In the years of ancient traders

In the early morning, on the road from Datu County to Xianghe Village, a group of people had trekked for a long time. When they passed by other villages, some people even greeted them, which seemed to have been back and forth many times.

Uncle Chen's cousin, Chen Silang, was also in the crowd. He carried two loads of cocoons and followed behind a mule cart.

Chen Silang lives next door to Sangyuan Village, and has contacts with his cousin from time to time.

More than half a month ago, he was so worried about those cocoons that he almost agreed to sell them to him at a price that was not as cheap as wheat, but luckily his cousin stopped him in time.

His cousin said that when his silkworm cocoons were sold at [-]% of the previous year's price, he didn't believe it at all.

No matter what year it is, silkworm cocoons may not be taken by anyone even if they are thrown on the street.The nobles in Guanzhong don’t want it. Their Yicheng Jiedu envoy ordered officials and generals not to wear silk, and no one dared to buy it. Jianghuai has its own source, and will not want cocoons thousands of miles away. , who can sell it to?

Song Shiro.said his cousin, laughing until the wrinkles on his brow squeezed together.

What Chen Silang is picking up now is the last cocoon of his family this season.

This team included people from Sangyuan Village, their village, and other silkworm farming villages.This kind of team has been there every day these days. Everyone makes an appointment to set off together. Some of them rented mules and pulled them by carts, some of them carried them in bamboo baskets at the front and back, and some of them carried burdens like him.

It took more than three hours from Sangyuan Village to Xianghe, and there were many roads in the depressions, which were not easy to walk, but when I thought that my cocoons could finally be sold out, a big stone also fell to the ground.

After selling the two baskets of cocoons, I will buy some oil and go back.

This is what Chen Silang learned from other cocoon sellers.The oil in Song Silang's house is good and cheap, and the stir-fried dishes and deep-fried dough sticks that have recently sprung up in the city need it. They carry the oil and sell it in other villages, and they can make more money.

When the sun was almost at the top of their heads, they saw patches of white silkworm pockets, which meant that Xianghe Village had arrived.

Sister-in-law Shi's mother-in-law was checking the silkworm bags to dry in the yard, and saw a group of people coming from a distance, and those people carried baskets of snow-white silkworm cocoons on their backs.She had never raised silkworms before, and when she saw her relatives before, she only thought this little thing was disgusting, but Song Silang's silk was traded and she had a taste of the sweetness, and she didn't hate that little thing anymore.

She wasn't there when Song Silang registered his name that day, but after hearing about it from a neighbor, she still regretted it.

Fortunately, her daughter-in-law was clever, and within two days she got two large baskets of washed silkworm cocoons from Song Silang, and made this silkworm bag with her.Granny Shi was also a well-known skillful hand in the village when she was young, and she learned it in a short time.

Two years ago, after the news of her own son's death in battle came, she felt that the sky was falling, and she was looking for her daughter-in-law's bad luck every day, as if her son would be able to come back.If it hadn't been for Mrs. Shi's efforts to get a job working in the steamed bun workshop, which brought hope to the family's livelihood, she wouldn't know how she would live in the future.

Now that there is income from making silkworm pockets again, the life of the family will definitely get better and better in the future.

"Good morning, Granny Shi," greeted the passing man carrying the silkworm cocoons. They come to sell the cocoons every day, and they are inexplicably friendly when they see the villagers who are drying the silkworm bags. They see their fruits turning into silkworm bags in their hands. , and then turned into a bed of quilts, a sense of satisfaction arises spontaneously.

Granny Shi doesn't remember who it is, there are too many cocoon sellers coming and going, but it doesn't matter, these cocoon sellers feel kind in her eyes, if they don't come every day, she doesn't have so many cocoons to buy Peel, so many silkworm pockets can be made.

"Sister, have you got the cocoon?"

The courtyard door of Granny Shi's house was pushed open, and her youngest sister walked in.

Her younger sister was married not far away, and she lived in the next village. Her son hadn't lost much of her support in the two years after his death, so she immediately notified her of the matter of drying the silkworm pockets this time.

"I got it." Granny Shi took her younger sister to the shade at the back of the house, where there were two big bamboo baskets covered with straw curtains, "Did you remember what I taught you yesterday? The bow is ready, remember to ask the carpenter to grind it finer, it is not necessary to scratch the silkworm bag. And tell your little brat to stay away, the village and the outside are watching the work of making the silkworm bag, if you do it well No, even I can’t get the cocoon.”

"Understood, sister, you've talked about it a few times." Granny Shi's younger sister laughed, "My brat went to the next county to sell oil with his mother, and he's not here. You know my daughter-in-law is from the next county. Thinking that the next county might not have oil yet, and the distance is not too far away, I rented a donkey for her cruelly, and took a cart full of soybean oil to go.”

"Hey, a car, can you sell it?" Granny Shi was surprised, her younger sister's family was in a better situation than hers, buying a car of gasoline might even put the family's fortune on the line.

"I asked her to be familiar with the deep-fried dough sticks and fried vegetables taught by Song Silang, and Mr. Chu also learned. When the time comes, I will set up a stall to sell fried dough sticks and stir-fried vegetables, and then buy oil by the way, although it will take a long time Order it, but it will definitely make some money," said Granny Shi's younger sister.

When Granny Shi heard this, her heart was also a little moved. She also had two boys in her family, so she quickly told her sister that if she went next time, she would bring her two boys to wander around.

"No problem, I'm leaving first. The family is waiting for the cocoons to start working." Granny Shi's sister hugged one in the front and carried the other on the back, and left with two baskets of cocoons.

