Several rows of small holes are drilled on a smooth wooden board of a certain thickness, and pig bristles are pinned in one by one. After clusters of pig bristles are pinned in, a small brush head will accumulate on the smooth wooden board. Zhang Fangyuan tried the brush on his fingers. The pig bristles were hard and pricked his fingers slightly, causing some pain.

After rubbing it back and forth several times to make sure that no hair would fall out, he used another piece of wood with a small hole drilled in it to pin the horse's tail hair.

Pig hair is easy to get. Just collect it when the pigs are slaughtered and bring it back. But horse hair is not as abundant as it used to be and is hard to find. Horses are expensive and rarer than pigs, so one has to go to a horse shop to get horse hair. Fortunately, their family has a horse, and this tuft of hair was cut from Xiao Hei's horse.

Horsetail hair is a little harder than pig hair, and the hair is lush and long. A horsetail hair can be cut into a small bunch to make half a hole for a hairpin.

Horse bristles are softer, softer than pig bristles, so the holes on the wooden board have to be denser, otherwise the overly soft bristles will be too sparse to clean the teeth.

Most people who come from farming families have some skills. Zhang Fangyuan worked for an hour and made five toothbrushes. For the sake of aesthetics, one end of the toothbrush handle is polished to be smooth, so it does not look like a shoddy product.

"What do you think?"

After the toothbrush was finished, he took it to show Xu He first.

"It does look a bit like that, and it looks much better than a willow branch." Xu He has seen people gargling with a willow branch. They would bite off the head of a willow branch as thick as a little finger, dip it in salt and use it to clean their teeth. He had tried it before and it worked to remove the dirt on his teeth after meals.

But the willow branches were no match for the brush made by Zhang Fangyuan. Dipped in soapberry powder, it was softer and less likely to scratch the gums than willow branches when used to scrub teeth. It could also reach the gaps and was very useful. Xu He liked it right away.

Zhang Fangyuan urged him to try the horsetail one, but Xu He was reluctant to do so. It would be a pity to have used all three. If one broke, it would be best to use another one. After all, things that were stuffed into the mouth were not suitable for anyone other than oneself, as they were very private items. But in order to distinguish the difference, he still agreed to Zhang Fangyuan's request.

"All three are good. Horse mane is the softest and most comfortable, while horse tail has better toughness."

Zhang Fangyuan said, "Your teeth are fine to begin with, so using three of them will only make them feel different. If the flesh at the root of your teeth is often red and swollen, using horsetail or pig hair will definitely cause blood foam, but using horsehair will not cause any harm."

"This way, all teeth are taken care of."

Zhang Fangyuan said: "More choices will attract more customers."

Xu He collected the two used toothbrushes as if they were treasures, and asked Zhang Fangyuan in confusion: "Didn't you go to the carpenter's shop? I thought you would ask the carpenter to help you make them."

"I had the same idea at first, but when I went to ask around, either they were unwilling to do it because it was such a small effort, or they wanted to pay ten cents for it. I thought it was not impossible for me to do it myself, and I was not in a hurry to hire a carpenter, so I just saved the money and did it myself. You see, what I did myself is not bad, but the tools are not as complete as those in the carpentry shop, and the finished product is not as good-looking."

Xu He chuckled: "You do know how to be frugal."

"How could I not know? Not to mention that Master Xu always reminds me and teaches me, I also have to consider saving more money for my children."

Zhang Fangyuan handed the remaining toothbrushes to Xu He. They were all made of pig bristles. He was not able to get much horse hair from Xiao Hei. The horse was like a spirit. At first, it cooperated quite well when I told it to cut its tail hair. But then, when it saw a tuft of hair missing from its tail, it bulged its eyes and kicked its hooves.

"I went to the herb shop again. There were both expensive and cheap herbs for making tooth powder, but everything in the herb shop was expensive. One ounce of dried Sophora flavescens cost ten cents, but he only gave the common people ten cents per pound. He was really unscrupulous. I won't go into details about the other herbs, but the expensive ones like Clam and Camphor were so expensive that they could make people eat them."

Xu He sighed, "Things from the city shops are not cheap. How about this, we buy them ourselves, and if we can't get them, we can go to the city shops to buy them. This toothbrush work itself is not difficult, what matters is that it looks good. I think the old carpenters in our village are also good at it, and the price is not as good as the labor cost of the carpentry shops in the city."

