Chapter 43 Payday
The burning hot weather continued and it was already the middle of August in the blink of an eye.
On this day, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s workshops were all filled with joy. Almost every person had a smile on their faces that was filled to the brim.
As for the reason? It’s very simple, it was because today was payday.
According to the rules Xu Yi set, the fifteenth of each month was the set payday. This time, the factory had been set up for a month, so this was the first official payday, so naturally it had to be official and could even be considered grand.
Sebas had arrived at the factory early and had given the financial report for last month he had made to Xu Yi and Heinz to look over.
Xu Yi believe that there was no need to doubt useful people and don’t use doubtful people. He only simply swept over the financial report and didn’t care about it at all. Heinz on the other hand carefully looked it over several times, only letting Sebas off after ensuring that every number was correct.
Xu Yi was helpless towards Heinz’s actions, but he didn’t stop him.
As the third largest shareholder of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce after himself and Viscount Leslie, Heinz had enough qualification and reason to do this. Moreover, with him carefully looking it over, it saved Xu Yi quite a bit of effort.
The nervous and exciting morning passed and it was the afternoon in the blink of an eye. All the workers in both workshops gathered and they began lining up to receive their pay.
The first to come up was the dwarf Camby.
As the manager of the magic machine workshop, Camby’s wage was naturally higher than the other dwarves. He was on almost the same level as Heinz’ receiving twenty gold coins per month.
The next one to come forward was Alex.
As Heinz’s assistant, Alex’s wage was ten gold coins, it was a bit higher than the normal worker.
Then came the dwarves excluding Camby.
Other than the dwarves that had been affected by trivial matters or health issues, the other dwarves all received eight gold coins a month as a wage.
When they opened the purses Sebas handed them and found eight gold coins shining inside, the dwarves all had smiles bloom on their faces. There were even some dwarves who began excitedly dancing.
It was like Master Lanus said, these dwarves had very poor living conditions before. When these dwarves had been living back in the tribe, although they didn’t starve, other than wine that they could brew themselves, they were lacking in other materials they needed.
After they came to work at the factory, not only did the factory take care of their meals, not letting them worry about their daily necessities, they also received eight gold coins per month!
Even if eight gold coins was not considered much, they could buy some needed items and bring them back to the tribe, letting their parents, wives, and children have better lives.
Thinking of the happy smiles their family members would have when receiving these things, these frank and straightforward dwarves were filled with joy.
When remembering that they could only enjoy this kind of life after coming to the factory, the dwarves all looked at Xu Yi with gazes filled with excitement and respect.
Compared to the dwarves, the wages of the students from the Baron Rickto Magic Academy was a bit lower. It was only around five-six gold coins.
They had this kind of wage because they were only still students, so the time they had each day to work was limited. Naturally they couldn’t compare to the dwarves who worked in the magic machine workshop all day.
The second reason was because they only had simple Magic Array making work. Although it was work on the magic side, it was a very simple and repetitive kind of work. It didn’t have a high requirement in terms of technique, so naturally their wages weren’t that high.
Xu Yi was a bit worried at first that the students wouldn’t be satisfied seeing that other people’s wages were higher than theirs, but after the students received their wages, every single one of them was filled with incomparable joy. There wasn’t a single bit of dissatisfaction at all.
Even a kid from a noble family like Orin, his mouth was crooked from smiling at just a trivial six gold coins. It was like he wasn’t holding six gold coins, but rather six hundred gold coins.
Xu Yi thought about it and couldn’t help but smile.
Actually the reactions of the other students were normal. They were only student still in school right now, being able to earn a wage with their own work was already enough to make them happy.
Not to mention that five-six gold coins to them was already quite a bit. It had to be known that the fee for each semester at the Baron Rickto Magic Academy was twenty five gold coins.
This meant that as long as they kept this job, these students could rely on their own hard work to pay their own school fees.
For most of the students from normal or poor families, this saved quite a bit of burden for their families. Once their parents found out about this, they would be very satisfied with this.
After they finished giving the students their wages, there was a portion of workers that didn’t receive wages, which was the hundred slaves.
When it was time to give these hundred slaves their wages, Xu Yi was actually troubled.
Based on normal logic, since these slaves worked in the factory, they deserved to receive wages, but slaves were slaves after all. Even if Xu Yi was not willing to accept this, he had to accept this. Slaves didn’t have any right or position on the Sines Continent and in normal conditions, no one would agree to slaves receiving wages.