After she left, Granny Shi touched the silkworm sacks and looked at the big sun, hoping that these batches of silkworm sacks would dry up quickly, and there were so many people selling silkworm cocoons today, and when she went to Song's house in the afternoon, she might be able to Get back a lot.

After the silk quilt business started, Song Shu made some adjustments to the two workshops.

The soybean oil workshop is a big place, so he asked them to vacate two rooms where the sundries were piled up, and moved the steamed bun workshop there.After the steamed bun workshop was vacated, it transformed into a silk quilt workshop.

The newly harvested cocoons are boiled in alkaline water in the west room, then soaked in clean water, and then distributed to those who can make silkworm bags.

Song Shu asked Li accountant to record how much each family received, when it was finished, and how the quality was, and paid the wages only after checking that the silkworm pockets received were all right.If it is found that any household has returned too many defective products, or the quantity is small, it will not be distributed in the future.

This kind of thing happened once at the beginning, and Song Shu said that he would never give cocoons to that family again. Others watched and pointed at them, but they were also vigilant in their hearts, and they were more careful with the cocoons, not daring to make any mistakes.

The main room and the yard have the largest space, with two large wooden tables and four women working on each.

These women include Boss Guo and his group, as well as from the same village and neighboring villages. Like the workers in the other two workshops, they get monthly money, three meals and a set of clothes every season.

They pulled the finished silk sheets apart forcefully. The strength was very particular. It could not be pulled even if it was light, and uneven if it was heavy. Under the leadership of Grandma Peng, they tried for a long time, and now they are very proficient in pulling. up.

The quilt stretched in these two places will be sent to the east room, where several women are responsible for putting it into the quilt, and fixing 24 points with needles and threads to prevent the silk from slipping in the quilt.

Only in this way can a silk quilt be made.

The fabrics used by the gall were all bought from shopkeeper Wang. Song Shu was very happy to patronize his business, and the price was very affordable.

Most of the quilts used now are fine linen, but Song Shu also told the vendors who went out to sell quilts that cotton or silk can also be customized.

The east room was originally used as a warehouse, but unfortunately, the hawkers selling silk quilts were too active, and the quilts that had just been made would be bought by them on the same day.I heard that the silk quilts in Yuexing City have become famous, and orders have come in like snowflakes, and many businessmen from other states have also come to buy them.

When the first batch of silk was finished, Song Shu asked them to sell it first as agreed, and the money would only be paid after the sale.

Those peddlers had a lot of ideas and showed their talents, and the quilt was quickly pushed out.After that, they didn't need Song Shu to deposit the goods for them anymore, and those customers who wanted to buy quilts rushed to pay the deposit, not afraid of the goods falling into their hands.

Although some people would go directly to Xianghe Village to buy later, Song Shu gave priority to these hawkers, and the hawkers were also very clever, so other people rarely found fish that slipped through the net.

Fortunately, there are a large number of hawkers, and each of them has to do business, so there is no monopoly. The price of a silk quilt is four to five hundred cash, and anyone with some spare money can still afford it.

The silk quilt business is booming, and there are many more buyers from oil mills and steamed bun mills, including guests staying overnight in the village.

Song Shuben still had some headaches for the clothes he had promised each season, but now that the business is booming and he has more spare money, he simply told shopkeeper Wang to send his tailors to measure for the workers in the three workshops. Size, the summer clothes at Mantoufang have already been sent out, Mrs. Shi and the others replaced the old clothes that were full of patches and put on new ones, and they became more energetic.Seeing the beauty-loving young ladies and daughters-in-law in the village, they were very regretful, so why did they have to go to the Song family's workshop to find a job.

After harvesting the cocoons, Song Shu handed over the rest to Granny Peng. Now she is basically taking care of the silk workshop.She is kind, serious and experienced, and the young women who come to work admire her very much.

Song Shu took a short nap after returning home, and when he came out, he could smell a sweet fragrance wafting from the kitchen.

Walking in, Song Anan was standing in front of the stove.

"What are you cooking?" Song Shu approached and asked.

"Brother, you forgot, you taught Brother Anang to make bean paste." Liu Niang who was lighting a fire beside said.

It was only then that Song Shu remembered this, the day before yesterday he entrusted Boss Guo who had entered the city to bring red beans, and this morning he wanted to be lazy, so he taught Song Anan how to do it.Although Song Anan didn't talk much, he was very smart, and he could learn it as soon as he taught it.

This red bean paste is really fragrant.

"Taste?" Song Anan looked at Song Shu's greedy expression, picked up a small wooden spoon, scooped up some and handed it to him.

The red bean paste was steaming, and the dark red color was extremely positive. Song Shu blew on it, and took Song Anan's hand into his mouth.

so sweet.

bang.

The oil tank on the stove was knocked over, and soybean oil flowed all over the table.

"Why are you so careless?" Song Shu scolded with a spoon in his mouth, unable to speak clearly.

Song Anan frantically looked for a rag, and walked around the kitchen three times before getting back one.

"Don't worry, don't worry, it's just a little oil." Song Shu said casually, found a bowl, and quietly filled some red bean paste, planning to take it back to the room to eat alone.

Liu Niang also wanted to eat, so she hurriedly chased him out.

Song Anan didn't even bother to condemn him for eating alone, his face was hot, and his ears were hot, and he wiped the oily stove vigorously, as if it was Song Shu's magnified face.

The author has something to say: Thank you for your support, thank you for the little angels who voted for me or irrigated the nutrient solution~

Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:

1 bottle of Yangyang;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!