Chapter 43 Wind Chime Business: Better Than Nothing
The handsome young man's eyes were brimming with tears, as if he were overwhelmed with gratitude and speechless with emotion.
Ye Li was both impressed by his good looks and felt sorry for him.
Ye Li subconsciously reached out to touch her chest, wanting to take out a handkerchief to wipe away someone's tears.
However, he is not the original owner of this body, and he has not yet developed the habit of carrying a handkerchief with him.
He reached out and touched nothing.
He quickly turned his head to look at the kitchen.
A hand towel for wiping hands is hung at the door.
There was a cloth on the stove, but it was used to wipe the stove, and it was greasy and black.
He simply pulled up his sleeve and brought it close to Jiang Ji's handsome face: "Come on, wipe your tears. If Xiao Liu sees them later, she'll probably think I bullied you."
When Jiang Ji saw that he had looked around and finally only handed over his own sleeve, the feeling of being touched instantly turned into a mixture of amusement and exasperation.
Ye Li nowadays really doesn't look like a young man anymore.
"No need. And thank you."
Ye Li also felt that her linen sleeves were too rough and not suitable for wiping tears, so she took them back and said with a hint of reproach, "Look at you, being so polite again. This is what I should do."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ji said, "Then you can buy some paper money, incense, candles, a pound of peaches, and a pound of pastries at that time."
“Mother likes sweets and fruits. If you prepare these two, she will definitely be happy.”
"Hmm... this is a bit too little. It's my first time visiting them. I'll prepare to burn just some paper money."
When meeting your mother-in-law for the first time, you shouldn't be too frugal.
Jiang Ji smiled upon hearing this: "Mother definitely likes you."
Ye Li nodded in agreement upon hearing this: "After all, I am so virtuous."
Although he was a wandering soul, he was truly devoted to Jiang Ji, so there was no reason for Jiang's mother not to like him.
He was so confident, but Jiang Ji only found him cute and couldn't help but stare at him and laugh.
When a look of doubt appeared on his face, Jiang Jicai said, "You can prepare it yourself. Also, since we're going to pay respects at Father's grave, you should also prepare some yellow wine. Father loved to drink. In the past, when our family was doing well, he liked to have a small drink with dinner."
Moreover, these offerings ultimately ended up in the stomachs of the living.
Poor families would bring the offerings from the graves back to their own homes, unable to afford the grand displays of wealthy families.
"Okay," Ye Li replied.
The two discussed some more details, and just as they finished, there was a commotion in the main room.
Jiangmai and Jiangya got up.
When Jiang Ya woke up and didn't see her older brother and Li Ge, her little face immediately scrunched up, looking somewhat unhappy.
However, every time he got up, he always saw Jiang Mai, and he almost never saw Jiang Ji and Ye Li.
Therefore, his unhappiness quickly dissipated.
And he was super happy last night!
He skipped and hopped into the kitchen, washed his face and brushed his teeth, then rolled up his sleeves, revealing his chubby arms, and began filtering the soybean pulp.
A new day, time to earn some wages!
After eating breakfast, Jiang Ji picked up his small basket and hurried to the county town.
The two little ones also carried baskets on their backs and went out to cut grass.
Ye Li pressed the tofu down and turned to go to the west room.
Before he even mentioned the handkerchief, he hadn't realized that Jiang Ji would be setting off for the prefectural city in two months.
Jiang Ji last went to the prefectural city to take the imperial examination two years ago. At that time, my good husband was sixteen years old. This year he is eighteen and has grown taller. His clothes from two years ago no longer fit.
When the original owner of this body married Jiang Ji, someone gave him some fabric as a wedding gift. He found it and planned to ask Liang Erxiang to tailor new clothes for him.
He doesn't do it himself because he doesn't have the time, and his skills would only embarrass Jiang Ji.
More importantly, he has no patience!
Even if you like someone, some things can't be forced.
However, even though Liang Erxiang was his aunt, he couldn't let his elders do work for free. Therefore, when Ye Liang came at noon, he asked Ye Liang to buy him two catties of pork tomorrow.
Upon hearing this, Ye Liang's eyes widened instantly: "Why are you buying meat again? Didn't you buy more than seven catties yesterday?"
"This is for my second aunt," Ye Li explained calmly.
Upon hearing this, Ye Liang said, "How about we let Father do it?"
Ye Wen's husband is quite diligent. As soon as she married into the family, he took over all the household chores, and now her father is much more relaxed than before.
