When Zhang Fangyuan returned to the village in the afternoon, he stopped by Carpenter He's house and placed an order for two hundred pieces of goods. The last batch of goods had just been delivered to the shop a few days ago, but they were stored in the warehouse. Now that they were given to Song Yong, there were not many left.
Although there was enough in the warehouse to last through the winter, he still rushed to place orders and stockpile goods just in case more merchants came, to avoid running out of stock and missing out on business.
"Zhang the butcher, your business is booming!"
Old Carpenter He was smiling as he received another job. He had worked day and night to finish the previous batch of goods, and now he has not had a rest for two days but another batch of goods has arrived. Although he has no rest again, he is very happy.
Apart from the few acres of land, the whole family depends on his craft for a living. The harvest this year was not good, and he was worried that he would have to look for work everywhere during the winter when he was not busy with farming, hoping that life would be better next year. However, he did not expect that the old carpenter alone would shoulder the family's income, and the whole family no longer had to worry.
Zhang Fangyuan said, "It's a small business. It's almost the New Year. Stock up a little more so you can celebrate the New Year with peace of mind."
"Okay, if you're in a hurry, I'll ask my apprentice to do it together."
Zhang Fangyuan doesn't care who he asks for help: "As long as the quality is good and the quantity is sufficient, it's fine."
After giving instructions for the order, Zhang Fangyuan took Xiao Hei and walked back along the ridge of the field. There is a winter tangerine tree in the valley. The fruits are much smaller than eggs. They are very abundant every winter. They grow bright orange among the leaves and can be seen from a distance.
Although this little orange looks beautiful, it tastes bad and is so sour that it can make people's teeth ache. No matter how abundant the fruit is every winter, few people come to pick it. Only a few children who have no snacks will pick two to eat for fun.
Zhang Fangyuan climbed up the tree to pick oranges. Others couldn't stand the sour taste, but it was just what his wife liked.
"Did Xu He go to your house to buy eggs?"
"We keep the eggs for our second baby. We don't have any extra eggs to sell to him."
"I have a lot of chickens and ducks at home. Those old hens and ducks laid a lot of eggs, and I sold two baskets of them. But the Zhang family is too stingy. They make so much money from business, but they still haggle over every penny when buying things."
Two men were coming from the distant field with baskets on their backs, as if they were going to cut grass for pigs. They were walking one in front and one behind, chatting idly.
"Don't you know that the richer the family, the more stingy they are?"
"Xu He is so lucky. She got pregnant not long after getting married. Now she has given up her family business and is the butcher by herself. She doesn't go to the tea shed so close by and is staying at home to take care of the pregnancy. None of the landlords' wives are as good as him."
"Well, who can blame a man for being capable? Zhang Fangyuan's family is small, and now that he has a child, he will definitely support him."
"But speaking of which, when people came to your house to buy eggs today, did you notice that Xu He's belly is bigger than that of ordinary boys? The boy next door is also pregnant, and hers is ten days bigger than Xu He's, but it doesn't seem to be as big as Xu He's."
"It should be a son, right?"
Another person sneered, "Does having a son depend on the size of the belly? Aren't there many women in the village with small bellies who still gave birth to sons? In my opinion, that belly doesn't look like it's just this month, it might have appeared much earlier than this. Think about who Zhang Fangyuan was in the village before, maybe they were hooking up before they got married."
"That's not something you can say. They've been married for a long time, it's not necessary."
The man covered his mouth and laughed, seeming to think it was outrageous: "I am a carefree person, I say whatever I want, otherwise how could my belly be so big? You are just honest and don't know how to look at things."
The other man was half-believing and half-hesitating, and was about to answer when he suddenly saw a sturdy black horse nibbling the grass on the edge of the field in front of him: "Whose horse is this? It looks like..."
Before he could finish his words, he heard a thud and a figure fell from the orange tree like a black bear and plunged straight into the ground.
The two men looked at the stern-looking man, their breathing held, and they almost lost their souls.
Being caught gossiping, they were really scared and embarrassed. They both stammered, "Let's go... let's go quickly..."
The two men hurriedly grabbed the back rope and walked forward. Suddenly, a cold sound came from behind, colliding with the biting winter wind in their faces: "Next time you talk about the Zhang family's affairs casually, don't blame me for being rude."
Although there was no response, the two husbands ran faster.
Zhang Fangyuan was holding an orange in his pocket, feeling angry. He didn't care what others said about him, but he couldn't stand what others said about Xu He.
He went home with a stern face, and when he arrived at his yard, he found that He Ge'er was not in the house. Instead, the yard was very lively, with the sounds of chickens and ducks everywhere.
Xiao Hei looked at the strange poultry that appeared in the yard. He raised his two hooves and tilted his neck to neigh, but the sound was not loud, as if he was deliberately teasing these strangers, scaring the chickens and ducks so much that they clucked and ran around.
Zhang Fangyuan looked better. He put the oranges on the table in the room and came out to scold, "You can make a fuss there. If you scare the chickens and ducks away, don't yell at me when you get beaten."
Xiao Hei snorted twice, and under Zhang Fangyuan's gaze, he went back to the small stable in the backyard.
Not long after, Xu He came back with two large baskets in his hands. Zhang Fangyuan went over to take the basket and found it was quite heavy. He was about to lift it up and toss it when Xu He quickly grabbed his hand and said, "Be careful, these are all chicken and duck eggs, don't get them pregnant."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Fangyuan lifted the cloth covering the basket. Inside, there were indeed neatly arranged dark-colored eggs, one basket of large duck eggs and one basket of small chicken eggs.
