Chapter 146: Know how wonderful this was, right?
She looked at the six elderly people who seemed nervous.
Shi Qingluo smiled gently, “From now on, all of you will stay here.
“Someone will deliver your meals from my old house every day, or y’all can take turns to eat at my old house.”
She brought the elderly people to their living quarters while she explained.
“All of you will work in two groups and rotate. Three of you will guard the door and clean up the Taoist temple, while the other three will take care of the plantations in the backyard.!!
“I have planted some fruit trees and some mushrooms nearby. I’ll have to trouble you to take a look at them every day. Feel free to approach me if you require any help.”
Although the job scope wasn’t physically demanding, it wasn’t a very leisure one either.
This prevented the eldery people from feeling that they were a burden.
An old man smiled and said, “How is this troublesome? It’s our blessing to be able to work here when we are already old. Just leave this task to us.”
The others nodded in agreement. “Yes, yes.”
The eyes of these elderly people lit up as they saw that their living quarters had proper beds, closets, tables, and even blankets.
Furthermore, these were all brand-new amenities.
For these folks who weren’t even sure when their burial day would be, they had never imagined that they could still live in such a well-maintained house and with these amenities.
As the old immortal showed his presence yesterday, many people came to offer incense today.
They also saw Shi Qingluo providing these eldery people with accommodation and allowed them to work here.
Food and accommodation were also given on top of their monthly wages.
“The living conditions are good, I want to work here too.”
“I just need to guard the door and look after the plantation, the work isn’t physically demanding.”
“The food in the Xiao family’s workshop is also very good. There’s meat for lunch every day.
With rice and steamed buns, our lunch is even more filling.”
“Miss Shi and her husband are intentionally taking care of the elderly people in our village.”
“As expected of the disciple of an old immortal. She is so kind and benevolent.”
“Is the Xiao family’s workshop still recruiting? I plan to let my son join.”
“You plan to? So many people are interested in working in the Xiao family’s workshop. If you don’t have the skills, then you have join the queue and wait for your turn.”
“That’s right. We also want to work here. Look at the food. It’s much better than those at our house.”
“These old people are also blessed. In the future, not only do they enjoy a shelter over their head with meals provided, they also receive the old immortal’s care and protection.”
“Exactly. They are living in the Taoist temple.”
Everyone revealed their envy as they shared their thoughts. The old people were also happy to hear that.
They all felt proud to work here.
They were even more determined to do a good job to repay Xiao Hanzheng and his wife.
With multiple pairs of eyes to guard the Taoist temple and handle the corn and chilli, Shi Qingluo and Xiao Hanzheng were also more at ease.
The elderly people worked very meticulously.
Every day, they would open the door of the Taoist temple at dawn for the public to offer incense. They also wiped the tables in the main hall several times and cleared the ash in the incense urn.
The public latrines were also maintained in tip-top condition every day, with the by-products channelled to the fruit trees as fertilisers.
Of course, the fields in the backyard were very well taken care of.
Shi Qingluo oversaw it for a few days before leaving it entirely to them.
These elderly people guarded the Taoist temple better than her.
The chief also brought a few orphans to the Taoist temple.
The older children would take care of the younger ones and also actively help the elderly people.
They were very sensible children.
Shi Qingluo would also ask her workers at their old house to boil milk every day and send them to the elderly people and children.
As she had more free time now, she hired some people to plant more fruit trees and harvest mushrooms from the mountains.
Many of the fruit saplings came from foreign merchants.
She also brought some ‘illegal goods’ from her space and planted their seedlings here too.
In the capital.
After more than ten days of expedited travel, Liang Youxiao finally returned to the capital.
He was usually bored travelling on sea.
However, as he played Mahjong on the boat with his servant boys, time seemed to pass very quickly.
He went home after reaching the capital.
His grandfather and father had yet to leave the yamen yet.
Hence, after washing up, Liang Youxiao brought the Mahjong set to the backyard.
The women were still running some errands for the old lady and hadn’t left her room yet. When Old Lady Liang saw that her grandson was back, she gazed at him with a smile. “You still know that you need to come back?”
This grandson of hers had always been very unruly.
Previously, he wanted to enter the business world.
If she and the other elders didn’t protect him, her husband and her eldest son would really had given him some corporal punishment.
Back then, Old Master Liang told this stinky brat to return to his courtyard to face the wall and reflect on his actions.
Who would have thought he would slip off and run away secretly.
He left and only came back a month later.
Even she was angered and felt that she should really discipline him properly.
Eldest Lady Liang was worried about her son, but she also felt that her son was asking for a beating.
Liang Youxiao had long anticipated this, so he grinned and said, “Grandmother, I went out for so long because I wanted to find something fun for you.”
She was delighted that he said this.
On the surface, she said unhappily, “So have you found it? If you lie to me, when your grandfather and your father come back from the yamen, I’ll let them teach you a good lesson.”
Liang Youxiao immediately continued. “Of course I found it.”
Then, he opened the box containing the Mahjong set as if he was presenting a treasure. “Here it is.”
To her, this box contained a lot of small wood blocks.
This rascal was really daring to say this and even tried to please her with some broken pieces of wood, she thought to herself.
Eldest Master Liang’s first wife and second wife didn’t get along well.
When Eldest Master Liang’s second wife took a closer look and saw the items in the box, she covered her mouth and laughed. “Youxiao, is this the treasure you helped Old Lady Liang to find? Does our family lack these wood scraps?”
Other people also laughed as they covered their mouths. Eldest Lady Liang said, “Youxiao, don’t tease your grandmother.” Her.youngest son was too playful.
Just seeing him presenting a box of broken wood as a treasure gave her a headache.
However, she doted on her youngest son the most and was anxious.
Liang Youxiao knew what they were thinking and did not care.
Instead, he looked at the old lady and said, “Grandmother, don’t underestimate this box of wooden blocks. It can help you relieve your boredom.
“Play with me and you’ll know that this is good.”
Old Lady Liang had always liked this grandson of hers, who was filial and had a sweet mouth. Although she doubted that this box of wooden blocks could relieve her boredom, she still indulged him. “Alright, today I’ll see if it’s true.”
Her protectiveness towards Liang Youxiao made his stepmothers uncomfortable.
Their sons were all very successful, but the old lady liked this dandy the most. How infuriating!
However, they did not dare to say anything.
Then, Liang Youxiao led his grandmother, mother, and his fourth aunt to play Mahjong. Eldest Master Liang’s second wife was disdainful, while Eldest Master Liang’s third wife didn’t enjoy this kind of pleasure.
Regardless of their age, all three of them picked up the game rules very fast.
After that, his third aunt called him out and wanted to replace him.
As his second aunt had shown too much disdain previously, doing what his third aunt did was too embarrassing so she sat beside and watched.
“You should discard this tile.
“Aiya, why did you throw this tile away? This is probably a wrong move.
“This will complete a set of three.”
She sat beside Eldest Master Liang’s third wife and kept giving suggestions, until she turned her head and said. “Don’t say first. I can play it myself.”
Liang Youxiao watched them from the side with a teacup in his hand.
Didn’t they just say that these were some wooden scraps?
Now that they were shouting happily, they know how wonderful this was, right? Hmph.