Chapter 13: Finding Work in the County Town
The staircase roof, the second-floor railing, the wooden panel walls, plus the beds, cabinets, tables and chairs in the three bedrooms, and Guo Baiwen also ordered an additional set of tables and chairs for dining in the main room.
It was the kind of Chinese-style set of tables he had seen most often in his previous life, with a large table for offering incense across the back, and a square eight-immortal table for eating underneath, with two chairs on the left and right sides, which looked quite proper.
As for the two sides, just order two more long benches, so that guests will have a place to sit if they come.
However, with such a setup, the cost also increases accordingly.
Pine is the most commonly used wood in ordinary households. It is relatively inexpensive and soft, but it is sufficient for making beds or tables and chairs.
Hu the carpenter's workshop had ready-made pine beds and tables and chairs, a set of which would cost about one and a half taels of silver. If you added some simple carvings, depending on the difficulty of the carvings, you would have to add another one or two hundred coins.
If Guo Baiwen decides to order pine furniture, he can bring it over when he gets back.
The most expensive material is elm. Elm is more sturdy and durable, and if made well, it can last for decades or even centuries.
But a set of elm wood table and chairs costs almost two taels of silver, and that's without any carvings.
As for other more expensive woods, there are mahogany, rosewood, and sandalwood, but those are naturally more expensive.
Guo Baiwen had heard of rosewood and huangli wood in his previous life; they were not cheap, especially in ancient times when transportation was inconvenient.
He didn't want to get rich overnight, so he spent all the money he had on the interior decoration of his new house.
But since it's furniture for a new home, it can't be too cheap.
"Isn't this place not far from Hu the carpenter's workshop?" Seeing Hu Qingshan nod, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Well then, Brother Qingshan, why don't you measure the dimensions of the stairs and wall panels first, and I'll go with you to take a look later."
He was still a novice after all. Although he didn't understand the intricacies, he could at least see and touch things to get a sense of their quality.
So when Guo Baiwen returned home, he still had the three meat buns wrapped in oil paper in his arms, and he still had 342 taels of silver left in the system.
A complete set of ironwood tables and chairs was intended for the main room, and it was specifically ordered that they have bat patterns. The bedside tables and smaller tables and chairs in the rooms were all made of elm wood. Including the cost of the stairs and partitions, the total price was twenty-nine taels and three hundred copper coins.
Because he wanted a lot of things and was a big customer, Hu Qingshan's father, the carpenter Hu, waived the extra 300 coins for him. He not only agreed to expedite the production for him, but also promised to carve lotus patterns on all the elm wood furniture he ordered free of charge.
That does save some money.
He paid a deposit of fifteen taels of silver first, and the carpentry workshop would deliver the custom-made furniture to his house after the Lunar New Year.
As for things like adding a ceiling to the stairs and room partitions, even if you have the dimensions, you still need to do it on-site and demonstrate as you go. Hu Qingshan took on this job, and together with his junior apprentice who was helping him, they'll start working tomorrow. If they work quickly and avoid rainy days, they estimate it should be done in about ten days.
He originally intended to simply hand over the house keys to Hu Qingshan, since it was just an empty house with nothing of value. But then he thought he should still go there and keep an eye on things, so that if any problems arose during construction, he could report them directly. Otherwise, having to come back later and have to redo the work would waste time.
So he needs to come up with an excuse to go to the county town for at least ten consecutive days.
Not to mention whether Grandma will find it strange, the neighbors will probably start gossiping about it.
Despite his headache, Guo Baiwen couldn't help but smile as he touched the still-warm meat bun he had specially stuffed into his clothes and stomach.
He now owns a house in the county town.
It was only after seeing the land deeds and house deeds handed to him by Granny Sun that he realized that this was the Great Qi Dynasty. Although he had never heard of this dynasty, life here was quite peaceful. Not only had there been no war for decades, but the economy was also developed. The peppercorns he originally wanted to sell at high prices were quite common here.
Although it was still expensive, it wasn't as expensive as an ounce of pepper costing an ounce of gold. He sold the half ounce of peppercorns in his cloth bag to a spice shop and got four hundred and fifty coins.
It could barely be counted as one tael of pepper and one tael of silver.
Adding the thirty-nine coins he had left over from his previous purchases, he now had four hundred and eighty-nine copper coins in his basket.
He had only given his grandmother over 800 coins for household expenses earlier, so he couldn't keep taking out large sums of money to give her again, lest he have to make up reasons for the money.
well.
Before, it was because we didn't have money to spend; now, we have money but can only spend it secretly. Everyone has their own difficulties.
But having money is better than having no money.
Although he was preoccupied with these thoughts and kept muttering to himself, he still walked quite quickly.
He didn't bring back any big stuff on this trip, so he didn't spend money to ride the oxcart and walked back himself.
When I got home, it was still dark.
