Besides these significant matters, the rest were just trifling affairs. Old Cheng regularly walked around the fields, paying attention to small things that Yan Fei might have overlooked, reminding him from time to time.
Isn’t there a saying? Having an elder in the family is like having a treasure. The old man, contemplating that he doesn’t do much work, took more care. Old Gong was the same way. With the two old men around, those who delivered straw fodder sometimes made unreasonable requests that others felt uncomfortable voicing. But these two old men could always step up in those key moments.
In the end, Yan Fei remembered that it seemed to be time to pay wages again. Might as well distribute the wages first!
Although Gong Hanqing had to go to school in the morning, people are , the greater the pressure, the greater the motivation. This guy originally came from a good family background, yet he was slim and weak. Now, he rushed to work in the afternoon, and he seemed much stronger. Moreover, every now and then, he’d drive a hand-held tractor to deliver cow dung. He really has done no small amount of work.
Those who work more deserve higher wages. Yan Fei had the final say, and no one could oppose it. As long as there was money, the increase in wages couldn’t be too high, but given their family’s situation, everyone understood a reasonable pay rise.
When paying out, Yan Fei gave an extra fifty bucks to each person as a bonus. Even Fang Xiaoqing got the bonus. That girl was busy studying every day, but she became more sensible. After school, she’d help her mom do the accounting. That’s been quite helpful.
After paying everyone, he looked around and felt it wasn’t enough. After some thought, he said, "Our crew has two students, I’ll give a reward of five hundred bucks if they get into their favored schools. You guys need not be envious. Once you guys get married, there will be a reward of five hundred as well. The reward from the farm is not my bride price, I’ll still give the bride price later. Starting with Heizi and Brother Chao, you guys will receive the money whenever you tie the knot."
After finishing, he grinned triumphantly. That was his stroke of genius! It seemed that every worker on the farm except the two old men had a chance at the reward. Overjoyed, he added, "Aunt Yu Mei and Old Gao, this applies to both of you as well. If either of you gets married, it’s five hundred per person..."
Lin Yumei instantly blushed and quickly stood up, "I’m going to check today’s liquor sales..."
Yan Fei immediately sensed trouble - loose lips sink ships! What he said seemed to carry a different implication. He quickly explained, "I meant, when both of you find the right person and get married, I will give you the bonus. I didn’t mean for both of you to marry each other..."
Instead of helping, his explanation made Lin Yumei walk away even faster.
When she was gone, everyone in the room looked at Yan Fei, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Seeing his gloomy face, they couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Chang Liang chuckled, "Brother Fei, are you planning on being a matchmaker? Old Gao, you should thank our boss quickly. He’s even arranged for a wife and a daughter for you..."
Old Gao subconsciously glanced outside, then glared at Chang Liang, but remained silent.
"Haha..." Heizi said with a spooky laugh. "Old Gao, do you have any ideas? You aren’t opposing it, huh? Can’t see it coming! Didn’t think you had such a romantic side, it’s true, appearances are deceiving. I think you two are quite suitable, you should try."
"You want her to leave, so your wife can come and cook, right?" Old Gao sneered. "Or do you want to find cow dung in your meal or discover that two extra handfuls of salt have been added?"
His comment immediately silenced Heizi. Now that there were more and more people in the cattle farm, cooking was not an easy job. Having his wife cook was absolutely impossible. She was still a student; she definitely couldn’t do this work. If their head cook left because of what he had said, would they have to starve?
As for Old Cheng, sometimes when Lin Yumei was too busy, he could help cook once or twice. But, his cooking consisted only of salted knotted noodle soup - in winter, he would make noodle soup with radishes and Chinese cabbage, and in other seasons, whatever seasonal vegetables were available. Anyway, whatever was available to him, he would throw it into the soup, adding some salt, spices, and oil. In short, a large pot of food was prepared each time, enough to ensure everyone got full even if they didn’t savor it.
Everyone else found it distasteful, but Old Cheng always relished it. He would always keep changing it up. Sometimes when there were tofu vendors, he would buy tofu and make tofu soup - in reality, apart from him, nobody else knew about his ’earnest efforts’. After preparing it a few times, everyone would rather rush to finish their chores early to allow the head cook to prepare the meals, rather than eating the old man’s knotted soup!
Thinking about it this way, not only did Heizi not dare to speak anymore, but everyone also looked at each other with empathy - they only realized the gravity of this crucial issue now. The one who should not be offended in the ranch was the head cook! If the chef was pissed off and gave up on them, all the old and young workers here might not even get a meal - even though they definitely wouldn’t starve, who amongst them could well prepare the fishes that Yan Fei often brought?
"Alright, let’s not discuss this anymore, or the head cook might actually get angry and leave. That would be a serious consequence." Yan Fei skillfully changed the subject. "Master Cheng, you two old men have any plans? Find a partner, have a wedding, and I will also give a bonus..."
Before he finished speaking, Old Cheng interrupted him laughing, "If you’re finished talking, you’d better go. Don’t go looking for trouble here. We two old men don’t want your five hundred bucks. Save it for the younger ones..."
Yan Fei grinned and stood up. "Alright then, I’m off to get busy. I need to use the big truck tonight. Old Ou, come and close the gate for me..."
Old Ou quickly stood up, "Brother Fei, I can drive the car if you’re busy. I’ve already learned almost everything! Brother Xiang said I can totally drive on the road now..."
"Then you should thank Brother Xiang later. Don’t spend your own money buying those impractical things. The eggs and fish from the cattle farm are fine. Also, remember to save some beef to send over next time we slaughter the cattle. I might take a while tonight, it’s going to be a long night! You can drive over there yourself. Go early tomorrow, go with Heizi to the county town to buy ten more fattened cows..."
Yan Fei drove the truck directly to the greenhouse area and dumped the load.
Then he entered the dinosaur world. In no time, wooden stakes as thick as a bowl started appearing on the truck with a series of thumps.
These would be used to build the greenhouse. Generally, it would take several days to build a greenhouse, but the work efficiency was so high this afternoon, more than he had imagined, that they were about to build the roof. He hadn’t even taken out the rafters for the greenhouse.
He left a big truckload of pine wood bars there. They would be useful tomorrow when there were more people to help. He couldn’t use the items from the unknown source, so they were essentially bought by him.
Then he went to the ginkgo forest and started digging. The weather was warmer so a lot of dinosaurs were wandering about. However, while he was busy, no dinosaur dared to bother him.