Chapter 14 Chapter 14 (Catching Bugs) Wanshi prepares for the opening of the stall...
The two deals made some money, which made Xu even more motivated. The dentists who had been working in the dentistry shop for many years were not as good as her.
My second brother came back in the evening
——It was his classmates who urged him to do so.
The second brother distributed the rest of the food Baozhu sent to his classmates, except for the food he ate at home. He was originally from the south and often dealt with many southerners. Those who had tasted the clay pot rice all said that it was delicious, with sweet rice, crispy rice crust, and tasty side dishes. Therefore, he specially asked him to come back to ask if the clay pot rice could be sent to the Imperial College.
Thinking that his elder brother and Baozhu wanted to make money, he came back specifically to ask.
"Those classmates were mostly from the south. Bianjing people mostly ate noodles, and the canteen also served mostly noodles. They were so tired from eating both vegetarian and meat buns that they felt dizzy, so they rushed me back to ask about it."
Baozhu found this amusing. "The clay pots we ordered from the shop take seven or eight days to make, and another ten days or so before we can sell them."
"Then I will reply, I will tell you when you feel better."
Zhen Erlang also thought the rice was delicious, so he wanted to try the mushroom and chicken rice when he came back today. He had asked his cousin Hengzhi to eat the rice yesterday, so he didn't get to taste what it tasted like.
My brother has been practicing these days. The most important thing about this clay pot rice is the heat, it must be simmered slowly over low heat.
The second brother went back to school early in the morning. Baozhu and Baorong went to the street. She planned to collect some duck eggs and make salted eggs by herself. Not only could she save some money, but the homemade ones would also taste much better than those bought outside. Later, when the stall was set up, the salted eggs would be useful.
Everyone in the Zhen family was busy with work. Even Grandma Zhen bought some rapeseed. There was a piece of land in the back street, which someone had reclaimed to grow some vegetables for their own consumption. Grandma Zhen had become familiar with several of the women in the alley, and these days she followed them, carrying a small hoe, to open up the land and plant vegetables.
There is nothing wrong with reclaiming these wastelands. If the government catches her, at most she will lose some money for the rapeseed. Besides, she has put in a lot of effort, and there is nothing else to blame. They cannot put a woman of her age in jail.
While waiting for people to make carts and cook clay pots in the pottery shop, Dalang took A Zhong to Xuzhou. He calculated that the crops in the fields of Xuzhou landlord Shi should be harvested by now, and he had to take care of his own fields in the second half of the year. He could not delay the farming work, and had to sow and harvest the crops in time.
After the wheat harvest, Baozhu asked her elder brother to plant beans on the land. The bean seeds were grain seeds brought from Bian Jing, and each bean was plump. The shopkeeper said that the soy milk made from these beans was particularly sweet even without adding sugar.
Although Baozhu didn't believe it, beans were good things anyway. They could be grown in three or four months. Not only could they be ground into soy milk, made into bean skin and tofu, but even the bean dregs could be sold to feed livestock.
When the eldest brother and A Zhong arrived there, they had to rent a house first. Fortunately, Xuzhou was not far away, so the eldest brother of the Zhen family could visit often.
However, she was afraid that leaving A Zhong alone in Xuzhou would be inconvenient, and there was a lot of work to do in the fields, so Baozhu asked her eldest brother to go and find an honest and loyal person in the local area to help A Zhong.
Last time, Landlord Shi said he wanted to help cultivate the fields. Baozhu thought of just asking him to give some pointers, and leave the rest to A-Zhong. Not counting wages for now, after paying all taxes for one acre of land, Landlord Shi would receive 10% of the interest.
This is the general rule, we will talk about the details later.
Baozhu didn't come with us this time because there were a lot of things to do at home. When her eldest brother comes back, he will set up a stall at the dock and needs to prepare all the matters.
A Niang is running outside every day now, and when the weather gets hot, she gets tanned.
In just half a day, Dalang came back. They traveled back and forth by water, which was much cheaper than hiring a car. Dalang said that the work over there had been arranged, and he hired a boy to follow A Zhong and help with the work.
This boy is only thirteen years old this year. His full name is Jiang Shi. His family has a hard life. He has seven or eight brothers and sisters. The boy eats a lot, so they sent him out early to make a living. He then worked as a hanger-on in the streets. However, he was young and few people asked him to run errands, so he often had one meal full and one meal hungry. It happened that Dalang was having a meal in a restaurant, so he went up to ask and ran into him.
Seeing that others were looking at him in the eye, Dalang asked if he could do farm work. If he could, he would be paid 300 yuan a month, with food and accommodation provided.
One copper coin could buy two steamed buns in town, so the boy agreed immediately after hearing this. However, his family members were afraid that Zhen Dalang was a bad guy, so they followed him to the fields to check it out. Only when they saw that it was not far from home did they happily agree.
"That young man Jiang has some good sense and is very skilled in farm work. He used to work as a temporary laborer in the fields during the busy farming season. He can handle all kinds of farm work." Dalang took a few big gulps of water and continued.
"The house we rented belongs to Mr. Shi. Although the gambling den has emptied his house, the mansion is still there. It's large, and the servants have been dismissed. There are many rooms in the house."
He sighed again, saying that the landlord Shi was unlucky.
