Chapter 16: Auntie's Partiality
Li Wanyue was also shocked. One book could feed a farmer for two or three months. Reading in ancient times was too expensive.
Li Wanyue glanced at the ink sticks on the shelf, and suddenly an idea came to her mind. She asked, "Excuse me, how much is the cheapest ink stick?"
"Six hundred coins a piece. Even if you practice calligraphy every day, this piece of ink can last about two months."
Li Sandong was shocked again. This piece of ink stick that was not much bigger than a finger cost 600 coins? And that was the cheapest one? How much would the more expensive one cost?
Sure enough, those who can read are not from ordinary families.
Li Wanyue looked around the store and finally saw the dark yellow straw paper. She asked shamelessly, "How much is this straw paper?"
The waiter patiently replied, "One hundred coins a bundle."
"Help me get a bundle."
"OK."
Li Wanyue paid a hundred copper coins.
After leaving the bookstore, Li Sandong asked, "Sister, we can't write, what are we going to do with this straw paper?"
"it works."
"Oh." Li Sandong saw that his sister didn't say anything else, so he didn't ask. His sister is now an experienced person, so she must have her reasons.
Li Wanyue thought, if Li Sandong knew that she bought this paper just to use it for going to the toilet, would he vomit blood? Who is such a spendthrift? But she really couldn't stand the bamboo strips.
Although this is not soft enough, it is better than bamboo strips.
Li Wanyue was thinking about the method of making ink sticks in her mind. She was very interested in traditional crafts. The blogger she followed in her previous life had videos of these handmade crafts. Because she was learning calligraphy, she also tried to make them when she had free time.
If deer antlers were boiled into glue and used to make ink sticks, and then sold, it should be possible to make some money.
For scholars whose academy conditions in the town were not very good, they would not care too much if the ink was of poor quality, as long as it could be used for writing.
And she was confident that the ink sticks she made would not be too bad.
Thinking of this, she went to a few more shops and bought some soap beans, gelatin, cinnabar, jade chips, etc. The three taels of silver in her hand were reduced to only one tael in a blink of an eye.
At the same time, I learned that there was no shampoo or soap here, only bath beans. A small box contained only two small beans, which cost one or two taels of silver, and they were not durable.
It seems I can only do it myself.
Fortunately, I have toothbrushes and tooth powder. A toothbrush costs 50 cents, and a small box of tooth powder costs 50 cents. If you use it sparingly, it can last a month. A large box costs 100 cents.
It turns out that the poor don't deserve it, but she must have it.
Because she had limited copper coins, she only bought a toothbrush and a small box of tooth powder, spending one hundred cents.
I'll buy it for other people when I make money.
Li Sandong was speechless as he watched her buy a bunch of things she didn't recognize. They looked useless. She only bought a little of each, but she spent two taels of silver.
Two taels of silver are enough for the family to use for half a year.
Forget it, as long as my sister is happy, he should go out and make money quickly, make more money, so that my sister can buy whatever she wants.
Li Wanyue bought a small piece of fine cotton cloth and some cotton. She didn't dare to walk with her back straight without underwear. She wrapped the old cloth around her underwear several times today. She decided to go back and sew two underwear to make do.
After walking around for a while, Li Wanyue realized that there were no potatoes or sweet potatoes here. Li Sandong had also never heard of them, so he was afraid that they had not yet been introduced here.
Fortunately, there were chili peppers, otherwise she would really cry. As a person who loves spicy food, she really couldn't stand life without chili peppers.
The two went to the meat stall again. Pork belly was 25 cents a pound, lean meat was 18 cents a pound, and spare ribs were cheaper at 12 cents a pound, probably because they were all bones. Pork fat was 30 cents a pound. People of that era lacked oil in their stomachs, and pork belly was high in oil, so it was naturally expensive.
I still have debts to pay, so don’t buy the pork belly for now.
She bought two pounds of lean meat and saw some bones with almost no meat on them. She thought they were cheap, only two cents each. Only very poor families would buy them and stew them to eat the fat.
Big bones are also very nutritious when stewed in soup. She bought two and took them home to make soup.
Passing by a snack shop, she went in and spent thirty cents to buy a small bag of the most ordinary maltose, enough for each of the children to have two small pieces. She thought that the children at home didn't eat candy often, so she wanted to make them happy.
Think about when she was a child, if someone in her family went out to the market and brought her some food back, she would be happy for several days.
It was already late noon when Li Wanyue finished shopping and only a few copper coins were left in his pocket.
The two of them came to the ox cart at the city gate, paid two cents directly, found a place to sit down, and let it be bumpy, she didn't want to walk back.
When the brother and sister returned to the village, several children were waiting at the door. When they saw them, they surrounded them and shouted "Auntie".
Li Sandong took the backpack to the kitchen. Li Wanyue took off her own backpack, took out some maltose from it and handed it to Xiaolan, asking her to share it with them, two pieces per person.
Li Xiaolan excitedly went forward to receive it. Li Kang ran up quickly and said, "Aunt, how can you let Xiaolan share it? It should be me who shares it. I am the eldest grandson of the Li family. Besides, how can a girl share the same amount as a boy?"
The smile on Li Wanyue's face faded: "Oh, then how do you think we should divide it?"
"Xiao An and I are boys. We will set up our own household in the future, so we should get more. Girls are all money-losing goods. Just give them a sweet mouth each. No matter how good the food is, it will belong to someone else in the future."
"Who taught you these words?"
"My mother, everyone in the village says so too, what's the problem?"
Li Wanyue said calmly, "Oh, then ask your mother to buy you some candy. You look down on me as a girl. I guess the candy I buy is not worthy of you. Also, don't eat anything made by women in the future. You are so precious. What they make is not worthy of you."
After saying that, he handed the candy to Xiaolan: "Xiaolan, except for Li Kang, everyone gets two pieces, and the rest is for your grandma."
Li Kang was dumbfounded. How come the situation was different? Mother always said this to his sister. Whatever good things were at home, he would be given first. Why did his aunt say this?
Li Xiaolan saw Li Kang's angry expression and looked at Li Wanyue: "Aunt, why don't you let Xiaokang share it? It's not a big deal."
Before Li Wanyue could speak, Li Kang, who had just reacted, said angrily: "Aunt is partial to me, Aunt doesn't love me, wow..."
Wang Guixiang and Sun Xiuqin, who had just returned from outside carrying a laundry basin, heard the crying and hurried into the yard.
Seeing her son howling, Sun Xiuqin felt so distressed that she immediately dropped the wash basin and rushed to Li Kang: "Son, what's wrong? Who bullied you? Tell me and I'll help you vent your anger."
Li Kang wiped his eyes with his sleeves and pointed at Li Wanyue, accusing her: "It's my aunt, my aunt is partial. She gave them candies and didn't give me any. Woohoo..."
Sun Xiuqin's eyes were red with distress, and she looked at Li Wanyue: "Little sister, if you don't want to give Xiaokang candy, you can just share the candy with other children behind his back. In front of the children, deliberately not giving it to him, isn't this deliberately causing discord between the siblings?"
Wang Guixiang frowned and looked at her, advising: "Second sister-in-law, I am not that kind of person. You haven't figured out the whole story yet, and you're blaming me like this. At least listen to what the others have to say."
Sun Xiuqin stared at Li Wanyue, and Li Wanyue looked at Li Xiaohe: "Let your own daughter tell you, so that you won't disbelieve me if I tell you."
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