Chapter 29 Brazing Craftsman

While listening to gossip, Lin Shu did not delay her work.

Zhao Meifeng rushed to her uncle's house for lunch yesterday, but when she arrived, he was still at work. Only her aunt and grandson were at home.

The aunt was also a very shrewd person. In order not to give her that meal, she sent her children to the field to tell the family to come back for dinner later.

Zhao Meifeng was very hungry and drank a bellyful of water to fill her hunger. She couldn't wait for her aunt to cook and wanted to help.

The aunt naturally refused, saying that there was no food at home and she had to borrow from the neighbors.

Finally, the aunt brought half a bucket of sweet potato vines that were used to feed pigs and mixed with some pumpkin, saying that she wanted to make porridge.

Zhao Meifeng was so angry.

She endured the hunger and went to her grandson's house, hoping to have a meal there.

The grandson's family heard that she was the eldest sister-in-law of the third aunt of the daughter, and wanted to treat her. If there was no good food, she could have a home-cooked meal. Anyway, it was a steamed bun with dried sweet potatoes, corn flour and sorghum flour, which was much worse than what Zhao Meifeng's family ate.

As a result, Zhao Meifeng started to act picky again, saying that the grandson's family ate poorly and was poor, and they raised a daughter who was like this black, sour and bitter bun. It was really a bun that had never seen the world.

If she had a little vision, would she still occupy the sewing machine of her third aunt and not return it?

As soon as she mentioned the sewing machine, the old Sun family immediately got angry and took it back, scolding her for being cunning.

Your sister-in-law wants the sewing machine, she should go back to her parents' home to get it, and you are the first to go?

Old Sun is not a good person, otherwise he would not have raised such a difficult and noisy girl, and he scolded Zhao Meifeng on the spot.

How can Zhao Meifeng be a good person?

She retorted on the spot.

So Old Sun and Zhao Meifeng had a quarrel, and finally got physical.

Even though Zhao Meifeng was good at controlling the original owner, she didn't do farm work after all, so how could she be as strong as Sun Laozi who did farm work all year round?

Old lady Sun didn't let her daughter-in-law help, and directly slapped Zhao Meifeng five times and pinched her with her claws.

"Don't look at me getting hurt, in fact, that old woman was hurt more seriously than me. I slapped her ten times, kicked her five times, and pinched her with her claws twice!" Although Zhao Meifeng was beaten, she refused to show weakness in front of Lin Shu.

Lin Shu cheered in her heart, but she showed reluctance on her face, and said softly: "Sister-

in-law, didn't you ask your aunt to help you?" Zhao Meifeng: "I didn't suffer any loss. My grandson's family wanted to ask me for compensation, but my aunt suppressed them."

How could Lu Shaocai's aunt help her?

When Lu Shaocai and his mother went to the capital to enjoy their lives, his father wanted to send things to Lu Laodi, and his mother wanted to send things to his uncle's family. Lu Shaocai could even pretend to send a package and then secretly sell the things.

When his uncle knew about it, he just scolded him, but his aunt was resentful.

Not everyone is like Father Lu and Fang Dihua, who are not greedy for their things and don't mind if they don't give them. However, Aunt Lu Shaocai really wants it.

Zhao Meifeng: "Old Third, I'm doing this for you."

Lin Shu whimpered, "Sister-in-law, you are so nice. You didn't even ask for the sewing machine back."

It seems that Zhao Meifeng's fighting ability is not good. Lin Shu thinks that if she wants to get the sewing machine back, she still has to rely on the original owner's grandmother and aunt.

The original owner is responsible for this matter. Lin Shu doesn't want to trouble Fang Dihua, and she doesn't want her mother-in-law to go to the original owner's family home and make a scene.

The main reason is that although the original owner's mother is a bit hard to describe, the father is not bad.

In the original story, after his daughter passed away, Lin's father wanted to raise the two children. After Lu Laodi and Fang Dihua passed away, he took the children to live with him for a while and treated them very well. Lin

's mother favored boys over girls, but she was okay with the children of the next generation and took good care of the two children.

Lin Shu didn't want the old couple to be embarrassed because of the sewing machine.

