Peasant girls seek happiness

Chapter 59
Went to the embroidery shop to sell Yang’s, Chuqi’s, and Chunxiao’s embroidery. Sure enough, Yang’s sold at a higher price. Her small screen magpie ascended to sell for 450 coins. The shopkeeper of the embroidery shop felt a little regretful, " This embroidery is really good, if you can embroider some large pieces, or the patterns are not the same, it will definitely sell better."

Chu Qi remembered the cross-stitch things she saw in her previous life, and she tentatively asked, "How much does the shopkeeper pay for the God of Wealth that is two and a half feet wide and three feet high? The flowers that are three feet high and four to five feet long are blooming for wealth and family. What about Wanshixing?"

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up when he heard this, "Little lady, can your mother embroider?"

"Yes! But it takes time, effort and attention, so I have to see if it's worth it. If it's not, we'd rather embroider this little piece."

Now her mother doesn't care about the housework and only does embroidery. This time the small piece was embroidered in half a month.This is still Chu Qi watching, don't let her be greedy for black embroidery, and it gets dark early in winter, and she often doesn't let Yang sew when it gets dark, for fear that her eyes will be damaged, otherwise she will be able to do it in six or seven days Embroidered out.

The shopkeeper scratched his beard, "If you are all embroiderers like this, and you use high-quality satin, I will give you one tael from the God of Wealth, and the flowers will bloom and make you rich, how about two taels?"

Cheng Chuqi grinned down: "Shopkeeper, you are not sincere. We can embroider this small piece in a few days, but the big one may not be embroidered for more than half a year... Forget it , forget it.”

Seeing her turn around to leave, the shopkeeper hurriedly yelled "Ai ai" and wanted to reach out to stop her, but Cheng Wu stood in front of him, "What are you doing?"

The shopkeeper said embarrassingly, "I just want to call her, Cheng Wuye..."

Cheng Wu waved his hand: "Don't! I can't afford to be called 'Master', the shopkeeper should call me Cheng Wu!"

"That's fine, then I'll call you Brother Cheng Wu. You tell this little lady, if she is not satisfied with the price, we can discuss it..."

It happened that someone greeted him a few days ago and wanted a big gift as a gift. That person is not short of money, if he really likes it, he will not give less money.

Chu Qi was stopped, thought for a while and said: "How about this, shopkeeper, let's try to embroider a piece of 'Jia He Wan Shi Xing' first. This theme is good, and the rich people must like it."

She calculated in her mind how long it would take her mother to embroider such a large-scale embroidery, and how many days it would take her to draw such a picture, "At least half a year, the price is 30 taels, and a deposit of ten taels is required first, how about it?"

The shopkeeper was surprised, and shook his head quickly, "Little lady, this is too high. Besides, I don't know what this 'family and everything is going to do'. How can anyone give a deposit first? The little lady is too dishonest."

Chu Qi explained: "The price is naturally to be sold to rich and wealthy families. Such a large embroidery has a good meaning and good embroidery work, so they will not hesitate to spend the money. We also need to buy satin. The shopkeeper is such a plain noodle The size of the satin is several taels, plus the embroidery thread paper, and besides this, my mother has no time to embroider small pieces, and the family is waiting for money to eat!"

The shopkeeper thought, "It's strange!"

Because of Cheng Juren's affairs, they knew a thing or two about the Cheng family. Although there were no scholars to support the family, could the hundred acres of land at home be a display?What's more, Second Master Cheng moved into a house in the county town.

Life may not be too rich, but it is a joke to say that waiting for money to eat.

However, what Chu Qi said made him feel that what she said was right, but it was impossible to give a deposit, so he thought about it for a while and said: "How about this, little lady, show our master the picture first, if he I think it looks good, and this kind of embroidery is handed over by the little lady, so I will wrap up the satin and embroidery thread used by the little lady, and pay you 30 taels of silver when handing over the work, how about it?"

It is said that buying is not as good as selling.

Cheng Chuqi felt that the shopkeepers were very smart, plain satins were expensive to sell to them, but their prices must be much cheaper.

It may be more cost-effective to sell leftovers that are enough for this size.

But the shadow of Cheng Er's contract still lingered in her heart, so she just thought about it for a while, and said bluntly: "Yes! But if I can't hand it in, or you think the embroidery is not good, what should I do?"

