Chapter 2. Finding a job, a long-term meal ticket...

Ever since Lin Xiushui arrived in Sangqing Town, she not only enjoys looking at shop signs, but also likes to look up and stare at the plaques, looking wherever there are words.

She used to be completely illiterate, but after having that dream, she learned to read.

There's only one downside: she only recognizes half of the difficult characters. The character "顾" is too difficult; even if you break it down horizontally or vertically, she still doesn't recognize it. The person who created the character is truly despicable.

She recognized the names Sanglinglong, Sangqing Town, and most of the place names in the town had "Sang" in their names, and even the trees planted along the river were all mulberry trees.

However, although Sangling Lane has a nice-sounding name, the townspeople only call it Caiyi Lane. Inside, there are shops selling all kinds of colorful silks, ready-made clothes, woolen yarn, and silk shoes. Lin Xiushui said that you can just go in naked and buy everything you need from head to toe, inside and out.

On this street where fabrics flutter in the breeze, Gu Niangzi's clothing shop is inconspicuous, nestled between Chen's silk shop and Wang's white clothing shop.

Unlike other shops that hang large wooden rafts as signs, this clothing shop only had a long, green jacket hanging as its sign.

It's only the beginning of spring, and the cold snap hasn't passed yet, so spring clothes are quite fashionable.

Lin Xiushui glanced at her and was led into the shop by Liu Ya Sao. Wang Yuelan asked her ten times if she knew how to iron cloth. After receiving an affirmative answer, she didn't want to accompany her inside. She lingered at the door for a while before leaving, as she still had to work in the afternoon.

This clothing shop wasn't small. There was a counter in the front, a screen in the middle, and piles of floral fabrics on the table in the back. The clothes were all hung on the wall, each piece very light and thin.

A group of young women were picking out clothes, and the room smelled wonderful.

Lin Xiushui didn't look closely and walked to the front with Liu Ya Sao.

“Madam Gu, the other day you said you needed someone to iron the cloth,” Liu Ya Sao said with a smile, her hand lightly resting on the sandalwood table. “Today we’ve finally found someone.”

She then took Lin Xiushui's hand and said kindly, "Don't underestimate her because she's small and thin. She's very clever. My wife, you can tell her to keep her and try her out. If she doesn't do well, just tell me and I'll find her another place."

Madam Gu's hand rested on the abacus, her slender eyebrows unmoving. She glanced up and down at the fabric before asking, "You really know how to iron cloth?"

“You really know how,” Lin Xiushui looked up and looked directly at her. “It also depends on what kind of fabric it is.”

Madam Gu raised her eyebrows, "I need to iron all kinds of cloth."

Lin Xiushui started rolling up her sleeves, saying as she did so, "Then I'll try it first."

Seeing her actions, Madam Gu didn't understand why she was rolling up her sleeves when she was wearing narrow sleeves, but she still asked her, "How about some shoulder pads?"

"No, it's too tight to move around in," Lin Xiushui refused earnestly, quietly pulling her sleeves down a little. She had forgotten that she wasn't going to work in the fields.

The ironing area is in the middle courtyard. This shop should be three shops connected together, but the middle was opened up to make a courtyard, and there is another shop in the back courtyard for storing cloth.

The yard has a good breeze for burning charcoal, but it won't let the smell of the charcoal fill the cloth.

Ironing cloth also required a person specifically to burn charcoal, which was called "fire management" in a very nice way.

The fire was controlled by a thirteen-year-old girl with a round face named Xiao Chun'e. She was very friendly to everyone. When Madam Gu went to get the hemp cloth, she gave Lin Xiushui a tip: "You have to spray water when the time comes."

Lin Xiushui deliberately asked her, "How do you spray it?"

"How could you not know this? Of course, you had water in your mouth, pfft, pfft pfft," Xiao Chun'e pouted and exhaled, "That's what Lady Li did before."

Lin Xiushui replied, "This isn't for making bibs."

Although spitting out water is somewhat helpful, she doesn't want to use it because she'll end up drinking it while spitting.

She asked Xiao Chun'e, "Do you have a brush?"

"You mean brushing your teeth? You have to brush your teeth before spitting out water? That's so fancy," Xiao Chun'e said, puzzled. Then she told her, "No, you can brush your teeth when you get back. Or you can go to the Ling family's toothbrush shop and buy one. It's just across the waterway at the east end. Remember to buy toothpaste at the pharmacy too."

Lin Xiushui couldn't explain it to her, so she asked Gu Niangzi for a brush. The softer one was called a comb brush, and the harder one was called a hair brush. Both were for brushing hair.

"What do you want to brush?" Madam Gu's expression remained unchanged, but she seemed impatient. "Finish ironing the linen first before you brush it."

Lin Xiushui dipped the soft brush into the basin of water, dried her hands, and ran her hand along the edge of the table to make sure there was no dirt.