It would be best if there was no bloodshed and no hurt feelings.

Seeing that Zhao Meifeng had no new melons to cut, and kept saying that she would find a good husband for her, Lin Shu unceremoniously called her to work.

There was not much corn flour at home, so she had to peel the corn kernels and grind them into flour on the mill.

Lin Shu sat under the eaves and asked her to help rub the corn kernels.

The voice of a brazer came from outside, "Braiding basins, brazing bowls, brazing large jars - yeah", and then the crisp voices of children sounded behind, "Braiding basins, brazing bowls, brazing large jars, brazing all the way to Dongbei Township..."

Tiantian and Panpan, who had just run home, heard the excitement and immediately turned around and ran out to watch.

There was no entertainment these days, let alone the county drama troupe coming to perform. Even if the postman came to deliver letters or a stranger came to the village, the old and the children could watch the scene.

In the past, there were many small vendors walking the streets, including peddlers selling needles and thread, people sharpening scissors and kitchen knives, people mending basins and bowls, castrators, etc., but later they were all merged into public and private enterprises and moved to the commune.

Members who lived far from the commune had no time to send pots, bowls, and utensils to the commune for repair, which was very inconvenient.

Some craftsmen secretly went to the countryside to serve in order to supplement their family income, but if they were caught by the commune, their money would be confiscated and fined. Some people were smart and cooperated with the unit and paid the unit a share of the money they earned from going to the countryside.

This brazer was of medium height and had a sturdy build. He wore a dirty sorghum bamboo hat that covered his entire face.

He carried a shoulder pole, with a square, shabby wooden box on each end, which contained various tools and household items.

He sat at the crossroads next to the well in the village and began to shout. Soon, people came out with plates, bowls, and basins to ask him to mend them.

The adults were busy, so they asked for the price, put it down and left, and came back to pick it up.

The brazer looked very dull and didn't talk much. After quoting the price, he put out the wooden handle drill, the rivets with curved ends and other household items and started to fix the bowls and basins.

Panpan was very curious and couldn't help but fiddle with it with his little hands. He asked in a baby voice: "Uncle brazer, how much do you make a day?"

His little brain was very useful. A big rivet cost five cents, a small one cost three cents, and a big basin would need one, two, three... at least a dozen rivets, right?

Wouldn't that be about fifty cents?

He was sensitive and curious about money, and he always liked to ask Grandma and Lin Shu about things.

Oh, being a brazer is really profitable!

Panpan's two big eyes suddenly sparkled, and she stared at the brazer with some light in her eyes.

The brazer raised his head slightly and glanced at him, "You

can earn about three or five yuan a day, but you have to give your share to the commune." "Wow? That's a lot!" Panpan felt that it was more than working in the production team. Grandpa said that the production team could earn about three cents a day.

Brazer: "It's a lot. Do you want to learn? If you want to learn, you have to follow the master."

Panpan immediately pulled Tiantian up and said, "Go home and tell mom that I want to learn to be a brazer to make money!"

Tiantian rolled her eyes at him and poked his forehead with her white and tender fingers, "Don't you look at how old you are? Can you carry a load?"

Panpan looked at the load on the ground. The big wooden box was taller than him.

At this time, several boys came over. Hu Zi shouted, "Pan Pan, Tian Tian, ​​let's go to the west to play. There are many cicadas and monkeys there."

Tian Tian glanced at Chang Xiao Gang beside him and said, "No."

Grandma told them not to play with the children of the old Chang family. If the top beam is not straight, the bottom beam will be crooked. Besides, grandma just beat their mother, so she won't play with them.

Chang Xiao Gang is six years old this year, older than Tian Tian and Pan Pan.

He is sensible. He usually hears his parents say bad things about the Lu family. He is jealous of Pan Pan, especially because he was beaten by Hua Hua and others because he said Pan Pan's father was dead. He hates him even more.

A few days ago, his mother was beaten by Fang Dihua and couldn't get off the kang. Grandma thought it was shameful to abandon her, so she asked his father to send her to his grandmother's house to hide.

He couldn't see his mother, and he hated her even more.

