"What did you say? Someone bought our bamboo weaving?" Grandma Caihua opened her eyes wide in disbelief. Her family hadn't had any business for a long time, and now that they had business, and such a big one at that, how could she not be happy!
“Really, Mother! Da Wa’s mother ordered ten bamboo mats and ten large winnowing baskets from our house. Father said we won’t be picking apricots today because we have to rush to finish!” Caihua’s father was still immersed in great joy, his mouth agape.
Oh dear, why are you picking apricots? Three catties of apricots cost one copper coin, and this winnowing basket costs thirty copper coins! A mat costs about twenty copper coins too! How much is that again? Cauliflower Milk felt her brain was a little overwhelmed.
Knowing his mother's thoughts very well, Caihua's father glanced around to make sure no one was watching before whispering, "Mother, it's a full half tael of silver!"
Grandma Caihua paused for a moment, then hurriedly pushed her son to cut bamboo! Good heavens, that's half an ounce of silver! Their family is going to get rich! Not long ago, her son earned a lot of money doing odd jobs, and now this business has come in. Grandma Caihua was thinking that the piece of meat she bought as an offering to the God of Wealth at the beginning of the year wasn't a waste! Of course, in her eyes, Third Sister Qin was like a money-giving fairy!
Seeing her husband arrive, Caihua's mother was secretly happy, thinking that someone had finally come to help! She could finally rest! But to her surprise, as soon as her husband arrived, he went to his mother-in-law's side, and the two of them whispered something to each other, looking quite happy! Her husband didn't come to help her at all, and didn't even glance at her before leaving a short while later!
What happened? Caihua Niang was puzzled! She was completely baffled!
Only after receiving a warning look from her mother-in-law did she nervously quicken her pace! Sigh, this work is really tiring. She can't climb trees, so she can only use a stick to knock the apricots down. But this inevitably damages some of the fruit. Seeing this, Caihua's grandmother's eyes bulged, and she cursed inwardly, "What a useless little devil!"
Finally, Caihua couldn't bear to watch any longer and rushed to her mother's side. She saw the little girl swiftly climb up the tree and skillfully begin picking apricots...
Grandma Caihua was in a good mood. She glared at her lazy daughter-in-law again and hurriedly pulled her grandson to pick apricots! Three catties for one coin, that's money too!
Almost every household in Shiligou mobilized, except for the elderly who had difficulty walking or were in poor health; everyone was busy working on the back mountain.
Families with many sons can pick 80 or 90 jin a day. Even families with only women and children can pick 30 or 40 jin.
In order to pick more apricots, the villagers didn't even go home for lunch, only bringing some vegetable pancakes to fill their stomachs.
Starting in the morning, many women came to sell apricots! Some were worried they wouldn't be able to sell them after picking them, while others came to see if the price was right. However, Gu Qingshan had already gone to town, and Qin San Niang and Liu Shi were making sugar, so Wu Chunhua and Liao Hongying took over the task of collecting the fruit!
Liao Hongying, being the wife of a scholar, was literate and capable of arithmetic, so she served as the bookkeeper. Wu Chunhua was responsible for checking the quality of the goods, while Pangya was in charge of weighing them.
"Sister Wu, look how well I picked them! They're all big, not a single bad one!" As she spoke, a woman came up to her and placed a basket full of apricots in front of her.
“And mine is good too! You can take them all,” another woman said.
"Don't worry, we welcome all comers. As long as you're from Shiligou, we'll buy any fruit you pick! But you have to guarantee the quality!" Wu Chunhua said with a hearty laugh. It seemed these women were worried that she wouldn't keep her word! No wonder, even she herself hadn't expected that wild apricots could be sold for money!
The women quickly assured them that their apricots were all large and undamaged, guaranteeing they were all good. Knowing that the Qin family genuinely intended to buy apricots, and were buying as many as they could, the villagers were even more pleased. The fact that the Qin family only bought apricots from villagers meant they were being considerate! These families were kind; they were capable of making money and didn't forget to help them.
These women were all honest and law-abiding. Wu Chunhua checked their fruit and found it to be large and of good quality, so she quickly had Fatty weigh it.
"Sisters, after you weigh them, hurry up and go to Hongying's place to put them in the books and collect your copper coins!" Seeing the women still standing there, Wu Chunhua urged them with a smile.
The women were thrilled to receive the money so quickly. They looked at each other and then hurried to queue up with Liao Hongying.
“Here you are, Chen Li Shi, twenty-one catties of apricots, which is exactly seven coins. Sister, count them!” Liao Hongying counted out seven copper coins and handed them to Chen Li Shi. These copper coins were exchanged by Qin San Niang earlier and stored in her spatial storage, and they came in handy.
"Mrs. Song, this is for you, ten coins, for a total of thirty catties of apricots."
"Mrs. Wang, five coins. Count them yourself! Don't rush off, or I won't honor the payment!"
“What’s wrong with that? Sister Hongying, how could you be wrong? I’m about to go pick apricots! The kids and the men are still busy!”
The other women were still clutching their warm copper coins and marveling at them when they heard her say this. They were stunned. Yes, what were they standing there for? This really meant they could get money! And they could get it right there! So they all said goodbye, picked up their baskets, and hurried away, heading towards the mountain.
The villagers working on the mountain were overjoyed to hear that these women had sold copper coins! Before, they had worried that even if the Qin family could give them money, it would probably take a few days for the business to take off. They didn't expect that the women would settle accounts on the spot. This business was very reliable!
Furthermore, the women who received the coins repeated exactly what they had heard from Wu Chunhua! Everyone was even more excited, and without saying anything more, they quickly started picking!
Even Caihua's mother, that lazy daughter-in-law, started to get efficient. These were real copper coins! Her mother-in-law had just said that she only needed to hand over 70% of the coins she earned from selling wild apricots! Caihua's mother mentally calculated for a long time. That meant that if she got ten coins, she could save three! Oh my goodness, what a great deal!
Caihua was shocked to see her mother had changed so much, as if she had been injected with chicken blood. However, this change was not a bad thing. If her mother could become more diligent, she could do less work, right?
Caihua knew in her heart that her mother was usually good to her and her brother, but she was just too lazy, so lazy that it was infuriating! No wonder her grandmother was angry every day, and her father always had a cold face and said he wanted to divorce her!
Mother, you must be more assertive!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com