Chapter 34 Chapter 34 Selling Fans
After the excitement, life will always return to being quiet and ordinary, and most days are dull and ordinary.
At the end of the first month, Father Fan had already carried a hoe to the field to loosen the soil. He went out early and came back late every day. As soon as the weather got warmer, he would plant seeds and start spring plowing.
After the New Year pig was slaughtered at home, the pen was empty, so Chen bought two more piglets from the family who had brought them home and raised them in the pen so that they would have something to look forward to at the end of the year.
The bellies of the two female rabbits in the rabbit shed were getting bigger day by day.
There are many chickens and ducks at home, and they need to eat a lot of food every day.
Chen wanted to catch two and sell them in the city, but the chickens and ducks were laying eggs. Now she could pick up four chickens and three ducks in a day, a total of seven eggs.
We are so reluctant to eat eggs at home these days that we have saved up quite a few.
It was certainly nice to have chickens and ducks to eat, and the two girls were happy too.
There is only one annoying thing, that is, there are too many poultry, and they just poop in the yard, making the whole place very dirty.
The two girls were responsible for sweeping the floor. They would sweep the floor clean before going out in the day, but when they brought home a basket of grass, the floor would be covered with a lot of feces and urine again, and they almost had to be left alone.
Qiao'er was so angry that she drove all the chickens and ducks out of the yard and told them to let them go outside.
Seeing this, Kang He found some wood and expanded the poultry shed at home. He and Fan Jing cleaned up the backyard and fenced off an area for the poultry to eat and live.
In this way, the chickens and ducks will not run to the front yard and the house, leaving poop everywhere and making the two girls busy. It is much better to keep them in one place and clean up regularly than to chase them around and shovel their poop.
Chen also thought it was a good idea and was even more reluctant to sell the poultry.
That day, Chen was at the edge of the courtyard, using a small stick to dig up some of the soil in a broken pottery jar, and saw that the rhizomes of the konjac that had been cut off earlier were beginning to emerge.
She was so happy that she went to find Kang He and asked him, "Does your previous promise to me to clear a piece of land to grow konjac still stand?"
“How can it not count?”
Seeing that Chen was still thinking about this matter, Kang He spoke to her seriously.
Kang He said this before not out of pure deception, but because he really had this in mind, but he hadn't thought it through carefully yet.
The few baskets of konjac that our family brought back from the mountains were all sold out at the end of the year when the price was good.
Chen Sanfang also became honest and told Fan Jing and Kang He that she earned nearly five hundred yuan from selling konjac tofu.
Kang He did a quick calculation and figured out that it was roughly this number, which showed how sincere she was.
He and Fan Jing did not ask for the money, and let her keep it for household expenses.
Chen had tasted the sweetness of selling konjac and tofu, and always wanted to continue this business. However, after Kanghe mentioned it once before, he never mentioned it again. Now, seeing that the konjac that was temporarily planted in the frame jars had sprouted, she couldn't help but feel anxious.
But she didn't dare to make a hasty decision. The Fan family only had a few acres of land, which was a bit tight for growing vegetables and crops. How could she dare to set aside a piece to grow konjac?
At night, the family discussed this matter.
Father Fan sat cross-legged on the bamboo couch, swishing a mouthful of leftover wine from the banquet. He said, "If an acre of land isn't used to grow grain, but instead grows something else, the tax you pay will be in cash instead of grain. An acre of land is supposed to pay five hundred cash a year. I heard from the village head that this year's price is the same as last year."
If you pay for land, there is one good thing: if you have a good harvest this year, you will still only pay the land tax for one acre of land.
But the bad thing is that if there is a natural disaster this year and the harvest is poor, there will be no reduction or exemption, and you will still have to pay the same amount of land tax.
But if you grow grain and pay for grain production, you have to pay 30% of the grain for one acre of land, and the advantages and disadvantages are the opposite of paying money.
Of course, there were also people who wanted to take advantage of loopholes, thinking that they would wait until the autumn harvest to see how good the harvest was before deciding whether to pay money or grain.
When Father Fan was young, it was still possible to do so. Later, the court changed the laws, and now it is time to decide whether to pay money or grain during the spring sowing season.
Before the spring plowing, the village head would come to inquire and record the situation, and during the autumn harvest, he would collect the grain and money according to the rules.
There are some people who still collude with the village head to take advantage of loopholes, but it depends on who they are. For a family like theirs, the village head will certainly not make concessions.
