The poor little girl who traveled through the book, her father was lazy, her mother was stingy, and

The weather is getting hotter in June.

The villagers of Shanglin Village were busy planting rice seedlings, and they looked even more exhausted than the yellow dog of Uncle Wang at the entrance of the village.

Lin Dajiang was worried about the drinking water problem for the chickens and ducks at home, so he and Lin Jingzhe went to the river to fetch water every day. After seven or eight days, they finally filled up the small pond that had been dug.

After the Dragon Boat Festival, there was no rain in Dayi Town for more than half a month. In addition, the weather was hot, and the water level in the river continued to drop.

At dusk, the old people in the village often look up at the sky.

If it doesn't rain, the water in the river will dry up and the rice in the fields will not survive.

Not only rice needs water, but the workshop also needs water to make alkaline water. Lin Xiaoman placed ten large vats filled with water in the utility room.

Not only the Lin family hoarded water, but every household in Shanglin Village began to hoard water.

Especially for those who do not have a well at home, they will empty all the free containers in the house and fill them with water to use as a life-saving measure when necessary.

At first, the ice-cold frozen food business was booming, but it hadn't rained for more than half a month, and the people in this area were preparing for a disaster. They had to save their money for later use, and now they had to be very stingy to spend a penny, let alone two cents to buy ice-cold frozen food.

Even the frozen food business in Ruyi Building is not as good as before.

The only one that was not affected was Mingyitang, and some students even bought two bowls at a time.

By mid-June, there was still no rain.

All the green beans, cowpeas, and cucumbers that could be pickled at home were pickled by Li Taohua.

The eggplants and pumpkins that they had planted were almost finished. Li Taohua sighed repeatedly, "Oh, God, if it doesn't rain, there will be a famine."

The two little ones had never experienced famine, but Lin Guyu was old enough. He had played with Goudan and Miaomiao these days and knew that famine meant starvation. Now, he heard his mother sighing and started to worry too.

"Dad, Mom, will people starve to death?"

Li Taohua didn't say anything.

Lin Dajiang looked unhappy.

Lin Jingzhe helped A Niang carry the pickled cucumber jar to the corner and said, "Or we can buy a few more jars tomorrow and store some water in the river."

Lin Dajiang nodded, "Okay, let's go early tomorrow morning. No, I have to tell my father and second brother to store more water. Otherwise, if there is no water in the river and they come to borrow water, should I lend it to them or not?"

Li Taohua did not dare to delay a matter involving human life. "Fortunately, my parents have mountain spring water. Even so, they have stored more than a dozen jars of water. Boss, go quickly!"

Lin Jingzhe had a worried look on his face, and he went into his room to read and calm down.

Lin Xiaoman knew that she had a golden finger, so she didn't have to worry about lack of water, but her golden finger could only be used in a small range and not on a large scale.

-

Mrs. Zhuang sent people to transport the first batch of soaps, which included 500 pieces of Polygonum multiflorum hair growth soaps, 300 pieces of Poria cocos and honeysuckle soaps, and 100 pieces of each of the remaining three types of soaps.

Five hundred pieces of Polygonum multiflorum hair growth soap, each piece costs three hundred wen, which equals one hundred and fifty taels.

Three hundred pieces of Poria cocos and honeysuckle soap, two hundred coins each, equals sixty taels.

The total amount of mugwort, lithospermum, and osmanthus soap is three hundred pieces, one hundred and fifty coins per piece, which is forty-five taels.

It is indeed easy to make money from the rich. Soap has high profits and a lot of margin.

This is only the first batch of fully saponified soaps. There are still thousands of unsaponified soaps in the workshop.

Apart from the dozen or so taels of silver initially spent on building the workshop, the biggest expense later on was buying lard and medicinal herbs.

The wages of the working villagers were not much after two months.

In fact, when you calculate it all, it only costs fifty taels to buy lard and medicinal materials. The profit of soap is four or five times higher than that of sausage and preserved eggs.

