Bianshanhan [farming]

When he got outside, Li Qinghong couldn't help asking: "Father, don't you sell Baliang? How much is this thing worth?"

Li Maoxian said: "Father doesn't know how much it is worth, but this shopkeeper is also a traitor. He can pay [-] taels, and there are activities in Huatou. This chessboard is more than this price."

Li Qingwen finally knew why his father did those little tricks. It turned out that he was wary of that fat shopkeeper, and he probably didn't intend to sell it to him in the first place.

"Then what should we do?" Li Qingfeng asked, these shops are considered to be the largest in the county, and the remaining small shops will not spend more than [-] taels of silver to buy this.

Li Maoxian said: "I won't sell it anymore."

The three brothers were all taken aback.

Li Maoxian stepped forward and said: "Bring it to Fucheng for your elder brother, let him go to find out the price."

The three of them followed in a daze until they reached a large courtyard on the west side. The three of them were waiting outside. Li Maoxian went in to inquire about the caravan going to Fucheng.Knowing that he was leaving in two days, he said that he wanted to bring something. The leader asked carefully what he was bringing, and Li Maoxian only said a letter and something weighing half a catty.

After negotiating the price and the agreed date, Li Maoxian took his three sons to Huichuntang. Unfortunately, Li Qingzhuo and the doctor went out for a visit, and they were all in vain.

If he didn't stay in the county, Li Maoxian would go back.

Looking at the maltose in the back basket, Li Qingwen reminded: "Father, the candy hasn't been sold yet."

Li Maoxian nodded, "Zai'er, go out and tell you."

Li Qingwen was a little puzzled, there was nothing to avoid in this matter.

He didn't wonder for too long, he left the city and set foot on the dirt road back, and he got his doubts resolved.

"The county town has a lot of taxes and miscellaneous taxes. Those who have set up stalls for a long time are okay. They are familiar with the officials and yamen servants. We came out of nowhere, and we must be exploited..." Li Maoxian sighed and shook his head, "The former county magistrate was better. , now this hand is very dark, and the people under it are like wolves and tigers, I'm afraid our little candy is not enough for their teeth."

"That's right!" Li Qinghong said with a look of displeasure when he mentioned this, "One time my family saved a hundred eggs and sold them in the county. Be on guard, I only left a dozen or so money there, and the official sent it all away, and I still dislike him, saying that it is not enough for him to drink a meal..."

"Those officials have a big temper. If anyone dares to resist, they will do it. If they refuse to accept it, they will be locked in the yamen. If they don't take the money, they will be punished..." These are what Li Qinghong heard from people.

Li Qingwen's heart sank when he heard this, and he didn't ask any more questions.

He thought he could exchange money for good things, but he didn't expect such a thing to be so easy. This trip to the county was not only a waste of time, but also paid for a few copper coins to buy maltose.

Li Maoxian walked ahead, looked back at his youngest son with a sullen face, and smiled, "Don't worry too much, son, snakes have snakes, rats have rats, we can sell the sugar without going to the county town to set up a stall."

No matter in memory or in reality, father is trustworthy. Hearing what he said, Li Qingwen was relieved.

Next, the two of them talked about making candy again.Li Maoxian asked emphatically whether the sugar produced yesterday was too much or too little. Li Qingwen said that it was about the same. If he made a big pot at a time in the future, the loss might be less, but the sugar produced would not be too much.

Li Qingwen also said something else, for example, glutinous rice is not necessarily used for maltose, rice can also be used, but rice is more expensive than glutinous rice, so it is not suitable for making sugar.What's more, it can also be made with sorghum noodles, but you need to add some sugar...

Li Maoxian is more interested in the sorghum sugar his son said, because sorghum rice is the cheapest, and a catty of glutinous rice can be exchanged for three catties of sorghum. Even if some white sugar is added, the cost of sorghum sugar is much lower than maltose.

While talking, they turned to a place called Xiawanzi Village on the side of the road, and when they reached the house on the farthest east side, Li Maoxian stood at the door and called "Qiu Merchant". After a while, a middle-aged man came out of the house.

After seeing the Li family outside the gate, he ran over quickly, "Uncle, why are you here when you are free, come in and sit down."

Everyone else in the family has gone to the ground, only this shopkeeper is at home alone.

After entering the house, Li Maoxian grabbed a handful of maltose and gave it to the salesman surnamed Qiu to taste.

"Uncle, I'm not a child, so I don't want to eat these, save them for Feng'er and the others." Qiu shopkeeper declined.

Li Maoxian said: "This is the candy made by our son. You have traveled far and wide and experienced a lot. Let's see if this can be sold?"

"I just went to various villages to sell some odds and ends, what experience do I have..." Qiu the shopkeeper said a few words politely, and suddenly looked at Li Qingwen in surprise, "Is our eldest nephew okay?"

Li Qingwen stepped forward and called Brother Qiu.

Shopkeeper Qiu said a few words with emotion, knowing that Li Maoxian and the others were busy, he tasted the maltose without delay, nodded and said, "It's pretty good, it's whiter and sweeter than the ones sold on the street..."

He paused for a moment, and then said: "The candy made by my nephew is quite good, I picked it up and shouted, but, uncle, the villages I went to were not very rich, and every family was reluctant to spend money to buy these for their children..."

Li Maoxian nodded, "You know, my family doesn't have much land, and I have a lot of children. I can't fill my stomach just by farming. These candies don't sell for money. It's good to exchange some food."

