"You guys haven't used this elevator for a long time, it should be maintained, right? Besides, I might just rent the first floor."
Sophia said casually.
If she wanted to rent the whole floor, the price for each floor couldn't be the same.
This guy just thought she was young and easy to trick.
Sure enough, the landlord quickly changed his tone: "The price is negotiable."
Sophia immediately said, "First floor six, second floor five, third floor four."
The landlord's face changed a little, then quickly agreed, "Okay, okay, but you have to rent for at least one year."
Sophia shook her head, "Half a year."
Half a year was enough time for her warehouse to be built.
She tried to persuade him, "Your factory has been rented for a long time but never rented out. If you don't rent it to me, it will just stay empty. I will find someone to maintain the elevator myself, how about that?"
Rent was thirty thousand a month, so for half a year, it was one hundred eighty thousand.
After hesitating for a moment, the man agreed.
Sophia took out a rental contract template she had prepared in advance, downloaded from the internet for some money. Both sides signed on the spot.
Rent was paid monthly; Sophia paid this month's rent first.
The contract was signed, money paid, and Sophia got the keys.
This factory hadn't had visitors for years, inside was all dust, outside full of fallen leaves, everything was messy.
She had to go home first and find people to clean it. Even if she wasn't really going to open a factory, she had to clean it up because she would come often.
Not long after getting home, the women she hired to clear the land came to settle their wages.
Looking at how hard they worked under the hot sun, Sophia gave each woman an extra five hundred as a heat allowance on top of the agreed price.
Originally, she had agreed to pay sixteen thousand for the four acres of land, with the extra five hundred per woman, she gave them a total of twenty thousand.
"I still have some work for you. Aunties, what do you say? Four hundred a day."
Because these aunties worked efficiently and had already cleared the weeds in front and behind Sophia's house, and even cooked pig food to feed the pigs when Sophia wasn't home, she wanted to hire them again.
Hearing there was more work, the four aunties didn't want to leave.
"Of course we'll work!"
These aunties usually did handicrafts or planted vegetables to sell at the market, earning little.
Now they could get a few hundred a day, and their daughters-in-law didn't have to take care of the kids anymore. After working, their husbands would cook dinner for them.
Sophia hadn't said the wage yet, but the aunties had already agreed.
"But does anyone have a tricycle? The place is a bit far, so you might need to drive a tricycle there."
Hearing this, the aunties looked at each other. They usually walked to town and never learned to ride a bicycle. Some had a tricycle but didn't know how to drive it.
After a quiet moment, one auntie spoke, "Madam Xi, your family's third son can't find a job and just came back from Yangcheng. He's home with nothing to do. Why not have him work with us?"
Because young people could drive the tricycle, they wanted him to join.
As expected, the other two aunties also tried to persuade her. "You can earn a few hundred yuan a day!"
If they weren't worried Sophia might find someone else to do the job, the group wouldn't have looked for family members again. This time, they planned for the four of them to take on the job together.
While speaking, they secretly glanced at Sophia to see her reaction.
In the end, Madam Xi agreed.
That evening, they came to give Sophia their answer.
Sophia told them the payment details. "There are three floors, each one the size of about three acres. I still plan to let you do the job. Although the area is bigger, the workload isn't as intense, so I'll still give it to you for twenty thousand yuan."
"I'll take you there tomorrow to check the place first. After you see it, you can decide."
The aunties agreed. Madam Xi's third son, Ronin, wasn't brought along since he was younger and joined the group late. He didn't have a say in the decision.
The next morning at eight, Ronin drove his electric tricycle over. The back was full of cleaning tools and carried the four aunties as well. The cart looked packed.
Sophia couldn't help but laugh. "You don't need to bring cleaning tools yet. After we check out the place, if everything's fine, I'll take you to buy new ones."
When they heard this, the aunties left their brooms, mops, and buckets at Sophia's house before heading out.
Ronin was a young man in his twenties. Seeing that Sophia looked even younger than him, he was a bit surprised.
From the village to the factory, Sophia drove slowly so the tricycle could keep up. It took them about half an hour to get there.
Once they arrived, they quickly looked around the entire factory. It was indeed very spacious.
The aunties had no objections. Sophia then drove two of them to buy cleaning supplies. The other two stayed behind with Ronin to start picking up the larger pieces of trash.
Sophia spent nearly one to two thousand yuan on the cleaning tools. But these items would be left at the factory after they finished, so it wasn't a waste.
After handing over the cleaning work to the aunties, Sophia continued with her shopping tasks.
Just after coming out of the hardware store, she had also bought several new locks. Seeing all the different tools there gave her some new ideas.
Lately, every time the rooster crowed, food started falling from the sky around General Yves.
Sophia had received his message asking for help. But since the factory wasn't cleaned up yet, she didn't dare move too quickly and kept the same delivery pace as before.
On General Yves's side, he still hadn't received more food. He left four hundred shi of grain and five thousand jin of vegetables for the people in Chu. It wasn't enough for the whole city, but it would help them last a while longer.
Once things were settled, General Yves took the storage list and told General Ulric to divide one-third of the supplies and send them to Sophia.
After that, he gathered the troops and did a full headcount overnight.
General Yves gave strict orders. That night, every soldier would get to drink mutton soup and eat some meat.
That evening, the smell of food drifted into the city.
The next day, when the people of Chu came out looking for food and water, all the tents of the army camps had been taken down.
In the last battle, many soldiers in General Yves's army had been injured and couldn't move well. They stayed behind. The rest, more than twenty thousand able-bodied soldiers, joined with local recruits. In total, they now had over thirty thousand troops.
Chu's neighboring country was Chen. It had a smaller population, but it was rich in porcelain and fairly wealthy.
However, it too was suffering from the drought. When they heard that General Yves was leading troops toward their city, they panicked. They quickly sent a message to Wu for help, using urgent military post.