"That's what I thought, too." Zhang Fangyuan said, "Then I will be responsible for purchasing the herbs and toothbrush bristles for making tooth powder, and you go to the old carpenter to negotiate the price."

Xu He responded.

Carpenters are easy to find. In a village where there are more carpenters than average people, carpenters who can become carpenters and take on work for villagers are all outstanding. When she was in the Xu family, her second sister loved beauty and had a lot of clothes and jewelry. So Liu Xianglan chopped wood in her own mountain and found a carpenter in the village to order a cabinet. The carpenter charged some labor fees, which was very affordable, only sixty to eighty cents.

If you go to a carpentry shop in the city, even if you provide the wood yourself, it will cost at least thirty to fifty cents more. It would be even more expensive to buy the finished product in a carpentry shop. When Xu He married Zhang Fangyuan, he bought the finished product directly, which cost him about three hundred coins. That was because the carpentry shop had someone very close to Zhang Fangyuan who gave it as a wedding gift as a favor, so it was so cheap.

He went to find the He family in the village. The carpenter called him Grandpa He. They were not close relatives, and it was not even known whether they were related at all, but the younger generations all called him Grandpa with respect.

Xu He showed the toothbrush made by Zhang Fangyuan to the old carpenter: "I want to make this, and make it for a long time and in large quantities. The handle should be polished to be smooth and look better."

"It's simple, it won't be a big deal." Old Carpenter He took one look and promised confidently. The trouble was actually the hair of the hairpin, but the carpenter was fast at manual work. Others might take a quarter of an hour to make a good one, but he could make a better one in half the time: "There's no problem with carving and engraving on the handle."

"How do you charge money here?"

Hearing this, Old Carpenter He laughed and said, "Brother He, you are asking a very amateurish question. Do I provide the materials or do you provide them yourself? Different woods have different prices. It's difficult for me to set a price just because you ask me this."

Xu He said: "We provide the wood ourselves, it's just ordinary wood. In addition, we also provide the pig hair and horse hair ourselves. We just came here to see how grandpa charges money, so that we can have an idea of ​​the price."

"I originally wanted to compare prices from three different stores. Are you and your butcher going to expand your business again?"

Xu He didn't reveal much, just nodded.

"It's been a while since I've received any work. Since you say you're doing business, it must be long-term and large in quantity, and you provide the materials yourself. I'll charge you two cents a handful, and I'll do long-term business with your family, and I won't charge you any high prices. What do you say?"

A smile broke out on Xu He's face. This was naturally the best thing that could happen.

"Okay, what if you want to do carving and engraving? You have to pick up something different."

"You know, we need more styles to sell at different prices. The ones with carved patterns are charged a cent more. We are from the same village. You know that my grandfather's carvings are exquisite, and they are not inferior to those in the city. Don't tell anyone in the village or you will come to my house to complain about the price I charge you."

Xu He nodded his head like a chicken pecking at rice: "Let's decide on this for now. If you want other styles, you can come and discuss it with Grandpa He if you want to change the wood later. It will be easier to do business in the long run."

"Okay, since you've made your decision today, I'll give you two first. You can take them home and show them to your butcher. If he's satisfied, I'll make them accordingly. You can pay me later."

"Okay, that's the best."

Xu He came up with a good deal: if the cost could be reduced by one cent, then they could earn more and the pressure would be less. It was also not easy for the carpenters in the village to get long-term business, so it was a win-win for both parties.

Zhang Fangyuan was not idle either. He hung a sign on the tea stall saying that he was buying herbs. People who often went to the city to sell herbs could understand it. Whenever someone came to ask him about the herbs he was buying, he would tell them. After a while, people nearby knew what herbs his tea stall was buying.

Not only that, there is also a sign for collecting horsetail hair. People who are illiterate may not be able to recognize it, but it is hung together with signs for collecting herbs and livestock. People who see it and don’t recognize it will ask on their own.

In addition, when he and Chen Si slaughtered pigs, they would advertise what the tea shed was collecting. Those who were too lazy to go to the tea shed could either deliver the pigs to the pig sellers themselves, or Zhang Fangyuan would go to their homes to collect them.

Soon the news spread to the surrounding villages. Rongyi Tea House collected: "The herbs collected are pine resin, Poria cocos, Sophora flavescens, Rehmannia root, Eclipta prostrata, etc.; they also collected soap beans, ginger, hemp, horse hair..."

