Could the village chief refuse? He was the son of the county magistrate. Although he didn't like outsiders to be present, to avoid making a fool of himself, if he refused, the county magistrate's son might get angry: "Of course you can."
He stood up and led the way. Nan Nan looked at Fang Xiaoxi and asked in a low voice, "Why do I feel that the village chief doesn't look like he welcomes me?"
Fang Xiaoxi glanced at Nan Nan and said, "I just don't want you to laugh at me. Don't worry, you are so thick-skinned, you shouldn't mind."
Nan Nan touched her cheek. Is she shameless? What a joke. Is he such a person in Fang Xiaoxi's eyes? Shameless! This is outrageous.
Before he could say anything else, he had already arrived at the dam. Yes, every time Fangjia Village held a village meeting, it was always on this dam. There were children playing innocently nearby.
Seeing the village chief coming, everyone in the village became excited. They had received the silver yesterday, but the village chief had not distributed it yet. This was very puzzling.
There are more than 60 households in Fangjia Village, almost several hundred people. The village chief looked at the people below and said, "Everyone, let's get straight to the point. There are only 200 taels of silver. Do you think it should be distributed according to the household or the number of people?"
After all, except for the children, everyone participated in the making of lanterns. Upon hearing this, the dam became lively. There were different opinions. Some said that the lanterns should be distributed according to the number of people, while others said that the more people made, the more they would get.
The village chief had a headache and looked at everyone: "Everyone, listen to me. The design of this lantern was taken out by Xiao Xi, and the poem on it was also taken out by Xiao Xi, and Xiao Xi also asked someone to write it. If it is distributed according to the number of people, Xiao Xi's contribution is worth at least ten taels of silver. No one objects to this, right?"
Everyone really couldn't object to this, after all, these things were indeed handled by Fang Xiaoxi. But seeing that the ten taels of silver were gone, everyone became a little anxious: "Then how do we divide the rest?"
The village chief looked at everyone and said, "If you divide it by headcount, each person will get about 500 wen. If you divide it by household, each family should get about 300 wen. Now you can choose how to divide it."
Nan Nan frowned and looked at Fang Xiaoxi: "You are not short of silver, do you really want these ten taels?"
Fang Xiaoxi glanced at Nan Nan and said, "Why shouldn't I take what I deserve? Besides, you can't deny my interests just because I'm rich. I made my money by myself, and I contributed to this, so I should take it."
Nan Nan still frowned: "But it's only ten taels..."
Before she finished speaking, Fang Xiaoxi snorted, "You know, it's only ten taels. If I don't want it, maybe each person will only get a few more coins. Do you want me to argue with the village chief for these few coins? This is the village chief's intention. He has already calculated it. Why should I ask him to calculate it again?"
The most important thing is, if Fang Xiaoxi dares to say today that she has money but she won't accept it, then tomorrow the whole village will be lined up with people who want to borrow money from the entrance to the end of the village. It will be such a huge trouble and it is unnecessary.
Everyone was talking, so Nan Nan and Fang Xiaoxi didn't disturb anyone else, and no one listened to them. The village chief patted the table again and said, "Have you discussed it? Should we divide it by household or by person?"
"Village head, we agree to divide it according to the number of households." The person who was speaking had a large family. If it was divided according to the number of people, each person would get 500 coins, and two people would get 1 tael of silver. Their family only had six people, so the amount was divided according to the number of households, but their family had ten people! Wouldn't that mean they would get two more taels of silver
"No, village chief, I don't agree. We want to divide it according to the household." The person who spoke was an old man. There were only three people in their family. The daughters were all married, and they only had one son in their life. He was a late-born child and was not very old. He had not yet started a family, so there was no one at home.
If the money was divided according to the number of households, each of the three people would get one tael, which was a bargain. The families with more people were willing to divide it according to the number of people, while the families with fewer people wanted to divide it according to the number of households, and now they almost got into a fight.
The village chief was also a bit troubled. He looked at the people below and said, "Village chief, why don't we use the principle of minority obeying majority? The minority must obey the majority. We will divide it according to the number of people."
Those who wanted to divide it by household registration originally thought that they had fewer people in their families and wanted to take advantage: "No, just divide it by household registration. Every family has contributed the same amount of effort. Why should you, who have more people, take more?"
The village chief took a puff of cigarette helplessly. He was almost numb after hearing these quarrels. However, he saw Fang Xiaoxi talking to Nan Nan leisurely. He didn't know if she was making fun of him, so he walked up to Fang Xiaoxi.
"Xiao Xi, what do you think we should divide according to?"
