I played as an assistant in ancient times

But when Shen Cungeng brought the people to the back mountain, he asked his fourth uncle if he had given too much.

Shen Changsui pointed to the bundles of woad and said, "The flowers and plants are just for show. We won't lose anything if we tie them up and load them into a truck to send them off."

"I thought I needed to find another car and go down the mountain again, but it's too tiring." Shen Cungeng said this, but when his fourth uncle and the driver were carrying the radish, he also helped.

So Shen Xiaoye often said that he was a very capable young man with a big mouth.

By the time he and Shen Changsui pulled a large cart of woad home, it was already past 15:00. The driver said reluctantly, "You guys loaded it too much. My old cow is exhausted."

"Sorry to bother you, big brother. We are all from the same village. Let's have lunch at home.

Let my nephew take the cow to the river to drink some water. There is plenty of grass and fodder here." Shen Changsui enthusiastically served a bowl of noodles with mixed sauce.

Although it was made of sorghum and soybean flour, it was stewed with meat. The coachman happily took it, and he could save a few dollars on lunch, so he made a profit.

After he ate two large bowls, he felt embarrassed to ask for a third bowl. Unexpectedly, Shen Xiaoye brought him another bowl of brown sugar and egg water. "How can I be so embarrassed?"

When entertaining guests in the countryside, a bowl of brown sugar and egg water is the best.

Shen Changsui put down the bowl and said, "Don't be polite, big brother. We should help each other when we go out. If I hadn't met you today, my uncle and nephew would have carried the load down the mountain, and we don't know how long it would take."

"Yes, uncle. Thank you for your help today." Shen Xiaoye also prepared noodle soup. She could see that the coachman in front of her was wearing an unevenly dyed coarse blue shirt, a round-top wide-brimmed straw hat, a long cloth towel around his neck, his right wrist was slightly thicker than his left, and the calluses on his hands were caused by years of holding the whip and pulling the reins.

It should be that he often delivers goods to people.

There are many such drivers at the Qicuo Ferry on the east side of the county town. Except for the two days of harvesting grain during the busy farming season, they spend the rest of the time at the ferry unloading cargo from various cargo ships.

My uncle invited people to dinner, so he must have something he wanted to know.

"I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it. This is my job. Usually, I only get a few hundred coins for delivering a thousand kilograms of goods a hundred or eighty miles.

Although your grass is heavy, it is close.” The driver was telling the truth, because that was indeed the market situation.

The charges for carts and horses carrying goods are based on weight and distance traveled.

Shen Xiaoye glanced at his uncle and asked when he nodded, "So, uncle is very familiar with the area within a hundred miles of our county."

"No matter where you want to go, I can drive the car there with my eyes closed." He drank half a bowl of sugar water in one gulp and said without any breath.

Shen Changsui continued, "We are not going anywhere, we just want to ask which villages and towns in Linghe have good cotton, and want to buy some cheap homespun cloth.

You know, although the fabrics in the county are good, we can’t afford them.”

"Yes, the clothes my family wears all year round are all knitted by my mother herself, and then she asks Lao Niu from the next village to color them, so they look pretty good.

You see, my clothes are made of cotton, which is better than silk or satin and more sweat-absorbent and durable.

We country folk can't enjoy flowers, drink wine, and write articles every day, so endurance is the right thing to do." Once the driver opened his mouth, he couldn't stop talking. He knew the Eight Immortals crossing the sea and the Xiaoshan Road walking on the river, which was also the style of this industry.

He glanced at the cloth drying in the yard and said, "If you want to dye your blankets, you can go to the old Niu family in Beicao Village, next to Xin Village, in the southwest corner of Linghe River.

But the old cowhead only knows how to dye blue cloth, and he is old and his eyesight is blurry. His son is more focused on studying and doesn’t learn this, so the cloth he dyes now is not as good as before.”

"So, big brother, you are from Xinzhuang? I remember that many families there grow cotton, and in early winter, a lot of cotton is transported away from the ferry." Thanks to a pragmatic teacher, Shen Changsui followed Mr. Pan to the Qicuo Ferry and observed the people's livelihood for half a month. Moreover, because the teacher taught everyone, he had many classmates from various villages and heard about many places.

The driver nodded repeatedly, not even bothering to eat the poached eggs, "My family has several acres of cotton fields, and when it's harvest time, merchants come to the fields to collect cotton.

At that time, I could feed and clothe several people for the whole winter just by pulling cotton in a day.”

"Uncle is diligent." Shen Xiaoye listened carefully and interjected at the appropriate time.

The driver chuckled and said, "Farmers have to be diligent to have a full life."

"Brother, finish eating quickly, the noodles in the pot are ready." Shen Changsui saw his sister-in-law waving at him to serve the meal.

"Hey, no, no, no, I'm full." The driver didn't feel like eating another bowl. He quickly finished the poached egg and drank the sugar water and said, "I should go home too."

"The noodles are ready." Shen Changsui pushed the man down and said, "My last name is Shen. The young and old men in Jiuli Village all call me Brother Sui. I don't know your last name, big brother?"

"Uncle, pour the mashed garlic yourself." Shen Xiaoye quickly brought the noodles over and put them into the coachman's bowl.

The driver reached out and took the bowl: "That's enough, little sister, please eat quickly."

“It’s so interesting listening to you guys talking here.

Uncle's family grows so much cotton, it's a pity to only keep a little for weaving." Shen Xiaoye didn't say that she had eaten before they came back.

The only one at home who hasn’t eaten yet is probably my cousin. But that’s not right. When my cousin went to feed the cow, my grandmother stuffed a small jar of meat and rice porridge into his hand.

She then said, "By the way, uncle, what's your name?"

"Not expensive, not expensive. Everyone calls me Xin Laojiu." The driver felt really embarrassed now. He said, "If you need me in the future, go to Qicuo Ferry and shout Xin Laojiu. I will be there whenever you call.

As for the cloth that Brother Shen just mentioned, we actually had quite a few spun yarn and woven cloth, but they were not as dense and smooth as those in the south, and could not be sold at a high price.

Later, few people wove cloth in large quantities. "

"So someone must have woven it."

"Yes, but not as many as in Tong Village in the next county."

“Is there a weaving workshop in Tong Village?”

"That's not true."

"Brother Xin, eat first, and we'll talk after you finish eating."

"Hmmm." The noodles were really delicious. Xing Laojiu felt that he could have two more big bowls. However, there was a lot of meat in his bowl, so he was almost full.

After a while, after drinking the noodle soup, he said, "How much cloth do you want? I'll go back and ask for the quantity and price for you."

They all hang out outside all the time, so Xin Laojiu didn't take it seriously at first, but now he can hear the sound.

Shen Changsui clasped his fists and said, "Sorry to bother you, big brother. I want thirty rolls of white cotton cloth, regardless of thickness, but the price should be lower.

I'll have to trouble you to deliver the goods to me when the time comes."

"No problem, just running errands." His wife can do it. Xin Laojiu stood up and said, "I really have to go. I have to take on some work in the afternoon."

"Okay, then I won't keep you here. Xiaoye, ask your cousin to send the cow back." Shen Changsui sent him out, and the two chatted as they walked.