Chapter 18: A Few Things About the County Town
The temperature in Guojia Village has dropped sharply these days. The mountains have already entered winter early, but the foothills are still as cool as late autumn.
It was around this time that I began to realize how troublesome it was to live in the mountains.
Getting up early every day and rushing to the county town in the dark was actually quite exhausting for Guo Baiwen.
Fortunately, the work supervision ended at noon, and he could lie down on the two pine boxes and take a nap, half-covering himself with his rabbit-skin blanket and covering his stomach.
The things stored in the box have become more and more numerous because of the daily check-ins. Some of the items that are easy to take out are carried with him every day, and he can even take them home little by little.
For items that were difficult to carry, we simply divided them up and had Hu Qingshan and the others take a small portion back with them.
When he pulled out things like melon seeds, peanuts, walnuts, and dried persimmons, he wondered if the system knew it was almost Chinese New Year and sent him a bunch of New Year's goods just because he checked in.
Unfortunately, each type of dried fruit weighs a pound or two, making them incredibly heavy to carry.
He kept only enough for his family to eat during the holidays, and fed the rest to the neighbors on either side of the yard and the two carpenters who worked there every day.
Sunflower seeds and peanuts are fine; you can buy a lot for just a few coins. But walnuts and dried persimmons are still quite expensive.
On the left side of the courtyard was a butcher shop. Seeing that he had brought over so many dried fruits to greet us, he also gave us a few tied-up large bones and half a pound of pork fat as a return gift.
Although pork bones and pork fat are not particularly expensive, buying them would still cost several tens of coins.
On the right was a pharmacy, which gave me a small box of dried honeysuckle tea and chrysanthemum tea.
He also stopped at the tofu shop across the street, getting a small bundle of their homemade dried tofu and a small bottle of soybean oil.
This trip back and forth is a way of greeting all the new neighbors living next door.
When he delivered the gifts, he also took a look around. Although you can't judge a person's character from just one meeting, you can tell from the return gifts that they are not difficult neighbors to get along with.
So I felt a little more at ease.
There were also some sesame peanut candy, oil, salt, pork, and the like. These weren't too heavy, and they weren't cheap to buy outside, so he brought them all back to Guojia Village and then took them out.
The most special one was when I won a faux sisal living room rug, a bucket of rice wine, and three pounds of oranges.
The carpet is made of imitation sisal, and the material and appearance are not particularly special. Although it is not very soft to the touch, it is still more comfortable than the dry straw that is used as a base in the house.
The size of 1.4 meters by 2 meters will make it more comfortable for Grandma Guo and Xiaohua to sleep.
It's heavy, extremely heavy.
Finally, carrying all that stuff, he still spent two coins to take an oxcart back home.
He told Grandma Guo that it was a floor mat that had been replaced in a private room at Tongfu Restaurant, and that he sold it to Uncle Zhao and Manager Li cheaply because he had a good relationship with them.
Even though it was a discarded item, Grandma Guo couldn't help but sigh for a long time when she touched the thick cushion.
"Such a good product, and the restaurant just throws it away like that?"
Guo Baiwen apologized to Manager Li and Uncle Zhao in his heart before nodding firmly.
"Yes, I thought this thing was in perfect condition and would last a long time, so I decided to buy it and bring it back for you and Xiaohua to use."
Grandma Guo touched it and couldn't help but praise that the things used in the county town were much better. She then turned to look at Guo Baiwen and said, "Wenzi, you brought this back. You should keep it as a mattress for yourself."
"No, no, no need," Guo Baiwen quickly waved his hand. "Grandma, you and Xiaohua can sleep together. It's warmer and softer to sleep on this."
Before she could react, he quickly changed the subject.
"Grandma, look, this is the rice wine I brought back. I tasted it and it's sweet. Even Xiaohua should be able to drink a cup."
At this time, grain was precious, and what was plentiful was homemade fruit wine. It was considered quite good to be able to get one or two jars of such wine.
