Winter in the north seems to be coming in the blink of an eye. As soon as November arrives, the whistling north wind blows, making people tremble with coldness.
Lu Meng and others who originally didn't want to knead wool, after experiencing the severe cold of winter, did not need Xu Erniang to shout. As soon as they finished training every day, as long as they had nothing else to do, they immediately ran to the main house to help spin wool.
For no other reason than to wear a cashmere pullover sweater to resist the ruthless cold wind.
Most of Wang Dayou's factory has been built, glass and other products have been put into production again, and another sum of money was brought back before it snowed.
Wang took the money and obtained a large amount of iron ore, allowing Wang Dayou to prepare for production.
Grandma was busy working on the arsenal, and Xu Yue, brother and sister were not idle either.
They are so short of people, they are short of available people.
Most of the refugees have numb faces, like frogs on the rocks. You poke them before they move. Such human hands are far from what Xu Yue wants.
But now with this level of conditions, she has no choice but to cultivate it herself.
Xu Yue is planning to open a literacy class.
When Mrs. Wang heard this, she thought, "This is great. My good girl, by the way, I can help my grandma's subordinates learn literacy."
Xu Yue: "..."
But again, she had no choice!
There were more than 200 people in the village, including men and women, old and young, all gathered in the open space in front of the dormitory area.
Xu Yue asked Ah San to build two large fires, so that these refugees, who were not fully clothed, did not faint from the cold.
Looking at their shivering looks, Xu Yue seemed to be able to feel the cold on their bodies.
Clothes, this is the first problem to be solved!
Otherwise, when it snows, people will definitely die.
The wool in the warehouse has piled up like a mountain, which is actually more than enough to cope with the three hundred people in the entire village.
But something like a woolen sweater cannot be given away for free.
The former farm owner collected the grain and left without leaving anyone behind.
In order to prevent these people from starving to death, Aniang engaged in a lot of construction and asked these people to build roads and dig canals, and exchanged their labor for food. This way, no one has starved to death until now.
But now that the road has been repaired, they no longer have a way to earn food, and they haven't thought about doing anything proactively. They just cling to the meager food reserves they saved from the previous road construction.
There are still nine months between now and next year's autumn harvest. Xu Yue can keep them from starving to death, but if they want to have enough to eat, they have to rely on themselves.
Lu Meng, the only literate member of the team, took out a wooden board with contents written in charcoal, hung it on a support frame, and turned it into a blackboard, standing in front of everyone.
Lu Meng took out another stick and slapped the "blackboard" twice, successfully attracting the attention of the villagers.
Seeing everyone looking at them blankly, Lu Meng said: "My master is kind-hearted and doesn't want everyone to freeze to death and starve to death, so he specially brought food and cashmere sweaters to help everyone survive the winter."
"But our master's money doesn't come from the strong wind. If you want to eat and wear clothes, you have to do what the master says!"
As the conversation started, everyone looked at him in surprise. Lu Meng proudly opened his wide linen sleeves, revealing the fitted cashmere sweater underneath.
"Did you see? This is called a cashmere sweater. It's made of wool. It's warm and comfortable. It's much warmer than linen and silk. Just wearing this sweater makes your whole body feel warm."
Everyone suddenly looked surprised and envious. Some children were curious and wanted to touch it. Lu Meng took the initiative to step forward and let them feel it.
"Does the owner really give us such fine clothes to wear?" the big guy exclaimed.
The previously lifeless open space finally became lively.
Lu Meng proudly showed off his cashmere sweater, and then said: "My clothes are not easy to handle. I followed the second lady to rub the wool for a whole month, and went to the factory to make iron for three days. Then I exchanged work points for it."
Arrived."
"Oh, there is also a pair of cashmere gloves and a pair of cashmere socks, which I won't show you. In short, wearing this set will make this winter easier."
Someone immediately asked: "What are the work points?"
Finally got the idea! Lu Meng thought to himself.
He knocked on the blackboard again and explained: "The work points are the work you do. From one to ten, the work points for each job are different."
"For example, if you go to work for Master Wang Dayou, you will be charged 9 work points a day for blacksmithing, 6 work points a day for the other assistants, 8 work points a day for following the eldest young master to burn charcoal, and 6 work points a day for spinning with the second lady."
"The wool sweater I'm wearing is exchanged for work points. 200 work points can be exchanged for this complete set, including clothes, pants and gloves."
"There are also many jobs that can earn you work points. They are all clearly written on the board. You can take a look at the jobs you want to do first."
When the board was mentioned, the villagers all looked embarrassed.
"We are illiterate, so I need you to trouble Lu Qushou to read it to everyone."
Lu Meng waved his hand, "This life changes all the time. I can't recite it to you every day. I can recite it to you today, but what about tomorrow and the day after tomorrow? I may not always be on Zhuangzi."
After saying that, seeing that everyone was anxious, he told Xu Yue that he was going to organize literacy classes and schools.
The literacy class is for adults. It starts after dinner every day. Each class lasts an hour. Chinese and mathematics are taught. A full class will count as two work points.
The school is open to children under the age of fifteen and over five. As long as there are children at home who meet the age, they must be sent to the school.
Lunch and evening meals are included in the school. If anyone fails to come, their work points will be deducted. When the work points are deducted to zero, the owner will sell them to the mine.
The same goes for literacy classes. Everyone has to come before graduation. If you are sick, you have to ask for leave first, otherwise your work pay will be deducted and sold.
Upon hearing the punishment of being betrayed, the villagers suddenly became serious.
They don't understand why their master wants them to learn how to read and count, but if they can eat well if they obey, that's not bad.
They knew that the owner of the farm had changed. The male owner had not had a chance to see him yet, but the female owner had seen him a long time ago.
The lady seemed to be a cold-hearted person, but she did not sell them out as soon as she arrived.
Not only did they not have it, they also gave them food to build roads and houses. Although they didn't have enough to eat, they worked hard and didn't starve to death, and those with children at home were able to persevere.
After spending so much time together, they finally understood.
Living with the Xu family may not necessarily lead to a better life, but it will certainly not be worse than other landlords.
Seeing that all the terms and conditions had been said, Lu Meng looked at Xu Yue, who was standing under the eaves, wearing a down scarf and cashmere gloves.
Xu Yue nodded to her brother, sister, and Junmei Wang Youliang, and the four of them took out a charcoal pen and a thick yellow book and went to the table that had been set up.
Xu Dalang shouted in a deep voice: "I want thirty people here to burn charcoal on the mountain. There is no restriction on men and women. They need to be strong. Anyone who wants to do this job can register with me."
Xu Erniang followed closely behind: "I need forty people here to twist wool and knit sweaters. Women will be given priority, and dexterity will be given priority."