After earning some money, Lin Xiaoman gave each worker in the workshop a two-pound piece of pork fat.

They should have been happy to take the pork fat back to fry lard, but several workers had worried looks on their faces.

Wang Xiaogou asked, "Boss, can these two pounds of pig fat be converted into copper coins?"

Lin Xiaoman asked: "Why, is your family short of money?"

Wang Xiaogou thought about the situation at home and shook his head, saying, "My brother also got some pork from the employer last year. We have enough money at home. Mom said that when disaster strikes, we still need to have money to rely on."

The others nodded after hearing this.

"Boss, please be kind. We don't want the pig fat anymore. Please help us convert it into silver."

Lin Xiaoman gave Lin Chunhua a hundred dollars and asked her to count it out for the workers.

"Boss, you have a lot of chickens and ducks. My mother asked me to remind you to store more water." Wang Xiaogou said in a low voice. The water in the river has dried up, and now his mother controls the amount of water in the house for cooking porridge every day.

Not to mention washing clothes, people are too thirsty to bear it.

The water in the fields will dry up soon. If it doesn't rain, there will be no harvest this year.

"My father has stored water, and the pond at home has also been filled with water, but the pond is not big, only enough for chickens and ducks to drink water, so we will just take it one step at a time."

The water level in the well at home has dropped to the bottom. The water that has come out in the past few days has been collected by Lin Dajiang and stored in a water tank.

Lin Xiaoman suddenly realized that it was no wonder that his parents had been hesitant to speak these days.

Lye water is needed to make soap. Lye water is made by soaking wood ash in clean water. People are running out of drinking water. Even if soap makes a lot of money, it cannot take up people's drinking water.

"Let's put it this way. The water is getting less and less. Let's stop the workshop for half a day. We'll see how it goes after half a day. If we want to resume work, I'll have people go door to door to call you."

Lin Xiaoman knew that even if she had water, she couldn't continue to make soap openly, otherwise it would expose the fact that the Lin family had water and was not short of water.

An innocent man is guilty of possessing a treasure. Lin Xiaoman cannot lose the big picture for the sake of making money.

I hope the drought is only temporary and that rain will fall soon, otherwise the entire Lin'an Prefecture will be in turmoil.

The twelve people present, plus Lin Chunhua, who had just become the manager, were extremely reluctant to leave.

However, they knew there was nothing they could do.

People are dying of thirst.

The water in the rice fields is about to dry up.

How can I use water to make soap?

These days, the boss prepared a big bowl of mung bean soup every day, and they drank it in the workshop. If there was any left, the boss asked them to take it back in bowls.

They were very grateful.

Lin Erniu: "Boss, I live nearby. If you have anything to say, let Jingzhe call me. We brothers are strong. We can't help with other things, but we can still help with moving and fighting."

Wang Xiaogou also expressed his loyalty: "Yes, yes, the gripper is not as big as Brother Erniu's, but I have four brothers, and there is strength in numbers."

Someone joked, "Wang Xiaogou, your family is not that prosperous. The Dong family has four uncles, and each uncle has two sons. If you want to fight, the Li family can beat you down."

Wang Xiaogou was not convinced, "That's because my third and fourth brothers haven't started families yet. When we get married, our family will be full of boys."

"How old are you? You're already thinking about getting married. I heard that several cousins ​​of the boss' family are also going to get married this year. By then, their sons will all be born..."

Lin Xiaoman didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Is it so easy to give birth to a child?

In their words, giving birth to a child is like pulling radishes, planting them in the fall and pulling them out one by one in the winter.

The key point is that she and Lin Chunhua, two fourteen-year-old girls, were there. How could they have the nerve to say these things?

Lin Xiaoman hurriedly stopped them, "Alright, alright! Everyone, stop arguing. Let's go to Chunhua to exchange copper coins and leave. Have a good rest for two days. You have all worked hard these days."

"After exchanging the money, everyone can take a bowl of mung bean soup back home as usual."

"Thank you, boss."