The more important reason was that these slaves currently belonged to Viscount Leslie, Xu YI was only borrowing them.
Even if Xu Yi wanted to give them wages, he should give it to Viscount Leslie first. As for whether Viscount Leslie would pay these slaves or not, it would depend on his mood.
So after Xu Yi and Heinz discussed this for a while with Sebas, they finally decided not to give the slaves wages, rather they would receive welfare allowances.
Currently it was still the middle of the blazing summer, so Xu Yi gave each of the slaves a second generation Variable Speed Magic Fan. Other than that, he gave each person a clothing ticket for Metagen’s tailor shop in Banta City. With this clothing ticket, the slaves could have the Metagen tailor shop prepare one piece of clothing for them that didn’t surpass a value of one gold coin.
Other than this, he gave them some meat and fruit, as well as some random daily necessities.
When all the welfare allowances was added up, it was valued at around four gold coins.
According to the ideas Xu Yi had at first, the value of the slaves’ work each month should be at least six gold coins. He wanted to give them more welfare allowances, but this idea was stopped by Heinz.
No matter what, these slaves still belonged to Viscount Leslie. If Xu Yi was too good to them, Viscount Leslie would have some special thoughts.
Even based on these simple welfare allowances to Xu Yi, it had already overstepped a taboo matter.
When those slaves saw the dwarves and students receiving their wages from the side, although they were envious, they knew that they were just slaves, it was impossible for them to receive the same wages. So they could only watch them without saying anything.
Actually they were already very satisfied with their current living conditions.
Since they came to the factory, not only would they not be beaten or cursed at each day, they could enjoy three sumptuous meals a day and not worry about empty stomachs.
Although there was work to do each day, compared to the heavy work they had to do under Viscount Leslie, it was much more simple and relaxed.
Not to mention that they only had to work eight short hours each day and there wasn’t any extra work that was given to them.
Even when there was a lack of people working on the road last time and Xu Yi had them help, he had also given each slave a pound of meat as compensation.
It could be said that their current lives was like a dream to the slaves, they never thought that they would ever have such a comfortable and relaxed life.
If it was possible, they really wanted Viscount Leslie to sell them to Xu Yi.
With this kind of master, it was the best home in the heart of every slave.
So when Sebas announced for the slaves to come up and receive their welfare allowance, the slaves were all stunned.
Welfare allowance? What was this thing? Was it for us?
Only when Sebas raised his voice to repeat this and picked out the name of a slave were the slaves sure that they had not misheard.
The slave that was picked carefully came in front of Sebas. Heinz smiled as he placed the Magic Fan, the clothing ticket, the meat, and the other welfare allowances in his hands.
That slave looked at the things in his hands in a daze for a while before suddenly revealing a large smile. He eyes couldn’t help being filled with tears as he choked up. For a while, he didn’t know how he should react.
Seeing this scene, Xu Yi couldn’t help giving a soft sigh.
This damn slavery, it should be eliminated as soon as possible.
After the hundred slaves were given their welfare allowances, Xu Yi announced in a loud voice that he would be giving them the rest of the afternoon off, which was instantly met with thunderous applause.
With their wages in hand, whether it was the dwarves or the students, they couldn’t wait to show off. Of course, there were some that were already becoming impatient.
Xu Yi announced that they would be given a vacation, it was simply hitting them where it itched, causing it to instantly explode in their minds.
Seeing the several students charge out in a group while cheering, where even Orin wasn’t an exception, Xu Yi couldn’t help smiling.
This scene made him think of back when he was in university, he ran out of school with his classmates like this and went wild all day.
Turning around to look, the dwarves also scattered in groups, leaving only the slaves standing there not knowing what to do. Xu Yi thought for a bit before pulling Heinz to a corner.
“Heinz, start recruiting workers.”
Chapter 44 Changing to a new product
Perhaps the deities had finally been paid their wages, but right after high noon, a rainstorm began falling not long after.
Little pinky sized raindrops hurt when they fell onto one’s body. There was the dull sound of raindrops falling onto the thick wooden roof.
“This is the first time there was such a large rainfall, will it leak in?” Xu Yi looked up at the roof with his brows knit in worry.
