Li Xinyu's WeChat group was abuzz. She was explaining to several people about Zhao Qian's rumor - mongering, especially how Yuan Tiantian had helped her family.
"The young lady is quite kind - hearted. She just seemed cold before," someone said.
Yuan Tiantian had no idea that Li Xinyu was clearing her name. Later, a group of people who were driving by were attracted by the aroma of the food from Yuan Tiantian's food store. She was very busy. By the time she and Bai Ying got to eat lunch, it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon.
Business was pretty good at noon today, with people coming in one after another.
After Yuan Tiantian went upstairs, she checked the earnings. Excluding the amount from the first day, by noon today, the store had taken in 1,230 yuan. This time there were no discounts, so the income was quite good. After deducting the cost of vegetables for the past two days, the net profit was 950 yuan.
It was a decent income.
After the lunch break, Yuan Tiantian cooked a large pot of sausage steamed rice. There wasn't enough to sell by the end of noon, so she planned to make more in the afternoon. She found that there were still plenty of other ingredients left, so she didn't go out to restock. Then she left Bai Ying in the store to watch over it and rode her electric bike to Aunt Qianhua's house.
Aunt Qianhua's fast - food restaurant had been closed for the past two days, so Yuan Tiantian had to go to the village to find her.
"Excuse me, where does Aunt Qianhua live?"
When she got to the village entrance, she saw a few old men playing cards. She stopped her bike and asked. She didn't know the exact address of Aunt Qianhua's house.
"Go straight ahead, then turn right. Not far away, there's a brick - tile house. That's their home," an old man stopped what he was doing and pointed the way for her. Yuan Tiantian quickly thanked him.
After Yuan Tiantian left, the old men started gossiping.
"Is this the young boss who opened a restaurant in Xia Cui's house?"
"Yes. I heard her business is booming. Liu Xiaoqing's family is so jealous."
"Right. But I heard even bigger news at noon today."
"This young girl is very rich. I heard she contracted the mountain behind!"
"Wow, that's really something! Li Qiang must have asked for a fortune!"
"How would I know? You can ask Qianhua. I heard she took the girl there."
"Do you want me to get scolded? Qianhua would never tell me. But the soil on that mountain is no good. Didn't the last person who wanted to contract it give up at the last minute?"
"Tell me about it. I wanted to open up some land there to grow vegetables the year before last, but nothing grew."
Who says only women are gossipy? These old men were just as bad. They started from talking about Yuan Tiantian and ended up discussing the mountain land. Finally, they smacked their lips and came to a conclusion.
"Li Qiang is still a bad guy, and this young boss doesn't seem very smart."
The so - called not - very - smart young boss was now entering Aunt Qianhua's house. Coincidentally, the whole family was there, even Aunt Qianhua's son's family had come back. When they saw Yuan Tiantian coming, they quickly welcomed her in.
"Why did you bring something? You shouldn't have," Aunt Qianhua chided Yuan Tiantian when she saw the girl carrying several cups of lemonade. She knew that the lemonade was sold for 35 yuan a cup in the store. Yuan Tiantian smiled and handed the drinks to Li Xinyu. Then she said apologetically,
"I didn't know your elder brother's family would come. I brought too few."
Yuan Tiantian had only brought four cups, and now there were three more people. She felt embarrassed. Aunt Qianhua immediately laughed.
"You're too polite. We can just divide it into bowls!"
It was Xu Xia who spoke. She took the lemonade from Li Xinyu's hand, went into the kitchen, took out seven bowls, and divided the lemonade for everyone. Li Yiran, Aunt Qianhua's little grandson, was so excited after drinking it that he ran around everyone.
"What brings you here?" Aunt Qianhua knew that Yuan Tiantian wasn't the type to just drop by. Coming in the hot sun, there must be something important.
Yuan Tiantian nodded. All the adults in the Li family started to look at her seriously.
"I've contracted the mountain behind, but I don't have a suitable person for planting. I know Uncle Li is good at planting, so I'd like to ask him to help me manage the mountain later."
"Of course, it's unrealistic for Uncle Li to manage it alone. So later, Uncle Li can find suitable planting hands. As long as you think they're okay, you can hire them. Just keep the number within 20."
One person definitely couldn't handle more than ten mu of land, so she hoped the Li family could find more good planters.
"As for the salary, for now, Uncle Li will get 2,000 yuan a month, and the people Uncle Li finds will get 1,500 yuan a month. But these are just the current arrangements. If the fruits and vegetables on the mountain grow and can be sold later, I'll adjust the salary."
Yuan Tiantian's seemingly ordinary words shocked the Li family.
"2,000 yuan a month?" Aunt Qianhua couldn't believe it. In the past two years, Li Mu had been growing greenhouse vegetables. After deducting the cost, he only earned about 10,000 yuan a year, and sometimes even less. Now, without any cost, just helping to manage the mountain, he could get 2,000 yuan a month. It was really a good income. Not only Li Mu, but also Li Xinyu and Li Xinqiang's family were very tempted by Yuan Tiantian's offer.
"Can I do it?" Li Mu asked uncertainly, feeling like it was a windfall. Yuan Tiantian nodded affirmatively.
"Uncle Li, you're definitely better than me!"
Hearing this, Li Mu relaxed. This young boss really knew how to joke. However, Yuan Tiantian also made one thing clear.
"Of course, if you don't manage it carefully later, although I won't ask you to compensate, I won't let you continue to manage it. I have to say this first."
The Li family said they understood. Then Li Xinyu proposed to sign a contract. Yuan Tiantian had no objection. She asked Li Xinyu to prepare the contract and come to the store to find her later.
"When will we start planting?" Li Mu's greenhouse had been destroyed. Except for the vegetable garden in front of his house, he had nothing to do. He wanted to start working as soon as possible.
"Wait for my news. I still have some things to do."
She had already contacted the relevant experts from the city. They would come around 4 p.m. Seeing that the time was almost up, Yuan Tiantian went back to wait for the geological surveyors.
Coincidentally, as soon as she got back to the store, the geological surveyors arrived. There were two of them. One was an old man with white hair, who looked in his sixties, and the other was a young man in his thirties.
The two were impatient. They directly asked Yuan Tiantian to take them to the area to be surveyed. After taking photos and samples, the three of them went down the mountain.
"The report will probably take about a week. We'll mail it to you," the young man explained to Yuan Tiantian. She nodded. She wasn't in a hurry. As long as there was the report.
Back at the store, Yuan Tiantian invited them to stay for dinner. The old man glanced at her.
"No need. We'll order something."
The young man looked a bit embarrassed. "My teacher is a bit straightforward. Please forgive him."
Yuan Tiantian smiled. It didn't matter to her.
It wasn't until they tasted Yuan Tiantian's food that the old man, who seemed so stubborn, softened up.
"Make another serving of these dishes. I'll take them away."
Watching their backs as they left, Yuan Tiantian was very happy. They liked her food too~