Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1365
Everyone thought so, and when they thought that the cocoons were sold for silk, and the white silk turned into white silver, everyone's brows and eyes widened.Although I don't know how many unknowns there are from the greening to the mountain, how many fears and fears I have to go through, at least it is hope.Everyone pinned their illusory hopes on this.

"If you want to talk about news, there is something new." Shen Kaibao said.

The biggest new thing is that it has spread in the town, saying that in order to relieve the famine this year, the magistrate has issued a sign that the Hangzhou government has entrusted the Famine Relief Bureau with the business of purchasing silk cocoon this year. Passed through the Famine Relief Bureau.It is said that the government intends to use the profits from the silk cocoon to help the victims of the disaster.

For this reason, all the silk companies with departmental licenses have gone to Hangzhou these days, and it is said that they are going to discuss the market of silk cocoons with the Famine Relief Bureau.

After hearing this news, the originally joyous atmosphere suddenly became cold.Everyone, look at me and I look at you. I don’t know whether to be happy or scared, because I really don’t know what this news means.

After a while, someone muttered: "Whoever receives the silk is not the one who receives the silk, as long as the market is good, just give the money."

An old man was worried: "How can it be so peaceful——Since ancient times, we little people have always suffered from whatever the officials made by hand."

This remark earned a moment of silent approval, and the crowd began to stir uncomfortably.Some people sighed, and some people's faces darkened.

They have been tortured by all kinds of suffering and injustice in life, and their expectations are very low. They dare not expect any good changes, but only hope that they will not go worse.

But the sudden arrival of the Famine Relief Bureau cast a gray shadow of uneasiness on everyone's expectations, and they no longer had the heart to chat.

Each family took the things they entrusted Shen Kaibao to buy, and the crowd dispersed amidst this anxiety.

Shen Kaibao went back to the house and drank a large bowl of rough tea—not tea, but tea made from mulberry leaves.He took out the bag from his waist again, poured all kinds of copper coins inside on the table, and counted them one by one.

There is no income from "sailing the boat", and the owner does not charge commission or earn the price difference from it. The income is the free entertainment of the shops in the town and the "commission" or gift income of three festivals.For Shen Kaibao who often goes to the town, it is a side-by-side business.

Occasionally, however, he takes advantage of a good moment and makes a little money out of it.This time he bought "paste paper" and he made a small fortune.The paper shop in the town began to sell a new kind of "paste paper", which is said to be shipped from Guangdong, so everyone called it "Guangdong paper". The quality is better than that of the local paper workshop, but the price is only half of it. .As soon as it went on the market, the original soil paper became unsalable.

Shen Kaibao made some money from buying "paste paper" on behalf of him. Although this money was just a drop in the bucket, it still gave him a good sign.It's just the matter of the Famine Relief Bureau, which he really can't understand -- he has mixed emotions of worry and expectation in his heart.

The news that the Famine Relief Bureau was going to collect silk cocoons was like a gust of wind.There was a little ripple, and it was silent again.Compared with selling silk, the matter of raising silkworms is more important.Every household is busy preparing.

The weather continues to warm up, and the young leaves on the mulberry trees are gradually growing up. The mulberry forests around the village are growing well. From a distance, it looks like a piece of green brocade spread on the dense gray and white short fences.The originally empty rice fields were filled with water again, and the hungry farmers began to go to the fields to plant rice seedlings, and the long-lost cattle also appeared.The Famine Relief Bureau lent seeds, grain and cattle to the four townships.Seeing the green seedlings in the field, the villagers of Jixian Village also breathed a sigh of relief—as long as they can grow food this time, there is some hope for the harvest in the second half of the year.

At this moment, Miao Zhu, who was hungry and hungry in the half-collapsed ruined temple at the east end of the village, suddenly disappeared.Just when everyone was surprised, there was news soon: this temple property has been bought by someone.

Not long after, masons came and demolished the dilapidated temple and repaired the house.The young adults in the village helped with small jobs in their spare time, earning a small amount of money—the foreman was very stingy, knowing that everyone would have no money after the disaster year, so he cut his wages to death.

The house was built soon, with a small courtyard of bricks and tiles at the front and back, neither expensive nor cheap, a bit like the mansion of a small landlord in the country.The villagers were all watching the excitement, discussing a lot, wondering who would live in here—because the house was built somewhat strangely—it was unqualified.

While everyone was discussing and guessing the owner of this sudden house, the wife of the Shen family came back.

The news immediately caused a sensation.The Shen family originally belonged to this Jixian village, and Shen Kaibao is still not a brother of the fifth service.The family used to live very well in the village, with several acres of mulberry land, and the wife raised silkworms as well.Unexpectedly, a few years ago, because I wanted to grow hair too much, I borrowed money to buy shoots and leaves, but the silkworms got sick and lost all crops. The land and house were taken away by Mr. Cao. Not to mention, I heard that the whole family sold themselves as slaves , just disappeared.

