Chapter 1151: Xiao Du's Thinking

What kind of benefits should be provided?

Zhang Yanping also fell into hesitation.

After all, when looking for security guards for a residential area, people would line up for a monthly salary of 3,500. But looking for security guards for the mountains and fields in a village...

"Let's make it 4,000." He deliberated and set the amount: "Although the salary isn't high, it's appropriate according to the job content. In addition, we provide room and board; I won't say the accommodation is great, but the food is definitely top-notch."

"During festivals and New Year, we'll put together a gift box of our family's specialties; even if they don't eat them themselves, there will surely be plenty of people willing to buy them if they sell them."

Calculated this way, Zhang Yanping felt it was alright.

"There's just one point: for people from outside, we can't hire them like we do villagers; we have to pay for the five social insurances and one housing fund."

That's for sure; most villagers are over the age limit, making employment contracts very troublesome. Besides, they don't work all year round, more like temporary workers. And young people like Yanran, Qi Lin, and Teacher Xin, who doesn't have the five social insurances and one housing fund?

Song Tan thought about it and felt there was no problem, so she sent the message out amidst Secretary Xiao Zhu's complex expression.

She also greeted Zhang Yanping: "Let's go. Since we need Brother Xiao Du and the others to introduce reliable people, even though Master Jiang has left, the canteen is still there. Let's go take photos of the dormitory environment so they can have a better idea."

"Alright." Zhang Yanping went into the house to get the tricycle keys: "Let's go. You can film the environment along the way so people can understand more."

Wu Lan muttered: "Then for these thousand acres of land, how many people are we recruiting? The monthly salary won't be low, right?"

Calculated, ten people would be 40,000 yuan! It really hurts!

That's a good question.

Song Tan chatted with Zhang Yanping on the tricycle: "We have to divide into morning and night shifts, right? We'll need to set up a few screens later, and someone will have to watch the surveillance..."

Zhang Yanping pondered for a while and boldly suggested: "Actually, the unit price of what we grow is high, so it's better not to skimp on security... What do you think about 20 people?"

Song Tan silently calculated an account in her heart.

4,000 per person, plus the five social insurances and one housing fund, it would be about 5,500 yuan in expenditure. With 20 people, the annual expenditure would exceed one million!

Song Tan silently took a breath.

But she also knew that the 20 people Zhang Yanping mentioned weren't actually many.

The thousand acres of land aren't concentrated but scattered everywhere, so security personnel also need to be dispersed, preferably in pairs. And it's best to divide into two shifts a day, plus people to watch the surveillance.

In this way, the places 20 people can watch actually aren't many at all.

But no matter how she thought about it, spending over a million a year just on hiring people was truly too terrifying! Song Tan took a deep breath and had to change her calculation method—

It's just over a million; a jin of watermelon is 20 yuan, the yield per acre is nearly 10,000 jin, the salary for 20 people is just six acres of watermelon...

No, no! She didn't intend to grow many watermelons anyway; let's change it to tea leaves, 30 jin of tea leaves.

Thinking this way made her feel much more comfortable.

Song Tan let out a long sigh and nodded solemnly: "Alright! Between 18-23 people, let Brother Xiao Du and the others recommend them separately. If there aren't enough people, we can also go to the special recruitment fair for retired soldiers in the city; I heard there's a spring special session."

The tricycle "buzzed" as it climbed the slope, and Song Tan held up her phone, filming a video of the work environment for Brother Xiao Du.

And over here, Xiao Du held his phone, frowning as he replied, while also talking to Old Zhu:

"Old man, look, we were quite cautious when we went out last time; Song Tan clearly didn't discover your unusual identity."

Old Zhu held a rice stalk and gnawed on it carefully—everyone had taken a large bag of these, but they didn't dare eat too much; eating too much on the first day back caused blisters in their mouths, so it was better to take it slow.

At this moment, "crunch, crunch" sounds rang out, and the old man's voice was also muffled:

"She's what you call smart."

"That's clearly because she thinks of herself as just a farmer; whether our identities are good or not doesn't affect her farming. So why bother thinking or guessing? It's better for everyone to just muddle through."

At this moment, he asked again: "What conditions did she give?"

Xiao Du told him everything: "Five social insurances and one housing fund, 4,000 in hand, room and board included, plus specialties during festivals and New Year..."

"Hiss!" Old Zhu pondered for a while: "These benefits are not bad!"

"Indeed." Xiao Du also nodded.