"Why buy so many? There are dozens of them. If you don't eat them in time, they will become boring if you keep them for a long time."
Xu He said, "I also bought some old chickens and ducks. Some of them were sold at the tea stall in the neighboring village and I brought them back. I went to see the newly hatched chicks at Fourth Uncle's house. I thought since I was at home taking care of the baby, I might as well find something to do."
"Then you bought dozens of eggs that could hatch and prepared to raise chickens and ducks?"
Xu He nodded: "I've seen that chickens grow slowly, so I don't buy many eggs. I buy more duck eggs. Ducks grow up and can be slaughtered in two months. They can be sent to tea stalls or eaten at home. Female ducks can lay eggs if they are raised for a long time. We can make some preserved duck eggs and salted duck eggs at that time."
Zhang Fangyuan sighed helplessly: "You really can't rest at all. You are not honest at home and always looking for work to do." Although he didn't quite approve of Xu He's hard work, he still put the egg carefully on the ground when he saw that he was happy.
Xu He thought about it and said, "I've thought about it carefully. Although the child will be born next spring, he still needs to be looked after every day after birth. He won't be able to run and jump until he's two or three years old. It's good to have something to do while taking care of him during this long period of time."
"Isn't it good to enjoy a peaceful life?" Zhang Fangyuan peeled the small orange he had just picked and put it in Xu He's hand.
Xu He took the orange and smiled as he patted his empty palm, looking away: "I am only so old, why should I enjoy a leisurely life?"
"If I don't find something to do, I'll just have to listen to the gossips of the village gossipers all day long. I'll be so angry that I'll die."
Zhang Fangyuan frowned upon hearing this. He didn't want to mention what happened today, but He Ge'er already knew about it: "The people in the village have nothing to do, so they always stare at other people's homes. If anyone dares to mess with you, tell me and I'll go to their house to deal with them."
"Come on, we are all businessmen, why do you always go to people's houses to beat them up? Let them say what they want, I won't take it to heart, I just do my own thing."
Zhang Fangyuan took a breath and said, "Okay, I'll help you clean up. I'll go to Fourth Uncle's place today to get some straw and build a few more duck nests so that we can hatch the eggs."
Xu He wanted to say that he would be able to finish all the work at home after a whole day's work, and that he didn't need to come back to do the work after being busy in the city. However, seeing that the man was full of energy, he swallowed his words and said, "I'll do the tedious work, and you can just use the hammer and nails to make the chicken and duck shed bigger."
"Okay, I'll follow your arrangements."
Zhang Fangyuan went to get his tools, carried the wood to the backyard and started hammering. While they were working together, they talked about the shop business in the city.
Xu He was very happy to learn that a large batch of goods had been sold. Today, Chen Si came back from slaughtering a pig, so he went to the next door and bought two leaves of pork liver. At this moment, the blood vegetables in the vegetable garden at home were tender and had not been bitten by insects, so picking a handful of vegetable tips and bringing them back to stir-fry the pork liver was just right.
The couple did not go to the tea stall to eat that night, but cooked at home. It had been a long time since they had dinner alone. It was a bit lonely but also warm in a different way.
Two days later, Zhang Fangyuan packed all the goods that Song Yong wanted into boxes, and after the merchant came to check the goods, he received the remaining payment.
"Brother Zhang, you should pay attention recently. I heard that many people are eyeing your lucrative business."
At noon, Zhang Fangyuan was about to go to the market to order some food, but An Saner calculated the time and went to the shop to buy toothbrushes for the girls in the building. Since they bought a lot, Zhang Fangyuan gave them some discounts. The two hadn't met for a while, and there were not many customers at noon, so they hung a sign in the shop to indicate that they were closed and found a small restaurant to have some snacks.
After a few drinks, An Saner's face was full of envy. He had heard that Zhang Fangyuan had started a business, and he didn't expect that he was doing so well. He could do business and run a shop, or be a thug to guard the brothel. How could he not be envied?
Zhang Fangyuan held the cup and watched the man's cheekbones turn red from drinking. He was already a little drunk, but he still believed what he said.
He knew that An Saner was well-informed in the city, so it was not a hypothesis. Besides, if the business was booming, others would be able to see it, just like when Xu He was selling braised meat at his stall, if he made money, there would be people who would be jealous and want to get a piece of the pie.
It is normal for someone to be eager to take action, but it would be wrong if no one paid attention.
Even though he was mentally prepared, Zhang Fangyuan still couldn't help but pour the entire bowl of wine into his mouth and swallow it all. This is just the beginning, just over a quarter, and some people are starting to get restless.
Zhang Fangyuan put down his wine bowl and asked, "Do you know who it is?"
"With so many people watching, it's hard to say who can really confirm it. I guess it's hard to find the goods."
Zhang Fangyuan responded. Never mind what he did. It was not easy to make the money. He and Xu He had run around a lot to reduce costs. If others wanted to do the same, they also had to estimate the cost.
After drinking, Zhang Fangyuan did not rush back to the shop, but first went to the shop that ordered herbs to make tooth powder.
A month passed in peace like this, and it was the twelfth lunar month.
After careful care and nurturing by the warm charcoal fire, the ducklings that Xu He had hatched earlier finally broke out of their shells. The little creatures emerged from the eggshells, their flesh was very small, their fur was sticky and wet, and they lay in the nest, calling.
And on Tian Street in the city, a string of firecrackers were heard, and a new shop opened.
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