"No need, Second Uncle will be unhappy. Jiang Ji's clothes were all made by Second Aunt before."
Ye Li shook her head.
If he didn't ask Liang Erxiang for help right now, Jiang Dahe would definitely overthink things.
Upon hearing the mention of Jiang Dahe, Ye Liang immediately fell silent: "Alright, I'll buy the meat tomorrow."
However, when Ye Li brought the meat over the next evening, Jiang Dahe was somewhat unhappy: "We're all family, why did you buy meat? That's too formal."
Ye Li explained with a smile, "Second Uncle, this is a gift for you and Second Aunt. Is it wrong for me to be filial?"
The word "filial piety" struck a chord with Jiang Dahe, and he became happy again.
Absolutely!
My nephew-in-law is filial; he clearly respects his second uncle.
He chuckled and said, "Don't worry, your second aunt will definitely be able to finish making the clothes when Xiao Ji comes back next time."
Previously, Jiang Ji's wedding attire was made by Liang Erxiang.
It's only been a few months, so there's no need to measure the dimensions again.
"No rush, he can finish it before he goes to the prefectural city. Second Aunt is busy on weekdays, she can make it when she has time."
Ye Lidao.
Jiang Dahe waved his hand: "She doesn't have anything important to do. The work in the fields isn't too heavy right now."
It's just routine weeding and watering.
Ye Li considers this work extremely arduous, but in the eyes of farmers, it's not particularly busy before the autumn harvest.
Take Jiang Dachuan's family, for example. They have many members but not much land, so Jiang Tong can often stay at home and tinker with carpentry.
Ye Li thought about the travel expenses Jiang Ji would need in two months, as well as Jiang Ji's debts—he had learned from Jiang Dahe a few days ago that Jiang Ji actually owed some money.
The creditors are Jiang Dahe and Jiang Fuzheng.
In the two years following his father's death, Jiang Ji was young and it was difficult for him to find odd jobs or carry heavy sacks, so he earned little money and had to borrow money whenever he needed it.
Later, when I was short of money, I borrowed some as well.
So far, a total of more than eight taels have been borrowed.
Ye Li considered the debt of over eight taels of silver as a joint debt of the couple, and Jiang Ji was busy studying, so he had to find a way to repay it.
So, after leaving Jiang Dahe's house, he went straight to Jiang Dachuan's house to find Jiang Tong.
In fact, he had already made the wind chime with wooden sticks, but recently Jiang Tong had been busy making sawdust and stools—sawdust was needed to make preserved eggs, and as a carpenter, Jiang Tong was unwilling to spend money to buy sawdust.
He first used a plane to shave the wood into paper-thin shavings, then used an axe to chop the shavings into fine powder, and then through processes such as hand rolling and rubbing, the curved shavings became sawdust.
This sawdust isn't as fine as the wood chips that fall when a saw is used to cut wood, but it's still usable.
Currently, in Yeli, Jiangliu, and Jiangyu, when making preserved eggs, only quicklime needs to be purchased; sawdust is no longer required.
Sawdust isn't actually expensive. Instead of wasting time on such a small amount of money, you might as well make more money by making wind chimes.
Of course, Fengling can't make a lot of money by relying on Jiang Tong alone.
But for Ye Li, every little bit helps, and it's better than nothing.
Even if things don't go well, they can still earn back the money for Jiang Ji's eggs and the high-temperature allowance.
For Jiang Tong, that was definitely more money saved than making sawdust.
Therefore, this business is still very necessary.
When Ye Li arrived at Jiang Tong's house, Jiang Dachuan, Jiang Da, and Jiang Shun, father and sons, had not yet returned from the fields.
Jiang Tong was using a plane to plan the wood.
Jiang Dachuan's husband, Gao Jun, was sitting by the well picking vegetables.
Gao Jun was in poor health and rarely got out of bed.
When Jiang Tong and Gao Jun saw him enter, they both stopped what they were doing and greeted him with smiles: "Brother Li, what brings you here at this hour? Please have a seat."
Would you like some water?
Ye Li hurriedly said, "Uncle, I'm not thirsty. Don't bother yourself. Sit down and rest. I've come to discuss something with Brother Datong."
"What's the matter?" Jiang Tong asked.
Gao Jun also looked at him curiously.
"I recently made a wind chime out of a wooden stick, and I'd like to ask Brother Datong to make a bigger and nicer one."
"Wind chimes?" Jiang Tong was somewhat surprised.
He's a carpenter, so he knows about wind chimes.