Not to mention anything else, just in this general environment, if some soldiers with low academic qualifications can't be placed locally after retiring, they might not even find such a decent job!

Just look at how cheap the labor force of university students is now; if it were open to society, who knows how many people would rush to the mountain village to 【retire】.

Old Zhu grunted: "It's just that my old arms and legs are useless, otherwise, you tell me, patrolling during the day and guarding at night, what can't I do? And then receive a big gift box at the end of the year... Tsk! That would be beautiful!"

Although he said so, Old Zhu also knew that his old arms and legs had no desires. But young people have the elderly above and the young below, and the pressure to support a family is great.

He sighed at this moment: "Xiao Du, you guys ask around among yourselves and put some heart into it. It doesn't have to be the most powerful; why would a village need someone so powerful? It would be a waste of talent."

"But their character must be steady, otherwise, if something happens, wouldn't my face and Xiao Jun's face be lost?"

Xiao Du actually had ideas when Song Tan first asked, but now...

"I do know some people; my old leader was thinking about them not long ago. It's just that... these benefits are too good."

It's not that he thinks his brothers don't deserve this salary, but the benefits are really good, and many people with better conditions are willing to come and try; the ones he recommended are mostly those whose limbs aren't that sound...

That doesn't make sense!

Old Zhu also furrowed his brows: "Why are you acting so coy? You've lived there for so many days and still don't understand? If there's something, just say it! Whether it works or not, people will only know if you say it!"

Xiao Du smiled and explained in a low voice: "I'm just embarrassed..."

He thought about it and didn't reply immediately, but decided to ask Xiao Yang and the others tonight.

They weren't actually in the same batch, and they came from all over the country, but having stayed together for a long time, they knew a bit about each other.

18~23 people, that's quite a quota. If everyone puts their heads together, even if they can't find people, they can think of more ways; three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang!

Thinking of this, and looking at the message Song Tan sent and the video she sent over, he couldn't help but mutter again:

"The conditions are really quite good..."

Not to mention anything else, even if Master Jiang on the mountain uses ordinary ingredients, there are many varieties every day, and it's especially delicious, taking care of appetites from all over the country.

Look at the dormitory again; although it's a 4-person room, it's small but complete, better than the conditions of many factory dormitories that relatives talk about.

In this way, they really have to ponder carefully.

Otherwise, if the old man's face is lost, could their own faces still be intact?

The matter of recruiting people aside, at Great-Uncle's house, Song Shuliang always felt something was not quite right.

He seemed to be isolated.

Like, logically speaking, a grown man shouldn't have such thoughts. But who understands? It's just this vague atmosphere!

His parents only greet Ayiguli and the two granddaughters when they have something to do, and the two daughters happily go to visit the Song family in the village every day. After coming back, they are full to the brim, and at noon, they can chat with his parents about many topics he can't understand...

Only he, when he speaks, no one responds, and if he says two sentences, his father is sarcastic...

If Song Shuliang hadn't been determined to spend the New Year with the old man, he would have left angrily by now.

But that feeling still lingered around him!

Like right now, everyone is eating lunch! His father cooked five crucian carp today and specifically sprinkled cilantro and a few leaves of huoxiang that grew sporadically in the greenhouse.

That taste of home, Song Shuliang was simply dreaming about it!

But that plate was placed right in front of Ayiguli and the children—this wasn't a big deal, he could reach it with a stretch of his chopsticks, but before he could even reach out, his mother started distributing the food—

"Come, Ayiguli, I'll pick a big one for you! This crucian carp has many bones, be careful when eating, but it can also kill time, so you don't get too full at noon and have no room to eat anything else..."

"Oh my, my two little granddaughters, come, Qiming, you eat this one, Siyue, you eat this one..."

The names of the two granddaughters translated are Qiming (Morning Star) and Siyue (April); the border names are too awkward, and Great-Grandmother has never been able to remember them.

Now that the little ones have lived here for two days, they have no obstacles with this form of address and obediently took their bowls to receive the fish.

With the remaining two, Great-Uncle still had a smile on his lips:

"What's the matter? There are only two left, why don't you eat them? For us two old folks to eat such good things, wouldn't it be a waste?"

Good heavens, the child is still right here!

Song Shuliang felt a burst of shame and anger, and with quick eyes and hands, he stuffed the fish back into the old couple's bowls:

"Dad, look at you, it's not like I must eat this fish, why are you saying that! Besides, there are 6 of us in total, and you only made 5... I just wanted to taste the flavor of our home."

