Reborn as an Ugly Wife in the Countryside-Chapter 1321 - 1323: Villagers’ Doubts
The Village Chief spoke quite emotionally, implying that he was considering the villagers’ welfare.
Most folks in the countryside are simple and honest. The Village Chief is someone whose words carry weight, so after a few sentences, everyone felt that since he could say this, it must be good for them. Moreover, they heard something about living better lives and being able to send their children to school, which meant earning a lot of Silver, so they had to ask, "Village Chief, please tell us what’s going on?"
"Yes, Village Chief, please tell us."
"..." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
"..."
Village Chief Song waved his hand again, "Everyone, please don’t make noise. Let Old Zhong Family’s Zhong Lihui explain it to you properly. While he’s talking, don’t interrupt him. If you have any questions, wait until he’s finished to ask."
Everyone nodded in agreement and looked at Zhong Lihui with anticipation. Zhong Lihui then shared with everyone what his family had discussed the day before.
After about a quarter of an hour, Zhong Lihui finished speaking.
The villagers in the square burst into chatter because the news was simply too shocking.
"Did I hear wrong? If we lease the mountain, we split the profits fifty-fifty from selling the stone?"
"No, you didn’t hear wrong. I also heard fifty-fifty."
"So, we’ll be paid by the piece for working the stone, not by the day anymore?"
"That’s what they said."
"And they want to take on apprentices? The Zhong Family wants to pass on their skill to outsiders like us? That’s too unlikely! Who wouldn’t keep such skills to themselves, let alone teach us?"
"But that’s exactly what they said."
"Is the Zhong Family crazy, just giving us the mountain like that and teaching us skills? Where’s the catch?"
"..."
"..."
The discussions continued, with more expressing doubt, not believing such a good deal existed, doubting that the Zhong Family would share the mountain and allow everyone to earn Silver. The most important thing was, this was the Zhong Family’s exclusive skill, and passing it on to outsiders seemed impossible no matter how they thought about it.
Facing these doubts, Village Chief Song stepped in to maintain order, "Everyone, please don’t make noise. Let Zhong Lihui from the Zhong Family answer your questions."
The square immediately quieted down, as everyone wanted to hear what the Zhong Family had to say. At this moment, Zhong Lihui spoke up, "Everyone, listen to me. What I just said is true. This is the result we discussed last night in the Zhong Family, and everyone agreed, with no regrets. When the time comes, we’ll all sign and seal it."
"Our Zhong Family wants to expand Stone Mountain; we won’t be doing small-scale operations like before. We want to sell the stone to farther places, and with more stone sold, naturally, more people are needed to work the mountain, and that’s where we need your help. We’re giving you such a big benefit because we want you to work hard, and the more you work, the more Silver you’ll earn, so everyone can live better lives, right?"
"As for why we want to teach the skill to everyone, it’s actually not some ancestral skill but something we figured out ourselves. There’s no need to keep it secret. It’s better to teach everyone so we can produce more items, making it easier to sell the stone farther."
Zhong Lihui’s words were sincere and reasonable. This matter was indeed a great opportunity for the Stone Village villagers to earn Silver. They just wanted an explanation, and as for what kind of explanation, it wasn’t that important. Clearly, this kind of explanation seemed to persuade the villagers.
After being persuaded, everyone became more interested in the matter and started asking, "But we still need to pay the leasing fee, and if the stone doesn’t sell, won’t we lose out?"
