Volume 3 Chapter 152 Planning ahead of time
The horse carriage took Still, Mia, and Liz out the Banta City east gate, coming to the lower reaches of the Sandy River not far away from Banta City.
When they stopped at the newly built wharf on the Sandy River leading into the Sanglang River Canal, they saw several dozen human workers and over a hundred different beastmen workers.
Seeing the horse carriage approach, chairman Porter who led the humans and a tiger beastman who seemed to be in charge of the beastmen came over.
Still came out of the carriage with Liz supporting her. Chairman Porter took a look at her stomach and said with an apologetic look, “Madame, I’m really sorry. To make you come out in this weather, it really is hard on you.”
“It’s fine.” Still waved her hand with a faint smile before turning to the tiger beastman, “Lockhan, are all your people here?”
The tiger beastman opened his large mouth, “They are all here. You can see they are all waiting.”
Still looked over these beastmen and gave a satisfied nod. She then asked chairman Porter, “Chairman Porter, have you inspected these beastmen? Are they qualified?”
Chairman Porter kept nodding with a smile, “Satisfied, very satisfied. Our crew just needs strong people and as long as they are strong enough, they are suitable.”
Still turned back to Lockhan to ask, “Then what about you guys? Are you satisfied with the work conditions the Porter Chamber of Commerce has put forth?”
Lockhan gave a strong nod, “Un, we’re also very satisfied. The brothers all said that working here is much better than staying home.”
“That’s good. Since neither side has any objections, we can sign the employment contract and I can be the witness.” Still said.
“Alright.”
“Alright.”
Chairman Porter and Lockhan agreed at the same time. They came to a small hut by the wharf and prepared to sign the contract.
Actually the matter between them had already been decided, but because this was Banta City and the Lampuri Kingdom’s first time hiring beastmen workers, they needed the New Moon Chamber of Commerce, the only company in the kingdom qualified to deal in foreign race labour as a witness.
Actually it didn’t matter if Still came or not, but since this was the first time, Still personally came.
“Madame, the wind is big and cold, shouldn’t you go inside?” Liz reminded in a small voice.
Still shook her head. She came to the beastmen and looked over them.
These beastmen were like the beastmen she had seen before, they were all wearing tattered clothes or not even wearing clothes, exposing large amounts of their skin.
Even if the beastmen had better physiques than normal humans, there were many beastmen who were shivering and had ugly expressions.
The two weaker fox and rabbit beastmen who seemed quite young had blue faces, looking like they would freeze at any moment.
Still couldn’t help knitting her brows as she turned to call Mia over.
“First arrange a place for them to live in, don’t let them stand here. If they freeze, they might not be able to work.” Still said.
Mia had an awkward look, “They aren’t workers of our company, it isn’t good to……”
“They will be in a while.” Still glared at her, “First arrange it for them and also it would be best if everyone was given a set of clothes.”
Mia became more hesitant, “A set for each person……that will take quite a bit of money…..Our company has just reopened, we don’t have much money……”
Still was a bit angry, “How much could one set for each person cost? If you’re afraid of spending money, just treat it as buying uniforms for them and can’t you just deduct it from their wages? If you worried about spending too much, then buy it from the Armani Chamber of Commerce. Say that it is for me and have the Armani Chamber of Commerce give you a cheap batch.”
Seeing that Still’s tone was a bit heavy, Mia didn’t dare refute and quickly agreed.
After calculating it, she revealed a happy look.
Since young miss Still had spoken, then as long as she went to the Armani Chamber of Commerce, she would definitely be able to buy a bunch of clothes at a low price.
Then if she deducted it from the beastmen’s wages based on the market price, wouldn’t they be able to earn a bit?
Mia’s happy expression couldn’t be hidden from Still. She understood what Mia was thinking and couldn’t help feeling a bit angry while finding it funny.
Chairman Porter was clearly someone who was bold with foresight, he was called a promising merchant by Xu Yi, so why did he marry someone who was so stingy, calculative, and didn’t have any foresight?
You could draw in the hearts of the beastmen workers with these clothes, but she was still thinking about these things.