Fang Xiaoxi contributed a lot of things, and Fang's parents also came to help. There are only four people in the family. In addition to the ten taels that Fang Xiaoxi should receive, Fang Xiaoxi's family will also benefit more according to the division of the accounts.
Nan Nan also figured out the account at this time, and looked at the village chief: "If you want to ask Fang Xiaoxi, it must be divided according to the household. But Xiaoxi has already received ten taels. If it is divided according to the household, I am afraid that Xiaoxi will be dissatisfied."
Fang Xiaoxi raised her eyebrows and looked at the village chief: "I don't care about what you said. I just want to know whether the families with more people do more work, or whether every family contributes the same amount of effort?"
Now it was the village chief's turn to have his eyes light up. Yes, the people from families with more money and those from families with less money contributed the same amount of effort, because that was what was required in the first place.
Therefore, the extra people in the families with more people did not help, they just played as they should. The village chief looked at Fang Xiaoxi and said, "I understand, then let's divide it according to the households."
After making the decision, Village Chief Fang slammed the table and said, "Okay, everyone stop arguing and just divide it according to the household."
Upon hearing this, the people below were almost instantly furious: "Why? Doesn't the family with fewer people get the upper hand? Our family of more than ten people share three taels of silver, while their family of three each gets one tael. This is not fair."
Village Chief Fang's face darkened instantly: "Unfair? When we were working, how many people from your family of ten came?"
This made the family of ten who spoke dare not say more, because when working, each family was required to do the same amount of work, so even though the family had a small population, the work they did was basically the same.
Village Chief Fang was still unwilling to give up, and snorted coldly: "Your family has ten people, but only three or four of you come to work. Why should those who don't work get a share of the money?"
The purpose of Qian Jiujiu and Mu Yexiao holding this lantern festival is to discourage those who have things to do in their daily lives from gambling, but those who are lazy all year round cannot be changed at all.
Once this was said, the families with large populations had nothing to say, and could only hear that the money would be divided according to the household. Fortunately, the village chief had exchanged silver in the morning, and now that he had made a decision, he took out the silver and started to divide it.
When those who did not come to help make the lanterns heard that they would not get any money, they were unwilling to watch others take the money, and they did not plan to stay here at this time, so many people left at once.
The village chief divided the silver and put it in his pocket, and asked the heads of each household to line up to receive the money. After they had received the money, Fang Xiaoxi looked at the village chief and said, "Village chief, wait a minute, I have something else to say. While everyone is still here, I plan to build a hot sauce factory."
Fang Xiaoxi had previously built a hot sauce factory and hired more than a dozen women in the village to work there. The monthly wages and benefits were pretty good. Many people wanted to work there! But Fang Xiaoxi only hired those ten or so women, and now she was going to build another factory.
The village chief was also surprised. He knew that Fang Xiaoxi's hot sauce factory was actually very prosperous and the hot sauce was sold to other towns. He thought that she would at least talk about it a few months after the New Year!
Those who hadn't left were now excited: "Xiao Xi, I can go to your factory to work. Don't worry, I promise I won't be lazy."
"Yeah, I want to go too."
…
Fang Xiaoxi looked at everyone and said, "Don't worry, uncles and aunts. Since I am running this business in this village, I will definitely recruit people from this village. But the factory has not been built yet, so don't worry for now."
Village Chief Fang looked at Fang Xiaoxi and said, "So what do you want today? Just tell me and I'll get it done for you."
Fang Xiaoxi laughed: "I want to buy land from you, the village chief, to build a factory. I also want to ask everyone who is free to help build the factory. Of course, the wages are still the same as before, 60 cents a day, including a lunch. If you want to come, just go to my dad to sign up."
So a group of men turned around and surrounded Fang's father, saying that they wanted to sign up. Some smart guys had already found Fang's mother and said that they wanted to come over to help with cooking.
Because whoever helps cook in the Fang family not only gets paid, but also gets a lot of leftover food to take home to improve their diet, so this has always been a popular job.
Seeing that Fang Xiaoxi was talking to Village Chief Fang, Fang's mother decided not to disturb them and let them make the decision on their own. After all, it was a small matter and someone could make a decision on it.
Fang Xiaoxi was indeed discussing something with Village Chief Fang. It was the piece of land she wanted, which was at the foot of the mountain. She wanted to buy it and build a factory.
In fact, most people in the village now make money by growing peppers and selling them to Fang Xiaoxi, or they work in Fang Xiaoxi's factory to make money, so Fang Xiaoxi's family is definitely a big family in the village now: "You want that piece of land, it's really a bit troublesome."