Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

Chapter 190 Wild Pear

"Who said it wasn't? The prices of all food items have gone up now, but these baskets and other things are still cheap. All together they only cost 150 coins."

Everyone looked at the baskets, baskets and sieves piled on the ground. One hundred and fifty cents for so many was relatively cheap.

Zhou Dacang said, "Da Mao and I will go to help tomorrow. We need to hire a master craftsman to build a kang at home. The kang will collapse after a short time of sleeping."

Li said, "I have already made an appointment with someone today. They will come tomorrow. There will be four of us, a master and three apprentices. We will pay them by the day. The master will get 80 wen a day, and the three apprentices will get 30 wen a day. We have also bought the bricks and stones, and someone will deliver them tomorrow morning."

"Eighty wen a day! So expensive!"

"I remember that my father and his family only earned thirty cents a day working for the landlords!"

Li said, "How can they be the same? He is a master craftsman who makes a living with his craft, so his wages are naturally different. Eighty wen is only offered now when the market is bad. It is said that in the past when the market was the best, he could earn a hundred wen for a day's work. People who wanted to find him had to line up, and he couldn't even do enough work. In recent years, everyone has been living a tight life, so if you can fix the kang, do it yourself. Even if it is crooked, you can still sleep on it."

Zhou Guo sighed: "It's different if you have skills. One hundred coins and one day's work can buy two kilograms of fine salt."

Li smiled and said, "It is said that craftsmen are popular. Families with good connections send their children to learn a craft from a young age. Once they learn it, they don't have to worry about their livelihood for the rest of their lives."

Everyone looked at the old man, who was considered a craftsman.

The old man was drinking wine and eating mushrooms. When he saw everyone looking at him, he nodded calmly and said, "I am also a craftsman."

Martial arts are also considered skills.

Zhou Guo said with a smile: "Master, you see, I am now learning a skill, but I don't know how much money it is worth per day."

Zhou Dacang laughed, "How could you forget? Didn't you learn hunting from the master? A rabbit costs more than 20 cents. If you can catch three or five rabbits a day, you can match the skills of a master. If you catch two more, you can earn more than the master."

When everyone did the math, it turned out to be true. It was much better than learning other skills, and they all insisted that the old man also learn hunting.

The old man was given a headache by the noise. He hurried back into the house holding the gourd in one hand and the bowl in the other, without even eating the mushrooms.

Everyone watched and laughed.

The next day, after breakfast, Zhou Dacang and Zhou Gu left. They had to go to the next house to help.

Li spread the new mat in another shed, cleared out the things in the shed, and took Zhou Xing and Zhou Guo to sew quilts and clothes, while waiting for the master craftsman who was making the kang.

Zhou Mai and Zhou Mi were also staying at home. It was inconvenient when the master and several other men came without a man at home.

Zhou Guo sat on the new mat, touching the soft quilt and was reluctant to let go. She had slept on the cold, hard, gray kang for so long that she almost forgot what it felt like to sleep on it. "I really want to sleep on it."

Zhou Xing couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Mrs. Li didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "It's almost done. Once the kang is ready, I'll let you sleep on the new quilt. Oh, why don't you follow me and sew it, follow your sister. It's not difficult. Anyone with hands can do it."

Zhou Guo couldn't sit still and discussed with her, "Mom, you and your sister are at home, and my two brothers are also here, so we have enough manpower. How about I go into the mountains? I have discussed with my master about going into the mountains to hunt a wild boar today."

Li sighed, "Other people start mending clothes with needle and thread at the age of seven, but you are different. You are already eight years old, and they ask you to hold a needle as if it is your life. Do you dislike sewing so much?"

Zhou Guo said, "It's not that I don't like it, but there are more important things waiting for me to do. Don't you and your elder sister take care of the quilts and clothes at home? You say I'm such a laborer, everyone says I can do the work of three or four people, is it appropriate for me to be tied up at home and do needlework?"

Li opened her mouth and felt that what she said made sense. After a while, she said, "Well, then you should follow the old man."

"Okay!" Zhou Guo jumped up happily, stood up and walked out without looking back. It was really boring to do needlework here all day.

Zhou Xing looked at her fleeing figure and said with a smile: "Guoguo still doesn't like sewing. I saw that she always did everything well before, but she held the needle and thread in her hand for a long time and only sewed one stitch. When she was told to leave, her face was so happy that she smiled happily."

Mrs. Li smiled and said, "She is a person who can't sit still at home." Then she sighed, "I don't know what to do with this child in the future. We still have to let her pick up the needlework."

The old man poured a pot of wine into a bamboo tube and was about to go out with a sack.

Zhou Guo said: "Master, I will go with you today."

The old man looked at the straw shed in surprise, "Aren't you going to do needlework with your mother today?"

Zhou Guo waved his hand and said, "I won't do it today. I won't need another one. I'd better go with you into the mountains to hunt wild boars. If you kill a big one, you won't have to go into the mountains for a month."

The old man said, "Then you have to follow me. I won't wait for you." After saying that, he rushed out and disappeared in a short while.

Zhou Guo went back to the house, carried out a bamboo tube, and followed with a flick of his hand.

A gray rabbit was running around in a panic in the dense forest. An ant was leisurely climbing up a two-meter-high tree trunk. Suddenly, a foot fell from the sky and stomped on the tree trunk with a bang, covering the ant. Then the big foot left, the tree shook, and the ant fell off the trunk.

Zhou Guo was flying and jumping in the woods. He saw the gray rabbit on the ground as soon as he entered the woods. When the rabbit saw people coming, it ran faster than anything else. Zhou Guo chased the rabbit all the way forward. When he caught up to here, the rabbit ducked and went into a hole.

She didn't stop, but took a deep breath and went forward. She had to find the canyon that her master mentioned as soon as possible, otherwise she would not have any lunch.

Less than half an hour later.

Zhou Guo sat on a four-meter-high tree trunk, eating a pear happily in her hand. The pear was wild, and one was as big as her fist. The fruit had many pits on it, and was small and ugly. But she found it good after eating one, crisp and juicy, but a little bland. She picked half of the pear in one breath, and the bag in front of her could no longer hold any more.

I was tired after running for so long, so I chose a big tree in the forest, sat on it with my legs dangling in the air, and happily ate pears.

Not far away is the canyon that the master mentioned. There is indeed a waterfall there. It hasn't rained for a long time, so the water flow of the waterfall is not large. From a distance, it looks like sparse strands.

The old man was spearing fish in the river with a harpoon. After a few thrusts he caught a big fish, and soon two more big ones. He then walked towards the shore, but then he went back and continued spearing with the fork in hand.