Kang He knew what Fan's father was worried about. The family had never grown kudzu before, and they were afraid that if they didn't grow it well, they wouldn't be able to harvest anything. Not only would they not be able to fill the tax hole, but they would also have wasted an acre of land growing food, which would mean the family wouldn't have enough rice to eat.
Furthermore, even if the crops are grown, the market is volatile and who knows whether they will be sellable or not, or whether they can be sold at all.
The Fan family is financially poor and dares not make mistakes easily.
But Kang He always felt that if he didn't take the risk to try and do it, he would only be able to live in poverty with only a few acres of thin land for the rest of his life.
"Dad is an elder in the village. He must know what day each household in our village has. Those families in the village who are doing well, you see, are doing well for no reason. There must be a lot of planning and management behind the scenes. There must be someone daring enough in the family."
"There's no such thing as a completely profitable business. If there were, it wouldn't be for people like us. Only by gritting our teeth and taking risks can we possibly escape from our hard times."
"I can also continue to look for konjac on the mountain. This way, I won't have to occupy my family's land. The reason mountain products are called mountain products is because they are hard to find. One day you're lucky and you can find them, but tomorrow you're unlucky and you can't find them. If you want to make money, growing them at home is the safest way."
Chen took Kang He's words to heart and felt that what he said made a lot of sense.
Not to mention this village, even in the village where she was born and raised, there was a family surnamed Li. They were very poor originally, and the two brothers only had one pair of good pants to change.
Later, he was so poor that he risked his life to borrow money and start a peddler business. Who knew that he would be able to escape from poverty? During those years when conscription was very severe, he paid money again and again, but was never drafted into the battlefield.
If they hadn't taken the risk of borrowing money to do things, I'm afraid the two brothers would have been dragged to the battlefield and never come back.
After listening for a long time, Father Fan was deeply moved. He glanced at Fan Jing, who had been silent the whole time, and seeing that his brother had no intention of speaking, he guessed that he had already followed Kang He's instructions on everything.
After a moment's silence, he said, "Let's give it a try. We'll open up half an acre of land this year and give it a try. If it doesn't work, at worst we'll have to live a little tighter next year, but we won't have to go broke."
Since Father Fan said so, the whole family was happy and the matter was settled.
In the next few days, Chen was very hardworking and went to the fields with Father Fan every day.
Kang He went to check a few times and saw that Father Fan had loosened a piece of soil in the field on the south side where a few peach trees were growing.
Fan Shoulin told him that it was not that he was reluctant to use the good land for farming.
Although he had never grown konjac, he thought that this taro-like thing must have many similarities in cultivation.
Taro cannot tolerate waterlogging, and the fruits are buried in the soil, unlike beans and rice that grow outside. The large, swollen fruits will inevitably rot if soaked in water for a long time. The same is true for konjac.
This is a small slope and water is not likely to accumulate here.
But the difference between kudzu and taro is that taro likes light, while kudzu has to be dug up from the mountains.
Konjac thrives in the mountains, where it dislikes strong sunlight. Planting it in a semi-shaded environment like a fruit tree, surrounded by trees where fallen leaves rot and serve as fertilizer, can mimic a mountain environment.
As for other things, he would have to try them out before he could slowly figure out the tricks.
"Dad, you are really good at farming."
After hearing these tips, Kang He praised them sincerely.
Father Fan took a sip of the tea in his water bag and said with a smile, "I may not be very good at other things, but I do have some ideas about farming. We only have a few acres of land at home. If I didn't have some experience in farming in my heart, how could I feed so many mouths?"
Although Fan Jing subsidized the family, the family rarely had extra money to buy rice in recent years. The few acres of land in Fan Shoulin's hands, the grain grown from it had paid taxes, and if they were frugal, it was still enough for the family to eat, and they could also raise pigs and poultry.
In a good year, there is still some left to sell for money. Even in a year of famine, the harvest from the fields is always better than that of other families.
Many times, farmers in the village would come to ask him when and how to plant seeds.
How could he like to go out and drink with others if he didn't have something to talk about? He didn't even have anything to talk about. Was he really just going to drink in vain?
Even though he had some skills in farming, his land was not much, and even if he could grow flowers, he could not be as good as those people in the village who had 20 or 30 acres of land.
Kang He knew that Father Fan had good knowledge of farming, so he felt more at ease about the affairs in the fields.
