"Please sell all these to me." Wei Yunlan took out a penny of silver from his purse.
The old man waved his hands again and again, "Girl, this is not possible. These are not worth a penny. Either you give less, or you wait for me to make four more."
Eight cents each, the bamboo in the basket is only worth sixty or seventy cents, which is more than half of a penny of silver.
It is not difficult to see that the old man is a stubborn person.
His fellow villagers around him were a little anxious after hearing this. Some of them had just been to the village entrance with Village Chief Han and knew that Wei Yunlan and his party were just passing by the village and had stopped temporarily because the carriage broke down.
The carriage might be repaired soon and leave right away, and then we would miss this "big deal" worth one silver coin.
The one sitting next to the old man was his nephew, who immediately took out the bamboo balls he had woven from his bamboo basket and said, "Girl, take a look at these bamboo balls. Do you like any of them? They sell for eight cents each in town. If you like any of them, please pick a few and add them to the twelve from my uncle's house. I'll give them to you. Do you think it's okay?"
"Okay." Wei Yunlan immediately selected four bamboo balls from the bamboo basket and handed over a penny of silver.
Seeing this, the old man quickly picked up the bamboo basket beside him and said, "Girl, I still owe you a few coins, so you can take this basket as well."
…
"Hey, Yunlan, where did you get these toys?"
In the yard, Cheng Yue'e saw Wei Yunlan coming in with a basket of bamboo toys. She looked at them carefully and said in amazement, "They are quite delicately made."
"It's made by the villagers themselves." Wei Yunlan said, and asked Jiayan to come over and pick one to play with, and then took out a puppy that Heiyun had long been eyeing and handed it over.
"Sister-in-law, guess how much this bamboo toy is worth?"
"One penny of silver?" Cheng Yue'e deliberately made a conservative guess. In fact, she had seen similar toys in shops in the capital before. They were just dyed with more colors than the ones in front of her, and they sold for two to three pennies each!
"That's right." Wei Yunlan pointed to the basket in front of him, "All of these add up to one penny of silver."
That is one hundred coins.
Cheng Yue'e widened her eyes in surprise. Even without counting carefully, she could tell that there were more than ten toys in the basket.
So, how much is each one worth?
The price gap between the north and the capital is so huge!
"It's a pity that it's too far away. If it were near the capital, the people in Hanjia Village could live well with this skill." Cheng Yue'e said regretfully.
As for taking the bamboo weaving here to the capital to sell, she had never thought of doing so. Although these things were cheap, they were laborious to make. Add to that the travel expenses, and there would be little profit.
What's more, in the market frequented by the people of Beijing, such bamboo toys should not be expensive as just a few coins.
Thinking of this, Cheng Yue'e became more confused, "Yunlan, what are your plans?"
Her sister-in-law has not been doing anything aimless recently.
"Sister-in-law, I want the villagers to help me make a batch of incense burners, which can be wrapped with silk strips and tassels, and then hung with wooden plaques for praying." Wei Yunlan expressed her plan.
In addition, you can also make some small bamboo boxes for storing porcelain, which are delicate and not easy to bump into. Put some soft silk cloth inside, and the boxes will look much more exquisite when you sell them.
Hanjia Village is not far from Beiguan and is next to Yandu Gorge. The villagers are simple and honest. If we can cooperate with them, it would be a good choice.
But everything else is secondary. The bamboo incense basket can be made first. It doesn't require much effort, and it can just use up the loose silk scraps left over from making the hand warmers.
Wei Yunlan did not bother anyone else and went straight to the village chief's wife, saying that he wanted to custom-make a batch of small bamboo incense burners, about 1,800 of them would be enough.
After hearing her description, the village head's wife's eyes lit up, "This is easy to do. In our village, except for children under six years old, almost everyone, young or old, male or female, can do some bamboo weaving skills. We can all do your job. Even an unskilled person like me can probably weave several in an hour."
"There are so many people in the village, let alone 1,800, if we work harder we can come up with a lot tonight!"
It was already late and the sun was about to set.
Wei Maolin had originally intended to stay overnight in this village. After hearing Wei Yunlan's plan, he immediately discussed with Village Chief Han and borrowed two rooms from his house and the neighboring house to stay overnight.
The price of the small incense burner was finally decided to be three cents each, and we would take as many as we could make tonight.
In addition, Wei Yunlan also found the old man who sold her bamboo toys in the evening and ordered some tiger-shaped bamboo toys to be made for her, and agreed to send someone to pick them up in half a month.
At night, Wei Yunlan, Gao, Cheng Yue'e and their two children lay on the kang in a room.
Cheng Yue'e and the children have fallen asleep.
Gao suddenly opened her eyes and said softly, "Yunlan, mother feels like you are playing a big game of chess."
Wei Yunlan also did not fall asleep, but she did not know how to respond to her mother's words of love. In fact, she did not want to play chess, but she wanted to accumulate enough money and strength to keep her family safe in the future troubled times.
"Do you remember what Doctor Yu said when you fell ill after coming down from the mine? He told you to worry less and not to take everything on yourself." Gao said softly, "You don't have to tell others about secrets, but you can arrange for everyone to do what you want to do. Let's do our part together, instead of just sitting back and enjoying the fruits of your labor."
Wei Yunlan's eyes were slightly sore. She didn't say anything, but her mother had already seen everything.
"Mom, I didn't think it through and made you worry."
Wei Yunlan thought for a moment and took the initiative to say, "You saw the hand warmers I asked my sister-in-law to sew earlier. I will try to get a batch of silk and kapok here soon. Do you think there is a way to find someone to make a batch before winter comes so that we can sell them when winter comes?"
Gao pondered for a moment and began to think seriously.
She has been in charge of the household affairs of the mansion for many years, and has a large number of shops, farms and people working for her. In this regard, she is better than Wei Yunlan.
"We have just arrived at Beiguan, so it is not easy to start a war and arouse suspicion. If we want to do something, it is best to prepare before arriving at Beiguan. Huangzhou is close to Beiguan. We can buy a farm in Huangzhou and some useful people, and arrange everything here."
Wei Yunlan's eyes lit up. His mother's method must be the best.
Buying a farm in Huangzhou and putting all the businesses she wants to develop in the future here will undoubtedly be much better than keeping them in Beiguan.
The mother and daughter were talking in a low voice, when suddenly a loud shout came from outside, "Who is it?"
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