I played as an assistant in ancient times

Shen Xiaoye did not get any hint from her aunt. She only saw her cousin quietly making gestures to her, and his mouth seemed to be forming the word "price".

She was just wondering what was going on when she saw her two uncles come into the house after putting the sumu in the warehouse.

"Mom and Dad, we, your sons, stayed in Taixu Temple for one more night and made you worried." The Shen brothers directly apologized to the old couple.

Shen Xiaoye opened the backpack she brought back and showed it to her grandmother: "It's because we bought some cheap medicinal herbs from Wuzhong Mountain, such as black plum and gallnut, which are ingredients to help dye cloth.

Moreover, there are beautiful mountains and rivers there, and I encountered some good things.

Look, grandma, this is the medicinal wine we got from Taixu Temple in exchange for a piece of Dendrobium officinale."

There were dense forests over there, and thanks to the little black cat, I was able to collect some good medicinal herbs that were very old. Unfortunately, there was only one.

Lin looked at them and said, "When you're out, things may not go exactly as planned. I won't be angry about that."

"Ahem." Old man Shen Shanyou was so drunk that he couldn't help but maintain his serious expression. He also winked at his granddaughter, signaling her to coax her grandmother.

So, Shen Xiaoye ran back to the donkey cart and brought another backpack. Then she opened the lid and held the cat in her left hand and the leopard in her right hand. The meowing of the two little things finally attracted the attention of their grandmother.

She first noticed the little black cat: "Black cat?"

"Yes, we hired it. The Taoist priest said it can bring wealth and protect the house. We can collect medicinal herbs and get wonderful things, all thanks to it." Shen Xiaoye said as he handed the two little guys to his cousin who was eager to hold them. Of course, the little black cat jumped away without giving any face and went straight into the arms of his grandmother.

"Meow!" The little one lay on Lin's legs very obediently, with its long unicorn tail swaying.

Lin couldn't help but be amused by it. She stroked its fur and said, "Take good care of it once you hire it. Geng'er, let me see the little cat too. It looks like it was born with a defect."

"Grandma has good eyesight." Shen Xiaoye just flattered her when her cousin handed her the little leopard. She took it first and said, "That one, this one."

"What's that? Let grandma see it." Shen Cungeng didn't understand why and wanted to take it back, but his father's familiar big hand grabbed him from behind.

His grandfather grabbed the little cat and held it in front of his eyes for a closer look, and occasionally glanced at his father and fourth uncle.

Shen Changshou said, "Dad and Mom, this flower is a leopard cub. Xiaoye helped the mother leopard to cut out its wound and apply medicine, and then the mother leopard was given to Xiaoye to raise."

Shen Xiaochong secretly thanked his uncle for avoiding the important issues.

Grandma’s smile fell: “Xiao Ye?”

“Grandma, it was with the little black cat, and its mother also paid it.

Look." Shen Xiaoye was prepared. She pulled open the cotton cloth in the basket, revealing two pieces of brocade satin.

"What is this?" The aunt was extremely surprised. She recognized it as a tribute and quickly covered it with the material.

Shen Changshou didn't understand the material, he frowned and asked: "Why didn't I see it yesterday?"

"The female leopard gave it to me secretly." Shen Xiaoye answered without blushing, causing the little black cat to stare at her with its round eyes wide open.

Grandma had naturally seen the fabrics of wealthy families, so she put the cat on the ground and asked, "You know that this satin is a tribute and ordinary people cannot wear it.

Also, how could a leopard have this?"

"In the cave where it lives, look down here." When Shen Xiaoye was about to give the two pieces of satin to her aunt, her grandmother Lin gave a look and her youngest son closed the door to prevent anyone from seeing them.

Shen Xiaoye blinked helplessly and took out the ball wrapped in white cloth at the bottom.

"At that time, the mother leopard used it to build a small den for the little leopard.

The materials were not placed there recently. When I saw them, they were half buried in the soil, and the year number of the previous dynasty had been erased by me. "

"Put it away quickly. We can't use this stuff, and we can't sell it in the county town. It will attract the attention of those with ulterior motives." Grandma Lin put all the materials into the backpack, "Let your grandfather find a chance to sell it to someone.

Also, no one is allowed to mention this matter again. Xiaoye is not allowed to go to Wuzhong Mountain in the future. When the little leopard is one or two years old and you release it back to the mountain, you are not allowed to go there again. "

Shen Xiaoye didn't expect her grandmother to agree so easily. She was about to thank her when she changed the subject: "Even though it's not easy to make money, we don't covet this kind of extra money.

