Chapter 012: Traitorous Minister 12
In order to dissuade Xiao Yan from his idea, Xiao Chen had no choice but to go ahead.
"Brother, how about letting me handle this?"
Xiao Yan frowned slightly. "How can this be allowed? You've never painted before, and you're still young. How can I ask you to shoulder all this?"
"Actually, I have done it privately, but no one has ever noticed." Xiao Chen lied without changing his expression.
"Brother, I really like calligraphy and painting, and I have to paint for the imperial examination. I've just learned it in advance, and it can be said that practice makes perfect." Xiao Chen, who made money by selling calligraphy and paintings in his previous life and whose hands were shaking from painting and calligraphy, said so.
Xiao Yan looked hesitant, but finally said, "Well, since you like me, don't let me down. It's also my fault that I'm useless and have to rely on a kid like you to support the family."
The matter was finalized, and Xiao Yan had a good sleep.
The next morning, when Xiao Yan woke up, Xiao Chen had already gone to Aunt Zhao's house next door to get food.
Since the relationship had been severed before, he naturally could no longer rent land from Xiao Dashi, so he exchanged the food he had eaten in the past few days for copper coins as expenses.
The Xiao family had no able-bodied men, so they rented the land to Aunt Zhao. Before the conditions were equal, they only waived the gift and medicine money, which was a normal lease.
Aunt Zhao is quite kind. Although she doesn't prepare any big fish or meat, the portion is enough to fill you up, and there's also some oil. It's obvious that she's subsidizing the Xiao brothers.
After finishing his meal, Xiao Yan took all his belongings, wrapped them in thick clothes, and huddled in a corner of the donkey cart with Xiao Chen.
Uncle Hong is one of the few people in the village who owns a donkey cart. His son is very hardworking and works as a kitchen helper in a restaurant in town. He is highly regarded by the chef and is accepted as his apprentice. In addition, Uncle Hong's son is diligent and sweet-spoken, and he is also an honest and hardworking member of Uncle Hong's family, so he was given the job of serving vegetables.
In order to provide the restaurant with fresh and juicy dishes, Uncle Hong would go to the town to transport goods every morning, and occasionally he would take villagers with him to earn some pocket money.
"Brother Yan, move closer to the basket, it will block the wind." Uncle Hong cared lovingly.
These two children are without a father or a mother, which makes people feel distressed. They are all villagers, and most of them help when they can.
After Xiao Yan thanked him, he sat down on the pile of baskets, and sure enough, the wind was a little weaker.
Shancai Village is an hour's walk from the town. Taking a donkey cart is a little faster, but it still takes more than half an hour.
The road to the countryside is steep and a bit bumpy, but bearable.
When they got to town, Uncle Hong said, "I'll be waiting for you here at noon today. Don't forget the time. And be careful not to let the beggars take you two away. If you need anything, come to Li's Restaurant and find me."
Xiao Yan took out two copper coins and stuffed them into Uncle Hong's pocket, ignoring his refusal: "I know you mean well, but let's be honest. If you don't accept them, I won't have the face to look for you again in the future."
Uncle Hong couldn't refuse, so he had to accept it. Then he watched Xiao Yan taking Xiao Chen to the bluestone-paved road and shook his head lovingly.
Children from poor families have to grow up early, it’s their fate!
"Let's go to the cloth shop first and buy some clothes and quilts."
Xiao Chen naturally had no objection, because he found that his brother was a little stubborn these days and could not be persuaded at all!
What else could he do? His brother simply loved him too much!
After asking around at several cloth shops, some welcomed them warmly, while others gave them cold looks when they saw they were wearing patched clothes. Xiao Chen was already used to this.
It’s just that he didn’t care at all in his previous life, but now that he has an elder brother, perhaps he is used to being cared for, and can’t stand the bitterness if there is even a little bit of sweetness, and his heart is full of resentment.
