Chapter 37 Chapter 37 Waer is here.
Although this is a long-term business, Wang Dianji obviously wants to make use of the uniqueness of this product. If it is reported in the future that the preserved egg is the only one in the world, it will be of no benefit to her, a country girl who only knows this recipe.
Or perhaps the price was inflated, but she signed the deed, and the Gan family was the ultimate beneficiary;
Or if she arouses the jealousy of thieves who come to steal the recipe, the Gan family may protect her, but she cannot rely entirely on others for her safety, as this would give them an advantage.
She thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "I can't lie to Wang Dianji. This is a recipe I learned by chance in Chang'an. Although preserved eggs are a new delicacy in our nearby villages,
But once you leave Lingshui County and head north to the prefectures and counties, to Xuzhou and Yanzhou, especially Chang'an, you'll see common things in the markets."
Wang Dianji had never left the county in his life. So, believing it to be true, he gave up the idea of buying out the property and said with a hint of disappointment:
"Then I'll buy three months' supply from you."
Although it is only available in Chang'an and even other places, it is still a novelty in the short term. Wang Dianji wants to take advantage of this period to show off in front of his wife.
Ji Xu said, "For at most half a month, my preserved eggs will be sold exclusively to the pawnshop."
The time is too long and the situation is unknown, but half a month is controllable, as this thing cannot spread too hot or too far; secondly, she lacks money to build a house!
Including the money from today's sales, the family estimates that they will have two thousand coins. If they can sell fifty preserved eggs every day for another half a month, they will have four thousand two hundred and fifty coins, which is enough to buy tiles.
Wang Dianji looked unhappy, but Ji Xu continued:
"I have one more request. We still live in a thatched cottage, and now that the weather is getting colder, I'm desperate to build a tiled roof. I'm planning to buy a thousand tiles from this kiln, but I don't have enough money. I hope the pawnshop will give me the money for the preserved eggs first so I can buy some tiles and build my house."
"What if I don't respond?" Wang Dianji asked.
Ji Xu held his hands and smiled, "The accountant will agree. This little money is nothing for you.
I'm afraid the reward the Gan family gave you today is more than this. Are you worried about not having a lot of income in the next half month?"
Wang Dianji jumped up two feet high, pointed at her and said, "What a Ji Zhengbing! You're even more calculating than me, the Dianji who does the accounting."
"Dianji is too modest." Ji Xu said.
Wang Dianji thought to himself: This girl is smart. She knows that I am borrowing food to curry favor with my master, but she still helped me twice. I will definitely need her cooking skills in the future. If I offend her, she will no longer help me. Wouldn’t the Gan family think I am incompetent?
Then there's Niu Dianji, the one who manages the fields and forests. He's young, not afraid of hard work, and willing to take on jobs. He's also got some good looks, so he's already quite popular with the lady. Why not take advantage of this opportunity to sell her this?
He then said, "Well, seeing that you are sincere in your words, I will agree to your request."
He added, "I'll only give you 90% of the price for the tiles!"
As the manager of the kiln, he can still make the decision on this matter.
Ninety percent of the price is four thousand coins for one thousand tiles, which means she can save four hundred coins. The money saved will be extremely useful. She thought that she still needs to ask a carpenter to make doors and windows, buy some chalk and lime to plaster the walls to prevent moisture, and buy two meters of linen to paste the windows.
She had previously asked the older Lu Mu about the taboos and customs in building a house, and Lu Mu said:
"On the day the building is completed, you should go to the butcher and buy a sheep's head. Sheep means good luck, and hanging a sheep's head on the door is a custom here.
If you have enough money, it would be best to buy another foot of red cloth to use on the day of raising the beam."
Who doesn’t want auspiciousness to come into the new house?
I originally saved money just to buy tiles, but when it came to building the house, every item became an expense.
However, tile money is the biggest expense after all. Saving a lot of money on this item is a great thing for Ji Xu, who is already short of money. He can use the money to spread it among other expenses, so he happily thanked him.
Wang Dianji took her to the front yard of the kiln to see the fired pottery tiles piled there. There were flat tiles and tubular tiles. These two tiles were placed on the roof to allow rainwater to flow down the tile gutters.
