Song Sanniang's Journey to Wealth

By the time Song Sanniang returned to the stall, Song Laoer had already sold one third of the sweet soup.

Usually there are the most customers when the stall is just opened and at five or six in the afternoon. Now the number of customers is gradually decreasing. Song Laoer is chatting with Wang Wu who is selling peaches next to him.

"Dad, I'm back."

"I'm back. How are you?" Song Lao Er asked

"It's all done. The two guys are out now. I just went to the West Market to take a look. It was so lively and crowded."

Noticing Wang Er's curious look, Song Sanniang changed the subject, "Dad, I'll discuss this with you when I get home tonight. By the way, should we buy some candy? We've used up most of it recently, right?"

"Not yet. Didn't you tell your mother not to make it too sweet? Your mother dare not put too much sugar, but the bamboo bowl is almost not enough, and I can't do it by myself." Song Laoer said worriedly.

"Isn't Third Uncle at home taking care of the cows recently? He is good at carpentry, so you can ask him to do it for us according to the market price. But I guess he won't be willing to make money from us." Song Sanniang gave an idea.

"That's a good idea. I'll talk to him when I get home tonight."

The father and daughter chatted idly. This is how doing business is. Sometimes you are so idle that you have to swat flies, and sometimes you are so busy that you have no time to spare.

Wang Er and the vendors nearby also chatted with the father and daughter from time to time. Just when everyone was talking about the big celebration of the eldest daughter of the He family coming of age, Qin Haodong and his brother came back.

Both of them were sweating profusely, but their faces were filled with excitement.

"Why did you come back so soon?" Song Sanniang asked.

"Miss Song, we have sold all of them." Qin Haodong said as he opened the lid of the basket to show her a pile of copper coins. Song Sanniang called the two of them to a corner.

Then she counted out fifteen coins and handed them to Qin Haodong, but Qin Haodong didn't take it.

He said, "Miss Song, you helped us pay one tael of tax yesterday. We don't know when we can pay it back. Just give us some money for food.

When we have deducted enough silver, we will get the full wages."

Song Sanniang grabbed Qin Haonan's hand and put the money in his hand, then said,

"Take this money. Find a place to stay at night, eat well, and clean up. Then you can be energetic and sell sweet soup for me and make more money for me.

If you make a lot, this tael of silver will be your bonus. If you don’t make much, I will deduct money every day until the tael of silver is deducted.”

Qin Haodong responded seriously.

Seeing that it was still early and there was still a lot of sweet soup at her stall, Song Sanniang took another thirty bowls and gave them to the two brothers, telling them to continue selling. They didn’t have to go back after they had sold everything, but could bring the money and baskets tomorrow.

The two brothers packed their things, said goodbye to Song Sanniang and set off.

At this time, guests started to arrive one after another, and Song Sanniang hurried to help Song Laoer.

When most of the things were sold out, the father and daughter packed up their stall and went home. As usual, Song Laoer wanted to take some pork belly back, but Song Sanniang stopped him and replaced it with lean meat. Song Sanniang didn't want everyone to have high blood sugar, high blood sugar and high cholesterol.

As usual, Song Zuen sat on the ox cart and began to teach Song Sanniang. He first reviewed what he had learned yesterday, which was Sanniang's own request.

Today we learned "Leap year makes a year, lülü adjusts the yang". Song Zuen said that we cannot learn too fast. We must be able to recognize, read and write the first few sentences we learned, and know their meanings to truly understand them.

Song Sanniang had a terrible time learning to write last night. What she wrote were not individual words, but just blobs of ink. It was impossible to make out the shapes of the words at all, which made Song Zuen laugh to death.

But he did not laugh at her. Instead, he taught her seriously how to write, from the pen holding posture, sitting position, to writing and so on. Although Song Sanniang could not do it at the moment, she would surely be able to write readable characters slowly with time.

However, Song Sanniang didn't want to waste Song Zuen's writing, so she practiced by dipping the pen in water on the table, which made Song Zuen feel embarrassed and taught him more carefully.

The father and daughter returned to Songjia Village. Song Sanniang carried the bamboo basket and carrying pole home, while Song Laoer went to find Niu Laosan.

When they arrived at Niu Laosan's door, his son and daughter were playing there. Song Laoer gave them the two remaining bowls of double-skin milk, which made them jump for joy.

Niu Lao San heard the sound and came out, "Second brother, why are you here?"

