Hu Cong felt very comforted in his heart.
He actually understood the truth that times change.
Now in the northwest, no one would appreciate his skills like they used to in the past. Perhaps only the Mo family would.
Especially He Zhiran's design drawings, he was very interested. If he didn't take the lead and participate in the construction, he would probably regret it for the rest of his life.
Therefore, even if Mo Jiuye did not agree to give all the projects to him, he would still choose to participate.
It's just that he might feel a little uncomfortable in his heart.
After settling the matter, the two talked with Hu Cong about some details.
He Zhiran was also very wealthy. She directly gave Hu Cong 10,000 taels of silver bills. For ordinary commoners, this was definitely an unimaginable number.
For the current Hu Cong, it could also be described as an astronomical figure.
After all, he had been exiled to the northwest, and usually he could only rely on his skills to earn some money to make ends meet.
Although this money was not completely for him, for the current Hu Cong, it was still a huge sum.
When Hu Cong received so much silver, he was indeed a little stunned.
"Ninth Lady, what is this for?"
He Zhiran explained with a smile, "Since I have entrusted the whole matter of building the house to Elder Brother Hu, I won't interfere in anything anymore. In the future, some of the materials needed will also have to be taken care of by Elder Brother Hu personally, so the silver also includes some purchases of materials and labor."
Of course, before coming to find Hu Cong, He Zhiran had initially calculated the cost.
The cost of labor was very cheap in this era. For labor-intensive work like building a house, it only cost fifteen to twenty wen a day.
Their family was building ten yards, which was not a small project, and certainly required a lot of manpower.
If they could recruit a hundred people to work every day, with the highest price of twenty wen per day, the labor cost would only be two taels of silver per day.
The bricks, tiles and wood they needed had already been prepared before the New Year, and the number of porcelain toilets needed was not very large either. One hundred taels of silver would be enough.
The only thing that might be more expensive was the iron pipes used for floor heating. Ancient materials were scarce, and not much iron ore was mined and often controlled by the court. Therefore, the price of iron was relatively high.
Even so, it was estimated that a few thousand taels would be enough.
The remaining miscellaneous items would not cost much silver at all.
If Hu Cong could plan these expenses well and help the Mo family build the house, he could earn at least four thousand taels.
Since He Zhiran was able to calculate it clearly, Hu Cong, as a professional, could naturally calculate it even more clearly.
"Since that's the case, I won't stand on ceremony. I will definitely do my best to complete the Mo family's house and ensure your satisfaction."
"Good. Elder Brother Hu can start preparing in the next few days. As for the labor, you can discuss it with the village heads of the surrounding villages."
With the labor of Xiling Village alone, it would definitely not be enough, not to mention that many young and strong laborers could not come out to work when it was time for the spring plowing.
Contacting people from several villages would definitely find some families with more adult men who would be willing to come out and work for money.
"Okay, leave these things to me."
Hu Cong thought the same way. As long as there was silver, there would be no worry about not being able to hire people.
He Zhiran and Mo Jiuye knew that Hu Cong was eager to study her design drawings, so after finishing the discussion, they bid farewell and left.
Now, the matter of building the house in the family was handed over to Hu Cong to handle, which also relieved them a lot. They could focus on preparing for the spring plowing.
Hu Cong acted quickly. He locked himself in the room for two days and thoroughly studied He Zhiran's drawings.
He first contacted the porcelain kiln to produce the toilet bowls, and then contacted several iron shops in Yuncheng to produce the iron pipes for floor heating.
After all these things were arranged, he went to find the village heads of the surrounding villages to hire people to help build the houses.
Although it was about to be the spring plowing season, as He Zhiran had expected, families with more manpower were indeed willing to spare one or two to come out and work.
After all, few people were willing to give up this kind of work to earn money on the spot.
On He Zhiran's side, she was equally busy.
In the past few days, she and Mo Jiuye rented a large yard not far from the pier in Yuncheng.
She stored all the fruit trees cultivated in advance in the space there.
The plants or seeds produced in the space were not particular about soil and climate. Therefore, the varieties of fruit trees she had prepared were very complete.
There were apples, tangerines, oranges, honey peaches, cherries, and even tropical mangoes and durians.
In short, everything she could think of was prepared.
With so many varieties and quantities of fruit trees, a lot of manpower would be needed as well.
The manpower of Xiling Village and surrounding villages was helping their own family build houses, which did not stump Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran at all.
The two asked Meng Huaining for help to find some labor in the city.
The common people living in Yuncheng had no farmland, so there was no busy farming season.
Moreover, the wages He Zhiran paid were also very high, thirty wen per person per day. Even for doing work in the city, it was not so much.
Meng Huaining sent people to spread the news, and many people scrambled to sign up.
Even if it was just a little thing for the Mo family, Meng Huaining did not dare to be sloppy at all.
He specifically sent all his subordinates to find out about the temperament of those who signed up. Those who were slippery were ruled out without exception.
After careful selection, he finally helped the Mo family hire one hundred people.
That large tract of mountain, He Zhiran planned to plant all kinds of fruit trees, so the project was naturally not small.
The hired people first transported the fruit trees from that yard in Yuncheng to Xiling Village, and then carried out the planting.
So, after busy working for ten days, these fruit trees were completely planted.
Now on the hillside, it no longer looked as messy as before, but neat rows of various fruit trees.
The pear blossoms and peach blossoms had bloomed one after another, bringing a different beauty to the mountain.
Of course, after the Mo family planted so many fruits trees that villagers had never seen before on the mountain, it naturally aroused a lot of discussion among the villagers.
Even the Mo family themselves were a little puzzled at first.
When He Zhiran and Mo Jiuye were doing this, they had already figured out an excuse.
The reason why they rented a yard close to the pier was to continue using the foreigners as scapegoats.
Although this excuse was a bit shabby, it was still better than being asked questions they couldn't answer properly.