The shopkeeper said approvingly: "For my plain satin, how about I convert it into money for my little lady at two hundred cash per foot?"

"Then let's make a contract. If the embroidery shop is not satisfied, I will pay for the satin and thread money, and the embroidery will be mine. But if the embroidery shop wants to keep the embroidery, then 30 taels must not be less. The flour money and embroidery thread money are also paid by the embroidery shop."

The shopkeeper felt that he was indeed a child from a scholar's family, which meant he was smart.

Chu Qi agreed with the shopkeeper, and went to buy paper with Cheng Wu at ease.

I don't have such a large sheet of paper at home, so I still need to buy a few sheets, as well as watercolor paints, and I have to make up for the missing ones.

Cheng Wu was also a little worried because of the previous incident, but when he thought of Chu Qi's Zhou Quan, he couldn't help muttering: "Your second uncle is not as thoughtful as an adult like you, a child. Can the compensation be easily signed?"

When she got home, Mrs. Yang was shocked when she heard about it.

"You are too reckless. If the flowers are so easy to draw, I won't just embroider these common ones."

Chu Qi put on a serious face, and said to her and the old lady seriously: "Don't you think that I have become much smarter and understood a lot since I spoke?"

The old lady muttered: "I didn't realize whether you were smart or not, but I just thought you were thick-skinned. Whose little girl would always say that she is smart?"

Yang Shi also looked at her reproachfully: "Mother knows that you are smart, but you don't have to say it like this. Once you say it, the people around will think you are proud."

Chu Qi stomped her feet and called "Grandma", and the serious atmosphere she created before disappeared because of these two people.

The old lady chuckled, "Okay, okay, grandma knows we are smart in Chuqi, so let's do it!"

Only then did Chu Qi sort out her emotions, and said in a deep voice, "That's because I went to a place when I fell into the water."

Chu Qi made up a big lie. She said that she went to a very strange place. People in that place were equal to men and women. They all went to school and worked. After two years, I stayed for a full 13 years, and I learned and read a lot of things.

If it wasn't for being constantly called by the family, she might just stay there and never come back.

The old lady and Mrs. Yang broke out in a cold sweat.

The two of them didn't believe Chu Qi's words. What they thought at the same time was: What did this kid bump into? He's talking nonsense.

When Chu Qi saw their expressions, he knew that they didn't believe it.

She pointed to the paper laid out in front of her, "If you don't believe me, look at it. I didn't learn painting when I was at home, did I? But I did learn it over there, and I have learned it for 20 years!"

"Mother, grandma, you are watching."

The old lady and Mrs. Yang just stared at her painting with their mouths wide open in shock.

She didn't paint "Family and Everything Prosperous", what she painted was a picture of flowers and birds.

With just a few strokes, a bird can be drawn vividly. The key is that this level of proficiency cannot be mastered in just a few days.

The two of them were still skeptical. Although the facts were in front of them, what she said was so unbelievable that people couldn't believe it.

"Are you serious? Are you really my seventh day? Are you a ghost or a god? Then do you remember what happened when you were a child?"

Chu Qi remembered the incident when the original owner was frightened and lost his voice when he was a child.

She sighed, "Grandma, mother, do you know how I was scared when I was a child?"

The two shook their heads, and Yang recalled: "At that time, you were young, and your eldest sister took you out to play, but when you came back, you were stupid and silent. I don’t know, I just said that she asked you to go home, and you became like that when she saw you by the forest. Or your grandma went to find Zhang Taoist to drive out the ghosts for you, so you gradually recovered, but you still refused say."

This incident also became a thorn in her heart, and she asked Xiaofang, but she didn't pay attention to this child at all when she was talking with her friends in the village.

I asked others and no one saw it. This matter has always been a mystery.

Cheng Chuqi nodded, "Actually, when I woke up after the coma, I remembered this incident. But I didn't say it because I was afraid that you would worry."

"What's the matter?"

Cheng Chuqi said in a lower voice than before, "I saw Village Chief Wang's younger brother who came back to visit relatives dragging a man to bury him in the woods by the river."

Xiao Chuqi happened to go there to pick flowers and saw this scene.

At that time, she screamed and passed out. After waking up, not only did she lose this memory, she was also so frightened that she couldn't speak.

