pappabearbooks Chapter 88 Of course I know what I'm going to do.
Chapter 88 Of course I know what I'm going to do.
Chapter 88 Of course I know what I'm going to do.
"Didn't you say you needed a maid? How about this one?"
When Cao Wenda and Lin Zhou went to inspect a new site outside the city, they saw a woman selling herself to bury her father at the city gate. The girl was about the same age as Xiao'e, around fifteen or sixteen years old. She looked extremely pitiful. In the dead of winter, she was kneeling on the muddy roadside, with a corpse covered by a white cloth behind her.
"Ugly." Lin Zhou shook his head, then took out a few banknotes, about thirty strings of cash, and placed them in front of her: "Take it."
The girl kowtowed repeatedly, about to say that she would follow Lin Zhou to be his slave after burying her father, but Lin Zhou just waved his finger: "You're not pretty, don't follow me. I may pity you, but if you follow me around every day, I'll have nightmares."
The girl burst into tears on the spot after being spoken to, and the people around her began to criticize her. Lin Zhou turned around and started cursing: "What are you talking about? I paid you and you're going to curse me? What, you're not allowed to complain about her looks?"
Are you trying to morally blackmail me?
Seeing that he was about to get into an argument with the onlookers, Cao Wenda quickly pulled him out of the city, earnestly admonishing him on the way: "My dear brother, you should control your temper, oh dear—"
"What kind of young person isn't wild?" Lin Zhou said nonchalantly, glancing back at the woman who was collecting the corpse: "She's really ugly."
"She is indeed not beautiful—but if that's the case, why did you still arrange for her to bury her father, my dear brother?"
Lin Zhou turned his head to look at Lao Cao and said somewhat matter-of-factly, "I'm kind-hearted."
Cao Wenda never expected these words to come from his little mouth. This guy was the most ruthless, yet he could still utter the word "kind-hearted." He had never treated anyone like a human being from beginning to end.
However, they didn't dwell on the matter anymore. After leaving the city, the two immediately split up. Cao Wenda went to find a new factory location, while Lin Zhou went to tell the workers that they were going to start work at the same time.
Upon arriving at the riverbank, Xu Shang was supposed to be on duty today, but as soon as the people at the construction site saw their little immortal arrive, they immediately sent a child who was wandering around the area with a yellow dog to look for Xu Shang.
After all, in this area, children and dogs are counted as work hours, and it wouldn't be good if this big customer saw them loitering around.
Xu Shang arrived quickly, after all, half of the southern city was being supported by this little deity, and he dared not neglect him at all.
"Brother Xu, are you busy?"
"On duty." Xu Shang spread his hands to show Lin Zhou his uniform. "But hearing that you were here, I naturally had to come quickly."
"Hey, stop with the formalities." Lin Zhou found a large rock to sit on, lit a cigarette, and said, "Brother Xu, I'll get straight to the point."
"you say."
"I'm going to start another construction site. This one is almost finished, so I'll send half of the people over there to work. Once this one is done, the rest of us will go over there."
Xu Shang paused for a moment, then leaned over and asked in a low voice, "Still half a string of cash per day?"
"What? This is already the highest we can offer; we can't afford any higher." Lin Zhou slapped his thigh and said, "How about you get another two hundred dogs?"
"No, no, that's not what I meant," Xu Shang quickly waved his hand and said, "Then what is the construction period this time?"
"It will be much larger in scale, the factory may need to be double or tripled in size. There are two furnaces here, and six furnaces over there. The construction period will take at least two months."
"Let's do it!"
Working here for half a month, then there for two months, would ensure a comfortable life for the entire year. Moreover, this initiative could absorb a large number of displaced people from the southern part of the city. It's worth noting that the security in Lin'an City has improved recently, not because people have become more law-abiding, but because the able-bodied young men are working in three shifts.
Although there are only 6,700 registered young adults, the overall economy it drives is far more than that. Their families, surrounding vendors, and so on, involve more than 30,000 people, which is almost one-tenth of the total population of Lin'an City.
It's easy to imagine how big a problem Lin Zhou solved with this move.
"Just get to work, get it done. You'll be busy from now on." Lin Zhou sat there with his legs crossed, smoking a cigarette leisurely. "There's also the shipyard, the textile mill, the grain processing plant, I'll set them all up for you. I'm even worried you won't have enough people."
"Really?"
"Yeah, how could that be fake?" Lin Zhou spat to the side. "Anyway, you figure out how to gather people, and I'll figure out how to find you guys work."
"OK."
Cao Wenda returned at this time, and the three of them chatted for a while. Xu Shang also took out five thousand strings of cash and slapped it into Cao Wenda's hand. This old Cao, who had been neglected by the Prime Minister that morning, immediately smiled and patted Lin Zhou and Xu Shang's hands, calling them brothers. His eyes were so happy that they were almost closed.
Just before lunchtime, Cao Wenda suddenly realized something was wrong. When they arrived in the morning, the workers were having their meals, but now, only a few hours later, they were having their meals again.
"Brother, how many meals do these poor wretches eat a day?"