“It might leak a bit, but it shouldn’t be that much of a problem.” Heinz on the side answered in an uncaring voice.
It was currently completely dark outside because of the rainstorm, one couldn’t see more than ten meters outside the window.
In the workshop right now, the workers had already left. There was only Xu Yi, Heinz, Sebas, and Camby, these four people left. It became incomparably silent in the room.
The sounds of the raindrops falling onto the roof reverberated through the workshop, like it was a drum.
“No, a leak is a big problem.” Xu Yi shook his head, “Heinz, we produce precise machinery here. If it is soaked by the rain and rusts, it will greatly damage the Magic Array inside and ruin the entire machine, so this problem needs to be dealt with seriously.”
Heinz helplessly looked up, “It can’t be right? These things are all made of iron, it shouldn’t be a problem if they get a bit wet.”
The dwarf Camby also looked at Xu Yi with a confused look, not understanding why he was making a fuss over a trivial matter.
As a dwarven master of working with iron, Camby had seen more iron items in his life than Xu Yi. He did not feel that these shiny, black iron fellows would be ruined by a little rain.
Only Sebas was the same as before, not showing any changes on his face.
Xu Yi was also helpless. Not to mention stainless steel, there wasn’t even steel items in this world, so the world’s rust prevention techniques were quite crude. This caused many iron items to be sold at a large discount.
Looking at the pile of finished Magic Fans in the corner of the workshop, Xu Yi shook his head.
There was no choice, he was only a mechanical engineer. Although he knew a bit of researching materials, he wasn’t that skilled at it. He couldn’t take out the formula for plastic, otherwise if the outer casing for the Magic Fan was made of plastic, not only would it be better at resisting rust, it would greatly decrease its weight while also making it prettier. The most important thing was that it would greatly decrease their costs and would also increase their profits.
It was a good thing that when he was designing the Magic Fan, Xu Yi had already considered waterproofing it. The core part was very strictly waterproofed, so it shouldn’t be easily ruined by being soaked with water.
Moreover, the Magic Array was made from special magic material. Once the Magic Array was made, unless the magic related material was broken, it was very hard for the Magic Array itself to be destroyed. There wasn’t a need to worry much about this point.
“Moving aside from the reason that the products might be damaged, this workshop will need to be refurbished in the future. Otherwise once it does leak, it will greatly affect the productivity of the workers.” Xu Yi still insisted on his opinion, “Heinz, arrange this as soon as possible.”
Seeing how firm Xu Yi was, Heinz could only nod his head in agreement.
“Alright, putting this problem aside for now, what were we just talking about?” Xu Yi asked.
As the key members of the company, the four of them had stayed after all the workers left to hold a meeting. Other than summarizing everything that happened to the company in the last month, they would also plan on how to expand the company.
“Camby said that everything in the magic machine workshop is running smoothly, but many dwarves are complaining that it is too boring and they don’t have things to do.” Heinz replied.
“That’s right, many brothers are saying that they aren’t doing much and they are receiving all this money, they are feeling embarrassed.” Camby scratched his head and spoke with a somewhat embarrassed smile.
Xu Yi couldn’t help laughing.
These dwarves really were simply. They weren’t happy that their work was easy and they actually said that their wages were too high.
“Camby, let them be assured that while the work isn’t heavy now, that is only because the fellows outside haven’t realized the importance of magic machines yet. You just need to wait a while and when chairman Farsak builds a factory in Saltan City, I can promise that large amounts of magic machines will fly out. Just don’t blame me for there being too much work at that time.”
Camby grinned and waved his hand in an uncaring manner, “How could that be? We dwarves can endure suffering the best, as long as there is wine to drink, there’s no problem no matter how much work there is.”
“Speaking of wine…..Camby, although I know that you dwarves especially love wine, you mustn’t drink while you are working because the machines you are making need to be very precise. Just a little mistake will cause a large problem, so you need to keep reminding them while working. Our Frestech Chamber of Commerce is still a small company right now after all, we have to pay attention to our product’s quality while developing.”
Camby nodded, “Alright, I’ll tell them when I head back. They just need to drink after getting off work and not drink while working.”
Xu Yi knit his brows, “Just a warning isn’t enough. How about this, we’ll set a rule. If someone is found drinking while working, the first time they’ll be fined fifty silver coins, the second time they’ll be fined two gold coins, and the third time they’ll be fined their entire month’s wages.”