Wind chimes are usually made of metal and are very delicate. Only wealthy families use them; no one in the countryside uses them.
How are wind chimes made from wood?
"Brother Datong, why don't you come home with me and take a look at the samples?" Ye Li said when she saw that he didn't understand.
"Okay." Jiang Tong patted the wood chips off his hands. "I'll come to your house and see what kind of wind chimes you have."
So he went home with Ye Li.
When the two entered, Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya were chopping pig feed. The two little ones saw him and greeted him loudly.
Ye Li went back into the house and took out the wind chime sample he had made.
There are three samples.
One method involves tying several long wooden sticks together in a staggered and orderly fashion, creating a beautiful effect with its varying heights and depths.
One is a crescent-shaped piece of wood with a small bell attached to the bottom.
One is four round wooden pieces. According to Ye Li's idea, these four round wooden pieces are four characters with very auspicious meanings, and a bell is attached below them.
His current persona is that of someone who is blind, so he temporarily uses wooden pieces to represent words.
There are three wind chimes, two of which have bells, and one is made of pure wood.
He made it casually with a wooden stick, and it was extremely rough overall.
He bought the bell casually in the county town; it was made of iron, about the size of a baby's fist, and not expensive.
But Jiang Tong, being a carpenter, automatically visualized the three simple wind chimes in his mind as the ones he had made.
In Jiang Tong's opinion, all three wind chimes were beautiful. Although they couldn't compare to the exquisite wind chimes of wealthy families, they would be quite suitable for hanging in a farmhouse in the countryside, and wouldn't look out of place at all.
People come and go, and you can see them as soon as you look up.
It's aesthetically pleasing and has a good meaning.
If a breeze blows, you can hear a sound, making it seem lively.
He himself even wants to hang one!
"I'll take these three back first, and bring them to you after I've made them," he said with a smile.
"Brother Datong, don't rush. Do you think anyone would buy these three wind chimes if we took them out to sell?"
Although that's what she asked, Ye Li already had the answer in her heart.
Jiang Tong was clearly very interested.
But Jiang Tong was very surprised: "Sell?"
“Yes, I don’t see any wind chimes for sale in town. If we make them and sell them, as long as the price is reasonable, we should be able to make money, right?”
Ye Li explained.
Jiang Tong froze, then looked down at the wind chime in his hand.
After looking him over again, he said with little confidence, "How about we make a few to try first? Brother Li, don't have too high expectations."
He lacked confidence in his skills.
Although he also planned to make some stools to sell in the county or town, stools are necessities, and as long as they are cheap, someone will definitely buy them.
Even if he can't sell them, it doesn't matter; he can keep them for himself.
Since he was responsible for his own profits and losses, he felt no pressure.
But the wind chimes in front of him were made by Ye Li. Thinking about how Bao Beiyuan and Ye Li were selling drinks together, he suddenly felt a lot of pressure.
He hadn't learned any real skills, and he was afraid of letting Ye Li down!
Jiang Tong's thoughts were crystal clear, so Ye Li laughed and said, "Brother Datong, just go ahead and do it. It's okay if you fail. We can earn several hundred coins a month by turning eggs. We don't lack ways to make money."
"If this wind chime sells, it will be a pleasant surprise; if not, it won't affect us."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Tong immediately felt a reduction in the pressure on his shoulders.
As long as Ye Li doesn't have to do this business, he won't be so nervous.
He looked at the wind chime in his hand again and said, "I will do my best."
"There's no rush, Brother Datong, take your time," Ye Li instructed.
Jiang Tong nodded; he understood.
Those in his line of work can't be hasty.
At this moment, the two little ones finished chopping the pig feed. Instead of carrying the pig feed to the backyard, they ran to Jiang Tong and curiously examined the wind chime in his hand.
Ye Li had put the samples in the cabinet before, and the two of them hadn't seen them yet.
"Xiaomai, Yage'er, do you two like these three wind chimes?" Ye Li asked with a smile.
The two little ones looked at each other, then nodded hesitantly: "We like it."
They had never seen a wind chime before, nor did they have any other toys.
These three wind chimes in front of me may look ugly, but they're quite novel.
They both like to carry it around and play with it.
Ye Li was amused by the two little ones' hesitation. She reached out and patted their heads, saying, "Once Brother Datong brings the finished product over, you'll know how beautiful it is."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Tong immediately felt pressured again.
He hurriedly picked up the three wooden stick wind chimes and left; someone like him, who didn't have any real skills, couldn't stand such talk.
