Survive through the ancient apocalypse

There is no shortage of water in Yejia Village, but the water level has dropped compared to previous years.Later, the whole village raised ridges for the crops in the dry land. The villagers only needed to irrigate the furrows every few days, and then manually scooped water from the furrows to irrigate the crops.Even so, before Qiushou came, almost everyone in Yejia Village lost their skin.

The first thing to be harvested is sweet potatoes, which are relatively drought-tolerant, and the yield per mu is only ten or twenty catties less than in previous years.Ye Family Village is filled with joy.Although the village is not short of water, it cannot withstand the lack of labor when a drought occurs.In previous years, it would be good to have a [-]% to [-]% harvest in this situation.

Amidst the excitement, the township examination is in full swing.

Ye Mingze and Ye Zequan's uncles and nephews had already set off before the autumn harvest.Considering the varying degrees of drought in the vicinity of Yangshan County, and for the safety of the students, Mr. Cao, the county magistrate, proposed that the candidates go together at the same time, and sent several yamen servants to escort them.

The Ye family only had one donkey cart, and the rural examination was just in time for the early autumn harvest.This time is when it is used most frequently.The family originally planned to give them a ride to Fucheng, but after careful consideration, Jiang Jingzhi decided to donate his own carriage.

This carriage came by boat with him from the imperial capital.When Lin Wenjue bought it, he had considered Jiang Jingzhi's future husband's family situation. The carriages and horses were all bad street goods, which would not be conspicuous at all on the road.

The weather was still very hot in August, and the two of them didn't prepare much dry food. They only brought some rice, flour, grain and oil for emergencies.

Most of those who set out with the large army were poor scholars, and few had their own carriages.As a result, the ordinary carriage of Ye Mingze's uncle and nephew also received the envious eyes of some scholars.

Along the way, the wheat waves are rolling, and the eyes are golden.Originally, the face of the farmer should be filled with the joy of harvest, but it is not the case.

Ye Mingze looked at the farmers working near the official road through the window of the carriage.Most of them have sad faces, and they occasionally pinch the ears of wheat, feeling even more unhappy.

After about half a month, the mature early wheat will be able to sickle.But look, the water cannot keep up during the grouting period. So far, some of the ears of wheat are still shriveled. This year's wheat production will definitely decrease, so it's no wonder the farmers look good!

Yangshan County is not bad. Although the fields are dry, there is no cracking.After a while, it can last until next year's autumn harvest.When they passed through Longmei County, the situation was even worse.If Yangshan County can achieve [-]% to [-]% of the harvest in previous years, then Yuanmei County can only achieve [-]% to [-]% of the harvest.

With such a small harvest, the rations may not be enough.Not to mention those tenant farmers, it is estimated that they will have to borrow money to survive.

Longmei County, where the drought is the most severe, has not experienced famine fleeing, and it is even more impossible for other counties.Ye Mingze had to lament that the people of the Daxing Dynasty had really low demands, but few people were willing to leave their hometowns as long as they could live on.

In the back, the closer to Fucheng, the lighter the drought.Affected by the drought, Yangshan County and several nearby counties in Yuanmei County had fewer people going to the market, and it was no longer as lively as before, but Fucheng was still bustling.

Fucheng is the first ancient city that Ye Mingze has seen that can be called truly prosperous.The original owner had only been to Yangshan County the farthest, and had no memory of Fucheng.After Ye Mingze had a short rest, he was going to the busiest market - Changle Square to see and see.

Changlefang mainly serves middle-level households.With a little spare money, but not too much spare money, this group of people has strong spending power and a large number of people.

There are many shops in the middle here, and there are self-built stalls on both sides.Today is not the day to go to the market, and the flow of people is still turbulent.

Excluding the cost of the provincial examination, Ye Mingze doesn't have much money at hand, so this place is just right for him.

He only glanced at most of the stalls.When passing by a jewelry store, Ye Mingze suddenly remembered that he hadn't bought any jewelry for Jiang Jingzhi, so he planned to go in and have a look.When the betrothal gift was made, there was only five taels of silver. Considering Jiang Jingzhi's special situation, he might not use the jewelry after buying it, so he simply converted this part of the fee into cash and gave it to him.

Walking in, I found that the majority of the shop's customers were men.This is also easy to understand. Many customs of the Daxing Dynasty are between the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty. Although the rules for women are not as strict as those of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, they can't go shopping frequently, right?

There were also rings in the Daxing Dynasty, but they were pure ornaments without the special meaning of modern times.Ye Mingze took a general look at the rings. There were many styles of rings, and there were also many exquisite and beautiful ones, but none of them moved his heart.

With the little silver he had on hand, it was quite ample to buy a pair of silver rings, so there was no need to think about buying others.

"Shopkeeper, do you accept orders?"

"Guest officer, it depends on the specific situation. What kind of style do you want?" Shopkeeper Wang took out a sample booklet and handed it to Ye Mingze.

Ye Mingze flipped through the whole book, but didn't find anything he liked, so he simply designed one himself: "My shopkeeper, I'll draw one, and you can see if I can do it."

Shopkeeper Wang led Ye Mingze to the cubicle next to him, summoned the assistants, and served tea to greet him.

