The helper who worked for the Qiao family was hired by Zhang Madam's younger brother, Lin Dazhi. Since it was money for her younger brother, there was no need to calculate it by the day. Madam Zhang directly gave him fifteen taels of silver.
Lin Dazhi was afraid that the snow would come soon and the ground would freeze. It would then be too dangerous for people to go down the well, so he paid the helpers a fixed salary.
Everyone wanted to finish their work early and go home early, and they worked very hard. In just half a month, the Qiao family had changed its appearance.
Mrs. Zhang was particularly pleased with Geng's endless praise. "That's because they have a lot of experience. If it were someone who didn't know the whole story, they wouldn't be able to find the right wellbore. They'd have to drill twice and it would take them a month to finish."
Lin Dazhi also paved the well mouth with blue bricks that the Zhang family had not used up when they built their house. After the well pulley was installed, the yard was also repaired.
The Qiao family has five rooms in total, three large and two small. Repainting and replacing the roof tiles is faster than digging a well. They are all brand new black and gray tiles.
The putty was made of clay mixed with yellow mud, glutinous rice, and wheat straw. The house and the courtyard walls turned into a dark ginger color, making it look like a newly built house.
Add to that a decent well, and if you sell this house, you can get at least a hundred taels of silver.
This made those outside who were jealous of Zhang's braised meat business stop gossiping. After all, they would not be willing to spend so much money.
What Miao Wan was most satisfied with was the courtyard wall.
The wall was originally less than two meters high, and any skilled thief could climb over it. After being raised, it was two and a half meters high, and broken tiles that had been replaced and sharpened were stuck on it.
Now, unless someone outside is very tall, they can’t see what’s going on at home even if they jump up.
Geng and Zhang have been busy for the past half month. Since they have to make winter clothes anyway, they simply went to the tile market to buy cotton and then went to the cloth shop to buy some thick cotton cloth.
Both of them were very good at sewing. Since they didn't have to embroider patterns, after the house was cleaned up, Geng had made four new quilts and five sets of cotton clothes in the sizes of Qiao Shengwen and his son.
Geng had already asked Madam Zhang and her husband to inquire with the military officer who came to buy pork, but she did not get any news about Qiao Shengwen and his son.
She was extremely worried, but she didn't dare to say it out loud so as not to scare Miao Wan and Qiao Rui, so she had to focus on the embroidery.
On the day the workers left, the baby in Miao Wan's belly had its own new quilt and clothes, and two pairs of tiger-head shoes that Miao Wan loved so much.
Just doing these things cost the family five taels of silver.
Under normal circumstances, no matter how anxious and angry Geng was, she would not be willing to spend so much money.
But the braised meat business was easier to do than the two families had imagined.
There were not many green vegetables in winter these years, so people had to survive the winter with pickled cabbage. Occasionally they would buy some meat to satisfy their cravings, but they would usually eat it by mixing salt with radish and cooking it with oil residue.
For those who are more extravagant, like the traveling merchants, cooking meat with black bean sauce is considered good. It’s not that they don’t have money, but they really don’t have many vegetables to stir-fry with it. The long winter must have made their stomachs feel sick.
After the braised meat became available, common people would occasionally buy some to satisfy their cravings. Merchants in the tile market and other streets, including the wealthy families in Xining Town, finally had something to eat and sent people out to buy it almost every day.
The Zhang family used to slaughter two pigs every three days in winter, but now they slaughter one pig a day. Occasionally, when it snows and sales are less, they still slaughter a pig every two days.
When the market needed meat, we would have to kill up to three pigs a day.
This made the Zhang family both sad and happy.
The money was distributed every day, and as the coins increased, even the children in the family could feel the joy of going crazy for the coins and banging their heads against the wall.
But including Miao Wan, everyone is busy as soon as they open their eyes. She and Sun can stay in the kitchen and take a break occasionally, but the others are busy all day long.
The soldiers stationed in the Gubei military camp here also fell in love with braised meat. Every time they go, they order half a live pig and use the other half to make braised meat.
The way they sell things, even though people haven't gotten tired enough to lie down yet, the Zhang family is running out of pigs.
The pig pen behind the Zhang family's house was not big enough, so they only raised more than 20 pigs. They didn't dare to raise more because they were afraid they wouldn't be able to take good care of them and if they got sick, they wouldn't be able to afford the compensation.
Butcher Zhang had no choice but to go to the countryside with his eldest son to buy pigs, and asked Zhang Erzhuang, his son Ludan, and his eldest son Goudan to look after the stall.
After half a month, Miao Wan got 7 strings of cash and 200 coins. Not counting the money given to the Qiao family for digging a well and repairing their house, the Zhang family got a total of 28 strings of cash and 800 coins.
It can be said that in just half a month, the Zhang family earned all the money they had earned in the past six months.
Because they ate well, they were tired but did not gain weight quickly. Even Qiao Rui, who did not like to eat well, gained weight on her face.
After washing her face with the fragrant soap, Qiao Rui's face and hands became as soft and white as tofu, and she looked as pretty as a doll in a New Year picture.
Geng held her back and refused to let her go out, so Qiao Rui worked with Zhang's granddaughter to make toothbrushes. She was very tired and her hands were covered with blisters.
Miao Wan felt that this was not feasible. She was working like crazy and never thought that making money was enough, but after a long time, she would be overdrawing her life to work, and the loss would outweigh the gain.
It started snowing heavily in the middle of the night yesterday. Miao Wan got up early and discussed it with Madam Zhang. They decided to take a two-day break so that the men in the Zhang family could catch their breath and go to the village to collect fatter pigs.
The Zhang family slaughtered all the 120-pound pigs, which was really not cost-effective.