Ye Li's life continued as usual.
Running a business every day and raising two little guys is terribly monotonous and repetitive.
Jiang Tong didn't keep him waiting long; just two days later, he came over with three finished wind chimes.
When it comes to business, Jiang Tong takes it very seriously, polishing every part until it's smooth and free of burrs.
The craftsmanship is also exquisite, and the crescent moon really looks like the crescent moon in the sky.
Slender and beautiful.
The four round wooden pieces then transformed into the symbol of "abundance year after year".
Jiang Tong learned a few characters from Wang the carpenter, and he happened to know how to write the four characters "年年有余" (May you have abundance every year), so he used those four characters.
All three wind chimes are made of natural wood and are unpainted. Ye Li is used to seeing things made of natural wood, so she doesn't find them ugly.
Moreover, if it's painted, the cost will increase.
His target audience is people like himself.
"Brother Datong, your craftsmanship is excellent." Ye Li looked at the three wind chimes with a pleasant surprise.
These three wind chimes are simple, elegant, and beautiful; they are quite presentable.
Jiang Tong breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he really liked it.
"You think it's acceptable."
“Okay, very good! Tomorrow I’ll go to town to buy some small bells. You make three of each kind first, and I’ll have my older brother take them to town to sell. How about we split the profits nine-tenths?”
After all, he only came up with an idea; the rest depended entirely on Jiang Tong.
But Jiang Tong immediately shook his head upon hearing this: "No, no, no, this idea was yours, let's split it 30/70."
Ye Li was delighted upon hearing the number.
It's Sanqi again.
He said, "Brother Datong, you're the one who put in the effort and skill, it's too unfair to give you this share."
"If it weren't for your idea, I wouldn't have earned a single penny."
Jiang Tong said earnestly.
He can still distinguish this principle.
Moreover, let's not even talk about the forty taels of silver, let's just talk about the preserved eggs.
Ye Li taught him how to make preserved eggs.
This little business is amazing, it's like something out of a dream.
First, the investment is small.
Secondly, it's not busy. You only need to go to the county town to buy eggs and quicklime, and then spend an afternoon working. You can start counting money after half a month.
Third, stability.
You can steadily earn several hundred coins a month.
He plans to do more work recently, hoping to increase his monthly income from several hundred coins to one tael.
Eggs cannot be kept for long in the summer, so there are many vendors selling eggs, and the price of eggs is slightly cheaper than in other seasons.
Moreover, once winter arrives, heavy snow in the north will block the roads, and the canals in the south will occasionally freeze over, at which point fewer merchants and travelers will pass through Beiyang County.
Therefore, this is the best time to make money in this small business, and you can make a lot of money!
Ye Li gave him such a good business without charging a penny. Compared to that carpenter Wang, he was truly grateful and didn't know how to repay him.
Right now, Ye Li wants to partner with him in business.
He was too embarrassed to take more money!
Jiang Tong was genuinely keen on splitting the profits 30/70. Ye Li tried to persuade him a few more times, but he remained adamant, so Ye Li finally agreed.
The two then discussed some more details.
Since Ye Li had already designed the style and had the money, Jiang Tong took over the task of buying the bells. Ye Li didn't have to worry about anything else; she just had to wait for him to finish the finished products and deliver them.
Jiang Tong did his best, so Ye Li was relieved of his worries.
However, life in the countryside was really not fun. He was like a robot with a pre-programmed routine, repeating the same process every day.
Such days, such a life, truly seem predictable from beginning to end.
His only hope was that Jiang Ji would come home.
Jiang Tong delivered the nine finished wind chimes.
After Ye Liang sold all nine finished wind chimes.
The long eleven days have finally passed, and Jiang Ji is coming back.
The day before Jiang Ji returned, Ye Li went to the county town to buy the sacrificial offerings.
I also bought two baby roosters.
On the day Jiang Ji returned, one was stewed and the other was braised.
The stewed one was eaten by the whole family for dinner.
The braised one will be saved for tomorrow's grave visit.
Moreover, Jiang Ji also brought back the share of the drinks.
Bao Beiyuan knew what day it was tomorrow, so in the evening he delivered the account books for the past twenty days and the copper coins that Ye Li was owed to the private school, and had Jiang Ji take them back.
Bao Beiyuan himself was too busy to come over.
Moreover, in his mind, Ye Li was illiterate and could not understand the account books.
So he went to Jiang Ji.
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