As the weather got warmer, snow-capped mountaintops could sometimes be seen. He estimated that it would not be long before the snow on the top of the mountain melted, and then he and Fan Jing would go up the mountain again.
Before entering the mountains, Kanghe took out the dry powder he had made before the New Year and prepared to make vermicelli.
Pueraria root seeds produced 18 kilograms of powder, and fern roots produced 12 kilograms. Hundreds of kilograms of roots only produced this little bit, and it was autumn and winter, the best time for roots to produce powder. If it were spring and summer, the amount would be even less.
Aside from the gifts I gave to relatives during the New Year, I still have 15 kilograms of kudzu starch left on hand. Fern starch is even more valuable, so I didn't bear to give it to anyone other than my closest relatives, so I still have 11 kilograms left.
Kang He packed up and prepared a gourd ladle with a hole in it, a basin of cold water, and a bamboo pole.
Making powder is a tedious and delicate job. First, you have to mix the kudzu root powder with cold water to make a paste. Then slowly add it into boiling water at a ratio of about one pound of powder to five pounds of water. While stirring, the powder will be cooked by the heat and turn into a translucent paste. Then let it stand.
Then boil water in a large pot, pour the batter into the boiling water through the hole of the gourd ladle. At the same time, use chopsticks to stir the vermicelli when it is shaped to prevent it from sticking together.
When the vermicelli is cooked and floats on the water, take it out and put it into a basin of cold water. After rinsing, drain it and finally hang it on a pole to dry.
Kang He hadn't made vermicelli for a long time, so he was a little unfamiliar with it at first. He had to shake it evenly with one hand to keep the vermicelli of the same thickness, and then he had to stir the vermicelli in the pot to prevent it from sticking.
I was a little flustered for a while because I was not familiar with it.
Fortunately, there were two maids, Zhen'er and Qiao'er, to help. Qiao'er saw that the work was so delicate and her hands were a little clumsy, so she didn't dare to go to the stove easily, so she helped to light the fire.
Zhen'er was steady and composed. She poured the batter evenly into the gourd ladle for Kanghe in front of the stove. She watched Kanghe fry the flour. After watching him a few times, she got the hang of it and could even help fry it.
Fan Jing was chopping wood outside and came in frequently to get water. He didn't say anything, just glanced at me and went out to get some more wood.
When Chen and Father Fan came back from the fields, a pole of flour was already hanging on the bamboo pole in the yard.
Chen Sanfang put down his hoe and basket and walked over to look at the shiny vermicelli hanging there, how strange it was.
"How did this come about?"
Father Fan was also curious and raised his hand to pinch some powder. Before his hand even touched the powder, Chen slapped him in the face: "Don't dirty the powder with that muddy hand of yours."
When they entered the house, they saw steam billowing from the kitchen. Two maids were helping Kang He, and the three of them were making the flour very well.
Chen Sanfang stood at one end and watched for a while, then smacked his lips and said, "For a job like this, it's a blessing that you have the patience."
After saying that, she went to wash her hands, and she was eager to try her hand at it and learn how to do it.
With Chen's help, they made noodles for a whole day. By the evening, they had cooked all the kudzu powder into vermicelli.
Although Kang He and Chen took turns shaking the batter into the pot in the afternoon, he was still the one who did it most of the day. When he returned to the room in the middle of the night, his right hand was so sore that he could hardly lift it.
When he was having dinner, he felt a little shaky when picking up vegetables and shoveling rice, but he still insisted on getting the remaining few pounds of kudzu starch out.
Take advantage of the sunny days these days to make the flour early so that it can be dried. In late winter and early spring, the weather is changeable. When it is sunny, it can be like February or March, and when it rains, it can be like the middle of winter in the twelfth lunar month.
I finished making kudzu powder today, and I have more than ten pounds of fern powder to make tomorrow.
Kang He saw Fan Jing fiddling with hemp rope under the oil lamp at one end. They were busy today and neither of them had a chance to exchange a few words.
He leaned over, trying to act coquettishly and curry favor with her: "My wrist hurts so much, and you didn't even offer to rub it for me. Instead, you're just rubbing the twine so vigorously."
Fan Jing raised his eyelids and glanced at him. After a moment of silence, he put down the twine in his hand and pulled his big hand over.
Just as Jiang Jiang was pinching his wrist, Kang He's neck tilted and he cried out in pain.
"Are you going to twist my wrist off?"