He said, feeling a bit aggrieved.

Great-Uncle was unhurried: "Mainly because this fish is expensive, hard to buy! If you don't believe me, ask Ayiguli."

Ayiguli had already started carefully picking out the fish bones and nodded in agreement without raising her head:

"That's right, Song Tan told me they just sold these fish a few days ago, 40 yuan a jin—Mom and Dad, you are really too good to me!"

"40 yuan a jin?!"

Song Shuliang exclaimed: "Is this the top-quality kind that's like tea leaves and especially hard to get? Dad, you are really too willing to spend."

Although the crucian carp are small, adding them all together is only a little over two jin, but with that price tag, it always gives people a feeling of being very expensive.

And the younger daughter was getting impatient with picking out bones and reached out again: "Grandpa, I want to eat a fermented bean curd rice ball with scorched rice."

"Good, good, good!" Great-Uncle nodded quickly: "I've kneaded it for you, it's keeping warm in the pot! You eat the fish first, eat slowly, and eat the rice ball when you're done—I even wrapped a salted egg yolk for you."

Wow!

Fragrant, oily salted egg yolk!

The two little girls were drooling, and looking at the medium-sized fish on the table, they once again gathered twelve points of patience, whittling away at it bit by bit.

Song Shuliang:...

He smelled the fragrant and especially stimulating crucian carp, then looked at the ordinary shredded radish with meat and stewed tofu with cabbage on the table.

Although, although these two dishes were quite fresh and tasted very good, compared to this crucian carp, they weren't in the same league at all!

It's said that the elderly love their grandchildren more than their children, but when it comes to loving grandchildren, why did his own status plummet?

Thinking of this, he felt quite blocked in his heart. His appetite for the meal instantly faded, and he hurriedly shoveled a bowl of rice and sent the bowl to the kitchen:

"I'm going out for a stroll."

Great-Uncle didn't raise his head: "Go ahead."

Good, good, good!

Song Shuliang looked at the few people burying their heads in their rice; they looked exactly like a family, while he was an outsider who wasn't welcomed!

He put the bowl on the stove and had already walked to the kitchen door when he suddenly remembered something and turned back.

Lifting the lid of the pot, instantly! The domineering aroma of rice rushed to his face, and the three rice balls kept warm by the residual heat in the pot were sitting there. The scorched yellow of the rice crust mixed with the white, glistening rice, and then thinking of the oily salted egg yolk and fermented bean curd wrapped inside...

Slurp!

In that instant, Song Shuliang felt he had uselessly drooled! But he had clearly just finished a bowl of rice!

These were even just a few ordinary rice balls!

He wanted to resist this craving, but upon second thought: this is his own home!

Why should he have to endure not eating when there's food! Not to mention it's just a few rice balls.

So he reached out, picked the big one in the middle, and strolled out.

As he walked, he took the first bite.

By the time Ayiguli helped tidy up the plates and bowls and returned, she saw a familiar person sitting on the steps at the kitchen door.

"What are you doing here?" Ayiguli looked at him curiously.

Behind her, the two daughters were also walking back with empty bowls in a serious manner, and hearing this, they curiously poked their heads out to look.

Ayiguli was even angrier:

"Didn't you see Mom and Dad are busy? Why are you sitting there idle and unwilling to help them?"

"Qiming and Siyue can help wash the bowls!"

Song Shuliang raised his head in confusion, and after seeing them, his eyes became accusatory:

"I just want to know, have you two been eating such good things every day while at home these two days?"

He spun around twice, finally unable to suppress this complex emotion, and raised his voice again:

"Dad, Mom, why have I never eaten such good things these two days!"

He spread his hands, wanting to show the rice ball on them, but there wasn't even a rice crumb left on his palms, so he hurriedly changed his gesture and pointed to the kitchen stove.

"Why is there no share for me?"

Without waiting for Great-Uncle to answer, Ayiguli seemed to remember something and hurriedly went to lift the lid of the pot.

But in the pot, of the three rice balls that should have been kept warm, only two small ones remained.

"Song! Shu! Liang!"

Ayiguli was angry and said indignantly at this moment: "There is no why! Mom and daughter can burn the fire, accompany Mom for a walk, and accompany Dad to wash vegetables and tidy up... what about you? You only know how to run around and play games until you can't be found!"

"Dad is right, good things shouldn't be eaten by you!" ===== CHAPTER 1152 =====