Chapter 55: Distributing Money

Yan Ning carried a pocket full of Silver Notes, along with several large crates of silver, as she headed back.

Halfway there, Yan Ning tucked all the silver into her space, while keeping all the Silver Notes on her person.

Upon returning, Yan Ning shouted, "Stop working, everyone! It's time to distribute the money!"

As soon as these words were out, many people came out.

For the Glass Jewelry hairpins that Lan Xin and the others made together with Lady Xie, Yan Ning gave them a ten percent commission as well.

Glazed Glass is a business of exorbitant profits, at least for these first year or two; even after paying out so much in wages, Yan Ning could still fill her coffers to the brim.

Yan Ning began to distribute the money.

"Jiang Shifu made thirty plain hairpins, sixty dangling hairpins, ten bracelets, and ten pendants over the past half-month. That is a total of four thousand six hundred taels of silver."

"Wu Dashi made thirty silver hairpins, thirty dangling hairpins, ten bracelets, and ten pendants. The hairpins and dangling hairpins made by Wu Dashi are more exquisite, so naturally, they sell for a higher price. That is a total of six thousand taels of silver."

"..."

Yan Ning handed out the money one by one; the wages for half a month actually amounted to several thousand!

Although Lan Xin and the others were slow at making Glass hairpins, they were all made of Glazed Glass, and the patterns on them were exquisite, so they sold quite well.

Lan Xin also received three thousand for this half-month, and Yun Shang and Zhijin also earned quite a bit, totaling two thousand eight hundred.

The few of them were in a daze.

They had never imagined that they could earn so much money!

After Yan Ning announced the amounts, she began to distribute the money; she handed out Silver Notes, using silver for the remainders.

Wu Dashi bit hard into the Silver Ingot Yan Ning handed him, truly unable to believe it; in the past, when he worked at the silver shop, he basically made about fifty taels a month, with the most being only one hundred taels.

Yet, since coming to Yan Ning's side, he had six thousand taels of silver in half a month.

Wu Dashi grinned from ear to ear.

Lan Xin, Lady Xie, and the others were also beaming; Qian Ruofang, who was on the side, even said she wanted to join them in making hairpins next time, as there were few people in the village who needed her medical services.

Seeing Yan Ning return to her room, Yun Shang and Zhijin followed her.

Seeing the two of them following, Zhao Lianxin immediately went over as well.

Yun Shang and Zhijin said to Yan Ning with some embarrassment, "Miss, you redeemed us, yet you never forced us to do anything. Zhijin and I have thought about it and feel we should return the redemption silver to you."

As they spoke, they handed the three thousand-plus taels they had just received to Yan Ning, and the two of them planned to slowly save up the remaining silver at Liuli Fang.

Zhao Lianxin also handed over the Silver Notes she had earned.

Together with her younger brother, it totaled two thousand five hundred taels of silver.

Yan Ning did not decline and accepted the silver from Yun Shang and Zhijin, but she did not take Zhao Lianxin's, instead picking up a ten-tael silver ingot.

Yan Ning said to Zhao Lianxin, "I bought you for ten taels back then, so receiving ten taels of silver is enough."

Zhao Lianxin hurriedly said, "If it weren't for you, Miss, I would have no way to repay you. Now that we can live here safely and securely, it is all thanks to you."

Yan Ning only accepted the ten taels of silver.

If Zhao Lianxin and her brother had stayed in the Glass workshop making Glazed Glass jewelry, they would certainly have earned more than they did now.

But Zhao Lianxin was not in a hurry to earn money; instead, she took the initiative to suggest being a cook, helping to prepare meals for the villagers building houses nearby, and occasionally she would even make a new set of clothes for Yan Ning.

This resulted in her basically having no time to go to the Glass workshop, but she did not have a single word of complaint.

Yan Ning said to the three of them, "It is still early; if you are not busy, go to Liuli Fang to make Glazed Glass. We need to take more Glazed Glass jewelry to sell tomorrow and the day after."

The Mid-Autumn Festival event lasts for three days, and even if the three silversmiths worked until they sparked, they could not provide such a large quantity. Fortunately, Yan Ning had made many molds beforehand, and with molds, creating the shapes was much simpler.

Things like the Mooncake and the Rabbit were made using molds; otherwise, the Rabbit shape was so difficult that it would take a long time to make just one.

Now, Lady Xie and the others were already very skilled at using molds to make floral patterns, and in just ten minutes or so, a beautiful hairpin would be finished.

But these were still not enough to meet the demand.

The Glass workshop began to burn the midnight oil, working until the Hour of the Rat for these past two days.

The Mid-Autumn Festival event at Liuli Pu passed quickly, and the business at Liuli Pu was exceptionally good; it was said that the Bai Family and the Gu Family had both prepared a significant amount of silver to purchase Glazed Glass hairpins, which could sell for very high prices in other regions.

Yan Ning had no way to take the Glazed Glass to sell in other regions for the time being; firstly, there was no one she trusted to handle the business, and secondly, Yan Ning was not lacking in this bit of silver, as her space was piled high with gold and silver.

Every day, watching these people help clear out the inventory, every item put on the shelves could be sold out, even the ones that were a bit ugly could be sold.

Having someone to help process the defective products was naturally for the best.

On the other side, Taohua Village.

The villagers surrounded Er Gouzi.

"The courtyard is all finished; is there anything else we can do?"

"Clearing wasteland is the most troublesome; do we really have to go clear wasteland? The pay isn't much. If you ask me, we should just burn it all down."

Er Gouzi thought for a moment: "Miss didn't say there was any work to be done, though... you guys are really... clearing wasteland is tiring, but there is a wage of forty wen a day."

The villagers really wanted to earn more money, so Er Gouzi prepared to go to Yan Ning's side to ask if there was any work.

Seeing Er Gouzi arrive, Yan Ning casually handed him a piece of mung bean cake, which had been made by Li Dachu and tasted particularly good.

Er Gouzi accepted the mung bean cake and ate the whole piece at once; it was his first time eating such delicious pastry.

Er Gouzi asked Yan Ning, "Miss, is there anything else here we can help with? The people in our village want to earn more money for the New Year."

Yan Ning thought about it, but there really wasn't.

Er Gouzi prepared to go back and persuade them to go along with clearing the wasteland; the eldest Miss was kind-hearted and would give out rewards from time to time.

However, he was called to a stop, "Er Gouzi, wait a moment."

Seeing Er Gouzi arrive, Yan Ze hurriedly said, "Are the people in your village looking for work? I have a few tasks here; I don't know if you can do them well."

Er Gouzi's eyes lit up, and he followed Yan Ze to the workshop.

The room was full of wood shavings, and a carpenter was still inside carving strange-looking things.

Yan Ze said to him, "I need a large amount of White Sugar and Potassium Nitrate here."

Er Gouzi stood there, somewhat puzzled: "What are those things? We have never heard of these names; will it work?"

Yan Ze nodded: "That is possible, I will hand the specific process over to you."

Yan Ze said some modern terms, and seeing that Er Gouzi did not understand, he simply drew two diagrams for Er Gouzi to take back.

With the diagrams, Er Gouzi understood after one look.

Yan Ze said to him: "I know these things are hard to make, but we will pay a higher price to purchase them."

Er Gouzi returned to the village happily.

Seeing the villagers looking at him expectantly, Er Gouzi said with a smile: "I have taken on a big job for you all, they want them long-term."

The village chief took the paper from Er Gouzi's hand and was stunned.

"What? You want us to go everywhere to find animal feces?"

"And this bamboo, can it be made into sugar?"