The old lady and Mrs. Yang covered their mouths in fright, "Chu Qi~" Mrs. Yang hugged her daughter distressedly.

She didn't know the truth of what she said, and the old lady was suspicious but she couldn't let people see it. If she was found out and thought it was them who killed her, then she would jump into the Yellow River and it wouldn't be clear. "He killed him? Your grandfather said before that Wang Lao Er is a ruthless one."

Otherwise, Wang Hai's daughter-in-law would not have testified, and they had no intention of confronting Wang's second child.

That's a ruthless man!
"Do you know who was killed?"

Chu Qi thought about it carefully, and there was only a moment of fright in her memory. After she screamed, Wang Laoer ran away in fright, but there were no rumors of anyone dying in the village. It might be that the children by the river did not His half-buried body was found.

But what surprised her was that Wang Er Er didn't kill her to silence her.

In fact, she didn't know that Wang's second child did have this idea, but when Xiaofang was with several half-grown children, he didn't have a chance at that time, and he didn't have a chance after Xiaofang got them home.

Secondly, through his elder brother, Village Chief Wang, he confirmed that the girl didn't remember anything, and she couldn't even speak.

He also sneaked up to her to scare her, and seeing that she really couldn't remember and couldn't speak, he was relieved and didn't dare to add anything to the snake.

"I didn't see the face clearly."

The old lady thought about it carefully, "During the time Wang Laoer came back, I didn't hear that anyone in the village disappeared... Could it be an outsider?"

She warned the two mothers: "Keep your mouth shut, you can't tell anyone about this anymore, if Wang Erer knows you think about it, then..."

She couldn't help but shivered, and said sternly: "Your brother, sister, and fifth uncle can't even talk about it. Let this matter rot in your stomach, you know?"

Cheng Chuqi nodded hurriedly, "Grandma, don't worry, I have appointed no one to tell."

Chu Qi confirmed that she was not possessed by ghosts and gods, and also convinced the old lady and Yang Shi that she had wandered around in a different world that they didn't know, and learned a lot of skills.

Just like the flower-and-bird painting in the eye.

"My old lady doesn't understand this, but the bird is quite similar, and the flower is also beautiful."

Yang's eyes straightened, "Chu Qi, can I embroider this?"

"Okay, let me draw it for you." This is useless color, the embroidery must be drawn in color, so as not to embroider wrongly.

With her ability, the old lady and Mrs. Yang believed that she could draw the so-called "prosperity at home and everything".

Yang also urged her, "Hurry up and show it to the embroidery shop, so I can embroider earlier."

When she saw the big characters of "Home and Everything" and the landscape painting behind it, she hesitated, "This is good, but it can be worth 30 taels? Is it too high?"

will not.

On the seventh day of Chu, she told her the way to go inside: "This is a large format. Although it is not full of embroidery, it has to be embroidered with more than half of it. 30 taels is less. If it is placed in Fucheng or Beijing, it will cost a hundred taels. .Embroidery Zhuang then mounts it well, and it is possible to add more than one hundred and eighty taels."

Chu Qi also drew a picture of "Bamboo Announces Peace". She chose themes that have good meanings for the moment and that everyone likes.

Sure enough, the shopkeeper showed it to the owner, and the owner signed the contract on the spot.

Cheng Chuqi read it carefully, and found that all the items she proposed were in it, so he felt relieved and signed his name.

The owner was very straightforward. Before leaving, he asked the shopkeeper to bring her three times the plain silk and satin she needed. Chu Qi blinked and asked the shopkeeper when he went to look at other fabrics: "I think the country gentry in our county seem to like this kind of silk more. Fresh satin."

The man didn't guard against this little girl's words for him, so he regarded her as one of his own, "Yeah, I think the plain noodles are too plain, not as bright as these. All the goods on the shop are suppressed."

On the seventh day of the seventh day, I knew it well.

She took the embroidery from Fan's, Chuyi and Chunxiao, pointed to the satin and asked, "Shopkeeper, you said that if I embroider it all over it and make it into a garment, will it sell well?"

The shopkeeper saw her take out a pen and paper, and a beautiful dress jumped on the paper a few times, he held his breath, "This must be beautiful."

Chu Qi asked: "Shopkeeper, tell me how much this set can sell for?"

