48 Food or bamboo weaving?
What disaster happened in Suizhou that caused all the wealthy families in the city to flee...
Seeing her unhappy expression, Ye Yunzhao hurriedly comforted her, "Ah Sheng, don't cry. Now that you've reached the age of marriage, you can definitely learn some skills at the county school."
Zhuang Xue also echoed: "That's right."
Ah Sheng grabbed Ye Yunzhao's hand in disbelief: "Really?"
She smiled and said, "Of course I take it seriously."
It was lunch time now. Ye Yunzhao had thought that no one would come, so he heated up the dry food that Zhuang Xue had brought. With three of them, it was a little too little. There were very few vegetables in the county school, so it was not appropriate to go out to buy some and cook.
"Just have a simple lunch today, and I'll make you something delicious tomorrow."
As Ye Yunzhao spoke, he handed the mixed flour pancake that originally belonged to him to Ah Sheng.
The frail little girl stared at the mixed-flour pancake in Zhuang Xue's hand, swallowed hard, and casually wiped the corner of her mouth with her sleeve. "I'm not hungry. County Magistrate Ye, you eat it."
"Aren't you hungry?" Ye Yunzhao asked back.
Ah Sheng swallowed again and said, "No... I'm not hungry..."
Zhuang Xue couldn't help herself and stuffed all the mixed flour pancakes in her hand into Ah Sheng's arms, teasing:
"Hurry up and eat them! The mixed flour pancakes aren't good stuff, so why refuse? Take both of them and eat them!"
Ah Sheng was about to speak when Ye Yunzhao choked her, "Hurry up and eat. Xue Niang is right. You can learn some skills at the county school. Although there won't be any delicacies, just enjoy these simple foods!"
Only then did Ah Sheng feel relieved. He took the big mixed flour pancake and carefully put it into his mouth bit by bit.
During lunch, the two learned about Ah Sheng's life experience. It was a long story, but he was a poor man.
Ah Sheng has no father. His mother is a nanny in a wealthy merchant family named Wang in Suizhou. Although they are not rich, they are appreciated by the master and his wife, so the orphan and his widow live a relatively comfortable life.
But last year, a disaster happened in Suizhou, and Ah Sheng also fled with her mother. However, they had to sleep in the open air and were plagued by diseases. They died on the road to escape famine. At that time, they were only thirteen miles away from the wealthy Yuezhou City by a mountain road.
Ah Sheng, who was just fifteen years old, used the only two taels of silver left in her bag to make a coffin. Her mother was buried, but she had to sleep on the ground.
When her mother worked in the palace, the master gave her and her mother a surname. But after this ordeal, Wang Sheng changed her name to Ah Sheng.
Later, she followed the large group of people fleeing famine to Yuezhou City, and then traveled through mountains and rivers to Lingnan County. Fortunately, she was allocated a small piece of land in Lingnan County, and with the help of the people in Xixiang, she built a simple mud house, which was much better than her previous life of fleeing famine.
Zhuang Xue sighed after hearing this. She thought she was already extremely miserable before her death, but after hearing Ah Sheng's story, she was shocked to realize that each person was even more miserable than the other.
However, thanks to County Magistrate Ye's help, she was now living a good life, so she said, "Ah Sheng, don't worry. You will learn skills from County Magistrate Ye, and your life will definitely get better and better."
After hearing her words, a smile finally appeared on Ah Sheng's pitiful face.
Ye Yunzhao asked curiously, "A Sheng, do you know what happened in Suizhou?"
What disaster happened in Suizhou that caused all the wealthy families in the city to flee one after another...
Ah Sheng took a bite of the mixed-flour pancake in his hand and thought, "I don't know either. I just happened to hear mother talking about the master and the mistress discussing moving. It seemed like there was something about 'disaster' coming' or something like that..."
Ye Yunzhao understood: "Why didn't you move with them? Is it so urgent that you have to go alone?"
Ah Sheng shook his head: "No, no, no, Magistrate Ye, my mother and I left with the madam, but my mother is not feeling well... She has a cough... Slowly, we fell behind..."
Perhaps Ah Sheng was thinking of her own sad things again, and she looked a little sad. Ye Yunzhao then realized that the timing of his question was really inappropriate.
She quickly changed the subject: "Ah Sheng, what skills do you want to learn?"
Ah Sheng was stunned and asked, "Are there so many kinds of skills?"
Zhuang Xue also wanted to know the answer to the question she asked, and the two of them looked at Ye Yunzhao with curiosity and anticipation.
She smiled and said, "There are two options. One is to learn cooking from me, so that you can become a tradeswoman like Xue Niang in the future. The other is to learn bamboo weaving from Carpenter Sun, and save the money to sell at the market in Yuezhou City for money."
Before Ah Sheng could answer, Zhuang Xue asked in surprise, "Carpenter Sun from Xixiang? Carpenter Sun is coming too?"
Ye Yunzhao was startled by her reaction and asked in confusion, "Yes, what's wrong?"
Zhuang Xue blushed, feeling embarrassed to hide it from Ye Yunzhao: "County Magistrate Ye, when I was selling goods, I heard from others that Carpenter Sun from Xixiang did beautiful carpentry. I want to make a wooden bed for Chunhua..."
Ye Yunzhao then remembered the situation at the county government office. There were thirteen sturdy and durable wooden beds, all of which were currently occupied. The bed Zhuang Xue and Chunhua slept on had half a leg missing. Liu Mazi had earlier used flatter stones to fill it, but it still didn't feel very comfortable.
