Chapter 31 Buying Neighbor Chestnuts
After work, Qianhuan saw that the oil paper bags were almost used up, so she said, "Dad, Mom, we have borrowed the scale from the headman's house for several days, and it's time to return it. I plan to buy a beam scale. Our oil paper bags and syrup are almost used up, so I'll go to the store to buy some."
"It's time to return the scale to the headman's house. Okay, go buy it. Come back soon. Your mother and I will be waiting for you here." Liang Laoer instructed.
"Okay, I understand." Qianhuan responded to her father and went to the street to buy things.
After shopping, they took a bullock cart back home. As soon as they entered the house, Liu couldn't wait to ask, "Qianhuan, how much silver did you spend on shopping today? Is there any silver left from our earnings today?"
"Mom, I spent one or two taels of silver to buy a scale, and 30 wen to make three thousand oil-paper bags. I bought 10 jin of malt sugar. The original price in the county was 61 wen per jin, but the boss saw that I bought a lot and gave me the same price as in the town, 60 wen per jin, which cost me 600 wen. Add to that the 2 wen for the stall protection fee and the 12 wen for the ox cart fare, and the total cost was 1644 wen." Qianhuan carefully calculated the bill for Liu.
"Then won't we spend all the money we earned today?"
"Mom, we brought a total of 130 kilograms of chestnuts to the county town today. We gave away 7 kilograms and sold 123 kilograms, earning 1230 coins. Not only did we spend all the 1230 coins we earned today on shopping, we also spent 414 coins."
Qianhuan took out the remaining money in her hand and counted it. She had 1951 coins left yesterday, and now she only had 1537 coins left.
"We must stop spending money recklessly in the future. We must save the money we earn."
Liu looked at the remaining long string of copper coins. Although it was not a lot, it was also earned by their hard work, so they still had to calculate carefully.
"Mom, although we spent a little more today, our family has our own scale now. We don't have to borrow other people's scales in the future, and it will be more convenient to do business. You don't have to worry about the money. Money is earned to be spent. There is no need to save money that should be spent." Qianhuan persuaded Liu earnestly.
Liu knew in her heart that the scale had to be bought. Although she felt sorry for the money, she didn't say anything.
"Mom and Dad, we have sold out all the chestnuts at home. I plan to buy chestnuts from the villagers. I only charge one penny per pound. What do you think?"
Qianhuan had made up her mind on the way back that she had to buy the chestnuts quickly.
"Isn't one penny per catty a bit expensive? Usually, merchants buy two catties for one penny. Almost every household in our Yunfeng Village has a chestnut tree. Normally, no one picks up chestnuts when they fall on the ground. They are only used as food in years of famine. They are not a rare thing." Liu disagreed with charging one penny per catty.
"Mom, let's buy it at one cent per pound. If we make money, we have to let the villagers benefit from it."
Qianhuan still insists on buying at one cent per pound. As the old saying goes, "When one person makes money, the whole village is jealous; when one person gets rich, the whole village blocks his way."
Although the folk customs of Yunfeng Village have always been simple and honest, and most villagers are friendly and united, there are always a few families who cannot bear to see others doing better than themselves.
Qianhuan didn't want to take the risk of testing people's hearts. Only by letting the villagers benefit together could her small business go more smoothly.
In a small village like this, everyone's living standards are originally similar. If one family suddenly becomes rich and breaks the current "equality" atmosphere, I am afraid that some people will feel unbalanced.
Never underestimate human nature. When a person's jealousy reaches a certain temperature, the evil that arises in his heart is far more terrible than you can imagine.
Besides, it is not easy for the villagers to grow anything. A young chestnut tree can only produce 13 or 14 kilograms of chestnuts at most, a medium-aged tree can only produce 20 to 30 kilograms of chestnuts, and an older chestnut tree can only produce 50 to 60 kilograms to more than 100 kilograms of chestnuts at most.
Most villagers really have no other way to make money except selling food for silver.
He led the villagers to improve their lives by making some money from chestnuts, which was considered to be helping everyone.
"Chunxiang, let's just listen to our daughter."
Liang Laoer noticed that since his daughter had been gifted by God, she had become more independent and sensible in doing things, so it was always right to listen to his daughter.
"Okay, I'll listen to you." Although Liu felt a little sad that the price was too high, she still chose to listen to her daughter.
"Mom and Dad, we don't have enough money yet. I plan to go to the families next door and ask them about their chestnuts. I'll buy them back and sell them in the city. When I save up more money, I'll buy them from the whole village."
"Okay, I'll go talk to the neighbors next door about this and ask them to send the chestnuts over."
"Mom, go ask Uncle Zhang first. They helped us a lot since we moved here. We want all the chestnuts he has, no matter how many there are."