Every now and then, villagers would come to the tea stall to ask for prices or sell herbal items. After making the money, they would buy some candles, wine and sauces in the tea stall. The prices of the items in the stall were similar to those in the city, and it saved them a trip to the city.

When old carpenter He brought the finished toothbrushes to Zhang Fangyuan and Xu He for inspection, he saw quite a few people at the other side of the tea shed, including not only familiar but also unfamiliar villagers, as well as acquaintances who were having tea and hanging out there. He stopped working and handed the goods to the couple, asking them to take a good look and tell them if they had any questions. He then went to drink tea and eat melon seeds with his old acquaintances under the mat outside the tea shed.

"The toothbrushes made by Grandpa He are much better than mine." Zhang Fangyuan took a look at the newly made toothbrushes. There were three in total, one with pig hair and two with horse hair.

The horsehair used for the carvings is the bamboo, one of the common "Four Gentlemen". The craftsmanship of the master is excellent. Not only did he polish the wooden board of the toothbrush to make it smooth and comfortable to the hands, the patterns on the wooden handle were also carved lifelike, and he even dipped the bamboo in paint to fill it with color.

If you compare it with the toothbrush made by Zhang Fangyuan, they are made of exactly the same materials. The one made by the old master is sold for thirty cents in the shop and no one would complain about it, while his price tag of fifteen cents might be considered too rough by some people.

Zhang Fangyuan was extremely satisfied; this was exactly the style of toothbrushes when they became popular. When the shop opened, he could naturally mark the prices high.

The couple thought the toothbrush was ready, so they bought another two kilograms of horse hair. It was really not easy to collect horse hair. The only way to collect it was because he quoted a high price for horse hair, one hundred and twenty coins per catty. When the villagers heard this price, those who had horses started to collect the horse hair.

There is a lot of pig hair, so when you buy a pig, you collect the hair. A pig weighs about one to two kilograms, so you can quickly accumulate several kilograms.

The existing hair was enough to make one or two hundred toothbrushes, so the two men sent the rinsed and dried hair to Grandpa He and paid a deposit of one hundred coins.

After finishing all these, the couple went to the city to open a shop.

Zhang Fangyuan felt that since the products were expensive, it would not be appropriate to open the shop in a narrow street or alley, but rather on a main street with a lot of people facing the sun.

Now that they had a direction, there were only four main streets in the city, and the couple tacitly chose Tianjie, which was where Xu He had previously set up a stall to sell braised food.

That end is one of the main streets, with lots of food, drinks and entertainment. Based on Xu He's experience in setting up stalls, food is the most common, so it is only natural to set up a toothbrush stall in the street with the most food.

However, Xu He also knew that the shop over there was expensive, and he had an idea of ​​the price after learning about the market situation in advance.

Zhang Fangyuan said, "We can just make our shop smaller. Toothbrushes and toothpaste won't take up much space. We just need a place on a prosperous street to sell our products."

Xu He responded that there were many shops in the city that had shops in front and bedrooms in the back, but such shops were relatively large and expensive.

When he was planning to open a restaurant, he was particularly interested in a shop like this, which could not only sell food but also be used for personal use. Unfortunately, he failed in the end because of the price.

Nowadays, if you want to run a toothbrush shop, there is no need to choose this kind of shop. After all, this business does not require you to get up early and work late to prepare ingredients like a restaurant, so it is not so important whether you live in the shop or not.

"Okay, but many of the shops on this side of Tianjie are three or two stories high, or they are row shops, and there are not many small ones."

Zhang Fangyuan said, "I have already checked and found three or two places. This will save me the trouble of choosing for a long time."

Xu He followed and looked at the shops. There were four small shops in total, but two of them were at the end of the street and there were not many pedestrians. The other two are in similar locations, but one is old and used to sell mutton soup, so it doesn’t look that good.

So they only decided on the other one. On the left was a restaurant, and on the right was a cloth shop. Both were places to spend money, and Zhang Fangyuan was satisfied.

The monthly rent of the shop is eight thousand coins, payable quarterly.

When Xu He took out twenty-four taels of silver, although he could afford it, he still felt a sharp pain in his heart. One month's rent is what the couple can earn at most in a month, and one quarter's rent is what a village family can save in most of their lifetime.

The problem is not a permanent one, it’s just three months of money. If you buy a shop, you will have to hire someone to decorate it yourself, which is another expense.

His heart was bleeding, and he sighed with Zhang Fangyuan: "It's still better to have a shop like this. There is nothing to do, and every month you can sit and earn 8,000 yuan. Isn't this better than many other families?"

