Chapter 87: Buying people. Chinese New Year.
On New Year's Eve, the broker finally brought back news for Qiu Xuan.
The owner of this yard did intend to sell it, but the price was high, and with all the things inside, it would come to one hundred and fifty taels.
Qiu Xuan didn't have that much money, she couldn't even come up with a hundred taels.
"How about this, we rent it first, how about renting it for two years this time?" Qiu Xuan asked the agent.
The broker originally thought that he could get this big deal, but when he heard that she still didn't buy it, his heart ached.
But if it's rented for two years, it's 24 taels, and the broker can earn 2 taels, which is not a small amount.
After seeing the broker off, Qiu Xuan wanted to go outside the yard to take a look.
There are vegetables planted over there. I'll pick some and stir-fry them for lunch.
Just as she finished picking them, she saw Zong Xiao coming over with a yellow puppy in his arms.
The little puppy was so small and was still whining.
"Where did you get it from?" Qiu Xuan liked this kind of furry little thing, and she raised her hand and rubbed the dog's head.
Zong Xiao took the dish from her hand and stuffed the puppy into her hands.
"It's the same place we went to last time. Didn't the old man offer tofu in exchange for a rabbit? This time he offered a puppy."
Qiu Xuan looked up in confusion. "We didn't see a dog when we went to his house last time."
"We split up." Zong Xiao said.
"They actually split up?" Qiu Xuan slowed down her steps.
That old man looks about the same age as the clan mother, and that child is younger than Huaixue. How can the old and the young live together?
Zong Xiao explained to her, "I heard from the villagers that the old man took back the land and the old house. Now he lives alone with his grandson. When the weather warms up, he will do odd jobs."
Although I don't earn much, at least I have money in my pocket and I don't have to worry about my son's opinion when doing things.
As soon as the puppy was born, the old man quickly came to ask Zong Xiao if he could exchange the puppy for a rabbit.
An ordinary puppy costs dozens of copper coins, but this one can guard the house, so it's worth the money.
Zong Xiao agreed immediately and brought the puppy back home right away.
Qiu Xiu protected the puppy, fearing that the cold wind would blow it.
"This puppy is just too small. We have to take good care of it. I think it's less than three months old."
Puppies usually leave their mother when they are three months old. Puppies that are too young and weak are difficult to raise.
"Yeah, it's only been two months." Zong Xiao entered the courtyard with her and said, "We'll keep him indoors when the time comes. He should be fine if he's well taken care of."
There is enough food and drink at home, so how can the puppy be short of food?
Qiu Xuan gently poked the puppy's head and said with a smile, "You are also a lucky puppy. From now on, I will call you Dafu."
"Da Fu." Qiu Xuan actually wanted to name it Wangcai.
But she also felt that this would make her seem a little greedy. What if someone was malicious and wanted to harm her puppies?
Thinking about it this way, Dafu becomes the best name.
Qiu Xuan carried the puppy to the main hall. It was warm in that room. Although no one lived there, everyone ate there on weekdays.
Qiu Xuan put the puppy on the ground and found an old mattress in the wooden box.
She built a doghouse for it in the corner of the house so it could keep warm and not get cold.
"Second Aunt, where did this puppy come from!" Huai Xue hid by the door clutching a handkerchief.
"Come in, it's too small to bite."
Huaixue walked into the house along the door. The puppy seemed to be doing it on purpose. The more afraid someone was of it, the closer it would stick to them to play.
But its calves were short, and it couldn't run anymore after chasing Huaixue for two rounds.
Huaixue sat on the stool and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Are you afraid of puppies? Why has your aunt never heard you say that?" Qiu Xuan really didn't know that Huai Xue was afraid of dogs. If she knew, she would have locked the puppy in her own little house.
Huaixue showed the handkerchief to Qiuyun. This handkerchief was indeed the one she had embroidered for Qiuyun that day.
The lotus is in the corner of the green cloth, elegant and refined.
She praised: "It's really beautiful, auntie likes it."
Huaixue's face turned red after receiving the praise, and she said shyly, "As long as Auntie likes it!"
"Oh, auntie, I'm not afraid of dogs. I'm afraid they'll chase me! I'm afraid of geese chasing me too."
The puppy lay quietly on the ground without moving, and Huaixue boldly touched it.
