediately shone in everyone's eyes.
To be honest, when Chen Dao mentioned two meals a day, they were already prepared to eat bran, but they never expected...
Chen Dao did not discriminate against the people of Xiahe Village, treating them the same as the villagers of Chenjia Village.
"Don't worry, Brother Dao, we'll definitely be able to do a good job repairing this road."
"Me too!"
"I eat little, but I work hard. You can't go wrong hiring me!"
"Me too!"
"..."
Everyone got excited and patted their chests to make promises.
Li Qiang was also delighted, but as the village chief, he had more to consider and asked, "Brother Dao, how many able-bodied men do you need to help with this road repair?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Dao thought for a moment and said, "Let's settle on thirty people for now!"
Only thirty people?
The light in everyone's eyes dimmed slightly. Xiahe Village had a larger population than Chenjia Village, with 250 households and over 800 people. If Chen Dao only needed thirty people...
That would probably prevent everyone from receiving the same favor.
"Rice Brother".
Li Qiang clearly realized this as well, and hurriedly asked, "Road repair is no simple task. Aren't thirty people a bit too few?"
"Uh……"
Chen Dao thought about it and realized that the main road in Chenjia Village was not short and was not small, so thirty people would indeed be a bit of a stretch.
After a moment's thought, Chen Dao said, "Fifty people then, no more than that!"
Fifty people to repair a road is already considered a lot of manpower, after all, the road to be repaired in Chenjia Village is a dirt road, not the asphalt road of the previous life, let alone the brick and stone road in Taiping County.
In addition, Chen Dao also had to consider the issue of grain consumption. The wheat in Chenjia Village was not yet ripe, and all the grain was bought from the city. If the consumption was too high, the grain supply might become a problem. Therefore, Chen Dao had to strictly limit the number of helpers in Xiahe Village.
Fifty people?
Li Qiang was still somewhat dissatisfied with this number, but he knew he couldn't influence Chen Dao's decision, so he nodded and said, "Then fifty people it is!"