As for becoming a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations), that was something I wouldn't even dare to dream of.
Studying is expensive. Even if a family is relatively well-off, having a student means they can only make ends meet.
Thinking about it this way, He Xiucai's tuition fee was really quite reasonable. Many people started to calculate in their minds that they could still afford one or two taels of silver if they saved up.
Those women and old men who didn't have to work had new plans in mind and hurriedly went back to rummage through their money boxes!
The remaining people naturally all planned to go to work.
There were forty-two men working there, most of them from Shiligou. Among them were Cheng Shi and Chen Dahe, whom Qin Sanniang and the others knew, as well as Chen Jiang, the eldest son of the village head. Qin Sanniang didn't recognize the others. The women who came to work were all familiar faces, including Wang Guixiang, He Xing, and Zhou Shi, the village head's daughter-in-law.
The men were divided into several groups, under the command of Old Man Wang. As for the women, their task was simple: to cook a meal for these forty-odd men!
Since several houses were under construction at the same time, Old Man Wang divided the forty-odd men into groups, and they all did the same work and made roughly the same progress.
These days, it's very difficult to find work in the county!
Often, the men would stand at the labor market all day without a single customer, even if the price dropped to ten coins. There was no work! They would often stay there all day, not daring to stray too far for meals, for fear of missing an employer looking for work! They cherished the opportunity to work for Qin Sanniang and her family, putting all their effort into their jobs, afraid that the employer would be dissatisfied and replace them. Besides the fear of losing money, it would also be bad for the reputation among the villagers.
Besides, the wages offered by Qin San Niang and the others are twelve coins a day, which is more profitable than working in the county. They pay two coins more a day and even provide a meal! They can walk home in no time, saving time and effort, which in turn saves on shoe soles! Don't say that straw sandals won't wear out; don't straw sandals require pulling grass? Don't they require weaving?
"Third Sister-in-law, what else do we need to do?" Wang Guixiang and He Xing were both very busy. They hadn't been idle since they arrived. The kitchen had been cleaned spotless by the group of them, and the wooden buckets that were meant to be used to hold food had also been scrubbed clean!
Zhou was a bit shy and a quiet woman, but she was also capable. She followed her two sisters-in-law around busily, without being complacent about being the daughter-in-law of the village head. She was quite a good match for the forthright Chen Jiang!
"Take a break first. Da Wa and his Uncle Gu went to He County to buy rice, grain, meat and vegetables. You'll be busy when they get back!" Liu said with a smile. Her Da Wa was already over twelve years old and would be getting married in two years. It was definitely not a bad thing for people to know that he was hardworking and capable.
It's impressive that the Liu family has thought so far ahead!
Mrs. Zhou took it to heart and replied with a smile, "Auntie, your eldest son is really capable. A twelve or thirteen-year-old boy can already help with so much chores around the house! My nephew is the same age, but all he does all day is climb trees to catch birds and go down to the river to catch fish! You've really done a good job raising him!"
Wang Guixiang and He Xing nodded in agreement, "Da Wa is a good kid. I see he's never idle. He's always out gathering firewood and digging for vegetables. He's such a worry-free child."
"Sigh, poor children learn to be independent early! This child has suffered a lot on the journey. If it weren't for his help in looking after his younger siblings, my third aunt and I would have had to worry so much! Sigh, this child has really been toughened up."
Damn it! Back then, when we fled, we were fleeing from the ravages of war! Thinking that we might run out of food on the road, we dug up wild vegetables as much as we could, and we didn't let go of any of the dried vegetable roots by the roadside.
Who would have thought that halfway there they would encounter a drought? Now, they couldn't even get a bowl of wild vegetable porridge! Alas, if it weren't for the few coins that Third Sister had saved up and the large sum she paid to go to town to fetch water, she would have really died of thirst on the road! Liu still felt a little sad when she talked about the journey.
Although Wang Guixiang and the others weren't aristocratic ladies who never left their homes, they had never actually left Jiangzhou City in their lives. They naturally knew that fleeing was difficult, but they hadn't expected it to be this difficult! Their faces showed sympathy, but they could only comfort Liu Shi and tell her not to be sad, that the hard times were over, and what followed would be sweet and pleasant days.
Besides, her grandsons are all sensible, and her daughter is good at earning money. Everyone says that Liu is destined to enjoy a life of luxury, which makes Liu a little smug...
Gu Qingshan and Da Wa went to He County to buy rice and grain, heading straight to the grain store.
As requested by Qin San Niang, she bought 200 jin of rice and 200 jin of sorghum, as well as eggs, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and other seasonings. As for meat, she also wanted to buy some, but in moderation. Qin San Niang didn't want to be taken advantage of and give people something they shouldn't have.
Gu Qingshan naturally understood the intricacies of the situation, so he only bought twenty catties of meat. Today, he would use ten catties of minced meat to make a dish, adding some meat to the meal, and the rest he would eat himself or make into salted meat to eat slowly.
"Ah Xing, Gui Xiang, and Zhou Meizi, do you have any vegetables at home? Whether it's winter melon, pumpkin, or cabbage, anything is fine. I'm afraid we don't have enough at home, so I'm planning to buy some." Qin San Niang inspected the inventory and found that there weren't many seasonal vegetables left.
The beans and other plants in the space have started to bear fruit, but they are still far from mature, so they are definitely not suitable for use now.
Previously, Gu Qingshan and the others only said they were going to buy rice and grains, and she forgot to tell them to buy some vegetables! Eating only cabbage isn't enough! The key is that there isn't enough cabbage!
"Don't worry, I still have plenty of winter melons at home. I'll go get a few right away!" Wang Guixiang said, getting up. "The spring vegetables will be ready soon, and we won't be able to eat winter melons anymore. Third Aunt, please don't mention giving me money."
"I have some at home too, but mostly pumpkins, all grown by my grandfather. I'll bring some over tomorrow." After eating Liu's folk remedy of the hearth soil, Da Xiong didn't seem to have had a relapse these past few days, and after listening to Qin San Niang's advice to sunbathe and drink bone broth regularly, the child seemed to have gained strength!
Her family now deeply believes in Qin San Niang and Liu Shi. So, let alone a few pumpkins, her grandfather would even be willing to give them up as much as grain.
Zhou's family situation was special. After all, she was a daughter-in-law, and everything was controlled by her mother-in-law, so she couldn't be as straightforward as Wang Guixiang and He Xing. However, the family didn't lack vegetables, but if she didn't give money... she wasn't sure what her mother-in-law meant.
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