50 Ashamed
“Since you all are working here, you will get 20 wen too. Brothers, you work so hard, I will pay you 10 more, but please work carefully.”
“Don’t tell others!”
Weeds, tree roots, larger stones, and other scattered rubbish on this piece of land needed to be cleaned up. Once a fence was built, trees could be planted and mushrooms could be grown.
Everyone was startled when they heard what Qiao Xuan said.
Ms. Xu smiled. “Fifth Sister-in-law, this seems very nice, but do I get paid too?”
“Ms. Xu!” Shao Dalang glanced at his wife and said, “Fifth Sister-in-law, we are one family and we don’t need to pay each other.”
“Yes.” Shao Sanlang smiled as well. “You have bought us so much food and it is enough for us to get fully-fed every time. You can cook for us more instead.”
Everyone laughed and agreed.
Ms. Xu felt ashamed.
Was she being very greedy? They were humiliating her!
Qiao Xuan chuckled and said, “Those are two different things. This is my private work which will last for a long time. I can’t let you work for free. We should count the bill even if we are a family. Me and my husband don’t do housework. It is you all who have taken over it, right?”
Shao Sanlang was very open-minded, and he could either be paid or remain unpaid.
Shao Dalang was very honest and bad at talking, so he nodded and insisted that he should just take 20 wen, no more.
Qiao Xuan thought for a while and nodded with a smile.
Seeing that they got 10 wen less, Ms. Xu felt her heart ache. She threw a dark look at Shao Dalang, thinking that he was so dull! But she did not dare to say anything more.
Qiao Xuan explained the whole thing to them and asked them not to reveal the truth to anyone else.
She was worried that the second and the third sections of the family would get someone here to work and get money from them and add nuisance.
Shao Dalang realized what was going on. He nodded and said that he was not going to tell anyone else about it.
So did everyone else present.
That was indeed how those people would behave.
Qiao Xuan returned when she was done with her work.
She helped Ms. Fang to look after the children whilst Ms. Fang was busy with some housework.
She was not very familiar with the house, and Ms. Fang was very good at doing the work, so Ms. Fang did not let Qiao Xuan do the housework either, which made her life leisurely.
Qiao Xuan told Ms. Fang about the payment.
Ms. Fang first told her not to do that but after hearing her point of view, she nodded and said, “You are right. This is good, they won’t complain in the future. But don’t let your father learn about it.”
That was exactly what Qiao Xuan was waiting for. She nodded and smiled. “Mom, we are all a good family and noone will complain. I just think that we can’t let them work for free. After all, it is my private work.”
Ms. Fang smiled. “You are such a nice girl who takes everything into consideration!”