Chapter 25 What vegetables are sold
Lingnan City should have planned in advance which trees to cut down and to what extent.
There were also supervisors on site, and the scene was very busy but orderly.
The scale of it shocked the three of them.
Before they came, they had thought that there would be a lot of people here, but they never imagined there would be so many people.
At the foot of the mountain in front of us, we saw a dark mass at a glance, and it was roughly estimated that there were two to three thousand people.
Sang Xingjia opened his mouth wide, his face filled with astonishment: "Why are there so many people?"
Sang Yongjing was equally surprised and shook his head slightly. He didn't know why, but he was more worried about something else: "With so many people here, will we still be able to find work?"
"Definitely." Sang Yu was very sure.
Just by looking at the strong laborers carrying bundles of firewood on their backs and walking, she knew that productivity in that era was quite low and labor was cheaper than livestock.
In this situation, there are never enough people, the more the better.
Sure enough, when the father and son walked in front of an inspector, without waiting for them to explain their purpose, the inspector skillfully picked up a pen and began to register.
You don't need to register too detailed information, just your name.
The inspector first took out a wooden plaque with a number from a box at hand, and then wrote the number after the name.
He raised his hand and threw the wooden sign to them: "Here, take the sign and bring it with you to collect your wages in the evening. If you lose the sign, we will recognize the sign and not you."
Chopping wood is not an easy job. Some people come the day and not the next day. Not only is the registration cumbersome, but paying wages is also a hassle.
Gradually it evolved into what it is today, where each person has a badge and gets paid based on the badge after a day's work.
This situation where only brands are recognized and no one is named does make things convenient for them, but it also gave rise to a group of refugees who make a living by robbery.
Relying on their strong physique, they saunter through the crowd every day, looking for unfamiliar faces or people who look easy to bully.
Just when they finished their work and were about to get paid, a group of people surrounded them, snatched the wooden sign and pretended to be paid.
The Inspectors are not unaware of this matter, but as long as the matter is not brought to their attention, they will turn a blind eye and pretend not to see it.
After all, those people secretly put a lot of money into their pockets.
The Sang father and son, who were looking forward to making money, knew nothing about this. After they registered and received their badges, they followed the inspector's instructions to find the foreman to do the work.
There are far more kinds of work here than Sang Yu had expected. It's not just cutting trees, splitting wood, and transporting it. Not far away, there is an earthen kiln emitting black smoke and burning charcoal.
She did not accompany the father and son. When they suffered on their own, they would know how difficult it was to make money by chopping wood, and they would naturally give up.
She had observed carefully from a high place and saw a simple thatched hut not far from the busy crowd.
It was originally supposed to be used to temporarily store firewood and then make charcoal after drying, but now it has become a residence for refugees.
Next to the shed, there were many people sitting cross-legged on the ground with various items placed in front of them. I guess they were setting up stalls.
She made her way through the crowd and soon arrived at the shed.
Before anyone arrived, a pungent odor wafted into her nose. The smell of urine, feces and sweat mixed together and fermented into an indescribable smell under the high temperature.
In just a second, Sang Yu was moved to tears by the smoke. She pinched her nose and walked around the shed to where the stall was set up.
Most of the people setting up stalls here are young people, and even women are rarely seen. I don’t know whether they are doing other jobs to make a living or hiding away.
With Sang Yu's current age and appearance, it is not out of place for her to appear here. She carries a basket woven with cattail leaves and slowly walks through the stalls.
The supplies here were much richer than she had imagined. There were people selling not only oil and salt, but also needles, thread, and scraps of cloth.
Although the quantity was not large, all the necessities of life that one could think of could be found here. Sang Yu even saw a few people selling alcohol.
Judging from the several large wine jars behind them, their business seems to be quite good.
There were also people like her who brought food to sell, including dried fruits picked up from the forest, edible wild vegetables, rabbits caught in traps, and so on.
Humans are creatures that can adapt to the environment quickly, living off the land and the water.
The things they sell may not be available every day, but as long as they can find them, they will never keep them for themselves. They will sell them directly for money or exchange them for things they need.
Sang Yu walked from one end of the stall to the other, and already had an idea of the items being sold and their prices. She walked back with her basket and found an empty seat to sit down.
If you just take things to exchange for oil and salt, people may not necessarily want them, but if you take money to buy them, you will definitely be able to buy them.
She planned to sell the cattails she had brought with her. She had just observed that most of the stalls selling wild vegetables sold them in piles, at one cent per pile.
She followed suit, took off the leaves covering the basket and spread them on the ground, then divided the cattails in the basket into five equal parts.
If she could sell them all, she would get five cents.
The appearance of the cattail is quite good, and it looks somewhat similar to lotus root nodes. Soon someone came over to ask the price.
"What kind of food are you selling? How do you eat it? How much is it?"
Sang Yu looked up and saw a girl of about eleven or twelve years old standing in front of him.
Her facial features were not remarkable, she had freckles on her cheeks, she had two pigtails, and her clothes had several patches on them. It seemed that she had lived here for quite some time.
"This is cattail. You can eat it raw, stir-fry it, or make it into soup. It costs a penny a bunch."
As soon as the words fell, the girl's face frowned: "So expensive?"
Sang Yu didn't bring much water chestnuts today. After dividing it into five portions, each portion looked even smaller, far less than the wild vegetables that other people brought for the same price of one penny.
The girl immediately lost interest and turned to leave, but was stopped by Sang Yu.
"Miss, my portion is indeed not much, but it tastes much better than wild vegetables and is easier to eat and fill you up. Why don't you try it?"
Sang Yu has eaten wild vegetables before, and he knows which wild vegetables taste good and which wild vegetables don’t have a bitter taste.
"Easy to eat?" The girl paused and looked at her suspiciously: "Really?"
If given a choice, who wouldn't want to eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks? But there's only so much money, and if you spend it on food and drink, you won't have it for anything else.
Her younger sister's underwear had been torn for half a month and still hadn't been mended. She also had to ask someone to bring her mother's medicine from the city. Money was needed everywhere, so she could only save on food.
Although wild vegetables are not very tasty, you can buy a bunch of them for one penny, which is enough for a family to eat for two days. Can this cattail really make people full?
Sang Yu reached out and took out a tender white one from the pile of cattails in front of her and handed it to her: "Try it, it's free."
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