Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside

Brother Cheng nodded his little head and said, "Mm-hmm~ I'm going to practice writing with Brother Tongsheng tomorrow."

When Village Chief He heard this, he was genuinely envious. He said to Gu Dashan, "Dashan, you are truly blessed. Not only can your daughter earn money, but both your sons are also the studious type. Among my own sons, only Jin Sheng is willing to settle down and study; the other two are just not cut out for it."

He wanted to get close with the Gu Family, so he often sent his two grandsons who lived with him to play with Good Brother An and Brother Cheng. However, Jin Sheng was a bookworm and couldn't connect with Gu Jin'an.

Tongsheng was wild, spending his time climbing trees and playing by the river, never staying still. Annoyingly, Brother Cheng was such a well-behaved child. Every time Tongsheng came to find Brother Cheng, they ended up practicing writing, which bored Tongsheng so much that he almost wouldn't visit the Gu Family without being chased there with a walking stick.

Gu Jinli watched as Village Chief He looked frustrated and helpless. She turned to look at Brother Cheng, who sneakily winked at her, the picture of cleverness.

Gu Jinli smiled. The little guy was getting smarter by the day. No wonder, living under the same roof as Gu Jin'an, being taught by him hand in hand—it would be hard not to be clever.

Village Chief He was familiar with the situation and temperament of every He Family person and it was not his first time finding workers for Gu's Workshop, so he quickly selected six people and brought them to Gu's Workshop the next day.

"This is the daughter-in-law of He Tufang's family, this is the daughter-in-law of He Changshu's family, this is the daughter-in-law of He Dayuan's family, and this is the fourth daughter of He Dalian's Family, who is fourteen years old this year." Village Chief He introduced the people he brought to Gu Jinli, and then pointed to two young women and said, "These are the daughters-in-law from He Shiliu's house."

The two daughters-in-law from He Shiliu's house hurriedly stepped forward and said to Gu Jinli, "Hello Young Master, rest assured we will work hard and not be lazy."

The family was thrilled when the village chief told them the previous day that Gu's Workshop was hiring and that their family had been specially reserved two spots.

"Two months ago, people in the village were saying that my daddy's offerings to Gu's Workshop were wasted money," recalled her father-in-law. "A few days ago, when I took Dashan and Da Fu to Yanfu Village, people from He Cui'er's family even mocked me, saying I was shamelessly courting favor without reciprocation. What about now? Those who laughed at me, do they have two people working in the workshop in their homes?"

"The Gu family values relationships and everyone's watching us," her father-in-law said.

In the end, after discussing with his wife, they decided to let both sisters-in-law work at the workshop. He also told them, "When you go to the workshop, work hard, don't talk too much or look around, and follow the rules. Don't be greedy; it's better to earn less Silver Coin than to lose your job over petty thievery while weighing the fragrance materials."

The two sisters-in-law naturally agreed, as they sought a stable job and didn't want to lose the opportunity over small gains.

Gu Jinli sized up the six people who were sent over. They were all clean and tidy, wearing clean clothes, and with their hair neatly combed. As she looked at them, two of the women were too shy to meet her eyes.

"Show me your hands," said Gu Jinli.

The six people quickly stretched out their hands.

Seeing that their hands were clean, their nails trimmed and neat without any dirt underneath, Gu Jinli nodded in satisfaction and said, "To work in our workshop, you can't have any bad intentions. If there's any issue with the fragrance ingredients in the workshop, everyone involved will be held accountable. If you're willing, then we can sign a contract."

In Gu's Workshop, signing a contract and sharing responsibility in case of trouble was a known rule in the village; it might have been deemed strict at first, but now nobody minded because the job of grinding spices was just too lucrative.

Those who worked in Gu's Workshop would earn at least five taels of silver by the end of the month. Take Mo Qinzi's family, for instance, both mother and daughter worked in the workshop and were able to bring home twelve taels of silver for the month.

Oh God, twelve taels! With such a large amount of silver, they wouldn't mind signing a contract that required them to follow rules, they'd even sign an indenture if necessary.

"We are willing, Young Master, we know the rules. Let's sign the contract quickly," Mrs. Zhou, a daughter-in-law from He Shiliu's family, said eagerly, unable to wait to sign the contract and start working.

Due to it being the first day of work at the workshop, the family members of the six workers had all come along and were now waiting outside the workshop.

Hearing his wife's words, He Manzi quickly glared at Mrs. He, fearing she might be too ill-mannered and cause the Gu's Workshop not to want her.

He Gaosi saw his brother's anxious expression and laughed, "Second Brother, don't worry. The Young Master is a generous person, he likes people with an outspoken nature like your wife."

He Manzi said with a wry smile, "I'm worried she might mess things up and drag our family down with her."

Inside the workshop, Gu Jinli took out the contracts that had been prepared in advance, filled in their names, and passed them to Village Chief He for review.

After Village Chief He had checked them, he nodded his approval, and after everyone had pressed their handprints, the contracts were signed, and the six became employees of the workshop.

The families of the six people were watching from outside, their hearts finally at rest.

Gu Jinli took back the six contracts and said to the six, "Follow me, Mo Chunyue will teach you how to grind spices."

"Okay." The six happily followed Gu Jinli into the main room of the workshop and were amazed by the tools they saw there.

So many tools were needed for grinding spices; not only stone mortars but also medicine mills used in pharmacies and more than a dozen fine sieves.

Gu Jinli said to Mo Chunyue, "You're responsible for teaching them and also explain the other rules of the workshop."

"Understood." Mo Chunyue agreed, then first explained the work hours of the workshop to the six newcomers and the prices for grinding each type of spice, before starting to teach them how to grind spices: "The tools in our workshop are limited. Expensive ones, like medicine mills, have to be used in turns; you can't fight over them."

"Grinding spices is meticulous work; it requires patience and must be done very fine. After grinding it once, you need to sieve it, then grind again, then sieve again..."

The six listened carefully, none of them showing impatience.

Gu Jinli watched for a moment and then went home to help Third Grandma prepare festival gifts.

Today was already the third day of May, and in another two days would be the Dragon Boat Festival. Gu Jin'an had said last night when he returned home that there would be dragon boat races in the county, and the Scholar Shang's Family would go to the county to spend the festival with the Jiang Family and watch the dragon boat races. They could help to deliver the festival gifts to the Jiang Family on their behalf.

Third Grandma and the others were more than happy to do this and were now at home packing the festival gifts to be sent to the Shang Family at noon.

When Gu Jinli returned home, Third Grandma, Mrs. Cui, Ms. Chu, Aunt Tian, and Gu Daya were organizing the gifts brought by several families in the main room.

Gu Jinli was taken aback by the plethora of items filling the room, quite a sight to behold. Not only were there five live chickens, five baskets of eggs, a bag of glutinous rice, two baskets of dried tofu, two baskets of fried tofu, but also jars lined up beside them.

The jars were filled with fragrant contents, including marinated fish pieces, marinated tofu, marinated beef and mutton, marinated pig trotters, five roasted ducks, and even two jars of duck oil.

Gu Jinli sniffed the aromatic air in the room and remarked, "It seems we are sending all marinated foods."

Third Grandma replied, "That's the best thing our families have to offer."