Nor can we charge villagers extra money for dyeing cloth just to make more money."

Shen Changsui: "Mom, who said anything?"

"No extra charge." Shen Xiaoye thought she was talking about giving Yue's a discount. "Yue's has a large quantity and they only dye single colors, not prints, so there will be a discount."

The old man who was playing with the little leopard said, "It's not his family, it's the Cui family, the relatives of Qian Lichang's eldest branch. They left just half a quarter of an hour before you came back. They said they had just delivered a piece of cloth to dye quilts two days ago, and she brought people from Wuli Village to bargain for the price."

Grandma added: "Well, Cui's natal family had a relative who was Erniu's cousin. She asked Erniu to deliver cloth for dyeing, but when she heard Erniu say it was six cents a foot, she took the cloth away on the spot.

People heard from Cui's family that dyeing a foot of cloth costs five cents, so they were naturally unhappy that Erniu charged six cents a foot."

"We have to let Brother Erniu earn some money for running errands." As soon as Shen Xiaoye finished speaking, she saw the whole family staring at her. She asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

"You didn't tell me to increase the price of Erniu." Shen Changsui nodded heavily.

"Everyone dispersed, the elder and the younger took Geng Ge'er to wash the carriage and horses.

Huang said, "Get ready and have dinner in the courtyard." Lin drove everyone out, not even letting her husband stay. The old man picked up the little leopard, patted his granddaughter and said, "It's nothing. Just go to Erniu's house tomorrow and give it to the person who delivered the cloth."

She asked Xiaoye to move a low stool and sit in front of her, and said, "Xiaoye, basically everyone in the surrounding area is a relative.

You charge five cents for dyeing a foot of cloth in your own village, and you also give five cents to Cui's family. Moreover, people from Shangtian Village and Xiatian Village saw the price set by your fourth uncle, but it is inappropriate to let Erniu charge six cents.

If you ask Erniu to help you, you can pay him a commission from your own earnings, but if you charge him a penny more, what will others think of him? He ignores family ties just to make money."

"I..." Shen Xiaoye really hadn't thought of this. The little black cat jumped on her legs and arched her back, indicating that she would accompany him.

Lin took her hand, patted it and said, "It's not easy for folks to earn a penny. Dyeing three to five feet for a dozen coins is not worth much, but thirty to fifty feet is not a small amount.

After a while, everyone's novelty wore off, and they would definitely not be willing to spend 200 wen to dye a piece of cloth. At first glance, it sounds cheaper than buying ready-made colored cloth, but when they actually do the math, they feel they are losing money.

You see, the cloth shop sells one foot of local fine cloth for eight cents when it is undyed, and twelve cents when it is dyed blue or pink. "

Shen Xiaoye naturally knew this, "But I printed the flower shape, and the process means more manpower costs."

“Human power is the least valuable. A strong laborer only earns 30 or 40 cents a day doing odd jobs.

Women’s wages are reduced by half a day.” Lin asked her, “You prefer to give Yueji a discount because they give more profit on cloth, but is their family short of that one or two cents?

Is it his family who often asks you to dye cloth, or is it the villagers in the surrounding villages who often ask you to dye cloth? "

"Grandma, I'll find Brother Erniu in Wuli Village and explain the situation to the cloth dyeing family. They charge six cents per foot for the special pattern requested by Aunt Tu in their village. The existing patterns and single-color dyeing are all one foot and five cents.

But if you ask me to dye it in a solid color without prints and give me a penny cheaper, I won’t reduce the price.

Because farmers can’t dye much cloth, my main job is to collect cloth, dye it and sell it.” Shen Xiaoye insisted on this point.

Lin smiled and said, "In addition to the cloth that Erniu collected, did I ask you to lower it?"

"No." Shen Xiaoye covered her face. She misunderstood her grandmother.

Next, she listened obediently to her grandmother's teaching. It seemed that dyeing and spinning yarn could not be charged 240 cents per kilogram.

The next day, when Shen Xiaoye went to the county town to sell the indigo she made, she turned to Wuli Village to find Erniu. She visited every household and told them that if there were no special requirements, she would charge five cents instead of six for dyeing one foot of cloth.

These people were very happy to hear this. She secretly thought that people at that time were really simple and honest. However, she couldn't do it even if the price of a single business was reduced to four cents.

She didn't expect that her act of going to explain things in person would spread among the people of Wuli Village, and one day at noon when she was boiling sumac dye, people came to her to dye cloth.