Then he took the fine linen cloth that was to be ironed, checked the front and back, made sure the reverse side was facing up, and determined the warp and weft threads. While pulling it, he explained to Madam Gu: "The ironing cloth needs to be wet. If you spray water evenly on fine linen cloth, use a brush to dip it in water and comb it a few times. Once it's wet, you can iron it. Then you can put it on the iron."

Madam Gu remained silent, but touched her sandalwood satin jacket, quite satisfied. Although she was petite, at least the one in front of her didn't spit on her.

Xiao Chun'e, however, chimed in support, using the fire tongs to place the charcoal into the copper iron, calling out, "The charcoal is ready."

This iron, also known as a fire iron, relies entirely on the red-hot charcoal to heat the round copper base, allowing it to be used to iron the surface smooth.

It's just not easy to use. The iron's body and handle are straight, neither of them curves upwards. The straighter it is, the tighter it feels when you hold it.

Lin Xiushui disliked this kind of iron because it would leave dust on the cloth. At this moment, she desperately wanted the electric iron from her memory.

Copper irons are especially difficult to heat properly; if you're not careful, the ironing cloth will turn into roasted meat.

Despite being watched by two pairs of eyes, Lin Xiushui remained calm and unhurried. She asked for a large, rough porcelain bowl, filled it with water, and then cut a small piece of linen from the scissors and placed it upside down on the table.

Xiao Chun'e couldn't contain herself and leaned closer, saying, "Look at you, you're not like the lady you used to be. What are you up to?"

"Heat the water and drink it," Lin Xiushui teased her. Seeing the charcoal glowing red in the iron, she scraped the copper sole of the iron along the water's surface, and immediately heard a "hissing" sound, indicating the temperature had reached about 120 degrees Celsius.

She had to practice day and night to master the art of ironing linen. She could discern the temperature by listening to the sound. When the bubbles became fine and made a gurgling sound, the temperature had risen by ten degrees, which was the perfect temperature for ironing linen.

Lin Xiushui was very cautious. She had to test the temperature on a small piece of cloth first before putting it on the linen, making sure it was flat and not stretched.

With a series of soft, popping sounds, the originally wrinkled linen gradually became perfectly smooth under the iron.

Iron it backwards and then flatten it on the front, and the linen fabric will look like it has a sheen.

Lin Xiushui ironed the cloth in one smooth motion, adding or removing charcoal, scraping, ironing, and brushing water without stopping. It was as if the cloth had become compliant on its own in the blink of an eye.

"From Lin'an City? You worked in the Accounting Office?"

Only then did Madam Gu take a closer look at her.

Her aunt told her to say she was from Sangqiao Ferry when she went out, afraid that others would laugh at her. But Lin Xiushui wasn't afraid at all. She put the iron on the empty stove, squatted down, and looked up, saying, "I'm from Shanglintang. I've never been to the Accounting Office."

She knew about the four departments and six bureaus in Lin'an. The department in charge of setting up curtains, tablecloths, door curtains, screens and other items naturally needed to be ironed by hand.

Xiao Chun'e spoke her mind: "How could that be? The rice growers in Shanglintang mostly sell rice from your area. You should go to the rice shop instead."

A decent family could produce two or three bushels of rice, while Lin Xiushui could only produce one bushel per mu (unit of land area), and that was from fertile land. She couldn't really tell the difference between good and bad rice unless it was cooked and she was given a bite to eat.

Lin Xiushui replied, "I don't have that ability."

"And what about your ironing skills?" Madam Gu pressed.

Lin Xiushui told her the truth: she couldn't afford either an iron or a copper iron, so she went to ask wealthy families if they needed ironing cloth. She even ruined some cloth by ironing it and had to pay several sums of money in compensation.

She's been ironing for two years, so she's naturally gotten to know the properties of all kinds of fabrics.

After explaining the wages in detail, Madam Gu said, "It's getting late now, so come over around 7 AM tomorrow."

The meaning of these words was clear. Lin Xiushui was delighted, but she was in no hurry to leave. She wanted to tidy up the cloth, put the charcoal into the charcoal jar, put away the scissors, and clean up the wooden table before leaving.

As soon as she stepped out the door, Lin Xiushui rubbed the sweat from her hands and touched her face before finally managing a small smile.

The weather was bad today, like smoke from damp firewood, impossible to disperse with the wind. People hurried by, passing by in a blur. Wang Yuelan rushed over and asked her how her day was. Lin Xiushui replied, "I'll be able to slaughter chickens when I get home."

Looking at the water outside, she thought the water in Sangqing Town was really good, very rich, and looked like it was floating with oil.

“They didn’t say how much the monthly allowance would be. You can think about food after you receive it,” Wang Yuelan said, being much more pragmatic.

Lin Xiushui held up one finger, "They say there's a consistent rule."

But does the money that hasn't reached her hands count as hers? Of course not.

"Is it ten coins?"

“Yes, that’s enough,” Lin Xiushui asked, “There are a thousand copper coins, not calculated according to the provincial standard of 770.”

The currency system in the Song Dynasty was chaotic, with different banks having their own calculation methods. A single string of coins could be worth 770 or 680, making it impossible to calculate accurately.

