Zhou Xiaocao’s words reminded Su Tang of the old lively and bright Zhou Xiaocao she had met in the past, so Su Tang showed a faint smile.
Zhou Xiaocao was a very straightforward person, so she could just agree directly. However, Zhou Dazhu and Madam Yang were parents after all. They still had many concerns and couldn’t help but speak up, “Tang’er, we’re still a little worried. We don’t know what you want to have our Xiaocao do? She is a hard worker, but her standards aren’t very high.”
“Mother, what do you mean my standards aren’t very high?” Zhou Xiaocao asked indignantly.
Her standards were obviously very good, okay? After all, before Wang Xiaotian had made a scene and ruined her reputation, several families had been interested and wanted to arrange a marriage between her and their sons… as she remembered all this, Zhou Xiaocao’s face turned dim for a moment, but she quickly rallied and tried to cheer herself up again.
Su Tang could understand what Zhou Dazhu and Madam Yang were worried about. After all, in their original plan, their precious daughter would be carefully raised at home until she was old enough and then she would quietly marry into a reliable family without any issues. Every step of the process had been planned out properly, and the couple had never wanted their daughter to climb a high branch or marry above her station. They only wanted to be safe and let her find a family that was well-matched to their own status.
But who knew that the heavens would make such a joke of their plans and let things turn out like this? Of course, they also knew that it hadn’t been for Su Tang, their daughter might have stayed in her depressed spiral and maybe even have died, but they couldn’t just hand her over to Su Tang simply because of this.
After all, Su Tang had mentioned that Zhou Xiaocao wouldn’t be able to live at home for a long time in the future. And, in this era where girls and boys were not treated equally at all, living outside could be very bad for their daughter. Therefore, it was necessary for them to ask some questions no matter what.
Su Tang wasn’t surprised by Zhou Dazhu and Madam Yang’s questions, and she replied honestly, “The work is nothing too difficult. As it happens, I’ve been thinking of opening a restaurant recently, so I need to hire some people to work there.”
Su Tang had said that she would give Zhou Xiaocao an opportunity, and that wasn’t a promise she had made lightly. However, she also couldn’t casually hire people to work in her new workshop or in the Dessert Cafe, because there were certain secrets involved in those places that made her only willing to use people with slave contracts to run them. However, the fish restaurant she was planning to open soon was different and didn’t have such strict standards.
The fish in the new restaurant would all come from the space, which meant they had a high standard of taste compared to usual fish just by themselves, and with the addition of some unique seasonings, she was confident the restaurant would do well. And the seasonings the restaurant would later rely on would come from Su Tang and the Luo family’s cooperative business.
Thus, there was no need for all the workers at the restaurant to have slave contracts owned by Su Tang, because it was impossible for them to come in contact with the real core secrets of the recipes. So, since she needed to hire people anyway, Zhou Xiaocao was a perfect candidate.
“If you do your work well, you can even become the restaurant’s manager in the future.” Su Tang directly mentioned the career prospects she was offering.
And she wasn’t being deceitful at all. After all, things weren’t easy for women in this era, so Su Tang was always willing to give them opportunities when she could. Of course, she wouldn’t reach out to just any random woman, only towards women who wanted to stand up and improve themselves.
Zhou Dazhu and Madam Yang had been curious what Su Tang had meant when she said she could give their daughter an opportunity, but when they actually heard the answer they were both shocked.
And as for Zhou Xiaocao herself, she was completely stupefied. But she quickly became excited and said, “Really? I can become the restaurant’s manager?”
“If you work hard enough, the opportunity will be there for you to take.” Su Tang nodded.
Zhou Xiaocao was very happy and promised, “I will work hard! Definitely!”
In this era, female managers and business owners were quite rare. Generally speaking, even if a woman was the one doing the work, there would still be a man acting as the manager or owner. For instance, many fabric stores, embroidery houses, restaurants, and so on all had women working in them but were generally owned or managed by men.
Also, the average manager would earn around five taels of silver a year, or even more depending on the business. So in the eyes of farmers, it was considered quite a good job.
Zhou Dazhu and Madam Yang looked at their daughter’s excited appearance, then looked at the other girl sitting in the main seat, exchanged glances, then reached out and pulled Zhou Xiaocao to kneel down directly in front of Su Tang.
Su Tang was startled and said, “What are you doing? Quickly get up, I’m not worthy of this kind of thing.”
Zhou Dazhu and Madam Yang were both red-eyed and, in spite of Su Tang’s protests, they continued kowtowing and said, “You are really our family’s benefactor. If it hadn’t been for you, our Xiaocao would have died. Not only did you save her, you’re even willing to give her such a good opportunity and future… but our family has nothing to return to you, so please accept our kowtow.”
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tl begging corner:
