No pain no gain

"Ada, help me bring that basket over here!" Da Zhuang said without raising his head while arranging the dried cotton.

After waiting for a while, there was no movement. Da Zhuang looked back suspiciously, but did not see the familiar figure.

"Hey, Ah Da didn't come..." Da Zhuang shook his head with a wry smile. Unknowingly, I got used to the existence of the fool as a helper...

Da Zhuang planted two acres of cotton, and the harvest was pretty good, at least the people here thought it was quite good. After careful observation, Da Zhuang was surprised to find that the people who planted cotton here did not pinch off the top buds and excess cotton. Therefore, although everyone is very diligent in taking care of the fields, catching insects, weeding, fertilizing and watering everything in place, the cotton production is extremely low. However, because the demand for cotton is not large, even if the production is not high High, the price is still low, so most people are not very willing to grow cotton.

Cotton takes up a lot of space after being collected, and it is troublesome to transport it to the town for sale. Da Zhuang has been worrying about this large pile of cotton recently.

"Da Zhuang, Da Zhuang, are you at home?"

"Third Aunt, you're here, what's the matter? Ah, come in first!" Da Zhuang said with a smile on his face as he quickly opened the yard door.

Standing outside the courtyard door was a middle-aged woman. Although Da Zhuang called him Auntie, he was not related to her. It was just because both of her men were surnamed Wang. Of course, the ancestors must be relatives, because everyone here They have lived here for generations, and even if they escaped due to natural or man-made disasters, they will try their best to return to their original place of residence after the disaster subsides.

"Hehe, Er Zhuang, you are all at home!" The middle-aged woman greeted the younger ones loudly.

"Hello, third aunt!"

"Third Aunt..."

……

Da Zhuang poured a cup of hot water, and brought out a plate of dried steamed buns fried with salt: "Third Aunt, please try this, we made it ourselves."

The middle-aged woman responded with a smile, and unceremoniously grabbed a piece of "crack bang bang" and ate it.

"Da Zhuang, Third Aunt sees that you have harvested a lot of cotton, and I came here today to buy some from you to make two quilts." The woman clapped her hands and expressed her intention after she had almost eaten.

Da Zhuang was overjoyed, that's right, why didn't I think of this, there must be many people in the village who want to use cotton, why not just buy the cotton in bulk and give it to the people in the village...

"Okay, the high-quality cotton like ours in the town is about three renminbi a catty, if the third aunt wants it, I will give you five cents and two catties!" Da Zhuang said with a smile.

"Hehe, that's good, take thirty catties for the third aunt, and make a padded jacket for your elder brothers with the extra." The middle-aged woman counted out 75 coins and came out.

There used to be a pole scale at home. When Da Zhuang had nothing to do a few days ago, he found it out and weighed the collected grain, trying to roughly estimate this year's harvest, so it is convenient to sell cotton now.

"Okay, third aunt, look at the scale!" Da Zhuang let out the scale beam.

The woman took it over and looked at it. The line hanging the weight was between 31 and [-] catties, which means it was a little more than [-] catties.

"Hehe, Da Zhuang agreed, what else is there to read..." The woman let out a pleasant laugh, although she had already read it, her mouth was still polite.

Da Zhuang pursed his lips and smiled, but didn't answer.

When sending the third aunt out, Da Zhuang deliberately confessed: "You must not tell others about this price, we will not sell it to others in the future..."

"This third aunt naturally knows, well, you go in and do your work..." the woman said cheerfully, with a smile that she couldn't hide.

Thirty catties of cotton is the weight of the seeds. When making quilts or cotton clothes, the seeds have to be taken out. Of course, some people directly smash them and mix them in. However, the quilts made in this way are much heavier. It is said that it is not warmer, and there is not much left after the seeds are removed, but the kang is burned here in winter, and the quilt does not need to be too big.

In order to let everyone know that his family is going to sell cotton in the village, Da Zhuang even said it several times when the daughters-in-law got together to gossip. The effect of this is obvious, and within a few days even the nearby villages also know about Da Zhuang. To sell cotton.

