Farmhouse Qiaofei

Chapter 22 The embarrassment in front of the pork shop

In this market, there is only one blacksmith's shop. On weekdays, farmers buy their household supplies here, so Bai Chuanbai, who is familiar with the road, took his three children to find that shop.

The big blacksmith was very familiar with Bai Chuanbai, so he greeted them as soon as he entered, "Brother Bai is here to buy something."

"Hey, Chang Yuan, let's do some shopping." Bai Chuanbai greeted the man with a very gentle smile, "Where is Uncle Hou, why doesn't the old man forge?"

"My father is getting old, and I can't stand it when it's hot. I let him go to rest." Hou Changyuan said with a hearty smile, "Third Brother, you can choose what you want. I'll come as soon as I finish the shovel."

"Okay, okay." While exchanging greetings with Hou Changyuan, Bai Chuanbai brought Bai Shao's three children into the blacksmith shop.

The so-called blacksmith shop is actually not a place to forge sharp swords as many people think.

In the iron shops in the countryside, most of them are shovels, iron picks, iron plows, etc., which are needed in the fields, and there are very few other things.

Bai Shao walked all the way, but didn't see what she wanted, so she couldn't help but hesitated.

It just so happened that Hou Changyuan finished his work, was wiping his sweat, and walked over here, "Third brother, if you want something, tell me, and I will find the best one for you."

Bai Chuanbai smiled gently, "To tell you the truth, it's not what I want to buy, it's my daughter who wants to come."

"Oh?" Hou Changyuan smiled heartily, his eyes scanned the crowd, and finally fixed on Bai Wei, "Niece, if you want anything, tell Second Uncle Hou, and Uncle will find it for you."

Bai Wei is 12 years old and Bai Shao is seven years old, only five years apart.Let one of them look like a child, but the other has the feeling of a girl at the beginning.

In most people's minds, children don't understand anything.So naturally, Hou Changyuan thought that the daughter Bai Chuanbai was talking about was this tall, fair-skinned Bai Wei.

However, what surprised him was that Bai Wei just smiled at him, and the next person who spoke was the immature child in his heart.

"Hello Second Uncle." Bai Shao first greeted Hou Changyuan obediently, and then asked casually, "Second Uncle only have these iron shovels and iron plows here? Is there nothing else?"

"What do you want, little girl?" After all, Hou Changyuan is a businessman. After being stunned for a while, he quickly realized, "These things are often bought by the villagers in the village, but let's make iron. It’s just a flexible one, if you want something, as long as you can say it, I, Hou Changyuan, can type it out!”

"Really?" Upon hearing Hou Changyuan's words, Bai Shao became excited, "Then, Shao'er wants to build something like this on a flat car, is that okay?"

Bai Shao gestured up and down, the general appearance of the snack cart in the previous life.

As for choosing to put it on a flat cart, it is really because in this era, there are no electric tricycles, only flat carts that are pushed and pulled by manpower or mules.

"It looks a bit complicated, but if it can be drawn on the blueprint, maybe it can be done." Hou Changyuan looked at Bai Shao with a little more seriousness, "Xiao Shaoer, tell uncle, you can do it." What is this for? This is a large pile of iron built on a flat cart, if there are no mules, it will not be easy to pull it with manpower."

"How much is a mule?" Bai Shao was taken aback, but she didn't expect this, so she hurriedly asked Bai Chuanbai beside her.

"Probably, about five taels of silver each." Bai Chuanbai did some calculations, and then replied in a gentle voice.

"It's too expensive." Bai Shao shook his head, looked at Hou Changyuan, "Uncle, can the iron be thinned properly, as long as it can support it, it doesn't need to be too thick."

"That's fine too." Hou Changyuan nodded, "You send me the blueprint, and I'll make a set for you if you can."

"Okay." Seeing that Hou Changyuan seemed to be very confident, Bai Shao nodded happily, "Then I will trouble the second uncle, and I will ask my father to send the drawings to the second uncle tomorrow."

After that, you have to pay a deposit again.

Hou Changyuan smiled and rejected her, only saying that it would not be too late to pay after it was done.

Bai Shao didn't insist anymore, said goodbye to Hou Changyuan, and went back to the market.

