Chapter 210: Implementing the Work Point System

“Actually, it’s just like the work points system in our household. Since it’s hard to calculate the money upfront, we’ll start by recording points instead.

The difference is, in my house we first decided how many work points could be exchanged for what. But Uncle doesn’t have to set that yet.

Take wild ginger, for example—ten jin of fresh wild ginger weighed on the soil scale would count as ten wild ginger points. Three jin of banxia would be three banxia points. Two jin of yinchenhao would be two yinchenhao points…

And so on.

Once the herbs are processed and sold later, we can calculate how much each point is worth in silver according to the selling price.”

The benefit of doing this is that there’s no need to estimate the value of the herbs now, and the loss from processing can be factored in. You can track how much was collected and how much silver it sold for, with no middlemen taking a cut. The accounts are very transparent.

But there’s also an issue—this method isn’t entirely fair to Physician Cui.

Because labor is also involved.

Right now, Physician Cui is the only high-level talent in the village who can process herbs.

Without him, it’s all just talk.

So, labor needs to be included in the calculation.

“Recording points for the herbs is easy. The hard part is the processing that comes afterward.” Yan Yu chose her words carefully, trying to keep things simple without sounding too miraculous.

“Uncle, you won’t be able to handle it all alone. You’ll need help. I think labor should also count toward points. You should earn points, and so should your helpers. When the herbs are sold, those points will be converted into silver.”

Right now, Physician Cui and Madam Cui’s heads were full of points and silver.

They were in a bit of a rush and hadn’t fully figured out how the calculations would work yet.

But they remembered the part about calculating points by weight and thought it was a good, easy-to-remember system that didn’t require tracking accounts for every individual.

They could just calculate the silver together afterward.

As for who would do the accounting—

Wasn’t it obvious? Of course it’d be Yan Lao’er!

And come to think of it, little Yan had been involved in all money-related matters on this trip too. Every time something needed calculating, it was always the two of them.

They were fast, accurate, and never made mistakes.

So they were completely at ease.

Madam Cui accepted the idea of work points even faster—after all, the four brothers from the Luo family had just exchanged points for fragrant soap for their moms and aunts.

And in their case, the points were directly tied to silver, so the more the better.

“Xiao Er, help us calculate—how many points should your uncle earn? And what about me if I help him?”

Yan Yu replied, “Uncle definitely deserves more. He’s the hardest worker, and only he can do many of these tasks. He also has to oversee everything. I think thirty points per day sounds fair. As for you, Auntie, six points is about right.”

Thirty and six?

That’s a big difference!

Madam Cui looked at Physician Cui, who was smiling with great satisfaction.

Little Yan really was a good kid—she recognized her husband’s skills.

What could she help with anyway? More likely to make a mess than help. At best, she’d be doing some lifting and carrying, probably not even as helpful as her children.

“Six points for a full day, three for a half day—let’s go with that.”

After sorting out the herb collection, Yan Yu added, “Uncle, your place isn’t big enough to hold all those herbs. Ask Auntie to talk to the neighbors nearby to borrow their yards. Our yard is definitely fine—you can use it. If you need anything else, let us know. If it can be done in the village, let’s do it here. If not, we’ll ask around in town.”

Physician Cui thought for a moment and said, “Everyone in the village can do the work. Mainly, we’ll need to build some racks, weave mats and sieves, and get the stoves going. If possible… it’d be best to build the heated brick beds too—not for sleeping, but to dry herbs. It’ll make things easier.”

Yan Yu asked, “Auntie, do we have enough bricks at home?”

“We have enough, but we haven’t started building the house. How are we going to build a stove and a brick bed first?” Madam Cui had originally planned to wait until everyone else had finished building their houses and things weren’t so busy. Then she’d find someone to help her make mud bricks and build the house.

No one in their family was strong enough for this kind of labor. They’d have to hire help.

“Let’s do it along with the house—build two rooms first. One for a kitchen, the other with the heated bed.” Yan Yu suggested.

Madam Cui slowly nodded. “Alright, let’s build two rooms first. With the stove, cooking will be easier. With a big brick bed, our family of four will have a place to sleep at night. The rest of the house can wait.”

Once they were done discussing, Madam Cui charged out like a whirlwind to visit neighbors.

She went door to door asking for help building the two rooms, setting up racks, weaving mats and sieves, borrowing yards…

And along the way, she spread the word about the work point system Yan Yu had explained.

She kept quiet about Physician Cui’s thirty points, only mentioning the six points, hyping them up like crazy. In her mind, work points were the same as money. She didn’t know how much one point would be worth in the end, but it was something to hope for.

They didn’t dare leave the village easily these days, and with the vegetables in the fields not ready yet, this was the only way to make some money.

Even if they didn’t know when they’d get it, having something to look forward to was still nice.

The villagers were quite tempted.

Especially the elderly folks.

They were too old to go up the mountains, but too restless to stay idle, so they busied themselves with lighter chores at home.

They could definitely weave mats and sieves. Maybe they could even help with some of the work at Physician Cui’s.

Madam Cui had told them—most of it was sorting and washing herbs, plus keeping an eye on things to make sure the herbs didn’t overdry.

They could just stroll around more and keep watch.

They figured they could do it.

So the elderly folks started visiting Physician Cui’s home.

At first, he thought they were sick and started asking questions and taking pulses. When he finally understood why they’d come, he was stunned.

He’d expected the daughters-in-law, not… this.

But it made sense—able-bodied men were busy in the mountains during the day and had chores at night.

The kids were all kept busy by little Yan.

Which left only the elderly with spare time.

So he patiently gave them some simple tasks.

Sorting herbs.

The elderly were very meticulous, examining each plant carefully before sorting them into piles.

They worked slowly, but they were very accurate.

After inspecting their work, Physician Cui was surprised.

Not a single herb was misclassified.

Then he tried teaching them to wash and slice the herbs.

Same result—slow, but very clean. And the old ladies were better at slicing than he was. The thickness was perfectly even and their hands were steady.

Physician Cui suddenly saw the advantage of using the elderly for this work.

To be honest, they were better than his wife!

Not that Madam Cui knew her husband had formed such an opinion.

At the moment, she was in the Yan family’s courtyard arguing with little Yan about wages.

“Our house is being built—how can we let your family pay for it? Xiao Er, just take this. Otherwise your aunt won’t be happy.” Madam Cui was determined to hand over a string of copper coins.

“Auntie, listen to me—let Master Lu and his men help you build the stove and heated bed first. Just put it on my family’s tab. It’s not like we’re not going to charge you. Once our house is built and we settle the bill, we’ll count everything.” Yan Yu said.
(End of this chapter)