When Guan Xiao’e first arrived, she was as pitiful as a stray cat. Ever since coming to Jin Feng’s home, she had no worries about food or drink, and she did not have to do any work. She grew much taller.
Every day, she would plunk her bowl on the table and lead a gang of children either up the hills to raid bird nests or down to the river to catch fish.
She had practically become the king of the village children.
If it were just mischief, that would be one thing, but on this day, just as Jin Feng was taking Wan Niang and Guan Xiaorou into the laboratory to discuss formulating perfumes, Tang Xiaobei came looking for him.
Xiao’e had led the children to catch a few fish. Seeing that a household at the village entrance had gone out to work, they sneaked into the house to grill the fish and ended up burning down the kitchen.
Fortunately, the children escaped quickly and no one was injured, but that family’s kitchen was completely destroyed.
Jin Feng had no choice but to compensate them with some money and bring back Xiao’e, whose face was blackened with soot.
That same morning, Jin Feng had Da Liu send a veteran to the county town to buy two literate girls from the broker.
At the same time, he had Guan Xiaorou tidy up the old house that had not yet been demolished.
He also asked the village head to make a blackboard in the thatched shed previously used for spinning in front of the old house.
A few days later, Jin Feng announced at the textile factory meeting that Xihewan School was officially established.
Not only Xiao’e and her gang of rascals, but anyone who had worked in Xihewan for more than three months could enrol their children to study at Xihewan School.
As soon as this news broke, the surrounding villages were in an uproar.
After all, in this era, literacy was a privilege reserved for the wealthy.
Just the annual repair fee for the teacher required a large sum of money.
Back then, the old blacksmith’s skills were renowned within a ten-li radius, and he earned several times more than ordinary farming families, yet to support Jin Feng’s education, the old blacksmith spent nearly all his money on him.
Now, the Xihewan School established by Jin Feng not only charged no fees but also provided a midday meal.
The next morning, whether female workers from the textile factory or male workers from the construction sites, basically everyone who qualified brought their children.
All told, there were over a hundred children, big and small, packing the thatched shed to the brim.
Those workers who did not yet meet the conditions looked on with eyes red from envy.
Some couples even fought over it.
The reason was that the wife in this family had been among the first batch of female workers at the textile factory and originally had the chance to send her child to school, but she was fired by Tang Dongdong last month for wasting cafeteria food and lost the opportunity.
That day, amid the workers’ eager anticipation, the veteran returned from the county town with two girls.
The two girls were sisters. Their father had been a minor official who offended his superior and was not only exiled to the army but also left his daughters to fall into the hands of the broker.
The fate of female house slaves was sometimes more tragic than that of girls in brothels. When the veteran first brought them back, the sisters were nearly despairing.
Only after arriving did they learn that Jin Feng had bought them to teach young children to read.
Moreover, neither Jin Feng nor anyone else in the village looked down on them because of their slave status. The villagers kept saying kind words to them, begging them to be strict with their children, to beat or scold as necessary.
This change felt to the sisters like going from hell to heaven, and they cherished this job dearly.
From that day on, the sisters moved into Jin Feng’s old house and became the first teachers at Xihewan School, teaching the village children to read and write.
When Jin Feng had time, he would also come to teach the children some basic mathematics.
There had already been many people from surrounding villages wanting to work at Xihewan Textile Factory, and now with the added benefit of the school, even more came seeking jobs every day.
The once remote Xihewan had now become the centre of the ten-li radius.
Some quick-witted small traders began carrying loads to Xihewan to sell needles, thread, and other small items.
The school was thriving, and other areas were not idle either.
The new and old brick kilns fired bricks day and night, still struggling to keep up with demand from several construction sites.
Fortunately, as the new textile workshops were completed one after another, the demand for bricks gradually decreased.
Under Tang Dongdong’s arrangements, Man Cang led the female apprentices to work overtime, and brand-new spinning wheels filled the new workshops.
With the workshops built and the spinning wheels in place, Tang Dongdong began recruiting.
The female workers who came every day hoping for work soon got their wish and entered the textile workshops.
Even in the later automated era, the textile industry was labour-intensive, let alone Xihewan Textile Factory, which was still in the foot-pedal spinning wheel stage.
Each workshop operated two shifts, day and night, requiring a large number of female workers.
As workshop after workshop went into operation, basically all the women from the surrounding villages became textile factory workers.
When the last two workshops were completed, Tang Dongdong suddenly found that he could not recruit any more people.
From the surrounding villages, women from fifty or sixty-year-old grandmothers down to thirteen or fourteen-year-old girls, anyone who could spin had basically come.
Any further away, the commute to and from work would be too far. The mountain roads were difficult, and just the time spent travelling would take several hours.
If it were simply a matter of shortage, he could transfer a batch of girls from Tieguan Mountain, since soap production did not need so many people for now.
Or he could simply buy another batch of girls from the broker. Xihewan would definitely have growing labour needs in the future, and female slaves were cheap anyway. Buying them could be considered an act of kindness.
But the current problem was that even if people were brought in, there was nowhere to house them.
“This is something I failed to consider thoroughly. It’s too late to build dormitories now. If necessary, these two workshops can stay empty for the time being, or you can ask who is willing to work long day shifts and arrange them accordingly.”
Jin Feng had no better solution for this.
“We can only do this for now.”
Tang Dongdong nodded helplessly.
But what neither expected was that the next morning, Third Aunt brought five women to apply.
The oldest looked around forty or fifty, the youngest not much taller than Xiao’e.
“Feng boy, Factory Director Tang, this is my cousin and her four children. They live in Wild Boar Gully south of Jinchuan. My cousin’s husband fell and died while chopping wood in the mountains this year. They really can’t survive, so seeing that the factory needs people, I brought them.”
Third Aunt pointed at the women and said, “Feng boy, Factory Director Tang, rest assured, they are all people who have endured hardship and definitely won’t slack off at work.”
“Yes, yes, we absolutely won’t be lazy.”
Third Aunt’s cousin hurriedly assured with her children.
Then she looked at Jin Feng with pleading eyes, terrified that he would not accept them.
“You can come to work, but where will you live?” Jin Feng asked.
“I had my husband build a thatched shed in our courtyard for them to stay in for now,” Third Aunt said helplessly.
“That works. I will soon build another batch of dormitories, and once they are ready, they can move in,” Jin Feng said.
“Cousin, quickly thank Feng boy.”
Third Aunt left with the mother and daughters, who were overflowing with gratitude.
But this was just the beginning. As time passed, more and more people came to Xihewan to join relatives.
Some who had no relatives in Xihewan, just to earn a living, simply built a thatched shed at the village entrance threshing ground or similar places and settled there.
Anyway, the textile factory provided meals. As long as there was a place to sleep, it was fine.
In less than half a month, thatched sheds sprang up all over the open spaces in Xihewan.
At first, the county officials paid no attention to the situation, but as more and more people migrated to Xihewan, they finally could not sit still.
After all, population was the foundation of everything. If everyone left, who would they exploit?
Who would the bandits they supported collect annual tribute from?
