Chapter 174 - 166: Song Gong
Chapter 174: Chapter 166: Song Gong
Bai Zhi hadn’t expected Song Gong to praise her blueprints so highly. Though she had drawn them with care, she hadn’t shown her true skill and had intentionally held back. If she were to truly use the drawing skills she had in college, she could have made them far more detailed.
She laughed nervously. "I’ve seen a much more intricate blueprint before. This one, I just based it on someone else’s design and changed a few dimensions. Uncle Song, I’m not worthy of such high praise."
Seeing how humble she was, Song Gong was even more pleased. While getting a job was important, landing one with a difficult client would be a real stroke of bad luck.
This family before him, every one of them had a warm smile. They carried themselves in a composed manner and spoke politely. ’They must be easy to work for,’ he thought.
Seeing Song Gong and Song Qingfeng begin to calculate the required amount of bricks, tiles, and lumber, she noted that it was getting late and said, "I’ll go make lunch. You should stay and eat with us."
Song Gong quickly waved his hands in refusal. "Oh, we couldn’t possibly. We haven’t even started the work yet, how could we eat your food?"
Bai Zhi waved her hand dismissively. "We don’t worry about such things. It’s already noon, and we’ve taken up a good deal of your time. You’ll eat here."
With that, Bai Zhi went to the kitchen, and Zhao Lan followed to help. Uncle Hu chuckled, "Just stay and eat. It’s only one meal. It’s not going to bankrupt us, is it?"
Song Gong laughed. "Alright, then. The two of us will stay and eat. Our apologies for the expense."
Uncle Hu laughed as well. "What expense? Don’t say that. Just put your heart into building the house. Zhi is a kind person. Don’t worry, as long as you do a good job, she will never treat you unfairly."
Song Gong pointed to the blueprints. "Once a house like this is built, who knows how many people in town will want to copy it. I’d be willing to build it even without pay."
Uncle Hu couldn’t make heads or tails of the blueprints, but hearing Song Gong’s words, he figured it must be for a beautiful house.
After lunch, Song Gong presented a detailed list of the calculated materials. It didn’t include labor; the cost for materials alone was thirty taels of silver.
Bai Zhi glanced at it calmly and nodded. "Alright. Thirty taels for materials. And what about the labor costs?"
Song Gong replied, "For the chance to build a house like this, Qingfeng and I don’t need to be paid. You only need to pay the other laborers."
Bai Zhi shook her head. "That won’t do. There’s no such thing as working without pay. Please, just charge us your usual rate."
Zhao Lan chimed in as well. "That’s right. It’s unheard of to work for free. We’ll pay whatever the proper rate is."
Seeing they were insistent, Song Gong offered a discounted rate, about thirty percent less than his usual fee.
Bai Zhi saw the price and understood immediately that Uncle Song had deliberately quoted a low number. She didn’t say anything more about it, though. ’I’ll just pay him the market rate when the work is done,’ she decided.
"So for the materials, should I pay a deposit or pay the full amount at once?" she asked.
Song Gong quickly explained, "This is how it works: for materials like bricks, tiles, and lumber, you pay a deposit of two taels of silver to each supplier, and they’ll deliver the goods. Once the house is finished and we’ve tallied everything up, we settle the final bill—refunding any overpayment or covering any shortfall."
Bai Zhi nodded and asked, "And what about the workers’ wages? How are those paid?"
Song Gong replied, "I’m the foreman, so I get paid after the job is done. The masons and tilers are paid every three days, and the day laborers are paid daily."
Now that Bai Zhi had a clear picture, she had Uncle Hu fetch ten taels of silver. She handed the entire amount to Song Gong. "Uncle Song, I’ll give you ten taels of silver for now. After you pay the deposits for the materials, use the rest to pay the workers and yourselves. If it’s not enough, just let me know."