Chapter 497

Ye Guowei pointed to another, relatively younger person and introduced, "A Cheng, this is Sun Ping'an, you should call him cousin—he's the child of your maternal uncle's family."

Sun Ping'an looked to be about my age, somewhere between me and Ye Guowei, with an honest, simple appearance; when the introduction turned to him, he quickly extended his hand and blurted out,

"Boss, hello."

Ye Cheng's face stiffened—this...

Sun Ping'an looked embarrassed at Ye Cheng, feeling a bit awkward.

Ye Cheng quickly reached out and shook his hand, saying, "Cousin, we're all family—no need to call me boss."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Sun Baocheng interjected, "We want it, we want it—I told Ping'an we came to work; you hired us, so you're the boss—don't throw your weight around just because we're relatives."

Ye Cheng was still rather pleased by that; he had genuinely feared Jiang Yunxiang would dig up two old-timers for him, which would have been a headache.

Seeing how honest and unpretentious this father‑son pair are, they surely have the skills, so I can relax.

"Uncle, why stand on ceremony? Please sit—you're the elder; if you don't sit, we'll feel awkward."

Ye Cheng called out, then leaned on Ye Guowei and took a seat in the accompanying place.

He casually dumped the purchased braised dishes onto two plates, and in no time the table was filled with food.

Jiang Yunxiang wiped her hands and joined the table.

"Uncle, brother, welcome—since I moved in after marriage I rarely go back, this is your first time here, so please don't be formal."

Sun Baocheng squeezed out a grim smile, then glanced at the dishes and said, "Yunxiang, isn't this over the top? We're here to work."

This morning Jiang Yunxiang bought the dishes at the market: lobster, grouper, sea snail, and a big pork shank, plus the fatty intestines and kidney slices the younger uncle-in-law wanted—almost a New Year's spread.

No wonder Sun Baocheng can't sit still.

"Uncle, you don't come often—you should get something good. Later I'll have Guowei keep you company for a drink, and Ping'an can have some too—don't stand on ceremony."

"Come on, uncle, brother, dig in."

Sun Ping'an eyed the lobster before him, his throat bobbing; when Jiang Yunxiang said to start eating, he carefully extended his chopsticks, aiming to snag a piece of lobster meat.

Smack!

As soon as he reached out, Sun Baocheng smacked his chopsticks.

"How rude—we came to work, we can't be eating fancy food."

Saying that, Sun Baocheng slipped a piece of pork head meat onto his son's plate and took a peanut for himself.

Ye Cheng was left speechless; he turned to Dou Dou and said, "Dou Dou, go—serve the uncles, pile their plates high."

Dou Dou, being a child, hopped down from the table at once when he heard he had a job, and edged over to Sun Baocheng.

"Grandpa Uncle, have some lobster—it's delicious; Mom often buys this grouper, and it's fragrant."

"Uncle, have some lobster too—we eat it all the time at home."

Dou Dou kept calling him 'grandpa uncle' and 'uncle,' so Sun Baocheng felt too embarrassed to take the food back.

Soon a heap of meat piled up before them.

Ye Guowei gave Ye Cheng a look—these two father and son had come with the mindset of hired hands.

So it fell to Ye Cheng, as the boss, to take the lead.

Ye Cheng lifted his cup and said, "Uncle, brother, come, have a drink first—eat up; my sister-in-law warned that if I don't treat you well, I'll get a beating."

"This kid." Jiang Yunxiang gave Ye Cheng a sideways glance, though she was pleased inside.

She just wanted her natal family to see that her life had improved, and that she could help them.

With everyone's joint effort, Sun Baocheng finally relaxed his worker mindset, drank a few more cups, and grew more talkative.

"Yunxiang, your mother said you're doing well now and still think of your natal family—you're really filial."

Hearing Sun Baocheng's mother's personal endorsement, Jiang Yunxiang was thrilled.

"Uncle, is my mother still in good health?"

"She's fine—she can eat even more than I can; how could she be unwell? Lately she's taken to chocolate and such, and keeps saying the last time she ate at your place it was delicious—nothing at home compares."

Upon hearing that her mother had taken a liking to chocolate, Jiang Yunxiang glanced at Ye Cheng.

Ye Cheng hadn't expected that the old lady, after her previous visit, would suddenly develop a taste for this.

Seeing Jiang Yunxiang's look, Ye Cheng said at once, "Uncle, I know what the elder lady likes—I'll go to town later and buy some for her, then deliver it."

"Yes, yes, buy more."

"Okay, okay, I'll buy more." Ye Cheng was also resigned.

I had hoped to get Sun Baocheng and his son to drink a bit more, but he insisted he wouldn't, saying they had to work in the afternoon and couldn't drink much.

Seeing his firm stance, Ye Guowei didn't press him and just drank on his own.

After three rounds of drinks, Jiang Yunxiang suddenly glanced at Ye Cheng, her eyes flickering, and then she said,

"A Cheng, how much wages do you plan to give my uncles?"

This was to secure benefits for my own uncle.

Ye Cheng didn't care about such a small sum either, saying, "Sister-in-law, you tell me—what do you think is appropriate?"

When wages came up, Sun Baocheng quickly lowered his head, feigning to pick vegetables, but after a while he still hadn't managed to pick up a single peanut.

Jiang Yunxiang's eyes flickered, then she looked at Ye Cheng and said, "A Cheng, my uncle used to earn 80 yuan a day working for others; coming here it shouldn't be too little."

Ye Cheng nodded and casually slipped a piece of meat to Sun Baocheng, startling him so his hand shook and his chopsticks nearly fell.

"It's fine, I'll do it myself—no need to stand on ceremony." Sun Baocheng quickly righted his chopsticks, then shoved the meat Ye Cheng had given him into his mouth.

Ye Cheng regarded him calmly and said, "Uncle, I'll give you 120 a day, and Ping'an brother 100 a day—does that work for you?"

Since the sister-in-law spoke up, the base rate is 80 yuan; raising it by 50% will satisfy everyone.

"How much? 120?" Sun Baocheng felt the meat had lost its aroma—money smelled sweeter.

"Yes, you get 120, Ping'an brother 100—totalling 220 a day." Ye Cheng repeated, stressing the point.

Having said that, he turned to Jiang Yunxiang and asked, "Sister-in-law, do you think this price is okay?"

Jiang Yunxiang was all smiles; still, this brother-in-law knows how to get things done.

"Fine, fine, Uncle, you say it's okay, right?"

Sun Baocheng had no objections left; he kept nodding, his mouth grinning crookedly.

Ye Cheng smiled, glanced at his older brother, gave him a look meaning, "I can handle this, right?"

Ye Guowei pursed his lips and quietly gave a thumbs‑up.

With such high wages, the Sun father and son felt a bit overwhelmed, wanting to hurry to the work site to have a look.

Actually, the meal was almost over; since they wanted to go look, Ye Cheng pulled Ye Guowei along and took the two of them out.