Blessed Peasant Woman of Time Traveling

Chapter 20

Ding Xiang realized that in this ancient time, being able to play the flute and Xiao Ke was not a skill that could be achieved.Only people of lowly origin would make a living by performing arts, or performing arts in front of their masters as actors and servants to earn a living.

People of extraordinary background can only show their nobility by sitting there and enjoying themselves. Even ordinary people think that knowing these things just shows that your family is poor and your status is very low. You have to rely on these skills to serve others. Who is going to learn this self-declining status from other people?

That being the case, if she buys Dizi and Xiao back, not only will no one spend money to learn from her, but she will be ridiculed instead.It seems that her previous thoughts were too unreliable. In this ancient times, it is not that you can increase your own worth by knowing more things.

Then what should I do, she can't come to the county for nothing, she has to find a way to make a living.It's not just to fill her stomach, and it's not as simple as earning money to live a good life, but she loves life and wants to live every day seriously.Planning her own life, living every day steadily, and finding joy in life is what she needs.

After thinking this through, she was relieved that there was nothing to rush.Now that we're here, let's take a stroll first, take a look at the excitement, and then eat some special meals.

After visiting many shops and watching many poor beggars, Ding Xiang finally came to a small restaurant to eat a bowl of rice and a plate of pan-fried tofu.That's right, since she came here, she has never eaten a bite of rice, let alone tasted tofu. These ordinary meals are so rare for the people of Qingshan Town.

This bowl of rice and a plate of pan-fried tofu are really not cheap. A bowl of rice costs three pennies, and pan-fried tofu costs twelve pennies.After paying the fifteen Wen, Ding Xiang felt really distressed, so she sat down quickly and ate up all the leftover tofu scum.

After she was full, she was going to find a cheap inn.Along the way, she was still thinking that tonight was a luxury for her. From tomorrow onwards, she could only eat burrito or steamed buns for each meal, which could be settled for two cents a meal, so she couldn't waste any more money.

She looked for several inns, her legs were sore, and finally she found the cheapest one, which cost thirteen cents for a night's stay.When she was so tired that she fell out of bed, she suddenly thought, Qingshan Town didn't seem to sell tofu, and no one in any village had heard of it, so could she sell tofu?There are several tofu stalls in the county. If you spend some money to learn from them, you should be able to learn it soon.

However, it is reasonable to say that making tofu is definitely not a difficult craft. Why is there no one selling it in Qingshan Town, and I have never seen anyone eating it.This is really strange, is tofu too expensive to afford?A plate of pan-fried tofu costs twelve renminbi, and a catty of raw tofu costs at most five or six renminbi. Although it is not cheap, it is not too expensive, and it is okay for villagers to buy it once in a while.

With this question in mind, Ding Xiang didn't sleep well that night.In the early morning of the next day, she hurried to find a tofu stall. She had seen several stalls, and finally stopped in front of a middle-aged woman who looked ugly but was very kind.

"Ma'am, is your tofu stall doing well?"

Seeing Ding Xiang's excited and worried eyes, the middle-aged woman knew what Ding Xiang wanted to do.The middle-aged woman sighed, and said: "This business is becoming more and more difficult to do. The price of beans has increased. It used to cost eight Wen a catty, but now it costs twelve Wen a catty. A catty of beans can cost three catties." Tofu, tofu sells for five Wen a catty. That is to say, you can only earn three Wen for selling three catties of tofu.”

Ding Xiang smacked her tongue, "You don't think this is too little, a catty of tofu can be worth a penny. In our Qingshan Town, good masons can only earn [-] pennies a day, and they can't afford it all year round." Only two or three jobs."

The middle-aged woman shook her head and smiled: "Do you think selling tofu is easy? When I was the only stall in the county, I could sell thirty catties a day. It's not bad that I can earn thirty yuan a day as an old woman. But now, There are already three stalls, and they can only earn more than ten yuan a day, and there is no land at home, which is enough to fill the stomach. You see, I only sold two catties of tofu this early in the morning."

"Ma'am, there are so many families in the county, why are there so few people buying tofu?"

"Meat is only seven renminbi a catty, and this tofu costs five renminbi. In everyone's eyes, tofu is not as good as meat. If you have money to buy tofu, you might as well buy a catty of meat and try it. I said girl, you guys Qingshan Town is so poor that you can’t even get enough to eat, if you sell tofu, you’d probably have trouble selling two to three catties a day, so don’t bother.”

