After being expelled from the mansion, I changed the dynasty by writing novels.

Chapter 230 Did you fall into the latrine?

But Chizhou was different. Very few women could read, and most of the literate women stayed at home, being daughters of merchants and officials. How could they possibly be interested in working in a bookstore?

Although Gao Lianzhu knew it would be difficult, she still agreed.

Ye Yuwu seemed to know it would be difficult, so after a moment's consideration, she said, "If we can't find literate women, we can let women who are willing to work at the bookstore come, but the premise is that they are willing to accept not receiving their monthly wages for more than half a year."

"Yu Wu, what do you want?"

Ye Yuwu nodded, "We'll hire a tutor to teach them to read! It'll be free! If they learn a lot and make good progress, they can go directly to work in the bookstore! Their monthly salary will still be the same as that of the bookstores in Bianjing!"

She knew that if the monthly wages weren't high enough, it probably wouldn't be enough to attract women to work at the bookstore.

Gao Lianzhu nodded, "I understand!" Her eyes showed admiration for Ye Yuwu.

Ye Yuwu felt uneasy under that gaze. "Why...why are you looking at me like that?"

"Hehe! It's because I like you!" Gao Lianzhu gave a lewd laugh.

"Stop...it's so cheesy!" Ye Yuwu couldn't stand her anymore.

On the day Ye Yuwu left Chizhou, Gao Lianzhu and Manager Gao came in person to say goodbye to her.

Not long after Ye Yuwu left, Gao Lianzhu began recruiting for the bookstore. Unfortunately, no matter how generous the offer, no one came. Some people shook their heads and left as soon as they saw that she only accepted women. Some men thought that Gao Lianzhu was a woman and that she would be easy to talk to, so they kept trying to persuade her to take them in.

However, Gao Lianzhu was adamant and quickly refused.

When women finally came, they turned out to be illiterate. Some women, seeing that the treatment was good, lied and said they could read. After they were put to work in the bookstore, it was discovered that they could indeed read, but only a few words, and they couldn't even finish reading a book.

Gao Lianzhu wanted them to learn to read, on the condition that they wouldn't receive a monthly allowance during the learning process. She would arrange for a tutor to teach them to read for free.

However, when these women heard that they wouldn't receive their monthly wages for more than six months, and that even if they were literate, they didn't know how long they would need to study before they could officially work in the bookstore, most of them immediately turned around and left.

After several days of trying to recruit anyone and losing several people, Gao Lianzhu was exhausted and began to doubt his own abilities.

But when she thought of Ye Yuwu's trust in her, she couldn't give up and wanted to hold on.

Just as she was rubbing her forehead, feeling a headache coming on, and resting inside the bookstore, she suddenly heard a timid voice asking a question from outside.

"Do you still accept women here?"

Gao Lianzhu looked outside and saw a woman wearing a headscarf, who looked like a peasant woman, peeking out from outside the bookstore.

Gao Lianzhu's intuition was correct; the woman had just come from the fields.

She originally just wanted to sell the vegetables she grew at the market. When she went to take over, she saw the sign outside the bookstore. However, the woman, who was illiterate, was very sensitive to numbers, and she only knew those few characters.

So when she saw the large wooden sign that read "Seeking female [name], monthly salary two taels, [amount]", her eyes lit up instantly. Ignoring the many words on the sign that she didn't recognize, she came here to inquire.

Anyway, asking won't hurt her. Although she was a peasant woman with no skills and no literacy, she had a fearless heart.

She also loved to chat at the village entrance on weekdays, even if it was just to ask what kind of work could earn so much money, so that she could tell the aunties in the village when she returned.

After all, rural life is dull and boring, and these people can only get a little interest by talking about these trivial things.

Gao Lianzhu's eyes lit up when he saw her, and he was determined to keep her here.

So Gao Lianzhu patiently explained to her and also learned about her family background from the peasant woman.

She was just an ordinary peasant woman who, upon reaching a certain age, naturally married a farmer from another village. This was her third year of marriage, and she had a one-year-old son.

Her husband and mother-in-law treated her fairly well, but after having a child, the family became increasingly poor. In addition, the child was prone to illness, and all the little money the family had saved was spent on the child's medical treatment.

That's why she came to the city market to sell vegetables.

Upon hearing about her story, Gao Lianzhu's eyes lit up. Wasn't this an opportunity?

So Gao Lianzhu seized on this weakness of her son, and used a series of tricks to persuade her to come and study.

"It will take half a year!" There was hesitation in her eyes. Although there was an old woman at home to help her take care of the child, she was not at ease leaving her child in the care of her mother-in-law. Besides, her home was too far from Chizhou, and she could not travel back and forth every day.

Gao Lianzhu quickly resolved this issue for her: "You don't need to travel back and forth every day. I will rent a house for you to live in. You can focus on learning to read here. After you start working, you will have four days off every month so you can go home to see your husband and children."

Even so, the woman still had doubts.

Then Gao Lianzhu assured her that as long as she learned quickly, she would be able to start working in less than half a year. He also promised her that if she could learn well enough to read a book completely, he would arrange for her to work in a bookstore.

Seeing that the woman was wavering, she pressed her advantage, saying, "Think about your monthly allowance, think about your child. You know how many people in Chizhou can earn that much in a month? That amount is probably equivalent to four or five months' earnings for a farmer in Chizhou. You just had a baby, so you should know how expensive it is to raise a child. You have a son, and you'll need to consider his future success in the imperial examinations. If you don't have money, won't you be causing him trouble?"

Gao Lianzhu's words struck a chord with her. She recalled that the most she had ever earned selling vegetables in a day was 50 coins, which had made her extremely happy.

Even though she worked tirelessly from dawn till dusk planting and selling vegetables, she could only earn 300 coins a month.

Gao Lianzhu's last words, "For the sake of my son," made her make up her mind.

"Okay, I'll learn!" Isn't this just like being an apprentice outside? Those apprentices don't graduate until they've studied for several years. Maybe she has a talent for learning characters and will learn them in less than half a year!

At this point, the peasant woman naively thought that she was the slowest learner among the group!

"I'll go back and tell my husband that I'll come to you for an answer tomorrow!"

"Don't miss this opportunity!" Gao Lianzhu added before she left.

The farmer's wife returned to her stall and was immediately berated by her husband, who yelled, "You took so long in the outhouse? Did you fall in?"

"More than that!" For the first time, the woman didn't argue with him, but instead looked agitated.

"Ah!" The man was startled by her words. "What do you mean? You didn't really fall into the latrine, did you?"

The woman rolled her eyes at him. "I didn't fall into a latrine, I just got hit by a windfall!"

The woman recounted everything that had happened to her in the bookstore to the man.