AWB Chapter 105 Found
Chapter 105 Found
"Hey, isn't that Wang Shuifa's wife? I didn't expect her to work at the sweet potato shop too."
A surprised male voice reached Song Jiaojiao's ears. She saw a villager beside the man asking him curiously,
"What's wrong? Is there a problem with her?"
"I don't know if she has any problems, but recently Wang Shuifa has been going to town a lot. You all know that scoundrel is a gambling addict. I even saw someone going to his house to collect debts a while ago. But a couple of days later, I saw Wang Shuifa wearing new clothes and going to town every day. I don't know where he made his fortune." The man clicked his tongue twice and said.
Another villager, overhearing their conversation, chimed in, "Yes, yes, I saw Wang Shuifa when I went to town to buy salt once. That guy was eating like crazy at Sifanglou. You have no idea how popular and expensive Sifanglou is these days. A single dish costs several hundred coins. I saw him order quite a lot of dishes. Could it be..."
"Well, maybe they've found a way to make money. We can't just make things up without evidence."
Hearing their conversation, Song Jiaojiao looked at the woman on the stage. She was small and always wore dark gray clothes covered in patches. She was even poorer than Song Jiaojiao when she first came into this world. She always kept her head down. If they hadn't mentioned her, Song Jiaojiao wouldn't have noticed her.
She appeared calm on the stage, but in reality, she was gripping the hem of her dress tightly with both hands, not even noticing that her fingers were turning white.
"Could it really be her?" Song Jiaojiao thought to herself, and took a step forward.
"Uncle Wang, I'd like to ask these people."
"Of course, Jiaojiao, feel free to ask. If someone doesn't speak properly, our village probably won't tolerate them."
Song Jiaojiao nodded and began asking everyone questions, mostly about who was in their family and how working in the workshop was like, chatting casually.
Those who were asked the question also couldn't understand what Song Jiaojiao was doing.
They quickly arrived in front of Wang Shuifa's wife. With her head down, she saw the shadow in front of her and her body trembled.
Song Jiaojiao smiled and said softly, "Don't be nervous, I was just asking casually, how many people are in your family?"
"I...I'm not nervous. It's just my husband and my four-year-old son at home," the woman said, her voice trembling.
"I just heard from the villagers that your husband is Wang Shuifa. Is he here today?"
"No...he's not here. He...he hasn't come back for several days. I don't know where he went."
When Song Jiaojiao asked about her man, the woman's stutter became even more uncontrollable, and she even started to tremble.
Song Jiaojiao approached the woman and whispered in her ear. Song Jiaojiao could clearly feel the woman's body trembling uncontrollably as she got closer.
"I heard that your husband is a gambler, and that someone came to your door to collect debts a while ago. Is that true?"
After Song Jiaojiao finished speaking, she straightened up and looked at the woman. The woman did not dare to raise her head, but her hands clenched tighter and tighter until her hands turned white.
Before she could answer, Song Jiaojiao continued, "Recently, someone saw him eating and drinking extravagantly at Sifanglou. You tell me, where does a gambling addict get his money? Your wages at the workshop probably aren't enough to support his eating and drinking at Sifanglou."
Looking at the woman's appearance, Song Jiaojiao could tell who she was.
Song Jiaojiao suddenly said loudly, "I don't know if Aunt Li made it clear to you when you first came in that leaking the recipe would result in a hundred taels of silver in compensation."
Upon hearing this, the woman seemed to lose all her strength and instantly collapsed to the ground.
A boy rushed out from the crowd, shoved Song Jiaojiao aside, and glared at her fiercely, saying, "Don't you dare bully my mother."
How much strength could a child who is constantly hungry have? But Song Jiaojiao was unprepared, so she took a step back.
When the woman saw her son come up, she quickly hugged him tightly, repeatedly apologizing.
Seeing this, everyone understood, and Song Jiaojiao didn't continue the topic. She turned and dismissed them.
"Uncle Wang, let's talk about the second thing."
The village chief looked at the woman weeping silently on the ground and sighed. He knew this woman; her husband was an idle gambler who would spend his winnings on alcohol and then beat his wife when he got home. He would beat her whenever he was in a bad mood. He had only asked his wife to add her to the list because he felt sorry for the woman and hoped that Wang Shuifa would see that she could earn money and stop beating her so easily. If it weren't for the fact that she was a member of the Wang family, she would have been driven out of the village long ago. He never expected this…
The village chief struck the gong again and began to talk about the second matter, "After this incident, Jiaojiao has decided that from today onwards, everyone must sign a contract. If you don't sign a contract, Jiaojiao won't use you anymore. If you still want to work for Jiaojiao, come to my house and sign the contract. Jiaojiao said that she will still buy this year's sweet potatoes at three catties for two coins. After this year's harvest, the sweet potato farm will stop operating next year. If there's nothing else, everyone can go home now."
After the village chief finished speaking, he and Song Jiaojiao left, followed by the workers who were working at Song Jiaojiao's house. Wang Shuifa's wife was also with them.
Upon arriving at the village chief's house, Song Jiaojiao first read the contents of the contract to everyone. "The contract is very simple. It's a confidentiality agreement. If anyone leaks the formula again like today, they will be compensated 500 taels of silver and sent to the authorities. The wages have also been increased for everyone: 28 wen for men, 25 wen for women, and 20 wen for the elderly. If you all have no objections, please sign it."
To everyone's surprise, Song Jiaojiao actually raised their wages after this incident. As for the confidentiality agreement, they didn't care at all, and they never intended to leak the recipe.
After everyone had signed the contract and left, the woman pulled the little boy forward and knelt in front of Song Jiaojiao, saying...
“Jiaojiao, I know I’ve wronged you, but we have a way. Wang Shuifa has gambling debts, and those people came to our house looking fierce and demanding repayment. If they only wanted to break Wang Shuifa’s legs, I wouldn’t have said anything, but they want to sell my son. He’s so young, I really have no choice.”
The woman spoke with a hoarse voice, gritting her teeth as she mentioned Wang Shuifa's name, as if she wanted to bite him to death.
"If you have no other choice, you can leak the recipe. What did I tell you before you started working? If my old man hadn't taken pity on you, how would I have found you? Everyone in the village is more hardworking than you," Aunt Li said angrily, giving the village chief a disapproving look.
“Auntie, I know, I know everything. I had no choice. We had no money, so I knelt down and begged them. They suddenly brought up the sweet potato recipe, saying that if I told them the recipe, they would spare my son’s life. I didn’t want to tell them, but those people were choking my son. He’s so young, and his face was all purple. He was about to die. I really had no choice. Mr. Song, I know I was wrong. I’m willing to be your slave to compensate for your losses.”