Zhang Fangyuan laughed: "If we really want to compare, then comparing ourselves with others will only make us angry to death."

Xu He breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what, he now had a shop in the city, and it was in the busy Tianjie Street!

…………

When Zhang Fangyuan's toothbrush shop was ready, it was already September and the village was busy harvesting rice.

The purchased livestock are selling very well these days. One quarter of them can be sold after being slaughtered and taken to the tea stall.

Chen Si has been working with Zhang Fangyuan for more than a month and has become more and more skilled at slaughtering pigs. Even without Zhang Fangyuan's help, he can now slaughter and process pigs by himself, but his movements are not as fast as Zhang Fangyuan's.

The pork could be sold in the city, but it was not as popular as in the tea stall. His husband, Lin Ge'er, would often come to the tea stall to help Xu He.

It was the busy farming season when everyone was busy harvesting rice. Zhang Fangyuan felt that Chen Si was almost ready to become a master, and that his progress would be slow if he continued to follow him. So he took advantage of this time to let Chen Si go home to help harvest rice, and officially take over the pork stall after the busy farming season was over. This was just the right time for Zhang Fangyuan to open the toothbrush shop.

After working for more than a month without any gain, Chen Si and her husband were very happy that they could finally earn money by running the stall themselves.

He has been criticized a lot by his family these days, especially by his eldest sister-in-law, who thinks that since Chen Si has learned a skill by himself, it would be natural for him to split up the family business after he makes money.

But she was not satisfied that she followed the master outside, did not do the housework, and did not bring any money home. She was even more angry that the skill that could make so much money was not learned by her own man.

For this reason, he even talked to his parents-in-law. Chen Si's mother knew very well that it was not something that the couple could ask anyone to learn a skill. Everyone in the village knew that Zhang Fangyuan made money from slaughtering pigs, but he would not be willing to share the money with you. The only way her son could earn this money was because he grew up with Zhang Fangyuan.

His sister-in-law was so angry that she took out her anger on Lin Ge'er. Lin Ge'er didn't say much and just worked harder. He knew in his heart that it was just a short period of time, and life would no longer be so hard after his husband started earning money.

"Alas, you don't even say anything to Zhang Fangyuan. Chen Si has learned such a good skill."

As soon as Chen Si and his wife returned, Liu Xianglan arrived at the tea stall. The family has to harvest the millet, and it is definitely too busy for the couple alone. I don’t know how they figured it out, but they decided to hire someone this year.

I heard that Zhang Fangyuan had just slaughtered a pig, so I came to the tea stall to buy some meat to entertain the guests.

When she arrived at the tea stall, Liu Xianglan couldn't help but complain.

Xu He was sweeping the floor in the room. He straightened up, glanced at Liu Xianglan, and poured her a cup of tea.

Ever since he became pregnant, Liu Xianglan came to the tea shed more frequently. Every few days when she had free time, she would come over to take a walk, drink a cup of tea and eat some melon seeds, talk about the family's farm life, or talk about how his second brother-in-law's family was not human.

Xu He was still busy with her own things. No matter how little you talked to her, she could talk for an incense stick of time by herself, and then go home when it was cool.

Sometimes when there were a lot of leftovers, Xu He would give her two pieces of dried tofu, a bowl of tofu pudding, or a small dish of braised meat.

It seemed like she had gotten what she wanted, and unlike the night before, she stopped yelling at him.

Today he was quite surprised that Liu Xianglan did not yell at her sons-in-law to help harvest the grain. She probably knew that the eldest son-in-law could not lift anything with his hands or shoulders, and could not do farm work, while the younger son-in-law was a fierce-looking man and was busy with his business, so she did not dare to ask.

"My cousin is also a relative of our Xu family, so it's not right to let outsiders take advantage of him."

Liu Xianglan took a sip of tea and tilted her mouth: "It's not that he has no subordinates in his family. It's such a pity."

Xu He said: "If that's the case, then this skill can't be taught to others."

"Why not? Can't you teach your father?"

"Dad is old, and you still want him to learn this kind of craft to kill animals?"

Liu Xianglan also knew that the idea was unreliable, but it was a pity that Chen Si had to learn the skill.

"I won't sit much today. I bought some meat and have to hurry back to cook."

After saying that, she stood up and was about to go out. She glanced at Xu He who was still busy in the house and couldn't help but ask, "Why don't you go out and pick some meat for me?"