Qiu Xuan smiled, as long as she wasn't really scared.
When everyone came to the house to eat at noon, they all discovered the puppy.
The grandmother didn't mind the puppy, but she was a little uncomfortable keeping it in the house.
But when she saw how small and pitiful the puppy was, she agreed.
As for Yueyang, she loved the puppy so much that she held it and played with it for a long time like a child.
Her parents' family had dogs, and she had liked them since she was a child. It was a pity that after she married into the Zong family, they no longer had dogs.
Now that she has one at home, she must cherish him well.
"I named it Dafu." Qiu Xuan broke the dry steamed bun into small pieces and put them all into the dog bowl.
The puppy was still young and couldn't eat anything too salty, so Qiu Xuan just poured some rice soup into it.
"Look how clever it is, and how delicious it eats."
-
The sound of firecrackers never stopped early in the morning on New Year's Day.
This place is close to the town, and almost every household is setting off firecrackers.
Qiu Xuan woke up early and curled up in the quilt, too lazy to move.
"You sleep a little longer, I'll go set off some firecrackers." Zong Xiao tucked the corner of the quilt for her and got up from the bed.
Qiu Xuan was dazed for a while, and when Zong Xiao returned to the room, she had already washed and dressed.
"Why are you up?" Zong Xiao washed his hands, took the silver hairpin she handed over, and helped to insert it next to her bun.
"I can't fall asleep again after waking up, and we still have to make dumplings later."
Speaking of dumplings, Qiu Xuan thought of the pot of copper coin dumplings last year.
She laughed and said, "Do you think mother will make so many copper-coin dumplings this year?"
Zong Xiao shook his head, "I don't know, maybe."
The clan mother does whatever she wants, and maybe she does this for a good omen.
In the kitchen, the grandmother who was being talked about by the two men was kneading dough in a porcelain basin.
In previous years, they would add a little refined flour to the coarse flour, but this year, as life was good, the grandmother used refined flour directly.
As for the fillings, this year my grandmother prepared three: one with leek and meat, one with leek and egg, and one with yellow leek and lard.
The better the life, the better the food.
The grandmother worked very hard, and by the time Qiu Xuan and the others came to the kitchen, she had almost finished wrapping the dumplings.
Each of the dumplings with three bamboo covers looks like a small ingot.
Qiu Xuan rolled up her sleeves to help, "Mom, have you prepared the copper coins this year?"
The grandmother pointed to the basin beside her and said, "How could I forget that? But we didn't prepare so much this year. It will all depend on your luck to see who gets to eat it."
On the round table, there were plates of plump white dumplings.
Shuyun, who was just two months old, was held in Yueyang's arms. His dark eyes were staring at the things on the table.
Although he didn't know what it was, he found it curious to see the steam coming out of it.
"Come, let me take a look at our brother Yun." Qiu Yun stuffed the New Year's money that she had prepared long ago into the swaddling clothes of brother Yun.
It’s not a lot of money, it’s mainly for good luck.
"Hurry up, thank your aunt." Yueyang pinched his little hand and shook it towards Qiu Xuan.
With the children around, this year's New Year's Eve is especially lively.
In the end, all the dumplings made by the grandmother were eaten.
There were only nine dumplings with copper coins inside, but everyone could tell.
Qiu Xuan ate the most, three copper coins.
Huaixue is next, there are two.
The rest of us are all the same.
Zong Anji started to make a fuss, insisting that Zong Xiao gave the copper coins to Qiu Xuan.
He was yelling and suddenly his eyes fell on Qiu Xuan's hair bun.
Qiu Xuan rarely used hairpins before, but today she has a silver hairpin.
Zong Anji clapped his hands and patted Zong Xiao on the shoulder, asking, "Could it be that Second Brother went to buy a hairpin for Sister-in-law that day?"
As soon as he said this, everyone in the room looked over.
The silver hairpin was obviously new and it even sparkled in the sunlight.
"Yeah." Zong Xiao's expression remained calm, but in his heart he wanted to throw Zong Anji out of the house.
"Second brother is so thoughtful." Yueyang beckoned Zong Anji back. She twisted Zong Anji's thigh under the table and said, "Learn from second brother in the future."
Zong Anji had no words to express his pain.
He was the one who said it first! If I had known, he would have bought a hairpin too!