Kang He's teeth ached so much that he even hid away with his hands in his hands.
Fan Jing frowned, thinking that this person's flesh must be cat meat, which would be like this if he touched it lightly.
He said nothing, turned around and left the room.
"Where are you going?"
Kang He shouted at the man's back, but no one answered him.
Not long after, the man came back.
In his hand, he held a jar: "Medicinal wine for rubbing."
"Where did you get the medicinal wine?"
Fan Jing didn't answer Kang He's question. From outside the house, Fan's father's heart-wrenching voice came first: "Da Jing, don't use up all the wine for me. That's a good wine soaked with a lot of medicinal herbs. I can't bear to drink it!"
After hearing this, Kang He's eyes widened: "You took Dad's wine!"
Fan Jing hummed and pulled his hand over.
He poured some wine into his palm and rubbed it on Kang He's wrist, rubbing it carefully until the oily skin became warm.
Kang He smelled the scent of angelica, safflower and Panax notoginseng in the wine, and it seemed that several medicinal herbs were added to it.
He lowered his eyes to see how carefully Fan Jing was wiping him, and felt happy, thinking that he still felt sorry for him after all.
After wiping his wrist, Fan Jing did not return the medicinal wine to Fan's father, but left it in the house, preparing to give it to Kang He tomorrow.
The next day, Kanghe made fern root powder again.
The method is the same as that of making kudzu powder. Although my hands hurt, with the experience of yesterday, it was much easier. I made all the fern powder before the evening.
The vermicelli made a day earlier has already dried and taken shape. When you break it gently, it is crispy but also has some toughness. It is made quite well.
About two days later, Kang He gathered some hemp ropes and tied the vermicelli into bundles weighing about one pound.
I weighed it at home, and found that one pound of flour produces about one pound of vermicelli. Kudzu vermicelli weighs four ounces more than flour, while the weight of kudzu vermicelli is not much different from the original flour.
Early that morning, Kang He wrapped the vermicelli in clean linen, put it in a very good box and took it to the county.
Kang He didn't go anywhere else, but went to the Ge's dry goods store in Maoerxiang that he often visited.
"It's been a while since I last saw you, little brother. I thought you weren't coming to my house anymore."
When the shopkeeper saw Kang He coming, he greeted him with a smile.
"Although I haven't been here for a while, when my family had a New Year's party and my family went out to buy ingredients, I told them to come to this shop to buy them."
Kang He said as he took out a basket of fresh vegetables from his backpack. "I came over from home early this morning. The newly grown flat cabbage looked tender, so I cut two bunches and brought them to the store. I also got a few stalks of celery. I figured with their business, they wouldn't be short of a few vegetables, so I just wanted to try some fresh vegetables."
"How can this be so embarrassing? Not to mention the value of the vegetables, your kindness is worth more than a thousand gold coins!"
The shopkeeper saw that the vegetables in the basket were really fresh and tender, as if they had just been picked from the ground, but there was no dirt on them, and it was obvious that they had been washed clean in advance.
Kang He felt relieved when he saw that the store was willing to accept the product.
He said, "I didn't come here just to deliver a basket of vegetables to the store. I have some goodies for the store."
Hearing this, the shopkeeper asked, "Are you selling powder again? The powder you sent me earlier was selling very well. The men and women who came to the shop all said it was clean and fragrant."
"You're not sure. This stuff of mine is better than powder."
After saying that, Kang He didn't keep the secret any longer. Instead, he picked up the box and placed it in front of the shopkeeper to show him.
The shopkeeper was also very curious about what Kanghe had delivered. He even opened the box and saw that it was wrapped in linen, which made it look very good.
After removing the cloth, I could see what was inside.
"Alas! What a fate I have today!"
The shopkeeper took out a handful of vermicelli and looked at it with great delight, then at the other handful: "Brother Kang, where did you get all these vermicelli?"
Kang He said, "I had some vermicelli on hand earlier but didn't have time to sell it. I was free during the first month of the lunar year, so I made some vermicelli. I'm bringing it here today to show the store if it's acceptable."
"Why can't I accept it? I'm very confident in the things you brought!"
The shopkeeper said this and then whispered to Kang He, "The vermicelli in my shop was sold out during the last few days of the year, and I haven't been able to restock it since.
