The Princess and Her Rough-Rider Khan
Chapter 287 Art of Controlling People

Chapter 287: 287 Art of Controlling People

Li Xianyun had Youlan settle the wages of those few women and then sent them away.

She gathered everyone in the workshop together and recounted the incident of the few women’s passive work refusal and their subsequent dismissal, taking it as a warning for everyone to heed and an example to deter others.

Seeing that Li Xianyun was serious, everyone became somewhat apprehensive.

In fact, during the days of Li Xianyun’s absence, Habu had also let his guard down, and he had to manage the purchasing of grapes, apricots, and peaches, as well as oversee the workshop and the Drying Room, which left him spread too thin.

As a result, quite a few people took advantage of the situation.

During this inspection, Li Xianyun discovered many problems.

Previously, she had to attend to the Ice Porridge Shop in East Market, the Ruyi Square in West Market, keep an eye on Shitoutun, and also take care of palace affairs. There was so much to do, and she was too busy to focus on the workshop.

Now that the businesses of Ruyi Square and the Ice Porridge Shop had gotten on track,

Li Xianyun planned to sort things out properly in Shitoutun.

Today, when she gathered everyone together, not only did she discuss the matters of the few women who were dismissed, but she also laid out the specific requirements for working.

As Li Xianyun spoke, Youlan was categorizing and taking notes by her side. These regulations would be translated into Khitan scripts, transcribed, and posted in every room, in the most prominent place, to constantly remind everyone.

Having followed Li Xianyun for a long time, Youlan had developed an understanding with her and knew what to do with just a glance from Li Xianyun.

Li Xianyun assigned six people to work in each room, choosing one capable person among the six as the leader.

In addition to managing the other five people, the leader also had to supervise whether they completed their tasks with quality and quantity assured.

She also clarified the rewards and punishments: if the workers in any room worked meticulously and did more, they would receive additional wages as a reward; on the contrary, if anyone in a room was lazy and made many errors, not only would the room’s leader have their wage docked, but the one who made mistakes could be either docked pay or, in severe cases, dismissed.

Before selecting the general manager of the workshop, Li Xianyun intended to personally supervise these matters.

She wanted to choose someone who could stand on their own and support the workshop from their daily interactions.

After discussing all the details and requirements, Li Xianyun informed everyone about the contracts signed with Xingfang Restaurant and Qingxiang Pavilion, and she set strict demands that the quality of the apricot and peach preserves could not have any problems, otherwise it wouldn’t just affect the wages but the reputation of the preserves as well.

If the workshop lost its reputation, many people would be affected.

Li Xianyun painstakingly clarified the seriousness of the situation, leaving it crystal clear for everyone.

The reason she did this was to unite everyone’s efforts, to finish the work properly for their own benefit, not for others.

Only by doing so would everyone take the work seriously.

After giving her instructions, Li Xianyun allowed everyone to get back to their tasks.

She then went to check on the Drying Room and saw that the new room was being fitted with grapes.

Under Habu’s recommendation, Tuotuo was in charge of the work in the Drying Room.

When Li Xianyun arrived, she saw Tuotuo instructing others to remove several bunches of underripe grapes.

"The young master said these underripe grapes would make very sour raisins, which would taste awful," Tuotuo explained. "If our reputation is ruined by these few bunches of grapes, it would be a case of the loss outweighing the gain."

The sturdy man did as Tuotuo had said and took down the underripe grapes.

As Tuotuo turned, he saw Li Xianyun enter and greeted her with a smile, "Young master."

Li Xianyun looked around, the bunches of grapes were neatly arranged on the wooden racks, and the ground was so clean that not even a tiny fallen leaf or a single grape could be seen, clearly showing Tuotuo’s conscientiousness and efficient management.

He was a well-known tile craftsman within a ten-mile radius, and everyone respected him greatly.

After Tuotuo finished building the Drying Room, he stayed to manage it.

In these days, the common people were so poor they could hardly make ends meet, let alone have extra money to repair or construct buildings. Before coming to build the Drying Room, he had been out of work for a long time, and his family was struggling to put food on the table.

Since managing the Drying Room, his family finally had enough to eat, so he was very grateful to Li Xianyun.

Li Xianyun looked over the Drying Room, smiling as she said, "You have managed the Drying Room very well. From now on, all matters of the Drying Room will be under your control, just report directly to me if there’s anything, and additionally, I will give you a raise."

Li Xianyun knew that the villagers didn’t have money in hand and that many of them urgently needed cash to support their families, so she decided to settle wages on a daily basis.

Tuotuo was both surprised and delighted, "Thank you so much, Young Master. But, about Habu..."

"Don’t worry, I will talk to him. Habu has a lot on his plate and can’t be everywhere at once, we need to lighten his load," she reassured.

Qingxiang Pavilion and Xingfang Restaurant required a large amount of preserved fruit, so expanding the workshop and hiring more people were urgent matters.

At present, she needed to establish a more standardized management network; in addition to separating the rights of the workshop, Drying Room, and procurement, it was necessary to set up a dedicated Accounting Office where every transaction would be recorded. She would check the accounts periodically, as systematic management was the only way to ensure that all tasks proceeded smoothly and orderly.

Seeing that it was getting late, Li Xianyun decided to leave. Just as she approached the carriage, Habu hurried over with sweat on his face.

Hearing about what had happened in the workshop, he felt greatly ashamed and said to Li Xianyun, "Young Master, I am so sorry for not managing the people properly."

The highest method of the "Art of Controlling People" is to win people’s hearts.

And to win people’s hearts is to urgently address their concerns and worry about their worries.

"Besides taking care of village affairs, you also have to look after the workshop’s multitude of tasks. It’s truly busy work, and it’s not your fault that someone found a loophole to exploit," she said.

Habu was deeply moved, "Thank you, Young Master, for your understanding."

Li Xianyun smiled and said, "Uncle, I have some good news for you. Big merchants from Houliang and Houtang want to place orders for our preserved fruit, so we will need to procure a lot more fruit in the future, and we also need to recruit more hands."

Habu felt both joy and concern: joyful because they could earn more money, but worried because he feared he might not handle it well.

When Li Xianyun was around, he was responsible for following orders, which was easy, but during the days that Li Xianyun had been away, Habu began to deeply realize how difficult her job was.

Many matters needed his attention and arrangement, all intricate and complex, not an easy task at all—sometimes, the pressure was so great he could barely breathe.

Habu said, "Young Master, this is great news, but I’m afraid I might not be able to handle everything on my own."

Li Xianyun had been worried that unloading Habu of his responsibilities might cause him to hold a grudge, but now that he had brought it up himself, it was better than anything she could have hoped for.

"Uncle, why don’t you just take charge of fruit procurement? For the other matters, I’ll make arrangements with someone else, would that be all right?"

Habu was the most suitable person for the task of fruit procurement. Being the village chief, he knew a bit about everything within ten miles around, and his respected status earned him the villagers’ goodwill. Besides, he understood the local people well, which could help avoid many unnecessary problems.

Habu laughed, "Alright, I will follow all the Young Master’s arrangements."

Li Xianyun then inquired about the fruit procurement with Habu and afterwards left with her people.

The dazzling and magnificent sunset spread across the western sky. If she didn’t return now, it would soon be dark, and someone would become impatient waiting.