In addition, there are also end tiles. The style of end tiles is different from the previous two. They are semi-cylindrical, with a round pottery surface in front. Various reliefs are carved on the surface, including ancient and simple sunflower patterns, tiger patterns with raised heads and tails, lively and elegant deer patterns, toad patterns, Taotie patterns...
"If you ask around in the surrounding area, you will find that only our Gan family kiln has these styles. If you need tiles, why not come to our Gan family?" Wang Dianji said.
There is a saying that "the protruding rafters rot first". The tiles are used to protect the rafters on the eaves. For example, the tiles used by the Feng family have the tile inscription "Ma Jia Tian Xia" engraved on them. The high walls and large courtyards look very imposing at first glance.
Wang Dianji said, "You want one thousand yuan, so I guess you want to build a house with two rooms. In that case, I'll give you one thousand for the flat and tubular tiles, and you can choose forty tiles. That should be enough for you, and I won't charge you any extra."
Having received two rewards today and showing off in front of the lady, Wang Dianji was in a great mood. He waved his hand and said, "Just consider it a favor for her."
Ji Xu's number of tiles did not include ridge tiles. Redge tiles are beautiful and can protect rafters. Their price is three to ten times that of flat tiles and tubular tiles. They are mostly used in public offices, gardens and private houses of wealthy families, and even more so in palaces and tombs. Ordinary people probably would not spend so much money to buy them, and Ji Xu had no plans to buy them.
It was a complete surprise that she could get forty roof tiles. She picked out some and chose the ones with the words "wealth, honor and prosperity" written on them, and a circle of water vortex patterns on the edge. It looked simple and natural, and had good meaning.
Ben Guli,
In each vegetable garden, you can see scattered figures of peasant women watering and applying fertilizer. Suddenly, you can hear the squeaking sound of ox carts in the distance.
I raised my head and saw two ox carts, one in front and one behind, with piles of pottery tiles on the carts!
"Whose tiles are these?"
"Look, isn't that the girl leading the way next to the ox cart the Ji family's daughter?"
Ji Xu was carrying two empty baskets on his shoulders and raising his other hand, leading the way for the carriage driver.
These two ox carts both belong to the kiln and are used to transport tiles to the buyers' homes.
"Yes, it's her! I estimate there are thousands of them. I'm afraid they cost several thousand dollars, right?"
This season, Xu bought a lot. For example, if he only bought dozens of pieces to repair the roof, he would not send a bullock cart to deliver them.
The villagers in the ditches and fields along the road took a closer look.
"Go and see, your sister is back with the tiles!"
Wang Li ran out of breath, held on to the door, and reported to Ji Feng who was boiling water in the kitchen.
"Where is it? Where is it? Time doesn't go by so fast."
Ji Feng pulled Ji Zhu and ran out with Wang Li.
She had originally been boiling water to wash her hair, but when she heard the letter, she heated the water and started washing without even paying attention to her hair, her heart almost jumping out of her chest.
"It's still ahead! We haven't passed the Bee Hill yet."
Wang Li pointed and said that they also met Chen Gou'er and his sister who came running over, and they both said they saw it.
"Just now, my brother and I were playing on the hillside when we saw two ox carts from a distance."
“Yes, there are a lot of tiles behind it!”
Everyone ran along the road to see what was happening, and many children from the village came over to join in the fun, seeing how busy they were.
A large group of children met the ox cart of Fengzipo and Jixu.
Ji Fengxi's mouth was almost stretched to his eyebrows. He leaned next to Ji Xu and kept asking questions:
"Sister, is this really our tile?
Isn’t it still not that fast? How many are there here?
Ji Xu answered her one by one, and went home holding his two sisters' hands.
Wang Li, Chen Gou'er, Chen Sui'er and the other children gathered around the ox cart in excitement, feeling the frame with their hands and shouting loudly along the way.
"Wal, come here, come up here—"
"The tiles are on the beams, the tiles are on the beams, the main door of the hall is open—"
The loud children's voices attracted the women who were pounding clothes by the well to raise their heads and smile at Jin, who was standing beside them:
"Your second wife's daughter is buying tiles!"
The ox cart stopped at the door of the thatched hut, and the two drivers were busy unloading tiles.
It attracted many fellow villagers passing by, some carrying hoes and some carrying loads, pointing and talking,
"These tiles are well-fired, smooth and tough. You can tell they're from the Gan family kiln."
