In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 591 Spreading Joy

"Mr. Chen punished some of those who cheated and shirked their responsibilities."

Yin Xiaoniang said, "Those who are not hardworking and shirk their duties have had half of their wages deducted, and Mr. Chen also said that if they do not correct their behavior, they will be fired."

"Good punishment!"

Jiang Xiaobai couldn't help but clap his hands: "I've long disliked those slackers. Mr. Chen has been so good to them, giving them plenty of food and paying them so much, yet they still try to slack off. They're shameless!"

"that is!"

Jin Yin chimed in, "If you ask me, these lazy scoundrels should just be fired. Even deducting half their wages would be too lenient."

"Mr. Chen has indeed been paying close attention to the situation in the village."

Cao Shui sighed, "Chenjia Village is such a small place. Everyone knows who isn't hardworking and who likes to slack off. They even express their dissatisfaction when they chat casually."

It's natural to feel resentful when you work hard but get paid the same as those who cheat and shirk their responsibilities.

If this continues, people's dissatisfaction will only increase, and then everyone will follow suit and start to slack off.

Fortunately, Chen Dao intervened in time, punished the lazy people, and curbed this unhealthy trend.

"Alright! Let's not talk about this anymore, let's eat."

Soon, everyone was immersed in the joy of delicious food and rising wages.

Coincidentally, when Cao Shui's family was overjoyed by the wage increase, the entire Chenjia Village was also immersed in a joyful atmosphere.

Every household in the village bought ingredients and started cooking at home to celebrate.

This joy spread among the villagers of Chenjia Village and eventually reached the village's businessmen.

"Old Xu, Old Xu."

A middle-aged man with a goatee walked into a shop with a broad smile, saying with delight, "Have you heard? Wages in Chenjia Village have gone up!"

The man called Old Xu looked up and asked in surprise, "Old Qian, you're not a worker from Chenjia Village. Why are you so happy about their wages going up?"

Old Xu is the owner of this shop, which mainly sells salt, while Old Qian, who walked in, is the owner of the shop next door, which mainly sells porcelain.

How could I not be happy?

Old Qian's smile remained unchanged: "Think about it, if the villagers of Chenjia Village have money in their hands, won't they be able to buy more goods?"

"That seems to be the truth."

Old Xu nodded subconsciously. The reason he came to Chenjia Village to set up a salt shop was because the villagers of Chenjia Village had purchasing power.

"That's what 'seems like' means!"

Old Qian continued, "Now that the villagers of Chenjia Village have more money in their hands, they can definitely buy more goods, and our business will definitely be better in the future."

Upon hearing this, Old Xu, realizing what was happening, also smiled. Old Qian was right; the villagers of Chenjia Village were now wealthier, and their businesses would certainly flourish, allowing them to earn even more profits.

but……

Old Xu seemed to have thought of something and said, "The wages of the villagers in Chenjia Village have increased, so shouldn't our wages for our workers also increase?"

The wages of the villagers in Chenjia Village served as a reference for the merchants in the village. When calculating wages for their own employees, they would often use the wages in Chenjia Village as a benchmark. Previously, when the wages of the villagers in Chenjia Village were 500 wen, the merchants would pay their own employees around 400 wen.

Now that wages in Chenjia Village have risen to 800 wen, the wages they pay their hired laborers will probably have to rise to around 600 to 700 wen as well, otherwise the laborers will definitely be unhappy.

"What's a little bit of wages compared to that?"

Old Qian waved his hand dismissively and said, "Old Xu, your salt shop must make at least 10 taels of silver a month, right? There are only three employees in the shop, and their wages are only 1.5 taels in total. Even if the wages are raised to 800 wen, you will still have more than 7 taels of silver in profit. Not to mention, the profits will increase in the future."

"It makes sense."

Old Xu thought about it and realized that the wages of the shop assistants were indeed just as Old Qian had said, a small part of the profit.

Old Xu got excited and couldn't help but exclaim, "I can see it now. With Mr. Chen around, life in Chenjia Village will definitely get better and better. Those of us who have shops in Chenjia Village will definitely make a fortune."

"you do not say!"

Old Qian grinned and said, "We're lucky. We bought a shop in Chenjia Village early on. Otherwise, how could we have bought this land along the street at such a low price?"

Lao Qian and Lao Xu were among the earliest merchants to settle in Chenjia Village. Therefore, when they moved in, the land price in Chenjia Village was relatively cheap, and the location was the best street-front land.

Now... all the land along the street in Chenjia Village has been sold, and most of the businesses have already built their shops. Other businesses that want to move in can only pay high prices to buy shops in the second and third rows.

Even though there were only second and third row shops available, and the prices were high, merchants still flocked to them. The reason was simple: Chenjia Village was just too suitable for doing business.

The villagers here all have money and strong purchasing power. As long as they can open a shop in Chenjia Village, they can make a steady stream of profits. Therefore, no matter how high the land price is, it cannot dampen the enthusiasm of the merchants.

"Yeah yeah!"

The thought of his shop brought a smile to Old Xu's face.

He used to be a salt smuggler. He always had to be careful when selling salt, fearing that the government would catch him. Moreover, the profits he made were very meager, barely enough to support his family.

Since settling in Chenjia Village, he no longer needed to worry about being arrested by the government when selling salt, because the government's reach couldn't extend to Chenjia Village at all.

Furthermore, the availability of a shop made salt sales much more convenient, which greatly increased Lao Xu's profits. Previously, he could only earn about one or two taels of silver a month selling smuggled salt, but now he could earn ten taels of silver a month, more than five times the previous amount.

This further solidified Old Xu's determination to do business in Chenjia Village. He even planned to treat the shop as his family heirloom, passing it down to his son, and then to his grandson...

Old Xu believes that with the current development of Chenjia Village, his shop will definitely become more and more valuable, and with this shop, his family will definitely be able to live a life of comfort and security in the future.

"Old Xu, such good news is rare these days. How about we grab a drink tonight?"

"No problem! I have a pot of Shaoxing wine at home, let's have some together tonight."

"okay!"