He silently thought to himself, when he gets the upper hand, he will definitely teach these naive guys a lesson! How dare they look down on his brother! It's infuriating!
His brother is such a good person, how could he suffer such unfair treatment?
So angry!!!
"How about this color?" Xiao Yan asked, holding a piece of green cloth, without noticing his thoughts.
There are not many colors nowadays. Most poor people like to wear black, brown and darker colors. Of course, there are other colors. The main reason is to make clothes easier to do and they are afraid that dirty colors cannot be covered up. Otherwise, who doesn’t like other colors?
Xiao Yan and Xiao Chen's clothes were all dark colors. Light blue is easy to get dirty and is generally worn by scholars.
Compared to dark colors, Xiao Chen obviously prefers lighter colored cloth. However, when he thought about how much more expensive it was than the dark colored cloth, he could only say against his will: "This cloth is too eye-catching. I don't like it very much."
The shopkeeper knew that this was because he had no money and was not really trying to discredit her.
He rummaged through the cloth from the bottom and said, "I still have some scraps of cloth from last year. They've gotten a little damp, but they can still be used after washing. Would you two brothers like to take a look?"
Xiao Yan was not embarrassed. He took the cloth and took a look. It was indeed as Zhang Gui said. The cloth smelled damp and the color was a little old, but it was still brand new after washing.
He pointed at the light blue, lake green, lavender, and smoky blue cloth and asked, "How much is this?"
"This is Jiaqing hemp, 35 wen per foot. Although it's a little damp, it's still new. Since you two are quite frugal, I'll convert it to 18 wen per foot."
The original body took after his father, nearly 1.5 meters tall. Xiao Chen took after his mother, and due to malnutrition, he was even shorter than an average child, only 1 meter tall.
Xiao Yan needed about four feet of cloth for a set of clothes, which was equivalent to seventy-two copper coins, while Xiao Chen needed nearly three feet of cloth, which was equivalent to fifty-four coins.
He planned to buy two sets of clothes for each person, which would cost two hundred and fifty-two copper coins in total, not including winter clothes and quilts.
Xiao Yan looked embarrassed as he counted the money quickly in his mind.
"Uncle, can you give me less?"
The shopkeeper is used to it. He is a businessman, but he has a conscience and is not greedy.
It seems that this little brother must be in trouble. For something like buying cloth, no one would ask their child to buy it.
"How many feet do you want?"
"I need fourteen feet for clothes, and I also want to buy some cotton for winter clothes and quilts."
"Fourteen feet will cost you two hundred and forty coins. As for cotton, I have some here, but it's a little expensive. One pound is eighty coins, already tied up."
A winter quilt weighs nine pounds, which is seven hundred and twenty coins.
"If you want it, give me nine hundred and seventy coins, including fourteen feet of cloth, and a quilt cover as a gift."
It is equivalent to ten cents for a quilt, which is the most cost-effective.
"Winter clothes require one pound and two ounces of cotton. You brothers also need to change and wash clothes, so I'll charge you three hundred and seventy."
The shopkeeper waived another fourteen cents for him.
Xiao Yan took out a copper coin and counted it, then handed it to the shopkeeper. "Thank you, uncle. Can I leave it here for you? I want to buy some winter shoes."
Although the shopkeeper made less money, he still made some money. This was the first business this morning, and he was in a good mood.
"Okay, I'll put it away for you. If you want to buy winter shoes, the best craftsman in our town is Granny Wu. She lives in the first lane of Ertangkou. It'll be cheaper if I mention her name."
Xiao Chen was already tired of listening. Although he was a thick-skinned person, he never thought that his brother did not bargain at all, and the other party took the initiative to offer less and even passed on the message.
He is worthy of being his brother!
Xiao Yan had not expected such a pleasant surprise, so he asked again, "I want to buy some hemp paper. Where can I buy less?"
The shopkeeper was a local and knew a lot of news. Perhaps because he had nothing better to do, he chatted patiently: "To buy hemp paper, go to the Yushufang at the end of this street. I see you have some knowledge, young man. Do you want to copy books for some money?"