She asked, "That's easy to do. Carpenter Sun is a kind and gentle person. If you go to her home, she won't ask for a bad price. Don't worry."
Speaking of this, Zhuang Xue lowered her head lower and lower, wishing she could crawl into the ground. "I thought... let Carpenter Sun do the work first... I'll pay you back slowly..."
A wooden bed is indeed not cheap. In addition, when Zhuang Xue was selling her goods, many families bartered with her, exchanging grain for crystal cakes. As a result, the money she saved was even less.
However, Ye Yunzhao did not mention the matter of borrowing money without authorization. He only said, "Well... I don't know if Carpenter Sun is willing to do so. When she comes over in the next two days, you can just ask her."
Zhuang Xue nodded hurriedly. Ye Yunzhao turned sideways and said to Ah Sheng, "What do you want to learn?"
Ah Sheng said, "I'm learning... bamboo weaving..."
Ye Yunzhao smiled and nodded, then asked, "Carpenter Sun has had some family matters these past two days, so I'll teach you how to do the accounting first."
*
Arithmetic is difficult, but also easy.
Zhuang Xue sighed. Although she had learned to pick wild fruits and exchange them for money before, it was only three or five cents. Ye Yunzhao had repeatedly instructed her to learn how to make change from silver.
I thought it took me four or five days to figure it out, but I never expected that this little girl, Ah Sheng, could answer Ye Yunzhao's questions fluently in just one and a half days.
Ye Yunzhao was in a good mood, quite happy to be a teacher, so he asked Ah Sheng to follow Zhuang Xue to sell the goods, and specifically reminded her: "Xue Niang, you must not count the money when selling the goods today. Just let Ah Sheng count the money. If there are any mistakes, you can just remind them from the side."
Then he told Ah Sheng, "You can borrow Xue Niang's stall to try more. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. Remember what I told you yesterday..."
Ah Sheng answered first: "Bold but careful."
Ye Yunzhao put on an appearance of teachable young man, nodded with satisfaction, and saw the two off.
The next morning, the autumn wind was biting. Ah Sheng reluctantly emerged from the quilt, wrapped himself tightly in a thin shirt, and walked quickly towards the county government office against the morning breeze.
Maybe she came too early, the gate of the county government office was closed, and gusts of cold wind blew. Ah Sheng squatted behind the stone lion in front of the county government office, waiting for Zhuang Xue to come out.
After a while, she heard the gate of the county government office creak, which seemed a bit abrupt in the quiet street.
Ah Sheng quickly emerged from behind the stone lion and quickly stepped onto the steps of the county government office.
Zhuang Xue, who was closing the door, turned around when she heard the sound and saw Ah Sheng, who was freezing cold. She was stunned: "Ah Sheng?"
Ah Sheng smiled as he took Zhuang Xue's shoulder pole and made a move to pick it up: "Xue Niang."
Zhuang Xue hurriedly stopped her and looked at her small figure: "Why are you here? Didn't I tell you yesterday that I would call you when I got to Xixiang?"
Ah Sheng said, "How can that be? I heard from County Magistrate Ye that you always go to Dongxiang first. Why bother asking me to make an extra trip? Besides, I'm already taking advantage of you by following you to peddle..."
If she learns the skills of hawking and bargaining before learning the skills, it will naturally be beneficial to her.
Ah Sheng understood this principle.
Zhuang Xue added, "What's the big deal if I run one more trip or one less trip? You're really cold coming so early."
She looked at Ah Sheng's clothes and said, "Wait here first."
She looked at Zhuang Xue in confusion as she disappeared into the gate of the county government office again. A moment later, Zhuang Xue wrapped her in a not-so-thick coat. Ah Sheng then realized that Zhuang Xue had gone to get her some warm clothes.
Zhuang Xue was half-crouching and about to put the carrying pole on her shoulder when she suddenly remembered something. She nodded at the large wooden barrel at the front of the pole and said, "Take out two of the mixed flour cakes in there."
Ah Sheng obediently lifted the cloth on the wooden barrel and saw bamboo knives, washed chopstick leaves, and some odds and ends she didn't recognize inside. In a corner, there were several mixed-flour pancakes stacked together and tied together by Zhuang Xue with chopstick leaves.
Ah Sheng reached out and delicately took out two eggs. Zhuang Xue then said, "Put out the two eggs next to them too."
She took it out obediently and handed the warm and firm mixed-wheat pancake and the slightly scalding boiled egg to Zhuang Xue.
Zhuang Xue took a piece of mixed-wheat pancake and a boiled egg, carefully put the boiled egg into her arms, bit the mixed-wheat pancake, bent down and kept the carrying pole balanced with both hands, and used some skill to lift the carrying pole.
After freeing her hands, Zhuang Xue raised her left hand to take out the mixed-flour pancake she was chewing. While chewing, she said, "The eggs were sent by County Magistrate Ye last night."
She looked at Ah Sheng who was standing there in a daze and said with a smile, "Why don't you eat? Aren't you hungry after getting up so early?"
Ah Sheng then realized how starving she was. She touched the hot mixed-wheat bread and eggs, quickly followed Zhuang Xue, and said foolishly, "Are these precious eggs for me too?"
Zhuang Xue smiled and said, "Of course. County Magistrate Ye is very kind. She raised a few hens and let me eat them several times. She brought two more last night, which is perfect for us to have one each."
Eggs are extremely precious. Ordinary people are reluctant to eat them and save them every day to sell at the market.
Zhuang Xue looked down at the egg in her hand and handed it to her again: "Xue Niang, I don't want to eat it. You can keep it for sister Chunhua."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