Qianhua is like this, she will treat anyone who treats her well. Uncle Zhang's family next door is the only one who has shown them warmth since they moved in, so they are the first people she thought of when buying chestnuts.
"Oh, I know. I will definitely notify Brother Zhang's family first."
Liu was just about to go out when there was a knock on the door.
"Who is it? Coming, coming." Liu hurried to open the door.
"Sister Liu, it's me. I guess the vegetables I sent to you a few days ago have all been eaten, so I picked some fresh vegetables from the vegetable garden and sent them to your house."
"Sister Cui, you sent us a basket of vegetables right after we moved in, and now you sent us another basket. How can we feel good about this?"
"Sister Liu, don't feel embarrassed. We will be neighbors from now on. A few vegetables are not worth much. I hope you don't mind them."
Cui, the daughter-in-law of the Zhang family next door, followed Liu into the yard while talking, carrying a bamboo basket.
"No, no, we just moved here and planted the vegetable seeds a few days ago. We are worried about not having fresh vegetables to eat. Your vegetables are rare to us, so how could we despise them?"
Liu put all the vegetables that Cui brought in the kitchen.
"Aunt Cui, you came at the right time. Our family is planning to buy some chestnuts. We are purchasing them at the price of one cent per pound. I see that you have several chestnut trees. Can you sell them to us?" Qianhuan asked.
"Girl Qianhuan, did Aunt Cui hear me correctly? You want to buy my chestnuts at the price of one penny per pound?" Cui asked uncertainly.
"Yes, one penny per pound. We'll take as many as you have at home. Sell it to us?"
"Sell, sell, sell. Of course. We have several old chestnut trees in front of our house. We can harvest at least 300 kilograms of chestnuts. Are you sure you want all of them?"
"I'm sure you want them all, Aunt Cui. Just pick them all and peel the shells and send them over. We'll pay you in cash after you weigh them."
"Okay, I'll go and ask my wife to come home and pick chestnuts."
Cui hurried out of Liang Laoer's house. She didn't even bother to go home. She slung her empty bamboo basket and trotted straight to her own rice field.
One penny for a pound of chestnuts, this is such a good thing that you can't find it even with a lantern. She had to quickly call her husband back to pick all the chestnuts from the tree and sell them.
After Cui left, Liu and Qianhuan went to several neighboring families to talk about collecting chestnuts. Everyone knew that they would buy the chestnuts from their homes at the price of one cent per pound, and they were all very enthusiastic.
Almost all the men in the family would be called together to start picking chestnuts from the trees. The children in the family would pick the chestnuts, and the women would peel off the thorny shell on the outside.
Not long after, a neighbor named Xie who lived about four or five hundred meters away from Qianhuan's house came over first.
"Liang Lao Er, we've brought the chestnuts over."
Grandma Xie led her eldest son, carrying chestnuts, to the gate of Qianhuan's house. Seeing that the gate was open, Grandma Xie stood outside the gate and looked inside and shouted.
"Okay, thank you grandma, please come in." Qianhuan replied.
After hearing the host's order, Grandma Xie and her eldest son walked through the gate and into the yard.
Liu took out a scale and weighed the chestnuts, a total of 85 kilograms.
"Thank you, grandma. It's 85 kilograms of chestnuts in total. Here are 85 copper coins. Please keep them." Qianhuan counted out 85 copper coins and handed them over.
"Okay, thank you, Qianhuan. My family only has two chestnut trees, and they are still relatively young, so they don't produce many chestnuts. Are you buying chestnuts for your own consumption?"
Old Lady Xie took the copper coin with a smile. She noticed that Liang Laoer's family always left the city early in the morning on Old Man Wang's ox cart these days. She was a little curious and asked about Qianhuan.
"Thank you, grandma. We have other uses for these chestnuts."
The only person in the village who knew about Qianhuan's family setting up a stall in the county town was probably Old Man Wang, but Old Man Wang didn't like gossiping, so the villagers didn't know about it for the time being. Qianhuan didn't plan to publicize it for the time being.
When Mrs. Xie saw that she didn't give a direct answer, she knew that she didn't want to say it, so she tactfully said goodbye and left.
Not long after, Zhang Laodi and Zhang Cui from next door also came over carrying chestnuts to sell. Her family had a total of 320 kilograms of chestnuts. Qianhuan counted out 320 copper coins and gave them to Cui.
Cui was very happy to get the copper coins. She said to Liu gratefully, "Sister Liu, thank you so much. In previous years, chestnuts were sold for a penny per two kilograms at most, and there were very few merchants who came to buy them. Sometimes, there were no merchants to buy them, and my family couldn't eat them all, so we had to let the chestnuts on the tree fall to the ground and rot. This year, thanks to your family's blessing, I can earn a few hundred coins from these chestnuts."
"Aunt Cui, you're welcome. We have our own uses for the chestnuts. It's a mutually beneficial thing."