"Four meals? What's wrong?" Lin Zhou looked up at Cao Wenda: "It's heavy physical labor. The canteen here serves eight meals a day, four for the day shift and four for the night shift, non-stop day and night."
"Isn't this a bit too much?" Cao Wenda leaned closer and said, "In the past, when I asked people to do work, they would be grateful if I provided them with one meal a day, saying that I was a great philanthropist. But you provide four meals a day."
"Damn it—" Lin Zhou pointed up the mountain: "Each person carries over a hundred pounds! If you don't feed them properly, how can they work for you? Rushing the project—fine, go tell the Prime Minister."
"No, no, no—that's not what I meant. I was just asking if it was too much. I didn't mean to tell the Prime Minister."
Cao Wenda was thoroughly annoyed by Lin Zhou. Now that Lin Zhou was in power, he was constantly using the Prime Minister's name to intimidate people. This scoundrel, once he gained power, was indeed no good at all.
"One hundred coins per person per day, that's twenty-five coins per meal. Didn't I just give it to you? Didn't you see it?" Lin Zhou frowned and looked Old Cao up and down: "Well, Brother Cao, you even dare to neglect the Prime Minister's duties."
"Ouch----"
Cao Wenda quickly stepped forward, grabbed Lin Zhou's hand, and said, "Brother, you've misunderstood me. I was just trying to save you money."
Seeing his winking and smirking, Lin Zhou felt a surge of smug satisfaction. He carefully looked Old Cao over before speaking, "Don't worry, I won't tell the Prime Minister. Besides, Brother Cao is too busy with important matters to concern himself with these things."
"Yes, yes, yes, please take good care of this place, my worthy brother."
Cao Wenda had been a lackey for many years, so he knew all too well the principle of never offending someone in power. Besides, this money had nothing to do with him anyway. The Prime Minister hadn't even said anything about the money, so why should he do something that would offend people?
After the two entered the city, Cao Wenda didn't want to spend a moment more with Lin Zhou, so he made up an excuse and ran away. Lin Zhou, on the other hand, had nothing to do, so he strolled over to the outside of the academy.
Today was a day of rest for the academy, with only a few people busy cleaning. He wandered around the academy, looking here and touching there.
Suddenly, a voice called out from behind, "What brings you here on your day off?"
"Headmaster." Lin Zhou turned around and bowed with his hands clasped.
"You've gone against the grain!" The headmaster shook his head and stepped forward, gently straightening Lin Zhou's hands as he bowed. "You can put them like that now, but wait until I'm dead."
"Are there really so many rules?"
At that moment, Lin Zhou felt a chill run down his spine: "This is too troublesome."
"Without rules, there is no order. By the way, what brings you here?"
Lin Zhou walked to the headmaster's side and took his arm, but the headmaster shook him off, saying, "I am not yet at the point where I need to be helped. Tell me, what brings you here?"
"Did you rob Qin Hui's steel mill this morning, old man?"
Headmaster Chen paused, his hand still: "You knew all along?"
"Hey, that's what I did to him." Lin Zhou walked beside Chen Shanzhang: "Qin Hui summoned me early this morning to interrogate me. As soon as I heard it was you who did it, I knew you wanted to save the country through industry."
Upon hearing this, Headmaster Chen almost instantly began to look at Lin Zhou with new respect. Although this guy wasn't very cultured, he was genuinely clever, and he could come up with a whole repertoire of witty remarks.
"Industry saves the nation"—what a wonderful phrase! How come I never thought of it?
"What? Are you here to question Qin Hui?"
"Ah Cao, even he doesn't dare to question you, so how could I?" Lin Zhou sighed. "But Headmaster, I have something to tell you. Your plan with Mr. Li is definitely doomed to fail."
Upon hearing this, Headmaster Chen paused again, but he was not the kind of rigid old scholar, so he asked curiously, "What makes you say that?"
"Is Teacher Li here? Come out and let's chat."
"Yizhi, he's probably drinking again right now. Come with me."
The two quickly arrived at Teacher Li's dormitory. Sure enough, the guy had gotten himself drunk again and was fast asleep in his chair. I really don't know how his cervical spine can hold up.
Headmaster Chen glanced at Lin Zhou, a look of relief on his face, and then stepped forward to pat him on the shoulder: "Yizhi, Yizhi, get up. Your disciple has come to see you off."
"Hmm... Ah?" Teacher Li suddenly realized, "I'm dead?"
The three sat down, and Teacher Li lit a small charcoal stove in the room, warming a cup of yellow wine on it. At this moment, Headmaster Chen spoke up: "Yizhi, your disciple said that the strategy of saving the country through industry would surely fail if it were in your or my hands."
"Hmm?" Teacher Li immediately perked up: "Why?"
"Why—" Chen Shanzhang turned his head and asked Lin Zhou, "Why?"
T
Lin Zhou cleared his throat: "We can't bring the costs down."
After saying that, he chuckled and said, "I don't understand all this classical Chinese, but I do know a little about doing business. Mr. Li, you're really impatient. This reckless approach will not only fail you but also waste your money. Let me explain to you two why this matter would definitely fail if it were handled by you two mentors."
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