Wang Yuelan dyed blue cloth in the dye shop. She worked non-stop for a month, cooking and stirring the cloth, and only earned a little over two strings of cash.

Here, everything costs money except for water. The house you live in is a debt you have to pay off, and even two or three strings of cash won't last long.

Wang Yuelan smiled and said, "Let's try it for a few days first. If it's really not good, we'll look for another way out."

The two walked back, with Wang Yuelan leading Lin Xiushui to find her way, taking many detours and getting lost.

Sangqing Town is really big, with nine wards and thirty-six lanes, rivers running through it, and a large and chaotic population on the roads. There are floating shops on the bridges and goods encroaching on the streets.

The road was difficult to walk on, and Wang Yuelan even kicked someone's wooden frame. In the ensuing scuffle, she was still angry as she walked, thinking, "I'll go to the neighborhood committee sooner or later, and they'll confiscate all my things."

After getting angry, Wang Yuelan took Lin Xiushui to buy some not-so-fresh large bones from the butcher shop. They were very cheap at this time of day, only five coins. Wang Yuelan wanted to take them back and first stew the bones into a soup, then take the bones out and cook them with rice, or use the bone marrow to make rice.

People in Sangqing Town love to eat like this, calling it "big bone rice" or "stone marrow rice," because it saves oil, vegetables, and rice.

It's the least likely to make you feel nauseous, because it's very oily and fishy.

Lin Xiushui ate a little less than half a bowl, but it felt like a fishbone stuck in her throat. Xiao He scooped up spoonful after spoonful, eating with great relish. The child had never eaten anything good before.

The next day, Lin Xiushui woke up early, shivering and groping for clothes in the dark. It was even colder than Shanglintang. The blankets on the bed felt like iron, and the mattresses were like melting ice, all damp and sticky.

She had lived a very undignified life during the winter, but here, in order to maintain a little appearance, she tucked her patched and embroidered clothes inside her innermost garment and wore an old blue jacket embroidered with white flowers. It had been washed with rice water a few days earlier, so it wasn't too wrinkled and looked as if it had just been ironed.

Even without a hair ornament or hairpin, if you have tied your hair up in a bun, you should still pick a wildflower to put on it, apply black ointment, and examine it carefully to make sure it looks clean.

She went downstairs, and Wang Yuelan took an egg out of the henhouse. "Your chickens are good. Here, have this egg."

Lin Xiushui agreed first, drank the millet porridge, washed the dishes and chopsticks, put the eggs on the table, and ran to the door before saying, "I don't like them, give them to Xiaohe."

"Auntie, I won't be back for lunch. There's food available over there."

She went out, but still didn't quite know the way. She bumped into people in the alley, greeted them hurriedly, and ran to the shop. When she got there, she was still ironing fine linen.

Madam Gu tapped the table and said, "It's urgent, you need to hurry up with the work."

"Fishing to meet deadlines is no problem," Lin Xiushui said, pointing to the dozen or so bolts of cloth. "We can iron half of them today."

"If I can't finish ironing, I'll leave a little later. It won't delay the work, but..."

Lin Xiushui hesitated for a moment, but Madam Gu said, "Just say it."

"Could I borrow some money this month first? If not,"

“Alright,” Madam Gu didn’t refuse, “Let’s see how well you iron it.”

The accountant in the corner readily agreed, "I'll give you a little more later."

If Lin Xiushui had known she was only given three coins, she would have insisted on getting another coin, making it four coins to buy two steamed buns.

One aunt and one Xiaohe.

A note from the author:

[About the Song Dynasty]

1. Toothbrushes, also known as toothbrushes, already existed in the Song Dynasty. They were generally made of horsehair, pig bristles, etc. In the Southern Song Dynasty, toothbrushes were mostly purchased from pharmacies.

2. The Four Offices and Six Bureaus of Lin'an: The Four Offices were the Office of Tents and Furnishings, the Office of Cooking, the Office of Tea and Wine, and the Office of Tableware; the Six Bureaus were the Bureau of Fruits, the Bureau of Vegetables, the Bureau of Honey and Feasts, the Bureau of Food Preparation, the Bureau of Oil and Candles, and the Bureau of Incense and Herbs. They provided services for folk banquets, weddings, and other celebrations. For details, please see the commentary.

3. The currency system of the Song Dynasty was very chaotic. As recorded in Volume 3 of Meng Yuanlao's "Dongjing Menghualu": ​​"In the city, there were 77 types of currency used by the government, 75 types used in the streets, 72 types for fish, meat and vegetables, 74 types for gold and silver, 68 types for pearls, maids and servants, insects and ants, and 56 types for characters. Each type of currency had its own advantages and disadvantages in the market."

This means that one "mo" in the government is seventy-seven, one "guan" is seven hundred and seventy coins, and one "zumo" is one thousand coins, also known as ten coins. However, each line has its own calculation method, so a mnemonic was invented to expand the "zu" number and return the "sheng" number to the "zu".

In this article, we will use the equation one guan equals one thousand wen, and will not go into further detail.