“Isn’t this too serious?” Camby was stunned, “Chairman, those brothers treat alcohol like their lives. I’m afraid that once this rule is set, quite a few people won’t be able to receive their wages.”
“I know that you treat alcohol like your lives, so it has to be this serious.” Xu YI said with a serious expression, “No matter what, the quality of the product is most important. If there is a problem with the quality because of a personal problem, then one should be punished because of it.”
Seeing how serious Xu Yi was, Camby couldn’t only helplessly lower his head.
“Alright, I’ll tell it clearly to them.”
“Of course, this rule does not only apply to your dwarven brothers. Heinz, this rule also applies to the Magic Fan workshop.”
Heinz knew that Xu Yi was only being fair, so he immediately agreed.
“Camby, you don’t need to be that depressed. There are also rewards the come with punishment. Tell your dwarven brothers that if they work properly, I can use the company’s name to make a large order from the Sachi Manor. If you want wine in the future, that’ll depend on your accomplishments with the company.”
Camby’s eyes instantly lit up, “You’re telling the truth?”
“Would I be joking with you at a time like this?”
Camby’s dispirited look disappeared without a trace and he broke out in laughter.
“Good, good, this is good! I dare promise that as long as the brothers hear about the Sachi Manor’s wine, they will work very zealously!”
“Then that’s good.” Xi Yi nodded with a faint smile before turning to Heinz and saying, “Alright, we’re done talking about the magic machine factory, so let’s now talk about the Magic Fan factory.”
Heinz immediately stuck out his chest and fearlessly said, “There is no need to worry about our Magic Fan factory. The slaves are very obedient, there won’t be any trouble at all.”
Camby looked over at Heinz. This seemed like it was an indirect insult.
Xu Yi waved his hand with a bitter smile. Although the dwarves had been working here for a month, there were still some barriers between humans and dwarves.
Only it would take a long time before this barrier could be solved and it couldn’t bear rushed.
“No, Heinz, the problem with the magic machine warehouse is not the workers, but rather what they are producing next.”
Heinz was surprised, “There is no problem with production at all, everything is smooth.”
“My meaning is not that production isn’t smooth and you have forgotten a very important problem. Isn’t it a fact that the Magic Fans will stop being produced soon?”
“Ah?” Heinz was shocked and he suddenly stood up, “Stop production? Why would you stop production? The Magic Fan is selling this well, why would you need to stop producing it?”
Camby and Sebas on the side both looked at Xu Yi with confused looks.
Just the second generation Variable Speed Magic Fan has only been produced for less than half a month and it had already sold over six thousand units, bringing a profit of over five thousand gold coins to the company. Why was it that with such good sales volume, Xu Yi suddenly wanted to stop production?
Xu Yi pointed out the window, “Because summer is about to pass.”
The three instantly understood.
That’s right, it was currently the middle of August and summer was about to pass soon. At best, the hot weather would only last for a month.
Once it wasn’t as hot anymore, people’s desire to buy Magic Fans would greatly decrease and it would be close to zero.
When that time comes, with no one buying Magic Fans, naturally there was no need to produce them anymore.
Once he thought this through, Heinz instantly became anxious.
“Then what do we do? Xu Yi, the Magic Fan is our most profitable item, if the production stops, what will we depend on to earn money? Quickly think of a way, otherwise, will we have to wait until next summer before we start working again? But there will be all kinds of imitation Magic Fans next year, we won’t be able to sell much at that time!”
Camby pulled Heinz back, “What are you anxious for? Since the chairman has raised this question, that means that he already has a method. You just need to listen to him.”
Heinz threw Camby aside and angrily said, “Of course you’re not anxious! Your magic machine workshop will always have things to do, but what about us?” After saying this, he turned to Xu Yi and urged him, “Xu Yi, do you have some kind of solution? Quickly say it, ah, I’m going to die of anxiety!”
Xu Yi patted his shoulder and signaled for him to calm down.
“Of course there is a solution. Since the Magic Fan can’t be produced anymore, we can just change to a product that isn’t affected by the seasons.”
Hearing that there is a possibility, Heinz’s eyes instantly lit up, “What product?”
Xu Yi laughed as he took out a blueprint from his chest, “Here, it’s this.”