After talking to her godmother, Miao Wan turned around and went back to sleep until dawn. If it hadn't been snowing heavily outside and she hadn't been woken up by the cold, she might have slept until the afternoon.
When she was wrapped in a quilt to wake up, Miao Wan felt that she was not doing well again. The snow was getting heavier and heavier. It would take a lot of brine to heat the braised meat on the spot, and it would be greasy if it was not heated and frozen.
We need to find something that can be cooked on the spot, with a combination of meat and vegetables, and prepare the soup in advance, and let the Zhang family take turns going to the tile market.
Otherwise, you will be sick from exhaustion after making the money.
When Geng heard Miao Wan say she was cold, she quickly moved the folded quilt into her room for her to change into. She even made a new cotton-padded jacket and asked Miao Wan to change into it immediately without waiting for the New Year.
When Geng was about to put the old bedding into the kang cabinet, she discovered a can of spoiled goat milk.
Miao Wan felt that the old saying that a woman becomes stupid for three years after pregnancy was not without reason. She made milk curds almost every other day and would even forget that she had put half a bucket of goat milk in the kang cabinet.
After opening the jar sealed with oilcloth, a sour and foul smell came out, which made Miao Wan turn her head and vomit.
Geng quickly took the jar to the door and asked, "What are you going to do? Why not wait until you give birth?"
Because it’s cold, the sour smell isn’t very strong, mainly because pregnant women have a particularly sensitive sense of smell.
Miao Wan felt a little depressed as she touched her belly. She used to keep goat milk in a constant temperature insulated box. Even if she forgot to take it out for a moment, the most she could do was to make the milk tofu taste a little stronger, and the top layer of milk after fermentation would be more chewy than usual.
But it is too difficult to maintain a constant temperature in this era. Although there are kangs in the northwest, the temperature is not the same during the day and at night, and the temperature cannot be kept consistent even through the kang cabinet.
The more she couldn't eat it, the more she missed it, especially since she had a greedy baby in her belly. When she thought of the white flour bun smeared with milk and chewed on its mouth, which was sour, sweet and soft, and tasted better than yogurt bread, Miao Wan felt her mouth watering.
"I'll think about it again. If it doesn't work, I'll try covering it with a new quilt and putting it in the main room."
In the northwest, because the winter is too cold, most people have kangs. People who are more particular use step-out beds and buy smokeless charcoal to keep in the house. Those who are more particular also have floor heating.
However, there are few such families. In terms of cost-effectiveness, kangs are actually very good.
Miao Wan's room is next to the kitchen, and the temperature difference between when there is a fire and when there is no fire is quite large.
But the main house where Geng and Qiao Rui lived had a narrow charcoal stove. During the day, everyone stayed in the main room to keep warm and often boiled hot water. At night, they just had to be careful not to let the charcoal fire go out completely, and the kang would stay warm all night.
Miao Wan thought that if she covered the goat milk with a quilt and placed it in the main room to maintain a constant temperature as much as possible, it should be able to ferment.
Geng was stared at pitifully by her daughter-in-law and could not bear it any longer, so she took apart the old mattress and made two square quilts.
The Qiao and Zhang families found an old farmer who sold sheep in Wa City and asked him to deliver two buckets of milk to the Zhang family every day. Yu had already delivered a bucket.
There was some milk left at home, so Miao Wan simply put a bucket of milk into two earthenware jars and placed them in the corner of the main room next to the bedroom door and next to the stove respectively.
One has a lower temperature, the other has a higher temperature, so at least I can figure out one...right?
Miao Wan thought with some confidence. She ate a few of the milk cubes but still felt unsatisfied. "Mom, let's have spicy soup for lunch. Let's serve my portion separately and add more fermented vinegar."
Geng smiled and replied, "I see you like to dip your braised meat in vinegar lately, I'm afraid it's a boy."
Miao Wan was a little unsure. She also liked fried pork intestines with dogwood, and she also liked sweet food. Wasn't the saying "sour boy, spicy girl" unreliable?
Some people say that a mother will become ugly if she is pregnant with a boy. Miao Wan touched her increasingly smooth cheeks and thought to herself, "How beautiful!" This is not true.
In fact, she likes both boys and girls as long as they are related by blood.
Now she is in her fifth month of pregnancy. As nutrition increases and the fetal movements become more frequent, Miao Wan feels like her stomach is always rumbling.
She was sure that no matter whether it was a little boy or a little girl, the baby would definitely be a lively and mischievous one. She touched her belly and giggled.
When she mentioned sweetness just now, she slapped her forehead and remembered that there was still a lot of work to be done because someone in her family didn't have enough beets to make sugar.
Geng had placed both baskets of vegetables in the cellar, and they had to be picked out during the break.
These can all wait.
The most important thing is that she got new bedding and new clothes, the well at home was repaired, and there was no shortage of coal. She could finally take a bath to her heart's content!
Because of her poor health and the fact that there were always people at home, Geng and Qiao Rui had both taken a bath twice, but she was the only one who was watched more closely by Geng.
It has been four months since she was exiled from the capital. She only wiped her body occasionally and washed her hair only once. Miao Wan always felt smelly.
After dinner, she couldn't wait to get some water from Geng and move the wooden basin to her room.
As she soaked in the hot water, Miao Wan couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, her face beaming with joy. "Wow...so refreshing!"
At the same time, a tall and thin young man wrapped in a tattered cotton jacket put down the cart hesitantly.
"Ruichen, did we remember the wrong place?" Qiao Shengwen, who was lying on the cart wrapped in a quilt and looked weathered, was also a little dumbfounded.
He remembered that he had bought a dilapidated house, but the house in front of him didn't look dilapidated at all.
The author has something to say:
The previous 12 chapters have been completely rewritten, and this chapter will be updated normally. Thank you for your support. Comments on this chapter will randomly drop red envelopes~
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