Even hearing the figure ‘a few hundreds of thousands’, which Su Tang had purposefully understated, made Su Yongqiang and Madam Zhou suck in a cold breath. But, at the same time, Su Yongqiang became very excited, “Wow, great! You’ve found an excellent opportunity for the Su family. Such a good thing! Sister Tang, it’s all thanks to you.”
“Brother Qiang, you’re being too polite. Xiao Nuo and I are also members of the Su family and, no matter if it’s before or now, we’ve always been helped by the family. That being the case, how can we not think of the family when we find such a good thing? I’ve done some rough calculations ahead of time and, so long as the workers are diligent, I think that around fifteen families should be enough to produce the first few hundreds of thousands of seedlings.”
“This job pays very well and it isn’t very complicated, but there is one very important point! That is: the job needs to be kept secret and can’t be leaked out at all. Because of that, we need to be careful with which people we use.”
“If this business is leaked out beforehand, then the businessman I’m working with might lose tens, or even hundreds, of thousands of taels of silver. And if that really happened, then our small Su family wouldn’t be able to make up for the losses even if we all sold ourselves.”
Su Tang wasn’t lying here. The tomatoes and chili peppers were already the Luo family’s highest level secrets, and they were being very cautious with who could hear the news. Of course, Su Tang felt that she herself wasn’t in any danger of leaking the information, even if she brought in a few members of the Su family. After all, no one would ever imagine that such a big thing would happen in a small place like Sujia Village, and no one would ever think to monitor her, a small peasant girl. However, the things that needed to be said still needed to be said, no matter how low the risks might be.
Stated plainly: If the Su family wanted to make money, they would need to tighten up their ship and make sure that no information could slip outside. Otherwise, even ten Su families wouldn’t be able to afford the consequences.
However, when Su Yongqiang heard Su Tang’s warning, he wasn’t surprised or afraid at all. He merely commented, “En, that’s how it should be.”
After all, even a child would know how unusual it was for a group of peasants to have an opportunity to earn tens or hundreds of taels of silvers in a short two months. Could it be possible for such a good thing to have no risks at all? Of course not. It was very normal to have risks.
“Anyway, that’s the message from the person I’m working with, I hope that Brother Qiang can understand.”
“After all, it’s normal for good benefits to also carry risks. But I believe that we can trust the character of most members of the Su family and, so long as we choose who to bring on board carefully, there shouldn’t be any mistakes.”
“Also, when the time comes, you will have to sign a contract representing all the members of the Su family, and if the contract is breached then it’s likely that the other party will look for us for a hundredfold in compensation.”
“But at any rate, this matter can only begin once the weather warms up a little more, so there’s no rush to make a decision right now. Brother Qiang, you should take this time to think it over.”
“If the family defaults, then you may end up owing a thousand teals of silver, or even more, since the number of seedlings required for the contract will only be increased as time goes on. If you feel that the risk is too great then just tell me and I will look for another family to do the work.”
The benefits that Su Tang was offering were right in front of him, but it was up to Su Yongqiang to decide whether he wanted to reach out and grab them or not. Nearly half the people who lived in Sujia Village were related to the Su family, whether distantly or directly. Thus, even if the Su family was currently in a slump, it was still possible for a word from Su Yongqiang to muster up a dozen or so families to do some work.
And Su Tang also made her meaning very clear: This job wasn’t for the whole Su family, but rather for a few trustworthy households from within the family. On top of that, the requirements were very high, with both high risks and high rewards.
As Madam Zhou processed Su Tang’s words, she couldn’t help but look up when she heard the girl stress that 15 families would be enough. If 15 were enough, didn’t that mean that Su Yonggui’s branch of the family could be safely excluded entirely? Was she thinking too much, or had this been an intentional move from the eight-year-old girl in front of her?
However, it was just a passing thought in Madam Zhou’s mind. After all, since Su Tang had found such a huge opportunity for the family it meant that her significance within the Su family was no longer on the same level as it used to be. Even if everyone hadn’t already been disgusted with the things Su Yonggui and his branch had done in the past, with this change it meant that just a word from Su Tang would already be enough to exclude them.
This was a huge matter after all. Even Su Yongshun wasn’t really qualified to know about or voice his opinions about such a huge matter, much less Su Yonggui.
“Finding fifteen households will be fine.” Su Yongqiang naturally recognized the subtext in Su Tang’s words and tacitly agreed. Then he took a look at Su Yongshun and said, “And Brother Shun’s family can certainly be brought on board.”
Since Su Tang had already brought Su Yongshun and his wife here today, it was obvious that Su Yongshun’s family would occupy one part of the quota.
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