HLnovel Chapter 224: Worldly Fireworks
Chapter 224: Worldly Fireworks
Because Shen Zhiqiu was mistaken for a beggar by others today, everyone in Shenjia Village felt sad.
In their words, it's okay to call them beggars, or even to call them something more unpleasant, they don't care.
But their little three sons can't do this.
So the clever women took advantage of the innkeeper's generosity and took out their sewing baskets, preparing to alter the clothes that Old Madam Zhang had given them to make them fit better, so that they could put them on when they stayed at the inn again.
Shen Zhiqiu can never be called a beggar again.
But since they had no supplies along the way, they had needles but no thread.
A few old ladies begged the kind waiter if he could lend them some thread. If that wasn't possible, they could just pay for it and buy some.
The waiter looked embarrassed and said, "Sir, it's not that I'm stingy. If you don't need much, don't buy it. It's okay to give it to you for free.
The main thing is that we don’t have much needlework in our store. You see, we are all grown men, but you want to alter clothes? We don’t have enough in our store! It’s almost curfew now, and I can’t go out to buy it.”
The shopkeeper thought about it and said, "Why don't you go to a few large shops and ask if there are any street vendors, and see if they have any stock?"
After the shopkeeper's suggestion, the waiter immediately had an idea and went to the private rooms of the big bunk bed to ask everyone one by one.
Apart from the room occupied by Shen Zhiqiu and his group, the other large bunk beds were occupied by either servants and guards of big merchants or small vendors walking around the streets.
They are usually locals from the villages under the jurisdiction of the county, and they buy some daily necessities, needles and thread, silk scarves and hair ornaments from the county.
Afterwards, he went to various villages to sell the goods on the streets to earn some money to supplement his family's income.
It’s the same as how Old Mrs. Fang trades eggs in her hometown, she earns some hard-earned money.
Soon the waiter came back, followed by a boy of about seventeen or eighteen years old carrying a large wooden box on his back.
The boy's skin was darker than those of the refugees, and it was obvious that he had been exposed to the wind and sun a lot.
There is a bell hanging on the lower left corner of the box, which makes a crisp "ding-dong" sound when he walks.
His clothes were ordinary, a gray-blue coarse linen shirt, the color faded from washing, but there were no patches.
The old ladies came over and asked: "Do you have needle and thread?"
The boy was obviously very happy. He didn't expect that he would open the business without even leaving the county.
Hurry up and search for the old ladies in Shenjia Village.
It's not to mention that this young man has a lot of goods: "Not to mention cotton thread, he also has silk thread, and in all colors."
Old Mrs. Fang sighed and said, I didn’t realize that you are such a real talent.
The young man chuckled and said, "Look at what you said, old lady. What can I do without the goods? This is how I make a living."
Old Lady Fang waved her hands and said, "Don't call me old lady. We are not old ladies. At my age, it's not appropriate for you to call me auntie. Just call me grandma."
Oh my! This old lady is taking advantage of others by selling some thread.
But the boy obviously didn't care. He kept calling her "Nude" and selling his silk thread.
Moreover, he was witty and good at speaking, so it was difficult for the old ladies to lower the price too much.
But it is impossible not to bargain, this is not the style of their Shenjia Village.
The cotton thread, whether black or white, costs 1.2 cents per pound. The peddler also has coarse cotton cloth, the white one is 3 feet long and costs cents per piece.
Each bolt of blue and green cloth cost 75 copper coins. Each bolt of printed cloth cost one guan of money, or one tael of silver.
Shen Youyou had heard that the grandmas had gone to the waiter to ask for clues, so she walked out of the room, thinking about how to trick the waiter. She was still thinking about picking up the ceramics for free.
As soon as I came out, I saw some grandmas surrounding a person. They were in a mess and I didn't know what they were doing, so I walked over too.
Wow, when I walked over I realized that this was the peddler that used to appear on ancient TV and movies, the one that best embodies the worldly atmosphere.
This is the first time I've seen a real one.
It's not her fault that she still looks like she has never seen the world after traveling through time for so long. This is because her family of three fled from famine when they first traveled through time.
We walked through mountains and forests along the way and didn't see many strangers.
After finally arriving in Jeju, she began to follow the team towards the capital. Before that, she had never been given the opportunity to enter the city or visit other people's villages.
She stayed at two post stations, and that was the time when she saw the most people, apart from the refugees.
But what is a post station? It is state-owned. Apart from the King of Yan who specially granted permission for scholars to stay there, only officials could stay there.
In modern terms, if you wanted to live in an inn, you had to at least be a public official.
So when she first saw this peddler who had always lived in legend, she was full of curiosity.
Of course, I was not curious about the person, but about the things in his small box. I always felt that it was the pocket on Doraemon's chest, which could produce everything you need.
Finally, I found that although it is not so magical, there are many strange and bizarre things in it.
Mainly, Shen Youyou also wanted to know about the prices in this place. After all, she had no memory of ancient times.
After learning more about it, I realized that it was difficult for people in ancient times to earn money, but it was easy to spend money.
The peppercorns she cared about most cost three taels of silver per pound, icing sugar cost 40 cents per pound, and salt was cheaper, costing 7 cents.
But think about it, converted into RMB, is seven yuan of salt really cheap?
The more I ask, the more I wonder, it’s no wonder that old people always feel like they don’t have enough money to spend, alas!
Life in ancient times was indeed not easy, but Shen Youyou asked so many questions that she frightened Old Lady Hua.
"My dear grandson, why are you asking so many questions? We can't buy everything. Let's just buy some needles and thread."
Shen Youyou said helplessly: "I don't want to buy everything, I just want to ask about the price to see if it is similar to the prices over here."
Mrs. Hua is still worried:
"Don't ask about the pepper anymore. Your Grandpa Guo has already exchanged some for it at the pharmacy. You can't put it in the pot when cooking. Emma! That's like eating gold!"
Well, it turned out that the old lady didn’t know the price of pepper because she had never used it before, so she didn’t say anything when she saw Li Jingshu cooking wildly.
As for Grandpa Guo, who knew the price, he thought that pepper had the effects of warming the middle and dispelling cold, relieving gas and eliminating phlegm, and enhancing appetite. Their journey to escape famine was already difficult.
Just put it in and treat it as a medicinal food.
So even though it was expensive, the old man didn’t stop me. Anyway, he thought it was too expensive when he bought it, so he didn’t buy much and just ate it after he finished it.
Shen Youyou's family of three actually knew that this thing should not be cheap in ancient times, because it is now a foreign species.
Although they saw that Doctor Guo had it, maybe it is also grown in Guanzhong now, or it can be found in the wild mountains and wilderness, but of course they have never encountered it.
The price is definitely not beautiful.
But even Shen Youyou didn't expect that the price would be three taels of silver per catty!
Look at what the waiter took out. It is probably the worst quality among the Sichuan peppercorns. How much would a good quality one cost?
After some understanding, I found that I have to make a lot of money to survive.