At noon, the second aunt quarreled with grandma again because of his mother. Grandma scolded the second aunt and his mother.

Chang Xiaogang hated him so much!

Hu Zi's father is Wang Mazi, and his mother was beaten by Fang Dihua. When

he got home, he was beaten by grandma again. She didn't go back to her mother's house because her parents were gone. Today she was limping around doing housework.

Hu Zi is the same age as Panpan and Tiantian, but he is not so fluent in speaking. He is open-minded and playful. Unlike Chang Xiaogang who hates the Lu family, he plays around like a heartless person.

He is often beaten himself. He was beaten for running into the ditch when he found a cicada or a monkey and caught a snake and brought it home. He felt that it was nothing for his mother to be beaten.

Tiantian and Panpan refused decisively and did not play with them.

Chang Xiaogang snorted, "Coward!"

Coward whose father is dead!

When Hei Zhuang Huahua heard this, he immediately said fiercely: "Are you scolding Panpan?"

Chang Xiaogang was immediately frightened, "No! We are going to play, Huahua, are you going?"

Panpan: "Huahua, is there anything you need to mend at home? I want to go home and ask my mother."

- Humph, I won't let Huahua play with you!

Huahua immediately said obediently: "We will go home and ask too."

When she shouted, the young ladies also went home to ask.

Panpan and Tiantian ran home hand in hand.

Chang Xiaogang was so angry when he saw Panpan instigating Huahua and the others to not play with him, "Let's go to the woods in the west to find cicadas and monkeys and feed them to death."

The repairman looked up at them and said, "There are snakes in the west, don't go there if you are a coward."

Chang Xiaogang: "You are a coward!"

He pulled Huzi and ran out.

On the way, Chang Xiaogang scolded Huzi: "Are you stupid? Her grandma beat your mother, and you still play with her?"

Huzi: "My grandma said my mother deserves a beating."

Chang Xiaogang: "It's her grandma who is bad!"

Tiantian and Panpan ran all the way home.

"Mom, do we have any broken bowls and pots at home? Take them and repair them."

Zhao Meifeng had already left because she didn't want to work for Lin Shu for nothing.

Lin Shu smiled and said, "I'll take your grandfather's teapot to mend it later. Are you hungry? Wash your hands quickly, and I'll get you some hot pot stickers later."

Children eat early and get hungry early.

Panpan was so anxious, "No, not hungry, mom, give me the teapot quickly, I'll go mend it for grandpa."

Tiantian smiled at him, "Mom, he wants to be a mender."

Panpan's eyes were shining, as if small money was coming out of them, "Make money, several yuan a day!"

Lin Shu: "..."

How old are you, and you are so obsessed with money! Is it okay to be a money-grubber?

It seems that the old mother can really win without doing anything.

She went to find the Yixing purple clay teapot that belonged to old man Lu. The signature on the bottom showed that it was the work of a famous artist. Unfortunately, it was broken into two pieces by Lu Cuicui some time ago.

Panpan was so anxious that he stood on tiptoe and raised his little fleshy hand to ask her, "Mom, give it to me, I'll go!"

He is a man and can help his mother with many things.

Lin Shu gave Tiantian three cents and asked them to repair the teapot. She would go and take a look later.

She estimated that it would cost three cents to repair the teapot well, or even more, because each rivet cost five cents.

At that time, doing fine craftsmanship was quite profitable, but the work points were worthless.

When Panpan and Tiantian went to mend the teapot, Xu Laonian's wife Jin Ping'er from the west came out to mend the tea bowls.

She was once a concubine of a big landlord. Although she was bullied by the main wife, her food, clothing and daily expenses were better than those of ordinary people.

She had a habit of drinking tea with a very exquisite porcelain covered bowl. She brought it from the landlord's house when she was fighting against the local tyrants, and she didn't change it after marrying Xu Laonian. She

also used this covered bowl to drink water.

A few days ago, the covered bowl was hit by her grandson, and she was in so much pain that she couldn't eat for a few days.

She had standard three-inch bound feet, which made it inconvenient for her to go out. Xu Laonian was unwilling to go to the commune to mend tea bowls for her, because mending a fine porcelain tea bowl would cost several cents, which was enough to buy two large bowls for eating.