The special pen and ink for drawing shapes are all ready-made, Ye Mingze picked a suitable one, and drew the shape of the ring with a few strokes.

The body of the ring has not been changed, it is the most common style, but the face of the ring is completely different.A pair of rings, a curved leaf surrounded by a falling drop, one of which is above the leaf and the other is below.The characters "Ze" and "King" are respectively engraved on the inner side of the ring.

Originally, Ye Mingze only planned to make it all silver, although it doesn't look good, but he's too shy, isn't he?Unexpectedly, something happened.After reading it, the shopkeeper liked the style and planned to buy out the style for the shop.

"My lord, this has special meaning to me, so I can't copy it completely. You can change the pattern slightly to make earrings, chain pendants and various pendants. Of course, rings are excluded. I don't want to see similar rings in the future .”

The two sides quickly reached an agreement.The ring was free, and two taels of silver were returned.The body of the ring is still made of silver, the leaf pattern on the ring surface is made of gold thread, and the water drops are light blue gemstones, which are of course leftovers.Gems of this color are not expensive, and scraps are cheaper.

This was Ye Mingze's first pot of gold in Daxing Dynasty.For someone like him who is used to seeing the big world, he can't help but feel happy.What's more important is that the accidental hit opened a way for him to get money.He decided to draw as many jewelry styles as possible after the provincial examination and before the list came out.

Soon came the day of the country test.At the time of departure, Jiang Jingzhi sent Qingfeng to act as a temporary groom.These days, he is busy with some trivial matters.

Early this morning, there was a crowd of people at the gate of Fucheng Gongyuan.

The rural examination is divided into three sessions, each lasting three days.Even if you finish the papers early, you can only leave the examination room early on the third day, and those who leave the first two days are regarded as giving up.

Qingfeng was carrying two test baskets, the contents of which were prepared with Jiang Jingzhi's advice in mind.After some inspection, Ye Mingze's uncle and nephew

He was put into the Gongyuan.Both of them were not bad luck, and the assigned room was far away from the toilet.

The contents of the papers are similar to the Four Books and Five Classics, and Ye Mingze is quite familiar with them.Although it can't reach the height of the original body, it is not a problem to cope with the rural examination.

After the three township examinations, everyone looked exhausted, and some fainted and were carried out of the examination room during the period.Regarding this, Ye Mingze also kept a secret, it was hard to say anything.I don't think anyone wants to do it again.

While waiting for the list, Ye Zequan was busy making friends.If Ye Mingze chooses by himself, he doesn't want to be an official. There is no special reason for this, it's just a matter of personal preference.Therefore, most of the time, he stayed quietly in the inn, painting and drawing, and was occasionally pulled out by Ye Zequan to meet friends.

Ye Mingze is not a professional jewelry designer, except for some impressive ones, he doesn't remember many styles.Coupled with some of his own ideas, deletions and deletions, more than a dozen sets of jewelry drawings were produced within a few days.Most of them are necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, hairpins, hairpins, and other things that are hardly used in modern times, and he didn't take the time to get them.

"Treasurer Wang, is the ring ready?"

"Oh, it's Mr. Ye. Inside, please!" Shopkeeper Wang took out a small box, which was very well made.

Ye Mingze opened the box, and there were two men's rings side by side on the flannel, about the same size.The finished product looked good, better than he had imagined.In fact, many fine handicrafts in ancient times are not worse than modern ones, and some are even better.

"The master in your shop is very skilled!" Ye Mingze put away the ring box and took out the prepared patterns, "Boss, what do you think of these patterns?"

Shopkeeper Wang looked carefully at each one.After reading it, I invited the best craftsman to check whether the complicated jewelry can be made.

"Treasurer Wang, these two are a bit difficult, and it is more troublesome to make finished products, but there is no problem with the others."

"Understood, you go down first." After understanding clearly, shopkeeper Wang was quite decisive, "Young Master Ye, our shop generally offers two plans, one is to buy out directly, and the other is to sell the first hundred finished products Commission. Which one do you choose? Of course, the buyout price and commission ratio are open for discussion.”

"Buy it out, I'll be leaving in a few days." Ye Mingze knew that he might earn more money, but considering that it was not easy to come to Fucheng, he decisively chose to buy it out.

Each shape can only be made into jewelry of one texture. If you can make this style into gold, you must never get another set of silver and jade, which is not conducive to price positioning.

The same drawing is made into jewelry of different textures, and the money he can get is naturally different.The two went through a lot of screening, and finally decided on a few gold, silver and jade jewelry.

Holding the 300 taels of silver in his hand, Ye Mingze was quite emotional.Thousands of years of culture, in the end, only a dozen or so blueprints were gathered in his hands.He is not a professional, and if he wants to get another one, he can't do it in a short time.

Basic necessities, housing, transportation, clothing, modern things are not suitable for this place at all, and he is not good at it, rule it out; food, except for some home-cooked dishes and some well-known dishes, he doesn’t know anything else, rule it out; live, he can think about it at most How to remodel bathrooms and toilets, modern furniture, etc., he can remember are all simple, too easy to be imitated, and not suitable; okay, they are all carts pulled by various animals, but springs can be considered for shock absorption.