Chapter 147 Inquiry
The village head was about to leave when he turned around and met Manbao's eyes. He couldn't help but pause and asked, "Is this your little girl?"
Manbao raised his little face and smiled sweetly at him, and the headman also smiled subconsciously.
Old Zhou responded with a worried look on his face, pulled Manbao over, and whispered, "Call the village chief grandpa."
Manbao called out crisply, "Hello, Village Chief Grandpa!"
The village head couldn't help but smile, his wrinkles all piled up. He stretched out his dry hand, touched her little head and said with a smile: "Okay, okay..."
The village head led his men away to collect money from the next house. Manbao touched her little head and looked up to ask her father, "Why do so many people like to touch my head?"
Manbao's hair was fluffy because the weather was getting colder and she hadn't had a haircut for several months. Her hair was almost covering her ears and was soft. Upon hearing this, Old Zhoutou touched her head and said with a smile, "Because our Manbao is so cute."
Manbao was happy now, smiled, and turned around to see Zhou Silang off.
Zhou Silang packed all his clothes, and Xiao Qianshi even made him two pairs of thick shoes. Manbao packed him a bag full of candy and said, "Fourth brother, if you're hungry, just eat some candy. Don't worry, I'll have my eldest brother and the others come find you tomorrow and make you some meat soup. But I think ginger soup is better than meat soup, so I'll make you some ginger soup."
"No!" Zhou Silang said without hesitation, "Third brother has meat soup to drink, but I can only drink ginger soup?"
It's not like he hasn't had it before, and it's not tasty at all.
Manbao coaxed him like a child, "Fourth brother, ginger soup can dispel cold. Big brother said that to build a dam, you have to stand in the water. Besides, ginger is more expensive than meat."
Zhou Silang: "I prefer to eat cheap food, not expensive food."
Manbao pondered the taste of the ginger soup and nodded in agreement. What a coincidence, she felt the same way.
Zhou Silang was going to gather on that day and go to Jiangding Village with other able-bodied men in the village. It was said that the county government had already bought a batch of materials and construction would start tomorrow.
Jiangding Village is not far from Qili Village, at least closer than the county town, but it is in the opposite direction of the county town. It takes about four minutes to walk upstream along the water to reach it.
Qili Village is a small village with only about 60 households, so the head of the village is from Dali Village. He is in charge of the 60 households here and the 30 households in Dali Village. Dali Village is considered a large village, with two head of the village alone. That is why the big markets of several nearby villages are held in Dali Village.
The situation in Jiangding Village is similar to that in Dali Village. There are about a hundred households in the village, which are directly managed by a village head. Several small villages nearby are also accustomed to going to the market in Jiangding Village to trade.
Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang went to see the broken dam in advance. It was three miles upstream from Jiangding Village. There were no houses there, and naturally no one selling things.
However, Zhou Erlang felt that if they set up the stall here, people would definitely follow because it was too close to Jiangding Village.
By then, they may not have the advantage.
So the two brothers discussed it and decided to build a thatched hut not far from the river bank. It would not only be convenient for them to do business, but also give them a good location. They could even sleep here at night to guard their things.
Anyway, it’s not very cold now, so they think it’s okay.
The brothers who had already done the Laoding business once were very confident in this business, so they were not as hesitant as they were in the previous year.
Old Zhou and Mrs. Qian didn't stop them and let them go.
So Manbao took Zhou Dalang with him to discuss with him, "Brother, ginger soup is better than meat soup. Do you want to make some? We can sell it to you at a low price."
Zhou Dalang was surprised, "We still need to buy more."
"Of course," Manbao said matter-of-factly, "Fourth Brother still owes money to the family. If you don't buy it, what if all the ginger in the field is eaten up? How will he pay the debt?"
Zhou Dalang thought about it and felt that what she said made sense. Thinking that it didn't take much ginger to make a pot of ginger soup, he nodded and said, "Okay, how much do you want to sell it to us?"
"I asked Fourth Brother, and he said thirty cents would be enough."
Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang had no objection at all. After all, the money was given to the fourth brother, and the fourth brother still had to give it back to his family. It was just a transfer of money.
So don’t even mention thirty cents, forty cents will do.
As for the money that Lao Wu and the others had… Zhou Dalang looked around, picked up Manbao, and asked quietly, "Manbao, tell me quietly, big brother, how much money did Lao Wu and the others deposit with you?"
Manbao covered his mouth and whimpered, "I promised them not to tell you."
"You tell big brother quietly, big brother won't tell."
Manbao couldn't help but take his hand away and said, "Master said that if a secret gets through to the ears of a third person, it's no longer a secret, so I won't tell you."
Zhou Dalang: “…”
If you don’t want to tell him, then don’t tell him. He will know it in one or two years anyway.
The reason why Zhou Dalang wanted to know the money that Zhou Wulang and the others had saved was because Old Zhou said that after they finished this labor service, their family would build a new house and start arranging a marriage for the fourth son.
After all, he is an adult now, and getting married will allow him to take on the responsibility of a family.
This year was unexpectedly smooth. The family made money much faster than in previous years, so there was still enough money to build a house. However, there might still be a little short of money for the fourth child to get married.
Zhou Dalang thought about these things, and went to Jiangding Village with Zhou Erlang and Zhou Sanlang to reserve a location, set up a simple thatched hut, and then planned to open the business.
Those who served last year and bought their soup and vegetables knew what they were doing at first glance, but a large number of them still didn't know.
Even the yamen runners who came to supervise the work came up to ask curiously. When they heard that Zhou Dalang was going to do business here, they couldn't help but laugh, "He's all laboring, what kind of business is this?"
Zhou Dalang laughed and said, "It's just hot soup for everyone. It's not worth much. The weather is getting cold, and everyone is standing in the water to work, so I made some meat soup and ginger soup to keep everyone away from the cold. My brother is also here."
"Oh? Which one?"
Zhou Dalang pointed Zhou Silang to them. The yamen runners couldn't help laughing when they saw him. "So this slick-tongued fellow is your brother? I'm familiar with him. He often comes to our area to sell ginger. So, you have so much ginger that you can't eat it all, and you bring it here to make soup?"
Zhou Silang's main hawking locations were the officials' quarters near the county government office and the wealthy quarters next door. He would hang around these two places almost every day, so of course the yamen runners knew him.
Although they don't live there, they have their office there, and those two areas are also the main patrol areas, okay?
So after a few interactions, they not only knew each other, but also became familiar with each other.
Zhou Silang was very eloquent and had become friends with many people during this period of time. So when he came to serve and met these acquaintances, he was directly assigned to move stones and shovel soil on the shore.
(End of this chapter)
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