"Don't be disgusted by money. You have to fill your stomach first to survive."
Xiao Yan currently has no plans to make money by copying books. He wants to get the embroidery job done first before thinking about other things.
Oh, no, let Xiao Chen start embroidering first, and then we can talk about other things when he becomes proficient in it.
"I have this idea, but I have a business deal. I wonder if you would like to hear about it?"
The shopkeeper didn't think that a half-grown child could have any business ideas, but since he spoke in an organized manner, he was quite interested.
"I'd like to hear more about it."
Xiao Yan told the shopkeeper about the embroidery, but the shopkeeper shook his head and said, "This has been going on for a long time. Don't you know that everyone is short of money these days? How can you spend more money to buy more embroidery patterns? It's not like you have extra money to burn."
"People with spare money will naturally buy it, for example, scholars like to buy auspicious gifts, and families with many children and grandchildren."
Due to the trend, the idea of favoring boys over girls is deeply rooted and difficult to change, so we can only go with the flow.
Xiao Yan took out the drawing he had made earlier and said, "Uncle, please take a look."
The shopkeeper took it and took a look, and was not surprised to find that he was a very handsome man.
Businessmen always have sharp vision. In just a few breaths, they understood how much profit this matter would bring.
As he said before, if it were simply embroidering a pattern, it wouldn't be new. Was it because they didn't have the money? Of course not! It was because it was time-consuming and laborious, and not many people could create an excellent base pattern.
Scholars valued literature over commerce, viewed material possessions as inferior, and were aloof. Those with real talent and learning mostly pursued the imperial examinations, so why would they waste their time on material possessions and delay their studies?
It's not that there are no literati with good painting skills who take on jobs. It's just that they are proud of their status and mostly take on jobs such as copying books and selling paintings. They are unwilling to lower their status and get involved in embroidery work that is only done by women.
This is a very bad strategy for a scholar, and it is easy to be looked down upon.
Even if there were, most paintings at that time were like this, and how could they be as lifelike as this? Especially the portrait of the deity, in the shopkeeper's opinion, it was completely emitting the light of silver.
"Who painted this?"
Xiao Yan said modestly: "I am not talented, but I have been ill recently and I am afraid I cannot work. My painting skills are not inferior to mine."
The shopkeeper was shocked. What kind of talent must one have to create such an outstanding painting!
This is just a half-grown child!!!
Not to mention the shopkeeper, even Xiao Chen who was standing beside him was stunned.
He had only heard of painting before, but he didn't know that Xiao Yan's painting skills were so outstanding!
At this time, Xiao Yan still said that his painting skills were not inferior to his. How could he be so virtuous and capable? How could he be so virtuous and capable! ?
Even though his painting skills were so outstanding in his previous life, they were not as amazing as this!
Xiao Chen felt a sudden surge of pressure in his heart, and he wished he could go back and start practicing hard, fearing that he would disappoint his brother and even more afraid of bringing shame to his brother's reputation.
He swallowed silently: "Brother, you are exaggerating."
The shopkeeper was a little disappointed when he heard that Xiao Yan was ill, but then he thought that since the elder brother was already so outstanding, the younger brother should not be much worse. Moreover, the two brothers had such superb painting skills, they would definitely achieve great things in the future!
If we don't help now when the situation is weak, when will we?
The shopkeeper also had ambitions to expand his business, so naturally he wouldn't miss this opportunity to make a name for himself.
"Okay, if you have time, let's sit down and talk in detail."
Xiao Yan looked a little apologetic and said, "My younger brother and I only paint. The business matters will be discussed with you in detail with someone else."
The shopkeeper was a little impatient, afraid that he would miss out on this store, so he quickly asked, "Where do you live? To be honest, if we can talk about it sooner, I can feel at ease."
"Shancai Village, Xiao Family, you can find me then."
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