On the last working day of the year, not only did the craftsmen at the Mechanical Workshop receive their monthly wages, but they also got year-end bonuses that other workshops lacked, and in considerable amounts.
What was even more infuriating, no, that's not precise, what's infuriating to craftsmen from other workshops is: they also received awards for their technical achievements and triple wages from the 26th to the 29th of the lunar new year.
What they received was no longer strings of large coins from the past but gleaming silver.
Years ago, for those who made a living with their skills, it would have been an impossible dream to earn such wages just by their craftsmanship.
Even if the holiday was delayed by a few days, what do we all do for a living? Isn't it just about making money to provide for our families? This is the Qi family's business; there's work to do in winter, and they can still earn wages. Other places stopped work as soon as it froze, scraping by on savings.