After all, salt, wine, and iron are not things that can be bought easily.
Grandma Guo hadn't had rice wine in a long time either. Hearing this, she leaned over and took a sniff. Her eyes lit up when she smelled it. "Did the restaurant owner sell this to you too?"
Although the amount of wine is small, it smells like it was made from very good rice.
This was the first time Grandma Guo had received something so precious. She thought about how much the restaurant owner had taken care of her family, and even if she didn't have anything good at home, she should at least give something back.
She pondered for a long time inside the house, looking at the vegetable garden and opening the pickling jars. She walked around the house but couldn't find anything that would be a decent gift.
Just as she was feeling frustrated, Guo Baiwen took out the dried shiitake mushrooms he had drawn earlier and comforted her, saying, "Grandma, don't worry, these are the ones I picked earlier. Let me look around some more, and when I find some better mountain products, we can send them to Manager Li and the others together."
This is good.
After all, according to her grandson, the restaurant seemed to have everything they needed.
As she stored the dried shiitake mushrooms in the kitchen hanging basket, she also carefully noted down what the mushrooms looked like, preparing to take a look at them herself when she had time.
Let's see where else we can find this good stuff.
Once they're dried, I'll send them over together.
When winter comes down the mountain, the road down to the county town will probably be even more difficult to travel.
Seeing that he no longer needed to supervise the carpentry work, he told Grandma Guo that the restaurant was not short of staff these days, and Uncle Zhao paid all the day laborers in advance.
He took out a bunch of loose copper coins that he had exchanged beforehand. Because he often brought things home, he didn't take out much money this time, only 114 coins.
They gave it all to Grandma Guo.
With the start of winter approaching and the beginning of snow just around the corner, Grandma Guo had finished sewing cotton-padded clothes and shoes that she had been working on for a long time. The outer layer of the cotton-padded clothes was made of coarse homespun cloth from Grandma Liao's house, and the inner lining was made of the few pieces of damaged rabbit skin that she had bought last time. There was also a layer of cotton carefully placed in the middle layer.
The clothes were very warm, and even though we were halfway up the mountain in Guojia Village, we didn't feel cold.
The damaged squirrel skin was used to make the lining of cotton shoes. With the little bit of skin left over, Grandma Guo skillfully made an extra earmuff.
There weren't many leather pieces left, so I could only make one.
When it's winter and someone needs to go out, we can take turns carrying them.
Two days before the snow closed the mountain pass to Guojia Village, around the time of Minor Snow, Guo Baiwen made another trip to the county town. The night before, he tidied up his inventory, moving all the heavy and repetitive items, such as rice, from the system warehouse to the county town.
After taking stock of his belongings, he locked the pine box in his room, which contained his rice, two sets of fine cotton clothes, cloth shoes, honeysuckle tea, soap, an empty Coke bottle that he couldn't dispose of, a blanket, and three unopened pairs of underwear in a bag.
He had a lot to do every day, and he felt like he had been living in Guojia Village for a long time, but when he glanced at the time on the sign-in system, it was only the twenty-ninth day.
It is said that it takes twenty-one days to change a person's habits. He used to disbelieve it, but now he thinks there is some truth to it.
The hot water bottle and the unpacked frozen dumplings he received for signing in today are still in his basket. As for the newly received soap, it's also stored in that box with other things.
He originally intended to detour to the bookstore only to buy two cheap couplets, but just before leaving, he discovered that they also sold calendars there.
It contains many things such as dates, sexagenary cycle, festivals, day and night lengths, and auspicious and inauspicious activities. Although it doesn't look as bright and beautiful as the New Year calendar from my previous life, it is still quite eye-catching among the pile of simple thread-bound books around it.
With the arrival of the new year, he had originally planned to buy a copy to keep at home.
Just as he was about to reach out and pick it up, the bookstore clerk beside him stopped him, his voice unconsciously rising a few decibels, "Young master, don't touch it!"