Regarding the flat car, wait for Bai Shao to draw the blueprint and send it over tomorrow, and Hou Changyuan will try to see if he can type it out before deciding whether to buy it or not.

Then, apart from buying some pens, ink, paper and inkstone to go back to draw pictures, there is nothing else to do.

"Father, when shall we go back?" Bai Shao was worried that Mrs. Wu at home would be bullied, so she tugged on Bai Chuanbai's sleeve, raised her head, and asked crisply.

"Father will go back after buying some meat." Bai Chuanbai said softly, "Before going out, your grandma gave dad money to buy some fatty meat back, and your grandma will stir-fry lard."

"Oh, that's it." Bai Shao lowered her head, suppressing the slight feeling of uneasiness emerging from the bottom of her heart, "Then let's go to the pork shop quickly."

"Okay." Bai Chuanbai glanced at these children, the eldest daughter and eldest son are okay, they are both 12 years old, and they can barely keep up with the pace of adults.

Only this seven-year-old girl, no matter how clever she is, has a limited leg length, so naturally she can't walk fast.

So Bai Chuanbai simply bent over and hugged Bai Shao in his arms without doing anything, and then walked towards the butcher's shop with big strides.

After about half a cup of tea time, the four of you stopped in front of the butcher shop, and Bai Chuanbai smiled at the oily pork shop owner, "Brother Zhu, bring me five catties of fat pork and one catty of lean pork." .”

"Okay." The butcher shop owner replied in a loud voice, holding a sharp knife in one hand, quickly cut a large piece of fat pork and a small piece of lean meat and threw them into the weighing pan.

"Brother Bai, take a look, six catties, the scale is tall." The butcher shop owner showed Bai Chuanbai the tilted scale beam to prove that he was not lying.

Bai Chuanbai nodded again and again, "I see, they are all from the village. Brother Zhu, we all know how you are. How many years have you eaten pork from your family?"

"Hahaha, they are all regular customers. I'll cut another piece for you." The butcher shop owner laughed, and cut off another small piece of fat and thin meat, which was the same as the six catties of meat before, and put it on a large piece of oil paper. He also drew a rope, wrapped it left and right, tied it in a knot, and handed it to Bai Chuanbai, "One catty of lean meat costs ten renminbi, and five catties of fat meat costs 65 renminbi, which together add up to 75 renminbi. "

In this era, because fat pork can be fried to produce oil, and that lard can be used for cooking, so fat is more expensive than thin.

"Hey, good." Bai Chuanbai put Bai Shao down, took out a small red rag from his pocket, and prepared to count some money out.

At the beginning, Bai Chuanbai still maintained his usual good-natured smile, but as he counted back, his expression became uglier.

In the end, it has become embarrassing.

Bai Shao didn't quite understand at first, but she didn't understand until Bai Wei motioned her to look at the copper plate in the cloth bag in Bai Chuanbai's hand.

The five catties of fat pork and one catty of lean pork should cost 85 copper coins, but Bai Chuanbai only had thirty-odd copper coins in his cloth bag.

Thirty-odd Wen, and 75 Wen, the difference is not a star.

"Father, didn't you count the money when grandma gave you?" Bai Shao asked in surprise.

"This..." Bai Chuanbai lowered his head in embarrassment.

In the past, Mrs. Liu always gave him money like this, and then asked him to go shopping.Every time the money is given exactly right, no more, no less.

This time, Bai Chuanbai naturally thought it was the same as before, so he put it in his arms without thinking.

After buying something, he realized that there was not enough money.

How to do this?
The meat has already been wrapped, so why not send it back?

Bai Chuanbai was very embarrassed, he raised his head, looked at the butcher who was waiting for the money from him, and looked at the children around him, feeling very at a loss.

What to do, what to do.

Oh, by the way, didn't Shao'er carry 30 taels with her, take it and use it first, and then ask Liu to return it to Shao'er after returning to Bai's house.

However, when a father borrows money from his daughter, it is difficult for ordinary people to open their mouths, let alone Bai Chuanbai who has always been reserved.

So he had no choice but to look down at Bai Shao, then at the butcher shop owner, and then at the thirty or so Wen in his hand.

Just can't say that.

In front of the pork shop, the atmosphere was extremely awkward.

(End of this chapter)