The daily struggles of divorced women in ancient times

After Xiaowu left, Zhou Chengze came to Xia Mianwan again and told her that the emperor was going to add an extra examination today, and that this opportunity must be seized.

"The emperor is short of staff now. Although I don't know the examiner's personality, his approach to marking the papers should be more pragmatic." Xia Mianwan said lightly.

Zhou Chengze also thought so, "By the way, Sister Xia, Bailu Academy is about to reopen."

Xia Mianwan raised her eyebrows, looking delighted, "Really?"

Zhou Chengze nodded and said, "The teacher and his family have already left. Today, I saw someone in the teacher's residence, so I went up to ask. It turned out that the teacher's manager had returned to Yanzhou in advance to take care of everything."

Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "This is really a good thing. You now have someone to discuss things with."

Zhou Chengze smiled and said, "Sister Xia, I have taught Brother Chen for a long time in the mountains. Brother Chen's talent is far superior to mine. I have sent a letter to the teacher. If it works, Brother Chen can study with the teacher."

Xia Mianwan looked at Zhou Chengze in surprise: "Really? Then Brother Chen must be very happy."

Chen Ge'er heard his name from his mother's mouth and poked his head in from the doorway, "Mom, are you calling me?"

Xia Mianwan smiled and asked Chen Ge'er to kowtow to Zhou Chengze, "Go and thank Brother Chengze quickly. With any luck, he will become your senior brother."

Zhou Chengze accepted Chen Ge'er's gift with embarrassment, "This matter has not been accomplished yet. The master has always told me that things should be done in secrecy. This time I couldn't help but tell you in advance."

Xia Mianwan joked, "Brother Zhou can actually be so childish sometimes."

"Master's wife was born in the Wang family of Langya. She is the legitimate daughter of the third branch of the Wang family of Langya. Master's wife has always been informal and has always wanted to run a girls' school. However, the situation in the world at that time made it difficult to promote it. This time when I come back, maybe I can make it happen. If Sister Yu is interested, you can go with me to meet Master's wife."

Xia Mianwan finally stood up at this time, "Chengze, you took the trouble. If it can be accomplished, I will definitely thank you very much."

Zhou Chengze waved his hand in return, "Sister Xia has helped me a lot, I don't deserve this gift."

After Xia Mianwan sent Zhou Chengze away, she took Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er to stroll around the street. The street was still the same, very deserted, but there were more residents in the alley.

Late at night, Xia Mianwan began to think carefully about the sale of the donkey cart.

Not many residents have food stored now, and their faces look like they have been through a lot. Living in the city, you have to buy everything, firewood, water, rice, and vegetables.

The key point is that not every household can go out of the city to collect firewood in the mountains, and the rice shops in the city sell a limited amount of grain every day, and you have to register before you can buy it.

Xia Mianwan counted the food he brought down from the mountains, and after deducting the food he had given to Xiaowu and the Zhou family, he still had 5,000 kilograms of food left. The supermarket space also had about 10,000 kilograms of various types of rice and grains purchased from the capital.

The supermarket already has space for modern-sized rice, so we won’t consider moving it for the time being.

Donkey carts can set out from the city early in the morning and sell goods all the way to the village. Supplies such as vegetables can be collected from the village and exchanged for money or food.

Now Yanzhou City only has domestic demand but no goods. When there are no goods, domestic demand will also decrease.

Although there are not many people coming back from Yanzhou City now, and everyone is so poor that their pockets are empty, there are still a few wealthy people coming back, such as Zhou Chengze's husband, who is going to bring his whole family back. The food and grains for these people can be brought back from the capital, but vegetables, firewood, fresh meat, etc. can't all be brought back from the capital.

Xiaowu can also go to the mountains every ten days. Although there are few wild animals in the mountains in spring, he can still gather some and sell them to wealthy families in the city.

It is impossible to do all these things by ourselves. Although they have many people, they have little labor. We can delegate the work to others.

Opening a donkey cart business also requires a gimmick. At least there must be some hard goods on the donkey cart. In the current situation of food shortage and drink shortage, hard goods are not just food.

I spent the summer sleeping nights writing and painting, and occasionally went out to investigate on the streets. Three days passed in a flash, and the government indeed announced that it would organize people to do spring ploughing.

Xiao Wu said excitedly: "Sister Xia, just as you guessed, the government has really announced the news of spring ploughing. Now there is a big table at the entrance of the government office, and several scholars have been invited to help people register."

Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "What a coincidence, my plan is also ready."

When Xiaowu heard this, he hurried back and called Xiaoqi, Xiaoba and Xiuxiu to come and listen.

Xia Mianwan and the other half-grown children all opened their eyes wide waiting for Xia Mianwan to speak, which was a little funny. At this time, Yu Jie'er and Chen Ge'er poked their heads in and asked, "Mother, can we listen?"

Xia Mianwan laughed, "Of course you can, you will all help in the future."

When Yu Jie'er and Chen Ge'er heard that they could also help, they quickly brought in a stool and sat down, looking at Xia Mianwan with their heads tilted.

Seeing that everyone was ready, Xia Mianwan said, "This donkey cart business is mainly about selling food. Due to the current situation in Yanzhou City, we don't sell exquisite food. Every morning, the donkey cart sets out from the city, goes to the village to collect goods, and then sells them back to the city. The price of various types of food is about one cent higher than the government's. Vegetables, meat, firewood and other things other than food are priced cheaper."

Xiao Wu nodded and said, "Okay."

At this time, Xiao Qi asked: "Looking at the situation of the donkey cart business, it doesn't take many people to do this..."

"Yes, two or three people are enough, so the rest of the people have to find a way to get the goods. The most important thing is the firewood. By then, there will be more and more people in Yanzhou City, and everyone will go to spring ploughing and build houses. There will be no vendors. But without firewood, how can we make a fire to cook and make tea?" Xia Mianwan said.

Yu Jie'er said at this time: "It's not just firewood. Wild vegetables are in season in spring, so we should dig more wild vegetables, pick wild fruits and mushrooms. Even if we kids from the mountains can't hunt, we can still pick some wild vegetables, fruits, bamboo shoots and catch some fish."

Xia Mianwan gave Yu Jie'er an admiring look and said, "Yes, if there are no jobs at home, the older children can be taken to the mountains to do these things. Now almost all the villagers are engaged in spring ploughing, and no one has the energy to do these things. If we do this, we can also revitalize the market in Yanzhou City."

"Should we get a few more donkey carts to sell?" Xiao Qi asked.

Xia Mianwan shook his head and said, "We don't have that much food on hand. Go back and figure out how much food you can spare. I'll figure it out here and consider whether to use two donkey carts at the same time. If you spare some food, then it will be considered as your share."

Xiao Wu shook his head. "Sister Xia, we have been able to save food in the past two years thanks to you. Most of the food in the mountains was prepared by you. How can we afford to use your food as a shareholder?"

Xia Mianwan saw that Xiaowu was serious and not pretentious at all, "Okay, I'll give you dividends if you do a good job."

"it is good!"