Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

Xue took a look at the fabrics the waiter brought out. The colors were okay, but not as fresh as the new ones. But like the guy said, farmers are already very well dressed. After asking about the price, it turned out to be half of the price of new cloth. This made Xue very happy. After some calculations, she bought two whole pieces of cloth, and then some scattered rulers. Each piece could probably be A set of clothes.

When the boy saw it, he knew that a large family lived together, so he bought so many pieces of cloth. Since people bought a lot, they naturally wanted to give some discounts, so when they calculated the money, they added a small change, which made Mr. Xue even happier. I bought some more cotton and asked the clerk to tie it all up so that it would be easier to take back.

The clerk suddenly remembered that there were a few pieces of cloth that were a little faded due to poor storage, so he asked Ms. Okay, it's a little faded. Let's see if you want it. This one is cheaper." After saying that, he went to the back and brought back a few pieces of cloth. It must have been rained, and the color of this piece on the cloth has faded. "Sister-in-law, this cloth is cheaper. It only costs six cents per foot. Can you see if this can be used for lining?"

Xue didn't expect that she would encounter such a good thing when she came here today. The color of the cloth was dull, but there was no problem at all when it was used as a lining. At six cents per foot, a piece of cloth only costs one hundred and eighty cents, which is really cheap. "Brother, how many pieces of cloth like this do you have in total? I want to buy more. How can farmers pay so much attention to it?"

The shelf thought for a while and said, "There are about ten pieces in total, all in various colors. How about I take them all out and let my sister-in-law pick and choose." After that, he went back and took out all the cloths. There are twelve horses in total, all of them have been exposed to rain to varying degrees, so they are faded.

Mr. "Brother, I want these from you. See if you can make them cheaper."

Upon hearing this, the man realized that if he could not deal with these, he would be able to pay less. After calculation, twelve pieces of cloth amounted to a total of two thousand one hundred and sixty cents. The clerk made the decision and wiped out the one hundred and sixty questions. In this way, it was only two taels of silver.

When Mrs. Xue saw that the cloth only cost twenty taels of silver, she thought it was quite appropriate, so she took out the money and handed it to the waiter. Then the two women left the shop holding a larger piece of cloth. Before leaving, the waiter also said that they process old cloth here several times a year, and said that they would let Mr. Xue come here in the future. Mr. Xue nodded in agreement.

The two women staggered back home carrying a larger amount of things. They happened to meet people from the village on the road, driving an ox cart back, and they took the two women back to the village. When they got home, the two mothers took off all the cloth and thanked the man. "Uncle Wu, thank you. If it weren't for you, we girls wouldn't know when we would be back today."

The man waved his hand, drove the bullock cart and left.

When Mrs. Xue and her daughter entered the yard, Ms. Chen happened to be playing with the steamed seeds outside. As soon as Ms. Chen saw the appearance of the two women, she smiled. "Hey, why did you two move the cloth store back? Look, why did you buy so much? How much does it cost?" After saying that, he came over to help move the cloth in. Room.

"Mom, these cloths really didn't cost much today. They are some old cloths, and the other ones are faded due to rain. They are all very cheap. When I think about it, we farmers don't need to be too particular. We can Just wear it, so I bought them all, and you can keep them to make the clothes inside." Mrs. Xue explained to Mrs. Chen, and showed the cloth samples to Chen while her hands were not idle.

The ladies were looking at the pieces of cloth here, and Jingya happened to come over and opened the ones that had been soaked in the rain. Surprisingly, I discovered that the outer layers were actually a bit colorful, but the inner ones were pretty good. "Mom, there's nothing wrong in these cloths. Oh my, you've picked up something good now."

Mr. Xue and Ms. Chen took a look and saw that it was something wrong. Although there were some areas of discoloration on the inside, they were just dots. If they don't delay wearing, this was really a mistake. Several people quickly opened all these pieces of cloth, some were lighter, some were heavier, but basically the inside was not wasted, and the outside could also be used as the lining of clothes. This saved a lot of money. .

"Okay, there's nothing much to do these days, so we ladies hurriedly made cotton-padded clothes. I think this cloth is enough, so why don't we just have two for each person, one thin and one thick. It's just winter, and there's no It's so cold, so thick that I can't wear it." Mrs. Chen quickly made plans.

Mrs. Xue also agreed, "Okay, it just so happens that Jingya and Huixin are both good at needlework. Let's do it together and we finished it in two days. Do it early to avoid having to wear clothes when it gets cold." The weather is not guaranteed this time. It might snow someday.