Guo Xiaohua and her grandmother were sitting on a bench at the entrance of the courtyard, twisting hemp rope. It was brighter outside than inside, so it didn't strain their eyes.
Moreover, sitting at the entrance of the courtyard, you can see anyone who comes immediately.
So when Guo Baiwen had just peeked out from the other end of the courtyard, Guo Xiaohua, who was slacking off, spotted him immediately and jumped up from the bench, exclaiming, "Brother!"
Although she didn't know what her brother had been busy with these days, the impression that he always brought back good things every time he went to the county town was firmly etched in Guo Xiaohua's mind.
So after calling him "brother," Guo Xiaohua started staring at him longingly, looking at the basket on his back again and again, but she didn't reach out to rummage through it herself.
She just blinked her big eyes at him. Before Guo Baiwen could say anything, Grandma Guo gave her a light tap on the head, pretending to be angry, and said, "Your brother has important business in the county town. How can he have spare money to bring you food every day?"
But as soon as she finished speaking, Guo Baiwen pulled out the large oil paper package from his pocket.
The steamed buns had cooled down after walking for a while, but because they had been tucked into my arms the whole time, they were still warm.
So even though Guo Xiaohua had just been given a slap on the shoulder, she didn't wilt. Instead, her eyes lit up when she saw the oil paper package. She happily reached out and took it, exclaiming, "Great! I knew there would be something delicious! Thank you, brother!"
She was happy, but Grandma Guo sighed again, "Wenzai, you said before you left that you have everything at home and don't need anything, so why did you bring things back again?"
But saying that didn't stop Grandma Guo from starting to chew the bun Xiaohua stuffed into her mouth. The bun's skin was very soft, and even though her teeth weren't very good, she could easily bite off a large piece.
"Smacking sounds"—it's delicious, especially since it's filled with meat.
Delicious food can indeed make people involuntarily shut up.
So Grandma Guo stopped talking. She closed the courtyard gate while chewing on her bun, and led her two grandchildren into the house to avoid being seen by others again.
Once inside, the three of them each held a steamed bun and started munching on it. After finishing her bun, Grandma Guo seemed to remember something and asked him, "Wenzai, I didn't give you any money when you went out today. Where did you get the money to buy these steamed buns?"
"It still came," Guo Baiwen thought for a moment, then picked out what he could say.
"Grandma, I found a job in the county town today."
Upon hearing this, Guo Xiaohua, who had been nibbling on her minced meat, stopped chewing and looked up at him. "Brother, what kind of work have you found?"
"It's a small job. Do you know Tongfu Restaurant in the county town?"
Guo Xiaohua shook her head like a rattle drum, then turned to look at Grandma Guo, "Never heard of it."
Almost forgot that the little guy had never been to the county town before, so Guo Baiwen explained, "It's the restaurant where I sold them mountain products before."
Upon hearing this, the two who had just been puzzled began to nod, "Oh, I understand."
"It's a temporary job. I tried it out today, and the pay is daily." Guo Baiwen thought about the porters busy at the entrance of the restaurant, and he wasn't just making things up.
Because he had hired Hu Qingshan and the others to work at his new home, although he couldn't bear to order the expensive meals from Tongfu Restaurant, he made an appointment with the owner of a nearby snack shop to have meals delivered to him every noon for ten consecutive days.
After all, you can't cook for yourself in the new house yet.
He chatted with the person who had agreed to deliver the food for a while and learned that although online ordering was no longer available like in his previous life, food delivery was still quite common here.
Small shops usually hire their own apprentices or helpers to deliver the food. When medium and large restaurants are too busy during festivals and holidays, they will also hire some temporary workers—that is, porters—to help deliver the food.
These temporary jobs are paid daily or per shift, and the wages vary depending on the size and weight of the items being delivered, whether it's one or two dishes or a whole banquet.
If they were lucky, they might encounter generous customers who would secretly give the porters some extra money.
If you do a good job, you'll get a reward; you can earn over a hundred coins a day.
Even if you only deliver a small amount, you can still earn thirty to fifty coins a day, but unfortunately, it's not something you can do for long.
Guo Baiwen went all out with his act, not only pulling out the small packet of thirty-nine coins he had prepared in advance from his basket, but also continuing, "This is the money I have left over after buying meat buns today." He pretended to stuff the money into Grandma Guo's hand, "Because we met when I was delivering mountain goods before, Uncle Zhao from Tongfu Restaurant also told me that he wanted me to help deliver for another ten days or so, and the wages would be paid daily."
Since he didn't know whether the weather would be good or bad, he didn't set a strict limit on the number of days he would spend in the county town.
Upon hearing this, and seeing the genuine copper coins in the cloth bag, Grandma Guo and Guo Xiaohua had no more doubts.
Grandma Guo even pushed his hand back, waving it repeatedly, refusing to accept it, saying, "You work in the county town, you'll always need some money on you."
"Grandma hasn't even finished spending the money you gave her last time, so there's no need to give her any more."
A note from the author:
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