As long as there are people in the village who are idle, they will always talk about the "Shen family's downfall" and express their deep emotion.In short, Shen Da's family is the "negative model" of the "young children" who are restless in the education of the villagers.

Because Shen Kaibao and Shen Da are brothers in the "room door", everyone is reluctant to say more about Shen every time.However, he also felt that Shen Da's defeat was entirely his own fault.He was a little jealous of this cousin: he has more money and more land than him, and even his wife is much better-looking than him.What's more, Shen Da's cowardly appearance doesn't know how to discipline his wife at all—his wife Wang Siniang's flamboyant and frivolous behavior makes people uncomfortable to watch.I deserve to be a slave to someone now, and sometimes I feel a little happy in my heart.

Wang Siniang, who had disappeared from the village for a long time, suddenly appeared, causing all the idlers in the village to crowd Hebutou to watch the excitement.As expected, it was Wang Siniang and his wife who came, and they were well dressed. Although they were not silk, satin or silk, they were all half-new and half-worn jackets and skirts, clean and neat without any patches.When it came, the boat was full of objects covered with reed mats.It looks like it's growing outside.It's just that there are four strong men dressed as servants on board.It's frightening to watch.

The boat docked at Hebuto, Shen Dayan looked at a group of villagers from the village, and was a little timid, but Wang Siniang was generous, calling for older brothers and sisters-in-law all the way, and even handing out lumps of candy to children when they met, They were extremely friendly, and everyone wanted to see their jokes, but seeing this picture, they were too timid to come forward and talk too much.

Shen Da's homestead has long been sold to someone else by Mr. Cao, so there is no place for him in the village.When everyone was wondering where his family was going to live, the group went straight to the newly built house.Many boxes and cages were unloaded from the ship and moved in one by one.

Now the whole village is a sensation!Everyone Shen is doing well as a slave!For a while, there were different opinions in the village. Some people thought that the daughter of the Shen family had become a concubine, and she was very favored by the master's family, and even her parents were well-off.The evidence is that none of the daughters of the Shen family came back.

However, in the evening, the relatives and acquaintances of Mr. Shen who went in to take a peek under the pretext of "helping clean up" quickly spread the definite news-it's not so mysterious, this house belongs to Mr. Shen's family.The main family wanted to raise silkworms and reel silk here, so they knew that the Shen family was a sericulture household, so they specially sent them here.

Shen Kaibao didn't sound like it at all——Shen Da's master had nothing to do when he was full and asked his servants to go to the countryside to raise silkworms and reel silk?If rich people want to wear silk and satin, do they need to raise silkworms by themselves?Could it be that there is something hidden here?The four servants who came with the boat just looked bad.

He was vigilant, and he didn't even talk to Wang Siniang about the cakes that Wang Siniang came to deliver to his new house--the cakes were something he hadn't seen for almost a year, and the children's eyes seemed to squirt when they were brought out. Like fire.On the day Wang Siniang came back, some lucky children got the candy she gave. It is said that it is sweeter than rock candy, and it has a sour and delicious taste. The grandson of the Shen family didn’t get it. Hearing what my friends said, I shed tears with envy.

Wang Siniang didn't care about Shen Kaibao's lukewarm attitude. After saying a few polite words, she gave the children two candies and got up and left.

Before Wang Siniang went out, the children of the Shen family eagerly peeled off the wrapper and stuffed the candy into their mouths, making Shen Kaibao angry for a while.After scolding a few times, the daughter-in-law's face was very uncomfortable for a while.

However, what happened next seemed to show that the job of Wang Si's family here was indeed to raise silkworms, and the riverside also began to see their whole family packing up silkworm-raising utensils there.It's just that the utensils are quite different from those used in the village. The utensils are much lighter and more beautiful, and there are better types.Looking at it makes people feel angry-is silkworm raising just for fun?Do these useless bells and whistles!No wonder you want your whole family to be slaves to others!
It didn't take long for the topic raised by the return of Shen Dawang and Si Niang's husband and wife to fall silent.After all, this will be a time of "busy", the villagers have to go to the fields, but also to clean up the silkworm tools and paste "silkworm grates".Men and women, young and old, are busy.Everyone in Shen is also busy.

Originally, Shen Kaibao was a little suspicious of them, but after the local landowner came, he didn't say anything, and he gradually let go of his doubts - he was too busy with his own affairs!

A few more men and women were added to Shen's yard one after another, and they were seen coming in and out of the yard every day, carrying water and sweeping the floor.I even bought lime and built a lime pond outside to eliminate the lime.When the lime was so good, it was brought in bucket by bucket to paint the house.It looks like a snow cave inside and out.

(End of this chapter)