Chapter 32: The Second House of the Old House Goes to Sell Bamboo Shoots
Xiao Tao asked curiously: "Auntie, are elephants really that big?"
Li An then asked: "Aunt, have you ever seen an elephant?"
Li Wanyue was about to nod, but then shook her head: "I haven't seen it in real life, but I've seen pictures of it in books. It's a huge animal, very tall, with a very long nose that can spray water, two ears like big cattail leaves, and four legs like four pillars."
"Wow, we really want to see this kind of animal." Several little guys said with longing.
Not only the children thought so, but the adults in the yard were also very curious.
Li Wanyue said: "Even if we can't see it, we can learn a lot about people and things that we don't know from books, and see all the phenomena in the world. You should read more in the future."
The children's desire to read deepened. Li Kang asked expectantly, "Will Auntie tell us stories like this every night?"
Li Wanyue nodded: "Of course, I will tell you stories as long as I have time."
"That's great." Several children cheered happily.
Then Li Wanyue pointed to the sky and said, "Look there, seven stars connected together look like a spoon, do you see it?"
Several children looked in the sky in the direction of her finger. After a while, Xiao Tao said, "I saw it."
Several others chimed in: "I saw that, too."
Li Wanyue said, "That one is called the Big Dipper. The brighter star not far from it is called the North Star. It is closest to the true north and its position does not change much. If you get lost, you can use it to determine the direction."
Everyone in the yard looked up at the bright star. They were amazed that their daughter (younger sister, aunt) knew such a profound thing.
With their aunt around, they will be able to learn a lot of knowledge.
Tonight, they fell asleep with anticipation.
After a few days, the deer glue and pine soot are dry. Take a few pieces of deer glue and put them in a basin. Steam them in a pot until they melt. Then pour them into the pine soot ash and knead them into a ball. Add jade chips, borneol, cinnabar, etc. and knead them together.
Then he called over the three brothers Li Dachuan: "Brother, you beat this ink ball repeatedly, like this."
She demonstrated: "See? Because it will take a long time to beat, you three should take turns."
The three brothers started working immediately.
Hammer the kneaded ink smoke ball repeatedly to allow the ink and glue to blend completely.
People took turns hammering for a long time. Li Sandong rubbed his sore arms and complained, "Sister, is that enough?"
Li Wanyue smiled and nodded: "Okay, we can stop now. If we can make money this time, I'll share some with you."
Li Sandong chuckled. He learned a lot from doing these things with his sister every day. He had no time to think about anything else.
The next step is to break the ink ball into small pieces, put them into a mold, compact them with gravity, take them out, trim the edges, and let them dry.
Li Wanyue counted them and found that there were a total of twenty-six ink sticks, and one half a stick.
Next, wait for it to dry in the shade and then see the results.
Li's Old House
The second wife's Li Youfu and his eldest son Li Dalin also heard that someone had been going to the first wife's house to take things away for more than ten days in a row.
"Dad, I watched them for two days. They went to the bamboo mountain before dawn and picked a bunch of bamboo shoots. I saw with my own eyes that the ox cart pulled up to Zuixianju in the town. They must have sold the bamboo shoots to Zuixianju."
"My son is really smart." After Li Youfu praised him, he asked in confusion, "But how do we eat that thing? Do the people in the town have different tastes than us? I haven't heard that Li Youshan has been to the town these days. Who negotiated the deal?"
"Dad, Li Wanyue and Sandong went to town a few days ago. The next day after they came back, someone went to their house to take something away."
"Humph, I didn't expect these two brats to be so capable."
Li Dalin sneered, "If they really have the ability, why would they use it to make money now? In my opinion, Li Wanyue must have learned it from Gao Zhiyuan. Gao Zhiyuan is a scholar and has a lot of experience."
"You're right, but I haven't heard that the Gao family makes money from bamboo shoots."
"I am a scholar, I would never do something that lowers my status."
Li Dalin finished speaking, his eyes rolled, "Dad, how about this, let's pick some bamboo shoots and take them to town tomorrow. Zuixianju can't just buy bamboo shoots from uncle's family. If we lower the price, then the business will be ours, right?"
"Okay, let's do as you say and go to town and try it tomorrow."
The next day, Li Youfu and his son picked two full baskets of bamboo shoots, peeled them, washed them, and took them to the town.
Li Youfu followed Li Dalin to Zuixianju and couldn't help feeling a little timid. He had never been in such a big restaurant before.
Li Dalin was also nervous and cleared his throat: "Dad, let's go in."
"Go in." Even Li Wanyue, that money-losing guy, dared to go in, so why shouldn't he dare to go in?
The two walked in, and the waiter came forward and greeted them: "Please come in, both guests."
Li Youfu waved his hand: "We are not here to eat."
Waiter: "This is a restaurant. If you two don't want to eat, please leave."
"We...we'll look for the shopkeeper."
The waiter asked the two men to wait and called Manager Wu over.
"Do you two have something to ask me?"
"Boss, we are here to sell bamboo shoots."
“Spring bamboo shoots?”
"Yes, yes, our bamboo shoots are very tender and the price is cheap, only two...one cent per pound." Li Dalin just stretched out two fingers and immediately put down one.
I don't know how much a pound of Dafang is, but it can't be less than one cent.
Shopkeeper Wu said politely, "We have a fixed supply of bamboo shoots. You two should ask somewhere else."
The two of them froze, and Li Youfu said, "We are also from Daohua Village, and we harvest the same bamboo shoots as you do."
"That's not necessary. Please come in, both of you." After saying this, Shopkeeper Wu turned and left.
Seeing that the shopkeeper was unmoved, the two men could only leave dejectedly.
Li Youfu suddenly had an idea and looked at Li Dalin: "Dalin, isn't your eldest sister's husband working in a restaurant in town? Which restaurant is it?"
Li Dalin's eyes lit up: "Yes, isn't Jiawang working in a restaurant? Ruifulou, Dad, let's go there and take a look."
The two of them hurried to Ruifulou.
Zhou Jiawang was wiping the table diligently. He used to be able to get away with it, but now he doesn't dare to get away with it at all.
Business in the store has been slow these days, and the shopkeeper is very angry. He dislikes them even more and would curse them when they are working, not to mention being lazy.
Seeing someone coming into the store, he hurried forward and said, "Two guests... Hey, Dad, brother-in-law, why are you here?"
Li Youfu said, "Jiawang, I heard that Zuixianju has recently launched a spring bamboo shoots sale. Has your store also been affected?"
He lowered his voice and replied, "Oh, don't mention it. Our shopkeeper is feeling uncomfortable about this."
"Jiawang, the bamboo shoots from Zuixianju are sent by my uncle's family. We are here to sell them, too. Will your store accept them?"
"What? Those spring bamboo shoots are sold by Li Youshan's family?"
"I saw it with my own eyes. The bamboo shoots we brought were dug from the same place as theirs. Why don't you go and ask the shopkeeper if he will accept them? One cent per pound will be fine." Li Dalin said immediately.
Zhou Jiawang rolled his eyes and said, "Okay, you wait by the door for a while, I'll go find the shopkeeper."
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