Guo Baiwen was startled, but then the shop assistant rushed forward and, after confirming that he hadn't touched the calendar, breathed a sigh of relief. "Young master, do you want to buy this calendar?"
Upon hearing this, Guo Baiwen asked curiously, "Could it be that this is not for sale?"
"It's not that it's not for sale." The shopkeeper scratched the back of his head sheepishly, glanced around to make sure the shopkeeper wasn't in the room, and then whispered, "This calendar costs one tael of silver."
One or two taels of silver?!
The Three Character Classic and the Hundred Family Surnames next to it cost only a hundred coins each!
A calendar can be sold for such a high price!
Now Guo Baiwen lost interest in buying a calendar. Wouldn't it be better to use that tael of silver to buy other New Year's goods?
But the shopkeeper probably thought he really wanted it, so he pulled him aside and said, "If you want a similar calendar, although it may not have such beautiful illustrations, it will still have all the necessary Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, solar terms, and dates."
As he spoke, he secretly made a gesture in his palm, "This handwritten copy only costs four hundred coins."
After saying that, he shook it, inexplicably proud, "Do you want it? Only our bookstore has such handwritten copies, and there are only two left now."
Guo Baiwen shook his head vigorously. "You dare to ask for four hundred coins for a handwritten calendar? Whoever wants it can have it."
The shop assistant originally wanted to push the sales pitch further, but seeing his appearance, he gave up on continuing.
He listlessly tucked his hands back into his sleeves and crumpled them up, leaning against the cabinet. "It's okay if you don't want to buy anything else. Is there anything else you need?"
Guo Baiwen thought for a moment. Since he had already been to the bookstore, and every household in Guojia Village was staying indoors during the winter, he could take the opportunity to learn traditional Chinese characters.
To avoid having to rely on past experience and guesswork every time.
"May I ask, besides the Three Character Classic and the Hundred Family Surnames, what other books are available for teaching basic literacy?"
Oh.
It turns out he really is literate.
Upon hearing this, the shop assistant stopped leaning against the counter, stood up, and looked him over. "Would you like the 'True and Cursive Thousand Character Classic'?"
"The True Thousand Character Classic in Cursive Script?" This was the first time Guo Baiwen had ever heard of this book.
The shop assistant found a book, opened a page to show him, and said, "Here it is. I heard it was written by a monk named Zhi Yong. It's commonly used in schools to teach children to write characters."
Guo Baiwen followed his hand to look and found that it was a copy of the Thousand Character Classic written in two styles, regular script and cursive script. The total number of characters was not large, but it was enough for beginners to practice calligraphy.
So he nodded. "This one, how much?"
The shop assistant spoke up listlessly, "This one costs eighty coins."
Comparing it to the calendar from before, Guo Baiwen was quite surprised to hear this, "Is the 'True and Cursive Thousand Character Classic' really this cheap?"
"It was originally a book written by that monk specifically to open a temple for people. The copy in the bookstore is not a famous copy or a fine printed edition, so it is naturally cheaper."
So that's how it is.
He was indeed a righteous and virtuous monk.
Having bought all the books, Guo Baiwen thought for a moment and then asked for the cheapest set of writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.
I bought three feather pens for ten coins, two hundred coins for a pound of the cheapest pine soot ink, and one hundred sheets of printing paper for calligraphy practice for eighteen coins.
This huge pile of stuff was actually ninety-two coins cheaper than that calendar.
Tsk tsk tsk.
When we got back to the courtyard, we still had to wait a little longer for the furniture in the main room, as Carpenter Hu had already delivered some of the finished furniture.
So after wiping the furniture, he took a broom and swept the entire building, covered the well with the leaves he had cleared, closed the doors and windows, carefully pasted New Year couplets on the house, and then locked the door to return to the village.
When I return, it will be next spring.
A note from the author:
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Dried persimmons are really delicious! [Cat emoji]
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