The shopkeeper looked puzzled, "It looks good, but it costs a lot of money. This plain silk is only purchased for two hundred yuan a foot...We have to sell two taels of silver, and there is no profit."

Chu Qiyi said cheerfully, "Forget it."

The shopkeeper just remembered that she was like this at the beginning, and she left as soon as she said, and hurriedly called out "hey hey", "But our embroidery village is the largest embroidery village in our county, and there is no better embroidery village than ours in the north." It’s getting bigger, there are many wives from Pingyang, and wives from the border will also come to our embroidery village..."

In fact, their embroidery shop has branches in Pingyang and border towns.

He babbled on for a while, then went to discuss with the shopkeeper, and finally signed another contract with Chu Qi.

She is still given two hundred cash per foot of plain satin. No matter how much she sells the ready-made clothes from the embroidery shop, she sells them to the embroidery shop for three taels of silver per set, and only to the embroidery shop, unless the embroidery shop does not want it. Sell ​​elsewhere.

Not counting handwork, one set of planing materials and threads can earn at least one or two half.

When they got home, the old lady and Mrs. Yang no longer had any doubts.

If he hadn't gone to those years of school and had no knowledge, how could he have such a brain?

There is no need for Yang to make clothes. This is the job she found for her fourth aunt, sister-in-law and sister.

Niu was very envious, but she knew her own family affairs, so she could do this kind of meticulous work better than the second sister-in-law.

Chu Qi said: "Third Aunt, don't be envious. Let's sell recipes. When the spring is warm, we will cook other dishes for my third uncle and the others to sell in the county. They are not as tired as they are, and they are more profitable than them."

Niu laughed: "You can fool me, one piece is only one tael and a half silver!"

"A set is not a piece!"

There is no need to pay for stalls during the big fairs in the county, but this kind of big fair is only once a ten-day period. On weekdays, you have to pay a stall fee, depending on the size of the area. There are a few small tables and chairs, which will naturally take up more space, fifteen yuan a day.

In order to save money, Cheng Si didn't even build a shed, so he just put two small tables in the open air, and one small table can seat four people.

One of the sets of tables and benches was not needed by Cheng Er when he moved. They were built for the children to learn. They were pine logs cut on the mountain, neither good nor bad.But Yunxiu stopped studying, and Cheng Er probably felt that his family had entered the city and became a city dweller, so he didn't like these and left them behind, and said grandly, "I'll light the fire for you."

The other set is in the three houses.

The child is still young, and he prepared it when he was doing it. This time, Niu took it out and said that Yun Zhou went to the big room when he was studying, "It happened to be with Yun Zong. There are only two small ones, and I will return this one and the other one." What are you doing?"

Cheng San found some wooden sticks at home and nailed two layers of storage shelves. On one shelf, there were layers of curtains. On the curtains were frozen dumplings and rolled noodles. They were covered with a white cloth so as not to Falling dust.

The other shelf holds the necessary tableware, small dishes, wooden basins, etc.

The big iron pot was bought. Cheng’s family has several iron pots, and every building has a pot and stove, but in winter they have to burn a fire to keep warm, and the pots and stoves cannot be pulled out.

And Cheng Er showed off again that the big iron pot also had to be moved away, this was not an old wooden table, a big iron pot cost a lot of money.

There is no need to build a decent stove. Every morning when we leave the stall, we can use bricks and stones to set it up, and put a big iron pot on it.There is also a small stove next to it, and there is boiling water in the pot above it.

There was a row of four or five buckets next to it, most of which were clean water, which Cheng Wu and Cheng Liuxian went to fetch from the well every morning when Cheng San and Cheng Si were cleaning up the stalls.There is also a spare bucket, which contains boiled water mixed with half a bucket of bone broth.

There are two brothers, Cheng, Si, Cheng, and five, who are not afraid of not being able to sell at all. These two can be regarded as eloquent... In fact, according to Chu Qi's observation, most of the people here are simple, and some things are not so far-sighted because of their narrow vision. , if someone pulls it out a little bit, everyone will still be able to calculate this economic account in their hearts.

This year, the weather is good and the weather is good. Every household dare not say how prosperous they are, but most of them can still eat enough.