"I need your help with something. Haven't you been looking for work recently?"

"Come on, come on, let's go inside and talk." As he said that, Niu Laosan pulled Song Laoer into the house. Niu Laosan's wife Chuntao was cooking in the kitchen, and a fragrant smell wafted in.

Niu Lao San poured a glass of water for Song Lao Er, and then asked, "What do you want to talk to me about, second brother? I have nothing to do recently. If you have something to say, just ask."

Song Lao Er drank the water in one breath.

"You know that my family has been doing some sweet soup business recently. This is served in a bamboo bowl.

I made some in my free time before, and now I have almost used it up. It is not enough, and I can’t make so much by myself, so I want you to help me. "

Niu Laosan smiled naively and said, "What's the big deal? How much do you want? I'll go cut some bamboo to make it for you after dinner. Just tell me how to make it."

"I need a lot, one or two hundred a day, plus lids and spoons. I used to wrap them in rice leaves, but it didn't feel very good. Do you think it can be done?"

"If I only make bamboo bowls, I should be able to make about a hundred in a day, but if I add lids and spoons, I don't think I can make that many."

"Then you can do as much as you can. I can also squeeze out time to do it when I get home in the morning and evening. That should be enough.

By the way, please consider how much money is appropriate. I can’t let you work for free.”

"Brother, you are being too polite. Why are you charging me for such a small job?

You helped me build the house without asking for a penny. You have helped me with all the housework.

Don't mention it. My milk is worthless, but you give me 200 coins a month, which is enough to help my brother."

"Don't say anything. We are all brothers. I can't let you work for nothing. Just take the money for the wine. One cent for a set of bamboo bowls with lids and spoons. How about that?"

"Okay, I'll send as many as I can make."

Then the two of them discussed the specifications of the bamboo bowl lids. To save trouble, they only polished the outside slightly so that it would not prick the hands, and did not polish the bamboo green color. If every bowl was polished, not many could be made in a day. Once finished, they would be handed over to Song Ersao to cook and wash.

After the two of them finished talking, Niu Laosan even asked Song Laoer to stay for dinner, but Song Laoer politely declined.

When Song Sanniang returned home, Song Ersao was busy in the kitchen. She went in to put down her things and took out the lean meat she had bought and gave it to Song Ersao. Song Ersao was not happy with her because of the tax silver for selling her indenture.

"Mom, you are still angry," Song Sanniang sighed helplessly.

"It would be strange if I wasn't angry. If it were a bad time, your father might not be able to earn this much money even if he worked hard for a month.

You, on the other hand, just opened your mouth and threw it away, and your father agreed. You and your daughter are both good at spending money, but you should also check how much money you have in your pockets! ! "Song Ersao said unhappily.

"Don't worry, mom. Dad and I will earn back the silver tomorrow.

You don’t know, today those two guys sold out thirty bowls of sugar water in a short time, they must have made back my investment, so don’t be angry.”

"Is it really that powerful?" Song Ersao asked suspiciously.

"I'm not lying to you. After they sold out, my dad and I still had half of the bowls left. So I gave them another thirty bowls to sell. I don't know how they sold, so I asked them to come back tomorrow to settle the bill."

Mrs. Song cleaned and cut the pork neatly. "Then we'll see tomorrow. I went to your grandmother's house today. Your uncle and his family haven't come back yet. I don't know where they went to collect food. They've been gone for several days."

"Then talk to grandma and ask them to come back and see you."

"That's what I said. Okay, go out and clean the table and prepare the dishes. My dish will be ready in a moment. Why don't you see your father?"

"Dad went to Uncle Niu's house and asked him to help make bamboo bowls. We don't have many bamboo bowls at home. If we set up a stall in Xishi in the future, we will need two to three hundred every day. I don't think one person can make it."

"Your father does this at night, too, so I'll give him a hand."

"Yeah, that's good too. Why can't I see Si Niang and Wu Niang?" Song Sanniang looked around but didn't see them.

"Stay at your grandmother's house and play with your cousins. Ask your cousins ​​to take you back in the evening."

Song Sanniang had no choice but to go out and set the table.

After a while, Song Laoer came back and looked for his two little daughters. Only after hearing the news that they had gone to their grandmother's house did he sit down and prepare to eat.

There were only three of us eating, and we had a simple dish of stir-fried cucumber with lean meat and a vegetable soup, which we all enjoyed very much.