The Princess of Northern Land

Chapter 143 - 143 143 Stirring Wind and Rising Water (7)_1

?Chapter 143: Chapter 143: Stirring Wind and Rising Water (7)_1 Chapter 143: Chapter 143: Stirring Wind and Rising Water (7)_1 “Right, right, we’re all from the same village, Ziyin, you can’t show favoritism like this,” someone else starts shouting.

Changshu and the old man are a little anxious. The people in the village see each other all the time, they can’t afford to sour their relations with them. Ever since Ziyin woke up, she’s been notably stubborn. These people better not provoke her.

“If you feel it’s unfair, auntie, you are more than welcome not to do the work.” As expected, Lin Ziyin responded rudely as soon as the fat woman finished speaking.

“What are you talking about? Lin Ziyin, don’t you bully people just because your family has a bit of money.” The fat woman immediately accused Lin Ziyin.

“Who am I bullying?” Lin Ziyin held her ground, “The money is mine, the strength is yours. I exchange my reasonable payment for your strength. If you think it’s unfair, you don’t have to take the job, as I said, I can’t bully you without your permission.”

After speaking, she looked at the fat woman with a mocking smile.

“How did you not bully us? You pay the Bai family thirty coins a day for three people, why do you short us five coins?” The fat woman protested.

Whether she accepted it or not, Lin Ziyin wasn’t going to indulge her.

“Auntie, let’s discuss this civilly.” Lin Changshu stepped in to mediate, out of respect for their shared village ties.

“No, we won’t settle this until we get an explanation today.” The fat woman, far from backing down, raised an even bigger fuss. “She can’t just get away with bullying people like that.”

“Anyone else think the wage I offer is unreasonable?” From her seat on the chair Yu Qiaoqiao brought for her, Lin Ziyin addressed the crowd.

The crowd fell silent.

Everyone might have initially thought they were getting a good deal with a daily wage of 25 coins. However, after the Zhou family caused a scene, many started to get greedy. If the Zhou family succeeded, maybe the Lin family would raise their daily wage to 30 coins, an extra five a day, only a fool wouldn’t want that.

So, quite a few were biding their time.

“Those willing to accept the twenty-five coin wage, come to the right.” Lin Ziyin guesses what most of the crowd were thinking.

A portion of the crowd unhesitatingly moved to the right to line up.

“Anyone else?” Lin Ziyin asked again.

A few more hesitant people stepped forward, leaving not too many villagers remaining, but there were still seven or eight families.

“Grandfather, brother.” Lin Ziyin waved them over, “Come with me to the yard.”

“Ok.” Lin Changshu cast a rueful look at the still-fussing crowd, then went grumpily into the yard.

Some people wanted to follow them into the yard to see, but the likes of Yu Shaohui were guarding the entrance like door gods.

Seeing this, they had no choice but to give up and continue waiting in the shade.

It wasn’t long before the three people from the Lin family emerged again.

The summer sun was scorching, many of the people standing outside had sweated through their clothes: seeing Lin Ziyin and the others finally emerge they started to grumble.

“What’s going on? You’ve left everyone out here in the sun.”

“Just got a bit of money and they’re putting on airs?” Others were even more blunt in their criticism.

These people were very sure that the Lin family wouldn’t dare to fall out with them – after all, there were quite a few people standing on their side.

“We’re very sorry for the long wait,” the one to speak was still Lin Ziyin.

“Hurry up, the sun is hot, we feel like we’re being roasted,” someone yelled out loudly.

The vast majority of the villagers were standing on the right, their expressions were relatively calm.

“Today’s recruitment is over. Those standing on the right, please come over here to register,” Lin Ziyin loudly declared, every word clear, so everyone could hear her.

Upon hearing this, some people were happy while others were distressed.

“Lin Ziyin, what are you playing at? You’ve made your decision before we’ve even settled things?” An unhappy member of the Zhou family challenged her, his rotund figure quite imposing.

“I’m sorry, but our family is very modest, this is the most we can afford to pay. If you all feel it’s too little, there’s nothing I can do. I can’t delay your income because I can’t pay enough. So, I have to go with those who don’t think the pay is too low,” Lin Ziyin answered calmly with a smile.

The fat woman was stunned, the others too, caught off guard.

“Lin Ziyin, you can’t do this.” The fat woman grew desperate, seeing Lin Ziyin ignore her, she rushed towards Lin Ziyin, but Yu Qiaoqiao quickly blocked her. “Have you no respect?”

“Can respect be exchanged for money?” Lin Ziyin retorted, “If I can’t afford you, then I can’t afford you, I can’t hire you and then when it comes time to pay, just give you respect instead of money, can I? I’m guessing you wouldn’t accept that.”

“You made it very clear you were hiring, but now that we’re all here you aren’t hiring anyone. What do you mean by this?” Zhou Dasheng also stepped forward to accuse Lin Ziyin.

“I didn’t mean anything by it. My money is my own, and I’ll use whoever I want to use. Even if you complain to heaven and earth, it won’t faze me. Who said I fooled all of you? Didn’t I just hire a big bunch of people? I can’t be expected to hire every Tom, Dick and Harry that shows up, can I?” Lin Ziyin’s words were quite harsh.

“Exactly, you guys were the ones who didn’t want to be hired.” The chosen people immediately responded.

“In any case, it’s the employer who chooses the workers, not the workers who choose the employer.” A more realistic person spoke the blunt truth.

“Qian Xuan, record the names of the people we’ve hired, and note down how they want to be paid. Once you’re done with that, all of you can gather up at Heihe tomorrow,” Lin Ziyin didn’t want to stand under the boiling sun at noon any longer, so she quickly delegated the tasks to her servant, then without acknowledging the awkwardly standing group of people, she and the old man and Lin Changshu went into the yard.