Chapter 308 The first salary payment
After selling several batches of rabbits, the female rabbits were reluctant to sell them, and many families were a little bit unable to follow up, so the next date for selling rabbits in Fucheng has not yet been determined.
However, the study house was built and made of bricks. Even if it had not been painted with lime powder, it was still clean and bright compared to the adobe house. The children in the village were very satisfied.
Lime could not be bought for the time being, so the men turned around and left, happily preparing to start tending the fields and planting the medicinal herbs they were most concerned about.
Fan Qian spat, followed, and said it again after returning home.
"Master, how much did you pay?" Sun Jinhua stepped forward and asked anxiously.
Fan's mother also came forward and looked nervously.
Fan Dazhu thought in his mind that his father could not afford too much, but as long as it was not the least, it would be fine. After all, his children would also need to be literate and learn arithmetic in the future. If his family didn't have enough, it would look bad.
The child will also be inferior to others when talking in the study room in the future.
Fan Qian replied angrily: "What the hell! Building a herbal medicine shop for my second brother was just a job of raising cattle, and I was tired for more than ten days.
Then he went to build a bookstore, saying that if he didn't build it, his children wouldn't be able to go in. From now on, Dazhu and the four of them would just have a movie about girls. How could his son not go in to study? Wouldn't that be blamed by your grandson? Well, I have worked hard for another three days to make my grandson literate.
Is there such a waste of time plastering the wall again today? Is it edible or usable? It costs money and effort. Whoever likes it will buy it, but I can’t buy it anyway! "
In the past, both he and his second brother went to private schools for enlightenment, but he didn't like studying naturally. The second brother was often praised by his master for his diligence and hard work. Fortunately, he was jealous of the second brother who loved to study for a few years. Fortunately, the second brother was nothing at all. He deeply felt that studying was useless and that working hard was useless.
Might as well have an easy life for him! Reading and literacy are nothing more than that.
However, the second brother's life has become more and more prosperous recently, which makes him hesitate. In the future, it is better to let his grandson learn to read and do arithmetic. Anyway, he does not need money and will not suffer losses.
But there was nothing he could do to build the bookstore. He had to put in the effort to build it. Plastering the walls with plaster was not necessary, so why should he do it?
When Fan Dazhu heard that his father didn't even give out a pound, he immediately became anxious, "Dad, how can you not give out a pound? From now on, if my son and your eldest grandson go to the bookstore, how can they be looked down upon when they talk among classmates? manage?"
His son will be the eldest grandson of the Fan family in the future, so how can he be offended?
Sun Jinhua nodded in agreement.
Fan's mother also wanted to nod, thinking that all the money in the family was in her hands. If the lime was produced, she would have to take out the silver. Her wrinkled face was full of tangles.
Fan Sizhu felt that his eldest brother thought too much, but the village masters would definitely look down on his father if he could not leave the house.
He could imagine that Zhang Baldy was probably the only one in the village who wouldn't come out.
His family does not use his second uncle's donkeys and oxen, so he does not need to work. He has also made it clear before that he will not build a schoolhouse, saying that his children and grandchildren will have their own blessings. Anyway, he does not suffer this crime!
In the end, Zhang Xiaowu went there by himself. What could he do when he was as thin as a corn pole? It was not easy for the old village chief to pity him, so he was given a share.
In the past, their family was one of the best in the village, but now they are just like Zhang Tuzi...
Fan Erzhu and Sanzhu thought that his father was right. They were all people who were used to poverty. What was there to care about? Plastering the walls with plaster is a waste!
"Okay, okay, who knows who will still remember coming and going at that time." Fan Qian took out his tobacco bag and waved his hand nonchalantly.
Fan Dazhu wanted to complain a few more words, but Er Zhu said first: "We will talk about the future later."
Fan Sanzhu then asked: "Dad, my second uncle has taken the cow back. What should we do next?"
"If we don't have cattle, do we have to carry soil in baskets? I won't do it!" Fan Dazhu said unhappily when the topic was changed.
As soon as they heard that they were going to carry dirt, everyone else in the room fell silent.
Their family originally had a cart, but when the family was divided, it was given to the second uncle. When the second uncle borrowed cattle, he lent them the cart as well, which was very convenient.
Starting from tomorrow, it will be back to the old days without cattle or carts, and we can only carry dirt. Who can bear it?
"Dad, why don't we buy another cart? You see, there weren't many carts in the village originally. After making money, almost every household bought one.
It’s useful for both spring plowing and busy farming. Let’s just buy one so we don’t need to borrow it everywhere, right? "Fan Sizhu sincerely believes that his family needs one.
Fan's mother was the first to disagree: "Buy, buy, buy! You know how to buy, how can our family have the money to buy!"
Sun Jinhua also had some money in her hands, but she said nothing and looked at her mother-in-law coldly.
She will never use the money she has.
No one was willing to take out the money, and they could only think about buying a cart. The room fell into a deathly silence, and then they left unhappy.
The next day, the sky just turned white, and every household in the village who could work went to the fields.
Only the elderly and children were left in the village.
For several days in a row, the villagers of Shanshui Village went to the fields at dawn and returned to the village after dark, just in time for the end of the busy farming season in early October.
As soon as the busy farming season is over, the villagers immediately go to the mountains to dig kudzu roots to increase food reserves for the following days!
There are more than 30 households in Shanshui Village. Except for the six or seven households that followed Shuiqing's family and planted potatoes in the first half of the year, the other 20 or so households were busy with farming but did not harvest in the autumn.
In other words, they have not gained anything so far!
There was no harvest of rice grains in the fertile fields, the corn stalks were broken by the wind, and some beans could barely be picked up in the high-lying areas. The low-lying areas were all soaked in floods, and the roots of crops and vegetables were soaked and rotten. ....
If the old village chief and the elders in the village hadn’t warned them of the unusual weather last year, they would have stockpiled a lot of black noodles with rice. When they were about to run out of food this year, they would have just had the rabbits to make up for it. They would have really been starving.
But even if they weren’t starving, the family had always been tight on food. Now that they had food to fill their stomachs, how could they let it go!
Before, the elderly and children who farmed the fields would stay at home, but the whole family would go out together to dig kudzu roots!
The village was unusually lively.
The herbal medicine shop was also unusually lively at this moment.
Everyone gathered in the yard, sitting upright on long benches in groups of two, looking at Shuiqing in the front with puzzled expressions.
Shui Qing glanced at the people sitting upright, silently checked the numbers in his mind, and after seeing that there was no omission, he said loudly: "Today is the first time to pay wages. Those whose names are called come up to receive wages. It's okay if you can't write. Just put a handprint behind your name after receiving the wages."
Hearing that it was to receive wages, it was like cold water entering a hot oil pan, and it immediately exploded with crackling!
"Pay wages today? But haven't the medicinal materials been sold yet?"
"We have made several batches of yam, but Polygonum multiflorum needs to be steamed and dried nine times, and it will take more than half a month to prepare it. The same is true for tangerine peel. Our herbal medicine shop has not made any money yet."
"Don't you have to sell the medicinal materials to pay wages?"