After deciding to make clothes, Mr. Xue left some of the good cloth to the old lady, and took the rest back to her house. Mrs. Chen didn’t want to keep it, saying that they both still had it, but Mrs. Xue insisted on keeping it, “Mom, if the children have enough money to wear clothes, we can use these not-so-good things to make for them. Keep these good things, you and dad , and Zhixiang Huixin, please make some. Our family has a good harvest this year, and it’s time to get some new clothes.”

The old lady listened and agreed to keep the cloth. It happened to be noon already, so I went to cook quickly. The old man went out for a visit today and should be back soon. The two mothers worked together and had the meal ready in a short time.

In the evening, Zhixin rushed back from the county town. When Mrs. Chen saw her son coming back, she felt relieved. Before Chen could ask anything. Zhixin spoke first, "Mom, the price for the mallet this year is pretty good. The shopkeeper of the third child gave us two and a half taels of silver per catty, for a total of forty catties, and sold it for one hundred taels of silver. You see, it's all Here it is." With that said, Zhixin took out twenty ingots of silver from the bag he was carrying, all of which were five taels per ingot. "The shopkeeper also said that our sticks are big, good in color, and we have dried them enough, so we will still have them next year." Zhixin told his family the good news with a smile.

At this time, a kilogram of dry sticks is usually sold for one or two and a half, or a little more is good. I didn't expect that this time it could be sold for two and a half. This is nearly forty taels more than usual. In the farmyard, forty taels of silver can do a lot of things. When Mrs. Chen and the old man heard this, they all burst into laughter, "Oh, this is great. I am still worried about this year. The fifth child is going to take the examination, and I have to talk about my daughter-in-law. It's time for Hui Xin to kiss her. This Same thing, who is not a big spender? With this money, we can be much more comfortable this time. If he hadn't thought about it, we would still have to sell it to those small dealers. Where can I get so much money?" Mrs. Chen quickly collected all the money. According to the rules of the family, the money from selling sticks belongs to the public and must be given to Mrs. Chen.

It was getting late, so Mrs. Xue led her daughter to quickly pack up all the food, and everyone ate together. The old man was happy today, so he asked Wenxuan and Wenchang to buy some wine and come back. The old man and Zhixin were drinking wine together and talking about the harvest.

Zhixiang went out to practice with his classmates again. Now that he was a candidate, he no longer had to study in the academy. One of Zhixiang's classmates had a father who was a prefect and served in Changbai Prefecture. That classmate invited Zhixiang to go to Changbai Prefecture to have a look and work as a clerk in the Zhizhou Yamen as a way to gain experience. Otherwise, reading every day will be useless. Zhixiang naturally agreed. This exam is about policy theory. If you don’t understand anything practical, what can you write about when the time comes?

The two of them chattered here and there, talking about nothing more than trivial things. After everyone had finished eating, the two men stopped drinking and ate some food. That was the end of the matter. Jingya and Jinghan cleared the table, then washed the bowls with hot water from the pot and put them in the cupboard.

After all this work, there was nothing left to do, so the two sisters returned to the house. Jingya looked at Jinghan and said that while she was making clothes, she would help Yuxian make an outer blouse to prevent her from being too active all day and soiling her new cotton-padded jacket. "I think those faded pieces of cloth are pretty good. Now I'll pick a piece that's faded a little bit, and embroider the faded areas with flowers, so that you can't see that they're faded. Doesn't it look like new?" "Jingya is good at needlework, and she also likes to make clothes for people. Now that there are so many pieces of cloth at home, she feels itchy and has to make something.

Jinghan leaned against her sister, "Sister, thank you. You are good at your craftsmanship, and you will definitely make something beautiful." Jinghan really didn't have the patience to learn needlework. She learned it for a few days when she first came here, and then she Never learn again.

Jingya smiled, "You are just lazy. I don't know what's wrong with you. You are more diligent than anyone else when you go up mountains and down rivers. But when I ask you to learn some needlework, you feel more uncomfortable than sitting on a nail board. Why? I can't sit still. There's nothing going on this winter, so just learn to sew with me. You can't stop wearing clothes, right? "Jingya is also a girl who cares about herself.

Jinghan thought for a while and realized that it was really time to learn some needlework, otherwise it would be a problem in the future. After all, when you come here, you have to abide by the rules here. "Okay, sister, I listen to you. I will learn needlework from my sister this winter."

"You, as long as it's not like before, it'll be fresh for three days." Jingya saw that Jinghan agreed so happily, so she said a few words. "Okay, it's getting late. Let's go to bed. We'll talk about anything tomorrow."

So the two sisters laid out the bedding, and then Jingya went out and brought back some hot water. The two sisters washed their feet and went to sleep on the kang.