The mender was fiddling with the Yixing teapot that Panpan and Tiantian had brought over, and said in a muffled voice: "This needs copper nails, one cent each, ask the adults."

Jin Ping'er handed over her own.

The brazer didn't even look up, just looked at the bowl and said, "It's made of fine porcelain, and a copper nail is one cent. Yours will cost sixty cents."

Jin Ping'er: "Oh, you're so bold. Who cares what kind of nail it is? How much can such a small nail cost? It's nothing more than the labor fee for drilling the hole. One nail is five cents. Don't lie to me."

The brazer said nothing and just kept mending the bowl for others.

Panpan stared at Jin Ping'er with great interest. Yes, they can price like this.

He said in a babyish voice, "This middle-class guy just said five cents, so these small ones are one cent."

Jin Ping'er muttered, "Did you earn it for the commune or for yourself? If you earn it for the commune, we don't need your ticket, isn't it the same?"

The brazer: "Okay."

The brazers and teapots are five cents each.

Panpan squatted there happily and began to look at the tools one by one.

Soon, Huahua, Yuanyuan and other girls also came out with big bowls from home to braze.

Panpan immediately said, "I asked them to mend the bowls. Uncle, you gave me five cents and you didn't lose anything."

The brazer looked up at him, then lowered his head to work, "Hmm."

Panpan: "Your drilling skills are really fun. I also want Grandpa to make one for me."

Jin Ping'er asked, "Brazeer, are you from the commune?"

The brazer lowered his head to work and hummed.

Jin Ping'er: "You should go to the countryside more often in the future. You used to go door to door, but after the joint venture, you became lazy and stopped going to the countryside."

In fact, it depends on whether the commune cadres are strict or loose. If they are strict, they will not allow craftsmen to go to the countryside, saying that this is the tail of capitalism and needs to be cut off.

Some cadres are loose, and they also sympathize with the hard life of craftsmen. They will let them go to the countryside to do some work and give the commune some symbolic points.

Lin Shu asked the children to mend the bowls, but she didn't completely ignore them. After working for a while, she would go to the door, look to the west, and call out.

Tiantian and Panpan would immediately agree, and sometimes Huahua and a few other girls would agree as well, and they were very lively and laughing.

The small teapot was mended, and it cost a total of 45 cents.

Panpan ran home to ask for the money, and then ran back again, carefully carrying the small teapot home with Tiantian.

The two children returned home, filled the small teapot with water, and placed it on the table, staring at it with their four big black eyes to see if it leaked.

If it didn't leak for several minutes, it was a success.

The two children exclaimed loudly, "Oh, it's amazing, it really doesn't leak."

Lin Shu washed the teapot, put it in boiling water, and then made a small pot of tea for Old Man Lu.

The tea was of course not a fancy tea, because it was not available these days.

Old Man Lu's sleep was not affected by drinking tea, but he slept more soundly because of the taste.

Panpan: "Mom, put it in the east room for Grandpa, don't put it here or it will get hit by accident."

It was placed on the dining table before, and when Lu Cuicui took the teapot, she accidentally swept it to the ground. Old Man Lu was not hurt, but Panpan was very distressed.

Fortunately, the floor of the house is made of mud, if it was made of tiles and cement, it would definitely be broken into several pieces.

At noon, Fang Dihua went home to bring lunch after work. When she passed the west bank, she saw Hu Zi and Chang Xiaogang hanging around there.

Fang Dihua shouted, "Why are you hanging around here when you two don't go home to eat?"

These two kids were so wild that they dared to play by the river without adults. There were deep pits and wells more than ten meters deep here, which looked dangerous.

Her children would never come to such places to play alone.

Hu Zi was afraid of Fang Dihua, "Let's go home."

Fang Dihua: "Hurry home!"

Hu Zi immediately pulled Chang Xiaogang back, but Chang Xiaogang pulled him out from another path, cursing: "Why are you afraid of her, you idiot? Let's go to the west forest to find cicadas and monkeys to roast and eat. I brought matches, we will roast them there."

Hu Zi thought it was fun, so he followed him to the west.