eurekapd Chapter 45 Her eldest son's short life, but can he still be saved?
Chapter 45 Her eldest son's short life, but can he still be saved?
Zhang Dongcai was thrilled. If he had paper, his store's business would definitely be even better!
"Big Brother, can you get your hands on some paper?"
There is no known paper-making business in Pingyao County. The paper in their county is all transported from other counties or Ling'an Prefecture for sale.
Paper is expensive to begin with, and with transportation costs added, it becomes even more expensive.
Therefore, there were very few scholars in Pingyao County, because paper, ink, brushes, and inkstones cost several times more than tuition fees.
Ordinary families couldn't afford to send their children to school.
Da Niu looked at Zhang Dongcai and was so excited he was almost having an epileptic seizure.
Quickly trying to calm his agitated heart, she said with trembling hands, "Uncle, listen to me, I need to discuss this with my parents before I can give you an answer. Because my family isn't in the paper business, we're in the paper manufacturing industry!"
After saying that, he took out a piece of rough paper that he hadn't finished using in the morning's outhouse from his pocket and handed it to Zhang Dongcai.
He was supposed to use one sheet, but he thought it was wasteful, so he tore it in half and kept the other half.
Da Niu's words only made things worse; he even brought paper. This only fueled Zhang Dong's excitement. Instead of comforting him, Da Niu was adding fuel to the fire of his agitation, making it burn even more fiercely.
"Da Niu, this was made by your family!" Zhang Dongcai excitedly examined the yellow rough paper, turning it over and over in his hands.
Although it's not as good as the Xuan paper used by scholars, it's still paper! It's very precious!
Da Niu nodded smugly, "Of course! My parents made this for us to use in the outhouse to pat our butts!"
Zhang Dongcai was stunned for a moment after hearing Da Niu's words, and then felt a pang of heartache.
Was he hallucinating? How could his older brother and sister-in-law be so wasteful? This paper is so expensive! Let them use it in the outhouse…
However, since it was created by others, they can use it however they want, and it seems like he has no say in the matter.
He was speechless; he had nothing to say about that spendthrift duo.
"Hey Da Niu, when you get back today, you'd better have a good talk with your parents. Come over and tell me when you can supply in large quantities, and I guarantee you'll get a good price!"
Regardless of what those two people intended to do with it, with this, he could imagine how good the grocery store's business would be!
"Big Ox, come on! I'll close the gate right away and deliver the big vat to the city gate for you!"
Without further ado, Zhang Dongcai quickly pushed the handcart, put the two large vats on it, and led Da Niu towards the city gate with great pride and high spirits.
When I arrived, I saw Zhao Chen and asked him about the two people.
He was happy for Da Niu when he learned that the two had actually started doing business seriously.
Da Niu, your hard work has finally paid off!
Gao Mengli and Lin Xi were unaware of Zhang Dongcai and Zhao Chenqu.
After buying the goods, I asked the rice shop owner to deliver them to the city gate.
The two of them strolled around the street.
Seeing the maltose vendor, Lin Xi wanted to try some, so she stood in front of the old man and looked at the pure, natural maltose!
The old man beamed with joy when he saw the young couple.
This young man clearly dotes on his wife; I bet he's about to get some business!
Lin Xi tugged at Meng Li's sleeve, "Mengli, I want to eat this!"
Gao Mengli looked down at the maltose on the winnowing basket. Its golden color looked like it was of good quality, without any artificial or grueling processes.
Gao Mengli remembered the three bean sprouts from the old house next door that day, so she nodded, "Yes, buy more, and give some to Da Niu and the kids next door."
Lin Xi exclaimed happily and quickly squatted down to select, "Boss, three catties, three portions!"
The old man finally snapped out of his daze. It turned out that her husband wanted to eat. What a loving wife she was.
Something's not right. He glanced at Lin Xi, who was happily picking out malt candy, and Gao Mengli, who was standing next to her with a blank expression. This is completely contrary to the natural order.
He quickly composed himself, weighed out the maltose for the two of them, packed it up, and handed it to Lin Xi.
Maltose wasn't cheap; three jin cost 270 wen.
After all, it contains both wheat and glutinous rice, so it is indeed quite expensive.
But a good mood is priceless, and the two of them, who are good at making money, didn't feel it was too expensive.
Lin Xi paid the money, in a great mood, and immediately put a piece in her mouth, enjoying its sweetness!
It wasn't that he wouldn't give Gao Mengli any; it was because, based on his understanding of his childhood sweetheart, Gao Mengli didn't like sweets!
The two arrived at the city gate, got into a carriage, and returned to the village.
Zhao Chen watched the two of them go to the city every day to do business "honestly and honestly," and he was genuinely happy for them.
After all, as long as these two stopped loafing around and stopped beating up villagers, his father, the village chief, would have a much better life.
No one needs to be on guard against the two of them all the time; everyone is happy!
Moreover, because of these two people, they can earn money for eggs just by sitting at home, so who would bother to be jealous of them?
It would be even better if their business were doing better.
Because the group had a lot of goods, Zhao Chen specially drove the oxcart to Gao Mengli's front door to help carry the things into the yard.
Da Niu thanked Zhao Chen repeatedly, "Uncle Zhao, thank you so much!"
Zhao Chen waved his hand and drove the oxcart back home!
As Gao Mengli got off the oxcart, she saw several children, Fu, Lu, and Lin, peeking out from the gate of the old house next door.
He beckoned to the three of them, "Come here, I'll give you candy!"
The three girls blinked their big eyes at their aunt, hesitant to approach, but the temptation of the candy was strong, especially since their aunt had opened the malt candy wrapped in oil paper and waved it at them.
Who could resist such temptation?
Lin Fu was a bit bolder and tentatively took a step forward, only to see that his aunt was still smiling at him and had not "lost her temper".
He immediately mustered his courage and ran up to Gao Mengli, looking at her timidly.
Gao Mengli carefully placed the malt candy in his hand, "Afu, take this back and share it with your two younger sisters!"
Lin Fu felt his aunt's kindness for the first time; his aunt called him "A Fu"!
He immediately stopped being afraid of Gao Mengli, grinned, and said, "Thank you, Auntie!"
After saying that, she carefully held the malt candy and happily returned to the courtyard of the old house next door, her steps even lighter!
Lin Xi covered her mouth and chuckled, "This little bean sprout is quite interesting!"
The two returned to the courtyard, cooked some noodles, ate, and then got busy.
Gao Mengli took out the dried yeast, gave half of it to Lin Xi to make yeast, and used the other half to make soy sauce.
Gao Mengli called out, "Da Niu, help me wash the water tank!"
“I’ll wash it. He’s just a little guy, he can’t do this job!” At this moment, Jiang walked into the yard, took the bucket from Da Niu’s hand, and began to scrub the large water vat.
"Mother... why are you here?" Lin Xi was making fermented rice balls when he saw Jiang Shi, his mother from the old house next door, bravely walk in.
Jiang lowered her head and muttered softly, "I was thinking that you would be doing business tomorrow, and there was a lot of work to do today, so I came to help."
She had been observing these two people for a long time; lately, they were either serving noodles or carrying dumplings to her house.
I also brought malt candy for my three grandsons today, and I have mixed feelings about it.
There's been a lot of work to be done in the main house lately, and she couldn't possibly be unaware of the fact that the two families live so close together.
I'm just helping out, consider it a favor to Da Niu...
She would never admit that she felt sorry for the two men from the first wife's family who had been getting up before dawn to work lately.
A prodigal son who returns is more precious than gold; there's still hope for her eldest son's family.