If chairman Porter knew what she was thinking, it would be strange if he wasn’t angered to death.
Thinking of this, Still was suddenly surprised.
When she did things, did she unconsciously act the same way?
If she was like Mia, Xu Yi would definitely be disgusted.
Not to mention Xu Yi being disgusted, even she couldn’t accept herself becoming this kind of woman.
After knitting her brows to think for a bit, Still waved her hand to have Mia take care of things for the beastmen workers.
Not long after, chairman Porter and Lockhan walked out.
Still took the two copies of the employment contract from the two of them and after confirming there were no problems, she stamped it with her seal and returned it to them.
After taking the contracts, chairman Porter and Lockhan let out a sigh of relief. The two looked at each other before breaking out in laughter.
Chairman Porter reached his hand out to Lockhan, “Lockhan, the ships of our company will depend on the strength of you and the beastmen brothers.”
Lockhan gave a big laugh, “Relax, we beastmen all keep our promises. The contract has been signed, we will definitely properly do our jobs.”
Although the two had a happy discussion, Still dropped a bucket of cold water over them.
“Chairman Porter, as the employer, if Lockhan and the other beastmen break the contract in any way, you have the right to fire them. But please remember, since you’ve signed the contract, you have to treat them the same as any human workers and cannot discriminate against them.”
“Definitely, definitely, the madame can be assured.” Chairman Porter nodded with a faint smile.
“Lockhan, since you and the other beastmen have accepted this contract, you have to act according to the contract and work properly, you can’t make mistakes. If you are fired because you broke the contract, according to the laws, based on how serious that is, you might lose your labour card and can’t apply for another for two to five years. So you have to properly treasure this job.”
Lockhan patted his chest and loudly said, “We beastmen definitely aren’t petty or contradictory people, we will definitely do what we promise!”
“Good.” Still gave a nod before saying to chairman Porter, “Alright, my work is done, I’ll be going back to rest. If there are any issues with the beastmen workers, I welcome chairman Porter to come to our New Moon Chamber of Commerce.”
Chairman Porter stopped Still who was about to leave and said in a serious voice, “Madame, I have something I need your help with.”
Still doubtfully looked at him.
This fellow, why didn’t he say he had something else before?
Chairman Porter revealed an awkward smile. He had Mia prepare things for the beastmen workers as he led Still to a small hut on the other side of the wharf.
This small hut was constructed close to the river, being right on top of the surface.
After entering the small hut, she saw three small boats floating on the surface of the water.
Still looked at these three boats before looking at chairman Porter with his smile. Her mind turned and she could guess what was going on.
But her expression didn’t change. She just had the same smile as she waited for chairman Porter to speak.
Chairman Porter was silent for a bit before rubbing his hands and asking in an awkward voice, “Madame, I heard that…..the Frestech Chamber of Commerce is developing a new magic machine called, the Magic Boat?”
As expected.
Still revealed a faint smile, “Your information network is quite quick, is it because Xu Yi mentioned this before?”
“Chairman Xu had mentioned this concept to me before, but I know that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce has only started developing this recently. Madame, do you know…..how far this Magic Boat has been developed? When will it be developed and be sold?”
Still shook her head, “I only know that they have been researching this lately, but as for the progress…..I’m not clear. Moreover, even if I did know, it’s not good for me to tell you. You should know that.”
“I do, I do, this is a secret.” Chairman Porter kept nodding, “But I’m not asking about the secret, it was just to…..know the information a bit ahead of time. That way if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce could really develop this Magic Boat, I could buy it immediately.”
“There isn’t even a trace of the Magic Boat now, you still want to buy it?” Still asked.
“Of course!” Chairman Porter was very certain as he said, “Since the Frestech Chamber of Commerce has developed this thing, it must be very powerful. I’m certain that this Magic Boat will be the same as the Magic Car, there won’t be a shortage of demand. I’m not willing to compete with others, so I hope that……Ke, I hope that the madame can talk to chairman Xu to let our company buy a few Magic Boats ahead of time.”