It’s cold in winter, and I go to the street to sell my own chickens, miscellaneous grains, weaving baskets of lentils, etc., to do some small business, to go all the way to the county to buy things, to go to the pharmacy, to do business. I was reluctant to go to the restaurant because of the business contract or something, but after being yelled at by Cheng Wu, I felt that it was a good deal to stay by the cauldron and eat a bowl of hot noodle soup for a few cents.

And there are those who are not willing to pay even two pennies, buy a bowl of diluted hot bone soup for a penny, break up the hard dry pancakes or steamed buns they brought, soak them in it, and eat and drink it warmly. Bowl, I feel comfortable in my heart.

So under the leadership of Cheng Wu, Cheng Liu, Yun Hui, and Yun Xiu, who came to help after hearing about it, all fooled... Oh no, with persuasion, they can sell for one hundred and eighty yuan a day.Every time the money sold in Daji was Ding Dingdang, I took it home and counted it. There were more than 1000 Wen.

This is a small business, and the whole family can't wait to keep busy. They don't earn much, but the Cheng family is very contented, and this is money they can make every day.

It's just that after Yunhui followed for a few days, the old lady stopped him.

"Your mother said, you have been running outside every day these days, and your heart is running wild, and you can't read well when you come back? You are not allowed to go from today on."

Yun Hui became anxious when he heard this, "Grandma, everyone is busy with this family, how can I sit down and read at ease? When I come back from work, I must read well."

The old lady put on a serious face: "You also know that everyone is busy with this family? Then you should know that this family still needs scholars! Without the support of scholars, no matter how much money you earn, you will be like that." Rootless duckweed, if it is said to be fished away, it will be fished away!"

Cheng Chuqi nodded again and again, "Brother, don't worry, there are mothers earning money for embroidery, and sisters earning money for making clothes. If anyone wants to say that we live in the same room, I will let grandma scold them first."

Mrs. Yang also persuaded: "You study hard, and you will be exempted from the corvee service if you pass the exam early, just for the good of your uncles and the good of the family."

Cheng Chuqi added another sentence: "You are a scholar, and you understand the phrase 'perform your own duties' better than we do. You can help, but only when you are tired from studying, not like you are doing now. study."

Cheng Yunhui was silent for a while, "I know, it's because I wanted to go wrong."

The four people at the stalls in the county are not tired. Since the beginning of the year, there are big fairs every day. No matter how far the countryside is, there will be villagers coming to the fair.

Or buy or sell, ready for the New Year.

Cheng's stall tastes good, the price is cheap, and they give a lot, which is very affordable.

Some people even spend a few pennies to eat a bowl of hot noodles at Jishang if they don’t eat at home.

The old lady took Niu Shi, Fu Shi, and Chu Qi to roll out noodles, cut noodles, and make wontons every day. They worked hard and were happy.

Cheng Chuqi was so tired that he often thought: "Why should I find so much work for myself?"

Until Cheng San and the others excitedly brought back more than three taels of silver one day, she announced: "From today onwards, I'm going to think about big plans to make money. Don't bother me!"

As for doing chores, she said to the old lady: "Grandma, you don't have to treat our three long-term workers like mules. Is that reasonable?"

Anyway, it's: whoever loves to do it, anyway, she is a pick.

The old lady also felt distressed. After being reminded by her, she remembered that she still had three long-term workers.

It was winter, and the long-term worker didn't have much to do except to chop firewood occasionally, and he lived some distance from Cheng's house, so the old lady often ignored them.

It's also because the Cheng family and the others are kind people. If they were to change to other landlords, it would be enough for them to treat long-term workers like donkeys and horses.

The old lady asked the long-term workers to help make the dough. If they did too much, making the dough became a laborious task.

With the help of long-term workers, it really saves a lot of effort.

On the seventh day of the lunar new year, I had nothing to do to draw a few clothes. As the year approached, the embroidery shop would urge them to produce new clothes every now and then.

Each of the three embroidered one piece, and earned more than a dozen taels.

These people who gave up their hard-earned money at the stalls said they were capable.

The Cheng family never underestimated women, and now that women earn more than them, they dare not underestimate them.

　Six thousand words, making up for the two thousand that was missing yesterday.Ask for subscription, ask for support, ask for collection, ask for recommendation ticket!

　　


(End of this chapter)