"His wife was originally sold by a wealthy family, and he helped to cancel her slavery when he saw a pitiful buyer. When this incident first happened, he spoke kindly and kindly, but in the blink of an eye, after the grain harvest was over and he had just sold some silver, she ran away. After paying taxes on the grain in the warehouse, there was not enough grain to grow on the few acres of land left."
The family business was completely ruined.
Baozhu sighed when she heard this and didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Now, only Master Shi and that foolish son are left in the Shi family. His house is close to the farm anyway, so I just rented his house. You asked me to give him a tenth of the income from the farm and let him look after it. He thanked me profusely and agreed. You just asked me to give him some money to buy seeds first. He still has three or four acres of land left. If he doesn't plant the crops this time, it will only make things worse in the future. I'm afraid the family will be ruined."
Baozhu naturally agreed. "We've taken advantage of those fields, and we're not using them to buy anything else. We should give them a way out and give them some money so they can start cultivating the land. That way, they'll have a better harvest next year."
The eldest son of the Zhen family nodded and said that he thought so too, so he gave him five strings of cash. Anyway, the Shi family's house was still there, and the five strings of cash would not disappear.
The brother and sister sighed for a while and then began to discuss their business.
"This clay pot is ready, and the bamboo used to wrap the pot is also ready. I scalded it with hot water and dried it. The bamboo alone cost a lot. This pot and the bamboo cost a total of six strings of cash, and the cart cost four strings of cash, which adds up to ten strings of cash." Baozhu fiddled with the abacus and wrote down the number.
It is indeed difficult to live in Bianjing City. The prices in Suzhou are not low, but in Bianjing City, food, drink, defecation and urination all cost money. What's more, if you want to start a small business, you have to pay ten strings of coins before you even open it.
The two were counting the accounts when they heard the scholar's wife yelling and cursing in the next yard. Baorong wanted to go and see, but Baozhu pulled him back. After thinking for a while, he went to the kitchen, picked up a few eggs, and knocked on the door of the next yard.
The sounds of beating and scolding stopped, and it was Ah Xiu who opened the door. There were still red marks at the corners of her eyes. Seeing that it was Baozhu, she asked inside,
"Madam, it's the girl next door who brought me eggs."
Baozhu raised her voice a little so the scholar's wife could hear, "An old farmer in the country sells eggs. He says his chickens don't eat grain, they only eat insects. They're hard to find, so my mother bought a basket of them and sent a few over so you can have some dinner with her."
The scholar's wife was almost full term, and her movements were already difficult. She held her belly with one hand and fanned herself with the other. She was so swollen that she didn't dare give Baozhu food as a farewell gift. Unbroken eggs were preferred.
The scholar's wife asked Ah Xiu to take it. Ah Xiu took it and looked at Bao Zhu with gratitude. "Sister, come in and have some tea?" Both Mr. Zhao and his wife were polite to outsiders.
Baozhu shook her head. "No, I don't want to drink anymore. I have work to do at home. I have to go back first."
Baozhu came and interrupted her, and the scholar's wife stopped scolding. After all, it was someone else's business, and the most she could do was to help like this, otherwise she might say something.
The cart was delivered to my door after it was finished. Everything was ready, and any delay would mean losing money. While the sun was still shining, I washed the casserole pots and dried them in the sun.
The most important thing for clay pot rice is rice. Coarse rice is cheap but tastes bad. Ordinary stalk rice has short and round grains and tastes soft and rotten, which makes it mediocre if used to make clay pot rice. The green stalk rice produced in Jiangnan tastes much better, but it is very expensive and usually only the rich and powerful can afford it.
The brother and sister tried all kinds of rice in the grain shop. The best tasting one was still the silk rice. It had a slender shape, a solid texture, and a unique fragrance. The rice crust made from it was even crispier and more fragrant. However, it was a few cents more expensive than ordinary rice.
My second brother came home earlier and said that there were students in the Imperial College who wanted to buy it. Now we have everything ready. I will ask him again when he comes back in two days. If he wants to order food, please let me know in advance and it will be delivered directly to you.
I'll set up the stall at the dock temporarily for the next few days.
All the necessary things were prepared, and early in the morning, the brother and sister pushed the cart to the dock.
There were many people and stalls at the ferry. Although we arrived early, we still had a hard time finding a secluded place. Next to us was an old lady selling flowers and an aunt selling vegetables. There was no conflict between the two businesses, so they kindly squeezed out a place for the brother and sister. A table and a few stools were placed in front of the cart. The table and stools were all newly made and not expensive, so that customers could have a place to sit.
It was their first time setting up a stall, so they were unsure about the place. They were grateful to the vendors on both sides for giving up their space. Baozhu picked up four salted duck eggs and gave two to each of them.
The duck eggs were pickled at home. The flower-selling old lady opened them and ate them immediately. They were full of butter. The vegetable-selling aunt couldn't bear to eat them, so she put them away carefully and grabbed a handful of green peppers from the basket for Baozhu.
The flower-selling woman had two gardenias pinned on her head and gave a bunch to Baozhu. The fragrance of gardenias easily attracted tiny black insects, but the old woman picked them all off, leaving a faint fragrance.
"Aunts, my brother and I have just arrived. We don't know what the etiquette is for setting up a stall at the ferry crossing."
"There's nothing particular about it, except that the street officials come every day to collect the stall fees."
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