Yesterday, Luo, a famous chef in the city, came to the shop asking for vermicelli. He said that Mr. Jiang from the west side of the city had asked him to prepare a banquet and specifically requested vermicelli stewed with free-range chicken. The wife of the wealthy Hu family chef in Ganxiang has also come several times to ask if they have vermicelli. Her master has to attend banquets one after another during the first month of the lunar year, and when he gets tired of meat, he likes to eat something refreshing and refreshing. He's craving vermicelli with vinegar, but it's hard to find anywhere.
He was also happy to see Kang He send his fans to him, otherwise he would not have easily said these words to others.
Kang He felt relieved when he saw that these fans had a place to go.
The price of dry goods is high, and if they are not easy to sell, the shop will not waste money on them.
"I'm just a country boy, and I don't know much about these things. I just know that if I see something good, I'll take it to someone I know to have a look."
“It works, it works!”
The shopkeeper said it twice. Although he said that it was safe to bring the things, it was because of the reputation he had received from the noodles he had delivered before.
However, the vermicelli was more expensive than the price of the vermicelli. As a businessman, he did not dare to be careless easily. He checked the vermicelli carefully and only felt relieved after finding out that there was no fake.
"Brother Lai Kang saw my vermicelli last time and told you the price. You're a regular here, so I won't lie to you. The kudzu vermicelli is 110 coins per jin, and the fern vermicelli is 150 coins per jin."
The shopkeeper said sincerely, "The more expensive the item, the more profit the shop will make. For items that are so cheap, the profit will be even smaller. You won't be able to get it at my price anywhere else."
Kang He actually trusted this shop owner, having dealt with him several times before.
Furthermore, if he wanted to lower the price, he would not tell him that someone's master wanted to eat this thing again, which would make the fans seem very popular and increase people's expectations for this thing.
"I'm always straightforward. Whatever price you tell me is what I'll give you."
The shopkeeper was pleased to see that he didn't insist on bargaining, and even went to get a scale.
The weight of kudzu starch vermicelli was 13 jin, and the weight of fern starch vermicelli was 9 jin, both of which were integers.
Kang He nodded. This was the weight he weighed before leaving, and he also kept some for himself at home.
After a family has worked hard, they always want to have some left for themselves. External things are good, and dry goods are durable. If you keep some at home in case you need to give something to someone, you won’t have to rummage through all the boxes and drawers to find nothing presentable.
So thirteen pounds of vermicelli earned one string and four hundred and thirty coins, and vermicelli with fern starch earned one string and three hundred and fifty coins, for a total of two strings and seven hundred and eighty coins.
The innkeeper weighed out two taels and five qian of silver and gave me two hundred and eighty loose copper coins for the remainder.
In addition to the money, he also gave Kanghe a bag of ingredients as a bonus, which contained star anise, cinnamon, peppercorns and so on.
"It does make money."
After leaving the shop, Fan Jing finally spoke a word.
Kang He said, "Don't you see how many processes it took to get this price?"
Fan Jing also agreed with what Kang He said, and he went all over the mountains to find the roots and dug them out, then he worked hard to get the powder, and after some more trouble, he finally got a bunch of fans. Who wouldn't say it was tedious?
It is precisely because of its complexity that it can be sold at a high price. Otherwise, how could it be sold at such a low price per pound?
Kang He had some extra money, so he went for a stroll around the city.
I bought a dime of good lamb wine from Father Fan, a piece of spring cloth from Chen, and a living box each for the two maids Zhen'er and Qiao'er.
This daily necessities box is so nice, it contains perfume, soap beans, tooth powder, toothbrush, and body cream... The young lady said that almost every girl and boy in the city has one, and even if they don't have one, they will find ways to save money to buy one.
Kang He felt that the young lady in the store was bragging, but he thought it was indeed convenient. He thought that the two girls were growing up, and girls naturally loved beauty, so they must like these things.
"Or I'll buy you one."
Kang and Fan Jingdao.
"What am I going to do with it?"
"It's not like we don't shower. You always use willow branches to rinse your mouth and brush your teeth. Be careful not to scratch your mouth. It's not as effective as this special toothbrush."
"Besides, I think the ointment smells really good. Don't you think it's fragrant? It has a jasmine scent, which makes me feel more relaxed and sleepier at night."
Seeing this, Fan Jing said, "Just pick up two toothbrushes, and a box of tooth powder will be enough. If you find the ointment fragrant, you can use it yourself."
Kang He hummed, "If I want to use it, I'll use it. It smells good to both of us anyway."
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