"Big girl, do you want to learn how to make clothes?" These days, Da Zhuang received many daughters-in-law who bought cotton, and Da Zhuang thought of his own little girls. He is almost four years old. According to the habits here, he can start to touch needlework, but Da Zhuang pays for himself because he has no skills to teach. Although ordinary sewing is no problem, but when it comes to making clothes or embroidering These, I don't understand at all.

"Well, but big brother, our family..." Although the eldest girl gave an affirmative answer, the little girl knew that depending on the situation at home, even if she wanted to learn, she couldn't help it.

"Big girl, you don't have to worry about this, you can learn as much as you want, and leave the rest to big brother." Da Zhuang gently assured the sensible little girl in front of him.

He told Er Zhuang to be the housekeeper, and Da Zhuang took a hundred Wen, a dozen eggs, and seven or eight fish just caught a few days ago, and asked the eldest girl to bring them together, and was going to visit Widow Wang.

"Er Zhuang, put your hot temper away, you know! People in the village are all people you know, so it's okay to give others a handful of cotton, don't pay too much attention to these small odds..." Da Zhuang worried again He told Er Zhuang to go aside.

A few days ago, Da Zhuang went to the field to look at the wheat, and let Er Zhuang stay at home. As a result, he quarreled with an aunt from a neighboring village who came to buy cotton. Yes, but it only happened to be two pounds. The aunt wanted to grab more, but Er Zhuang refused. Just because of this, the two quarreled until Da Zhuang came back from the field.

"Okay, you guys go quickly, I know!" Er Zhuang said while teasing the twins.

Da Zhuang doesn't have to use money to sell cotton, he can also exchange it for rice, but Da Zhuang doesn't need other grains.

"Aunt Wang, baby girl, are you home?" Da Zhuang shouted from outside the fence.

"Brother Zhuang, sister Da Niuer, you are here, come in quickly!" Nannan ran over happily and opened the fence gate.

"Da Zhuang, big girl, come in and sit down!" Widow Wang also came out to greet her with a smile.

"Aunt Wang, we came today to ask you something!" Da Zhuang said seriously.

"Hey, what can I ask for, I will help if I can!" Widow Wang hurriedly said.

"Aunt Wang, you know the situation of our family. The eldest girl will be six years old after the new year. I would like to ask you to teach her needlework, can you?" Da Zhuang asked sincerely.

Widow Wang glanced at her little daughter who was happily playing with the eldest girl: "No problem, but the Yunxiu handed down in my hand is to be passed on to my daughter, and the eldest girl can watch it aside. But I won't teach her, the rest is nothing."

"Well, this is very good, as long as the big girl knows some basic needlework, thank you, Aunt Wang!" Da Zhuang nodded clearly, and put the things in his hand on the table: "These few We caught the fish ourselves, you can try it out, and these..."

"No need, no need, I'm teaching nannie alone, and I'm teaching both big girl and nannie..." Widow Wang declined.

"Aunt Wang, you can accept it, otherwise I'm too embarrassed to let the big girl come over to bother you. In the future, you can be regarded as the master of the big girl. There is no formal apprenticeship process. This little thing, you Be sure to accept it!" Da Zhuang said resolutely.

"You child, you really have such a powerful mouth, why don't you be a master..." Widow Wang joked with Da Zhuang with a smile, but still accepted the money and things.

"After that, big girl will trouble you. Big girl comes to study with you for an hour every day after lunch, so it won't delay your business, right?"

"Well, yes, Auntie can do it at any time, let the big girl come over tomorrow." Widow Wang said straightforwardly.

"Okay, thank you, Aunt Wang, then let's go back first!" Da Zhuang said happily.

"Da Zhuang, if you have nothing to do at home, let Da Niuer play with your daughter here for a while!" Widow Wang heard her daughter's "giggling" laughter from time to time, and asked Da Niuer to keep her.

"No problem, big girl, brother will go back first!" Da Zhuang was quite relieved of big girl, and left first after saying hello.