"It's done!" Qiu shopkeeper slapped his thigh, and said: "It's too difficult for ordinary people to let them pay for it. It's not enough to use it. It's still willing to take out a catty or two of grain to coax the children."

Li Maoxian said directly: "You are in a small business, relying on your strength to make money, and you can't let you suffer in vain. You take sugar from my house, and if you can't sell it, you can get it back. In exchange for fifty catties of grain, uncle will give you another two catties." Half sugar, how about it?"

Salesman Qiu readily agreed.

Two and a half catties of maltose is about sixty or seventy Wen, which is not a small amount.He went to various villages to sell things, earning only one or two copper coins for each item, which was very thin.Walking for a day may only earn a few or ten yuan. Although there is no need to go to the field, but carrying a load weighing tens of catties and walking tens of miles a day, the hardship is not something ordinary people can bear.

Shopkeeper Qiu had a plan in mind, and he and Li Maoxian made a plan on how to exchange grain for sugar.

After the uncles and nephews settled the matter, Li Maoxian said that he would send a letter to Fucheng in two days, asking him if he wanted to explain to Qiu Erlang.

Qiu Erlang is the younger brother of Qiu Merchant. Although Xiawanzi Village and Yangshu Village are not close, Qiu Erlang and Li Qingrui fell in love with each other, and they often walked around since they were young. This time, they went to Fucheng together for several months.

Shopkeeper Qiu scratched his head, he could recognize dozens of characters, but he couldn't write, so he could only trouble Li Maoxian to tell him in the letter that everything is fine at home, don't worry, let him come back safely as soon as possible.

Seeing that it was almost noon, Li Maoxian left the maltose and got up to leave, but the shopkeeper Qiu refused to accept it. The two of them tore it for a long time, and finally kept half of it.

After leaving Qiu's house, they walked through the next village. The father and son went to a shady place, sat under a tree, ate the dry food and pancakes they had brought, and then walked home.

When he got home, Li Maoxian talked about today's events, and Mrs. Chen immediately took out all the wheat in the wing room. It weighed more than ten catties and could make a lot of maltose, but there was only one bottom left of glutinous rice.

Avoiding the rest of the family and going to the east room, Mrs. Chen whispered: "Our family only has 120 Wen left. You have to bring something to the boss, but you have no money to buy glutinous rice."

After a moment of silence, Li Maoxian said: "Let me borrow the glutinous rice first, and I can return it after the salesman Qiu sells the sugar."

Mrs. Chen hesitated for a moment, but nodded in agreement, tidied up and was ready to go out.

Li Maoxian stopped her, "I'll go, the medicine was stopped last month, you have to pay attention to your waist, don't get tired and get sick again."

Li Maoxian had just returned from the county seat, and Mrs. Chen originally wanted him to rest, but upon hearing this, she had no choice but to stay at home.

Over the years, her back pain has cost a lot of money, so it's better to take care of it.

Li Maoxian went out and went to several houses to collect a hundred catties of glutinous rice. When he came back, he took out his pen and ink and wrote letters to his eldest son.

On this day, Li Qingwen walked for several hours, and was so tired that he was about to lose his temper. When he came back, he lay down on the kang and fell asleep without any dinner.

Knowing that he was exhausted, Li Qinghong and Li Qingfeng didn't call him.

When Li Qingwen woke up in the evening, the wheat was already soaked.

In the two days since the birth of malt, Li Maoxian wrote down the steps to pass the level in detail according to what his youngest son said, and went to the county with the chess box and letters. There were two letters, one for Li Qingrui and the other for Jiang Cong.

Liushan County was too far away from Hongzhou, so there was no way to send the letter there directly. There were many caravans in Fucheng, so Li Qingrui could ask someone to bring the letter from there.

In fact, when Li Qingrui left at the beginning of the year, he brought a letter to Jiang Cong, but at that time Li Qingwen was still not well, and now that he is well, he should still tell his benefactor such great things.

After sending away the things, Li Maoxian listened to his youngest son and nailed a wedge on the door frame, ready to pull candy.Another pot was set up on the west side of the house, for fear that it would be too busy.

Mrs. Jiang went to the front yard to borrow a small stone mill and came back, and took out the curtains and gratings newly made last year to clean and dry them.

Li Qingwen and his brothers went up the mountain to collect firewood and mow grass, and they had no idle time.

On the day when the malt was ready, the people in the Li family began to get busy.

One hundred catties of glutinous rice is quite a lot, drying half of the yard, attracting many children from the village to look around. Li Qinghong stood in the middle of the yard, and when he saw a bird flying down to peck at it, he chased it away.

Boiling sugar took up the pot, so the soybeans and black sesame were fried early, and Li Qingfeng ground them into powder with a small mill, and sifted them carefully with a fine sieve, which was much finer than the last time.

After the washed malt is chopped and fully mixed with glutinous rice, it can rest for several hours during fermentation, and the rice is eaten in advance by the way.

After filtering the sugar water, the outer pot really came in handy. The three big pots started to boil sugar at the same time. At this time, shoveling the pot was the most tiring, and I couldn't stop. If the pot was burned, the loss would be great.

Except for Li Maoxian who is in charge of one pot alone, several people take turns to serve the other two pots. When they are tired, they will take a break. If they keep stirring, their arms can't bear it.

Fortunately, there are thick branches to burn at home, otherwise I would be too busy to add firewood.