After Wu Shancun and the others left with the crabs, Ms.Wang and the women from the village came into the courtyard and closed the door.
The women helped clean the drunken crabs, Ms.Wang boiled brine with the two maids and Yang Chuxia, Old Aunt-in-law Gen and others helped pour the brine into jars, while people outside cleaned the crabs and placed them into the jars one by one.
They were busy until evening when all the drunken crabs and shrimp were finally put into the jars.
After Yang Chuxia distributed the copper coins to everyone, they all went home.
"It’s much faster to hire people than do it ourselves!" Ms.Wang said when they returned to the courtyard where they lived.
"But mother, I’m afraid we won’t have any free time in a few days." Yang Chuxia said, "The salted shrimps are almost ready, and we’ll have to prepare the shrimp paste soon, which could be overwhelming."
"What should we do then?" Ms.Wang asked.
Yang Chuxia thought for a moment and said, "Grandma is getting old, and she might not be able to do this kind of work all day long. But Old Aunt-in-law Gen and Auntie Caixia can be trusted and brought along to help."
"Xiaxia, aren’t you afraid they’ll learn our family’s secrets?" Ms.Wang asked.
Upon hearing this, Yang Chuxia snorted coldly. "First of all, Old Aunt-in-law Gen and Auntie Caixia are trustworthy. Even if they betrayed us one day, are they prepared to oppose me? Besides, I don’t plan on letting them work on the brine, just help with making shrimp paste. That process is complicated, and it involves fermenting shrimp, which is hard to control. Even if they learn everything else, they won’t know this step. Mother, the fermentation of the shrimp directly affects the taste of the shrimp paste in the end."
"Fine, as long as you’ve considered it carefully." Ms.Wang didn’t have any objections to this.
"Then tomorrow, mom, please tell the two aunts that we’ll double their wages to one tael of silver a month."
"That much? But that’s fine, the more silver we give, the more dedicated the two aunts will be in their work."
Yang Chuxia nodded. "That’s the idea."
After helping prepare several batches of brine, Yang Chuxia didn’t go to the other courtyard anymore, as she was already too busy.
The two maids helped with the brine, while Ms.Wang worked with Old Aunt-in-law Gen and Auntie Caixia to make shrimp paste.
As for the nut shop, they had prepared a large inventory a while ago, so they didn’t need to make any more for a while. Also, as the weather got hotter, people ate fewer nuts, so their inventory would last for some time.
During this time, Yang Chuxia also kept an eye on the labor market for some capable women to buy and help out.
She had no choice but to buy them, as there were only two or three trustworthy women in the village, and the others could only help with other tasks. In fact, the people she bought might not necessarily be trustworthy, but at least she controlled their lives, which would make them somewhat cautious.
Unfortunately, when she informed Broker Liu of her need, he did not find any suitable candidates for her.
When it came time to make broad bean paste, they had to hire more people from the village. Fortunately, the early stages of making bean paste required no skills, so anyone could do it. As for the later steps, they needed more time to be done.
"Xiaxia, you’ve been too tired lately." Ye Zi’an caressed her small face with concern. "There’s no flesh left on it."