"His cows are really fat. I heard cows eat beans."
"Even the tiles are complete! Miss Xu, what are the words on them?"
"Selling steamed buns is really profitable. How long has it taken to buy tiles? There are less than ten households in Benguli who can afford tiled houses."
"Make way, move to the side!"
A man pushed his way through the crowd, cursing and swearing.
"I have nothing to do, so why am I just sitting here waiting for alms?"
When everyone looked, they found it was Jin. She was holding a basin filled with freshly washed clothes. As soon as she entered the next yard, she slammed the door with a loud bang. Soon, her voice scolding the child could be heard.
Ji Huhai also wanted to rush out to see the excitement of unloading tiles, but was caught by Jin and scolded.
"Look at your clothes, they're already dirty after just changing... You just go out all day..."
"Who recruited Mrs. Jin again?"
"It's just the evil fire that comes from the sourness in my heart."
They ignored him, some rubbed their hands, and asked Ji Xu loudly:
"Ms. Xu, your family has bought the tiles, but have you chosen a day to build the house?"
Building a house is a huge project. Not to mention felling trees, sawing beams, and carrying soil up the mountain, just the subsequent work of tamping the mud, building earth walls, installing beams and purlins, and laying tiles is definitely not something that a family can complete in a short time.
Ben Guli has always been a place where people build houses. All the households in the village provide labor to help, and the project is completed in two days. This is a matter of mutual help among the families, and the boss does not need to pay any commission. He just prepares a solid meal for these people who help.
Some of them were poor, and now that they had some free time from farm work, they wanted to help out and have a meal with some oil and meat;
Some saw that Ji Xu's business was profitable, so they also wanted to come and do good things for him, hoping to become the next Chen family.
Some also wanted to repay the favor because the Tian couple had helped them build a house in the past.
There are quite a few questions.
"Yes, when will the construction start?"
"That way we can spare some time to help."
"Everyone is eagerly waiting to taste your cooking skills!"
The person who said this burst into laughter.
Ji Xu was discussing this matter with the Chen family under the eaves.
It is said that when Lady Lu and Old Man Chen heard the news, they also came. Old Man Chen had been conscripted to do labor for many years to build cities when he was young. He had learned a lot and was considered an old hand at building houses. Many families in the village would ask him to select a site and choose a date to break ground when they were building houses.
Rich and sophisticated families would even invite a shaman to use the five tones and the seasons to determine the orientation of the house to bring good luck and avoid misfortune.
Ji Xu's family naturally did not have the means to do so. When they first had the idea of saving money to build a house, they asked Old Man Chen to come and take a look. Old Man Chen agreed without hesitation.
Now he pinched his thumb, thought for a moment, and said:
"The three months of spring are Geng and Xin, the three months of summer are Ren and Gui, the three months of autumn are Jia and Yi, and the three months of winter are Bing and Ding. In my opinion, tomorrow, October 12th, is a good day to start construction. It does not violate these taboos.
Besides, the sun is shining, so it is cheaper to do the work of piling mud and tamping it.
There's no need to move. The terrain on your ridge is excellent, with a hillside behind you and fields in front of you. The north is high and the south is low, making it a good place for business. It's perfect for your business."
"I'm clueless about this house building matter, so I'll just listen to Uncle Chen." Ji Xu said.
Lu Mu also said, "The sooner we start the work, the better. It will be warmer when we move in. Your window is leaking, and I'm afraid you'll feel cold even when you sleep at night."
At this time, Ji Xu was listening to the laughter of the villagers who were watching the fun. He also smiled and said in a loud voice:
"Father Chen just set a date for me. We'll start work tomorrow. If any of the villagers appreciate my crude craftsmanship and are willing to help, it would be a great honor for us three sisters. We will definitely do our best to entertain them."
"Count me in!"
"And me! I'm free tomorrow too."
"And my little bean."
The person who spoke was a three-year-old baby. His mother picked him up and asked, "You little brat who wets the bed, can you chop wood or carry soil?"
Everyone laughed again.
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The author has something to say: About entering v:
Tomorrow I will start reversing from Chapter 26.
At that time, the three chapters will be combined into a 10,000-word update. Thank you for your support [hug][hug]
A new pre-collection has been opened, "Making a living by trading in the Western Han Dynasty", if you are interested, you can collect it first~
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