Chapter 336
Chapter 336: Chapter 330_1 Chapter 336: Chapter 330_1 “Erhu, how come you’re back so early today? Weren’t you supposed to go to the Li Residence to discuss business?” Lin Yue glanced at the time, which was still early. She reckoned that going to the Li Residence for business shouldn’t have allowed for such a quick return, and besides, Zhao Erhu seemed to be in a troubled mood.
“The Li Residence has already terminated their contract with our family. After delivering goods for this month, they won’t be requiring our family’s supplies anymore.” The news came suddenly; Zhao Erhu had just received the notice from the Li Residence when he went to deliver goods today.
“How could they terminate the contract so abruptly? Did they find another supplier?” Lin Yue was surprised to hear that the Li Residence no longer needed their supplies. However, it wasn’t something to force, especially since the Li Residence wasn’t the only one they were supplying.
“If they don’t want it, then fine. It’s nothing serious. After all, we’re too busy to manage as it is, and the Li Residence’s order wasn’t that large. We still need to focus on delivering goods for Brother Jiang.”
Zhao Erhu nodded, “That’s the only way it can be.”
However, what he didn’t expect was that the Li Residence’s termination was just the beginning. Gradually, several other households that used to get supplies from them also notified Zhao Erhu that they wouldn’t need deliveries next month. In the end, only the Su Residence and the Government Office were left as their clients, making the situation rather serious.
Zhao Erhu couldn’t understand why, given that they were supplying good quality goods. Why would they want to terminate the contracts, especially since his wife had developed the food ingredients that others didn’t have? That was why these households had sought them out for supplies initially. Zhao Erhu had become quite anxious these days, running around to gather information, wanting to know the exact reasons why all these households had successively stopped their orders.
With these developments, Lin Yue already had some speculations. Seeing Zhao Erhu anxious and upset, she had advised him several times. Zhao Erhu didn’t want his wife to worry, so he didn’t appear as anxious as he was at the start. However, he still went to the city every morning to seek news and only returned in the evening.
Because they had expanded production, Zhao Erhu had built several more rooms next to their yard and set up a workshop. With Zhao Erhu going to the city to seek news, the affairs at home were left in the hands of Zhao Dahuo and Wu Qiang.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, Zhao Erhu and Lin Yue hadn’t shared the news with everyone. Nevertheless, the news of the Li Residence and several other households terminating contracts with Zhao Erhu’s family still spread throughout the village. It wasn’t clear where the news originated from, or whether it was deliberately done by someone with ill intentions to ruin their family. Different versions of the story filled the village, causing unrest in the workshop and diminishing the workers’ devotion, as they feared Dongjia might lose business and be unable to pay their wages, turning their hard work into unpaid labor.
Seeing that Zhao Erhu had been busy enough these days, Lin Yue didn’t want to add to his worries. She kept the news from him and went to oversee the workshop daily. However, today she was having her menstruation and felt unwell, so she didn’t go and instead lay in bed to rest. This abdominal pain was an old problem that followed her here and wouldn’t go away.
Lin Yue hugged her abdomen, lying in bed for quite a while, barely falling asleep when she was jolted awake by shouting outside. Rushing to find out what was happening, she called out, “Dongzi, what’s the matter? Why the rush? Take your time and explain.”
“Dongjia’s wife, Dongjia’s wife, it’s terrible, there’s a disturbance; the workers at the workshop have started a commotion, and Brother Dahu even got injured.” Dongzi was the grandson of Lord Zhao from the village, only thirteen or fourteen years old. Zhao Erhu thought he was good at work and quick-witted, so he asked him to help out with lighter tasks at the workshop.
Some deliberate troublemaker had clashed with Zhao Dahuo at the workshop. Everyone was either instigating problems or watching the commotion unfold, while Wu Qiang and Zhang Chunhua tried to break up the fight and calm the workers, so busy they couldn’t extricate themselves. Seeing that things were amiss, Dongzi hurried to inform Lin Yue, who, in Dongzi’s eyes, was incredibly formidable. He was certain that everything would be resolved once Dongjia’s wife arrived.
“What! How could this happen? Why would they start a fight over nothing?” Upon hearing that Zhao Dahuo was injured, Lin Yue sent a servant to call Zhao Erhu back from the city, and then she and Dongzi hurried to the workshop, unsure of the situation there.
As she approached the workshop, Lin Yue could hear the noise inside. Upon entering, she saw a chaotic scene. Zhao Dahuo, too furious to continue fighting but restrained by others, was still cursing, “Zhao Zhiguang, you bastard! If you dare spread rumors again, I’ll beat you to death!”
“Come on then, hit me! I’m not afraid of you! What I’m saying is the truth, everyone in the village knows. The Li Residence and several other households don’t want Dongjia’s goods anymore. If the goods can’t be sold, and Dongjia loses business, where would the money come from to pay our wages? No matter how hard we work now, it’s all in vain. I think everyone should stop working and just go home to sleep.”
Zhao Zhiguang, without a hint of fear in response to Zhao Dahuo’s anger, obviously intended to escalate the situation today and bring the workshop to a halt.
“Zhao Zhiguang, you screwed-up piece of shit, that’s all rumors; stop your fucking nonsense.” Wu Qiang was initially trying to break up the fight, not wanting things to escalate, but now he was struggling to hold back. Although he wasn’t as impulsive as Zhao Dahuo, Zhao Zhiguang was clearly looking for a fight with bad intentions.
“Whether or not I’m talking nonsense, you know it in your heart. Why hasn’t Dongjia been seen these days? Isn’t he just in the city trying to raise money? But unfortunately, he hasn’t found a way yet.” Zhao Zhiguang spoke as if he was telling the truth, and coupled with the increasingly wild rumors in the village these days, everyone except the long-term servants of Zhao Erhu’s family began to believe Zhao Zhiguang’s words, with lots of whispers and discussion.
“This is not good; we work hard to earn some Silver. If there is no wage, who would want to keep working?”
“Yeah, that’s right. I left all my work at home to come here. It’d be terrible if we really didn’t get paid.”
Seeing that he had swayed the crowd, Zhao Zhiguang continued, “Folks, listen to me, we’ve come to work for Zhao Erhu’s family to earn a bit of Silver to support our homes. If the wages aren’t paid, who would want to continue? I say we go to Dongjia right now and demand our wages. If Dongjia can’t pay, then we’ll take these sweet potatoes as debt repayment at least that could serve as food. We can’t let our efforts go to waste.”
Everyone was initially worried about not receiving wages, and with Zhao Zhiguang’s instigation, people quickly agreed, “Right, if we can’t get our wages, then we’ll take sweet potatoes as compensation. Dongjia still has so many properties; he could sell them to pay us.”