Xu He took two pieces of dried tofu from the kitchen and put them in Liu Xianglan's basket: "Ayuan is outside, he knows what kind of meat you want."

Liu Xianglan pursed her lips in dissatisfaction. She was a little afraid to go far away, but Xu He refused, so she had to go by herself.

"During the busy farming season, I should go and help harvest the grain. I'm really too busy with business to handle this. Take these two pieces of pig liver and eat them, along with half a heart and lung."

Zhang Fangyuan only talked about pig offal, but he also threw two pounds of pork belly into Liu Xianglan's basket. Liu Xianglan, who had been sullen, immediately looked better.

"When you're free, come to my house for dinner with He Ge'er."

Zhang Fangyuan responded, and Liu Xianglan carried the basket and went back happily with her fellow villagers.

After dealing with the villagers who came to buy meat, a melon farmer happened to come to deliver some winter melons. He called Xu He to pay for them, and he took a small one, broke it open with his fist, and started eating it in big bites.

Xu He paid the money and looked at the man squatting at one end eating the melon with big mouthfuls. He smiled and said, "Are you that thirsty?"

Zhang Fangyuan took a piece from the middle, removed the seeds and gave it to Xu He: "The villagers love to ask this and that, and they love to bargain. My mouth is dry. The weather won't be hot for long. It will cool down quickly after the rain in autumn."

After saying that, Zhang Fangyuan's gaze moved from Xu He's face to her stomach, and he couldn't help but put his hand on your flat belly.

The boy's pregnancy symptoms were not obvious, and his pregnancy signs were not very noticeable. Without realizing it, his baby was already three months old.

"Watermelon is cold in nature, so don't eat too much."

Xu He said: "I'll just eat one piece, do you think I'm as greedy as you are?"

"I'll pick two for Uncle Si's family when I get home later. It'll be delicious if Second Aunt and Xiao'e help harvest rice at Uncle Si's house."

"Um."

The busy days ended with the first autumn rain at the end of the busy farming season. The first reaction was that the tea shed suddenly became cold, and then I noticed that the cicadas in the banyan tree were chirping weakly and their voices were getting fewer and fewer.

Zhang Fangyuan and Xu He had no time to pay attention to these things, as they had just opened their toothbrush shop!

The almanac was good, but it ignored the weather. On that day, a drizzle of autumn rain fell, and summer suddenly turned into autumn. People on the street shrank their necks and shook their sleeves, and oil-paper umbrellas floated on the bluestone road of Tianjie.

"I chose the wrong day. I didn't expect it to rain today."

Zhang Fangyuan bought a string of big firecrackers from a small street, but within a quarter of an hour he was soaked.

"I asked you to take an umbrella." Xu He quickly took a handkerchief and wiped the rain off the man's forehead.

"It's only a few steps away, I thought we'd be back soon. But the rain is getting heavier." Although he got wet in the rain, he was still in high spirits for the shop opening. He held Xu He's hand and said, "Let's set off firecrackers. There are not many people on the street, so we won't get hurt by the explosions."

Xu He laughed, turned around and took out a lighter, and the two of them pulled the trigger to light the fuse. Zhang Fangyuan quickly ran into the shop. Afraid that Xu He would feel palpitations after hearing the explosion, he covered his ears with his big hands.

The firecrackers exploded one by one, and white smoke rose immediately, and the sound lasted for a long time. This string of firecrackers was much larger than the ones used when the tea stall opened previously, and they lasted longer.

The rain was a little unsatisfactory, but the crackling and festive sound of firecrackers made the two people in high spirits. After the firecrackers were finished, they smiled at each other.

"Whose shop is open in the cold autumn rain? Aren't you afraid that the business will turn from hot to cold like this season?"

"Brother Fu, it's your turn to write a poem. Don't interrupt me by talking about other things."

"I can write poems anytime. How can you make fun of me, brother Fu? The shop is just downstairs from me. It's called Linglong Toothbrush Shop. The shop is really small." The man who was drinking finished talking about the sign and said with a sigh, "These days, anything can be opened as a shop."

The young man dressed as a scholar, who was sitting with his back to the window, turned sideways upon hearing what was said. In the remaining smoke from the firecrackers, he actually saw the shop under the slanting rain.

"It really is a toothbrush shop. There is no one in the city who has heard of it before. Why not go and take a look? Let's see what's new."

"That's exactly what I meant."