Seeing the sadness on the middle-aged woman's face, Ding Xiang knew that this business was really difficult.

But Ding Xiang wanted to learn this skill very much at this time. Even if she didn't do business, it would be good to make some tofu at home.It is even more difficult to eat fresh vegetables in winter, but if you can eat these, they are considered delicacies.

Ding Xiang gritted her teeth, and took out fifteen Wen from her purse, "Ma'am, can you teach me how to make tofu? I don't have much money, except for tonight's hotel and food, that's all I have left." I don't expect to rely on this to do business, but I want to cook and eat by myself when I get hungry. We don't sell tofu in Qingshan Town, so it's hard to eat a piece of tofu."

The middle-aged woman looked at fifteen Wen, although it was less, it was better than nothing. "As long as you don't come to the county to sell tofu and compete with me for business, I will teach you."

Ding Xiang smiled and said, "Don't worry, ma'am, my family is in Qingshan Town, how can a girl like me sell tofu here. Besides, you don't make any money. If I come to sell again, won't I only have to drink the northwest wind. "

The middle-aged woman felt the same, accepted the money with a smile, nodded and said: "Well, you don't look like someone who came to compete with me for business. You can sit by the side and sell tofu with me first. I will give you money at noon. You buy steamed buns to eat. When the remaining twelve catties of tofu are sold out, you come home with me, and I will teach you how to make it. Tofu can be produced tomorrow morning, and you can go home earlier."

"Okay, thank you, ma'am." Ding Xiang obediently sat by and watched, just in time to learn how ma'am deals with guests.

The middle-aged woman is usually very anxious waiting for guests, but now with Ding Xiang by her side, the two of them gossiping, but it is quite relaxed, not sitting around worrying like usual.The middle-aged woman knew Ding Xiang's name, and Ding Xiang changed her name to Aunt Zhong.

At noon, Mrs. Zhong really spent two Wen to buy two steamed buns for Ding Xiang to eat, but she only ate one steamed bun.It was really difficult for her to do this business, and the tofu was not sold out until it was getting dark.

Ding Xiang followed Mrs. Zhong back home. The strange thing was that her house had three low rooms, each room had a bed, but no one was there.After entering Mrs. Zhong's house, Ding Xiang knew that Mrs. Zhong's family was also poor and poor, not much better than hers.

Mrs. Zhong is a talkative person, and she does not hide her family affairs. "My husband and two sons are long-term laborers in the Landlord Wu's house, and they only go home for one night every month. There is no way. The two sons are grown up. If you want to To start a family, you have to save money. Although the eldest son has engaged a family, the dowry money is five taels of silver. If you want to marry a girl, ten taels of silver is not enough. My family has saved money for the marriage of the eldest son for many years, but the second child is only two years older than the eldest. He is looking for relatives, so our family of four now has to work hard to earn money."

"It costs ten taels of silver to marry a relative? That's too much. It's enough to build two new houses. In Qingshan Town, it seems that we can marry a relative with just over 2000 Wen."

"Well, the cost in the county is higher than that in the countryside. It is enough to say that the average family here spends three or four taels of silver. But my two sons... are ugly, and they were scarred by smallpox when they were young. , it is more difficult to get married than ordinary men, and there are fewer and fewer girls nowadays, and you can only marry ordinary women by spending more money. If you are stingy, my son can only marry a dumb or deaf man. Let your son suffer that."

Ding Xiang felt a little sad, it is really difficult for every family to recite.

Mrs. Zhong stopped talking about this, and hurriedly soaked the beans, and then steamed four steamed buns for dinner.Mrs. Zhong is really a kind person, she insisted on keeping Ding Xiang at home overnight, saying that it is so difficult to earn money, why would she spend the money to stay in a hotel, anyway, her family has a bed.

Ding Xiang's kindness was hard to turn down, so she agreed.After eating and washing, when Aunt Zhong took her into a room to sleep, Ding Xiang found five pots on the ground, each pot was covered with a cloth, and there were small stones on it.

"Ma'am, did you put pickles in these pots on the ground?"

Aunt Zhong smiled mysteriously: "That's not true, all the pickles in my house are in the vat outside the house."

(End of this chapter)