The Zong family doesn't have many relatives now, so they only went to Aunt Feng's house during the New Year.
Aunt Feng's son and daughter-in-law have both returned, and they brought back a lot of good things from their business trips that are not available locally.
They had been doing business away from home for a year, and only when they came back did they find out that their daughter was seriously ill.
The two were afraid and decided not to go out after the New Year.
I heard from Aunt Feng that the Zong family opened a shop in town and is making money.
The two of them discussed it and decided to give it a try.
It happened that the clan mother went there, so they asked more questions and gave her a lot of things in the end.
"Mom, are you going to pay New Year's greetings or to rob?" Zong Anji took the heavy bamboo basket and complained in a low voice.
"Don't let your mother beat you on New Year's Day." The grandmother glared at him and turned to get on the cart.
In the blink of an eye, it was the sixth day of the New Year.
Qiu Xuan and her friends’ restaurant has reopened.
Ever since business got good last year, Qiu Xuan felt that if a restaurant wanted to last long, it had to learn how to hire people.
Now that Zongmu and Yueyang have to stay at home, Sanshui is the only one helping out in the shop, which is not enough.
But how to hire people and where to hire them have become new problems.
But Sanshui was left behind by the original owner's family, and she only renewed the contract later.
Now she needs to find a new one, so she has to ask around.
When Sanshui heard her mention it, he immediately said, "That's not a big deal. Boss, why don't you just buy two? As this shop becomes more and more prosperous, there will inevitably be people who will get jealous and do something bad. It's most reassuring to use your own people."
Buy two? Qiu Xuan never had such a plan.
Once you buy someone, you have to arrange accommodation for them. Qiu Xuan is worried about living with unfamiliar people.
But what Sanshui said made sense. After thinking about it, Qiu Yu felt that it would be a good idea to buy two slaves.
But she didn't know the price of this slave.
But it was easy to find out. Qiu Xuan went to ask the broker, and he said that there were all kinds of weights. Children were more than two taels, and adults who were strong and capable and could guard the house would cost seven or eight taels.
Qiu Xuan just asked them to help in the restaurant, and they didn't really need anything like that.
She followed and picked out some, and finally chose two.
A skinny boy of fourteen said that his parents had passed away and he sold himself to make a living.
The other one was a woman in her thirties. Her husband had died and she had no children, so she was kicked out by her in-laws.
Qiu Xuan thought these two were good, at least they worked efficiently.
She paid the money directly and got the indentures of the two people.
She brought the man back to the restaurant that day.
The two men had never worked in a restaurant, but with San Shui's guidance, they got the hang of it quickly.
The boy is called Siqi, and he mainly serves dishes in the front. The woman is called Yuangu, and she mainly washes and picks vegetables in the backyard.
Qiu Xuan bought them back, but also paid them wages every month.
But the money is naturally much less, but the restaurant provides food and accommodation, so they don’t spend much money on weekdays.
Everyone only found out about Qiu Xuan's hiring of someone during dinner that night.
My grandmother has lived in the mountains all her life, and she has never heard of villagers buying someone to serve them.
"Mom, I'll let those two stay in the restaurant for now." Qiu Xuan explained to everyone, "We're definitely going to start a business in the future, and we'll need people. I thought it would be better to just use our own family instead of hiring them. At least they'll be on the same page with us."
After Qiu Xuan said this, the clan mother understood instantly.
"I never thought that at my age, I would still see a family with servants."
"Mom, those two won't be staying at our house for now, but with them around, the restaurant will be a lot quieter."
The clan mother replied, "I know, I know. I am just happy."
As she spoke, the clan mother's eyes turned red.
No one expected this to happen.
The clan mother waved her hand at them and said, "Mom is fine. I'm really happy."
For generations, the clan has lived off the mountain and has never left.
But since Qiu Yun came into the family, they not only moved down the mountain but also lived in a big yard.
Now they have all bought slaves.
This was something that the clan mother had never dared to imagine before.
"Mom, you don't have to go to the restaurant to help out these days. There's enough staff there." Qiu Xuan said, "You can just rest at home and look after your grandchildren."
The family needs someone, and the ancestor mother is the most suitable person to be here.
The grandmother knew it, but she didn't know how to say it before.
Now everything is in place.
She wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, Mom will stay at home from now on."
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