"Oh, God is so blind!" There was a young man named Lin Qiang from Xialin Village. He was tall and thin. Although he was thin, he was very strong. Everyone affectionately called him Qiangzi.

At this moment, Qiangzi had exchanged copper coins and sat on the threshold of the workshop crying, "Our family is poor, and my eldest brother has not yet married at the age of 25. Originally, the matchmaker saw that I came to work in the workshop, so she introduced a girl to my eldest brother, but they haven't even found a suitable partner yet, and our workshop has to be closed! Woo..."

"I wonder if that girl will despise our family for being poor, and whether they can still be together..."

Seeing Qiangzi crying so sadly, Wang Xiaogou was also reminded of his sad memories.

His family was poor and had many boys.

My second brother just got married last year, and my third and fourth brothers are still single, let alone him.

The third and fourth brothers are twins. They are 22 years old this year and are only three years younger than the eldest brother Qiangzi.

He felt that apart from being a little older, Brother Qiangzi had at least two males in his family, so he would be able to scrape together the money.

It was difficult for them. The money for the marriage of the eldest brother and the second brother had already been scraped together, and when he was learning the skills, his parents, eldest brother and his wife also collected money for him to become an apprentice.

Three years have passed, and I have only learned the basics.

When they heard that he was chosen by the Lin family workshop, his parents were so happy that they couldn't sleep for three or four days.

As a result, the workshop was shut down after only two months. The future is uncertain and whether the workshop can be reopened depends on fate.

I heard that there was both drought and floods in the north last year. I wonder what’s going on in their area?

"Qiangzi, we are just grass in the mountains, with a lowly life. We cannot be trampled to death or burned to death. We will grow again in the spring breeze. It's just that we marry a wife two years later. What's the big deal? Maybe in half a decade, a heavy rain will fill up the river, and then the boss's workshop can make soap again."

Lin Xiaoman felt that Wang Xiaogou had a good attitude, which he could see during the interview.

Even if you complain about life, you can quickly eliminate the negative emotions and turn them into motivation to move forward.

And he dared to change the status quo and start over.

After three years of learning carving, another person might continue to work hard for ten or eight years, and when he can no longer do it, he will return to farming. His best years are wasted, and he will stay in the village for the rest of his life.

"Don't worry, as long as you pass this level, the soap workshop will definitely open, and you will be the first batch of employees in the soap workshop. In the future, when the workshop expands, as long as you work hard, everyone can become a small manager."

Lin Xiaoman is also good at painting big rosy pictures, and painting big rosy pictures appropriately can help boost morale.

Although the workshop is going to be closed, we still have to give everyone something to look forward to.

After the villagers took away the mung bean soup, only Lin Xiaoman and Lin Chunhua were left.

Lin Chunhua sighed, reluctant to leave.

Lin Xiaoman walked to the door of the workshop, sat on the threshold, held her chin, and looked at the workshop that she had transformed bit by bit.

The table and chairs were all made by the carpenter according to her requirements. The interior layout, including the location of the stove, was also planned by her based on the movement route of soap making.

It's such a pity that we had to stop work after only two months.

Not only Lin Chunhua was reluctant to let go, she was even more reluctant than Lin Chunhua, because these were all her hard work!

Some time ago, she was still thinking about developing beauty soap to earn money from the rich people in Lin'an Prefecture. However, man proposes, God disposes, and God set an obstacle for her.

"Oh." Lin Xiaoman sighed and could only study the beauty soap in secret.

"Xiao Man, I heard from my grandfather a few days ago that there was a famine in Shanglin Village ten years ago. I heard it was also a drought. The crops failed. The villagers went out to beg for food. But the situation outside was not much better. Many people died."

Lin Xiaoman comforted him, "No, no, the harvest has been good in the past two years, and every household has stored grain after paying taxes. Now the river has dried up, but there is still water in the well. Maybe it will rain in a few days."

Lin Chunhua pursed her lips, at a loss, "Let's hope so. Grandpa looks forward to rain every day."

"It will rain. I am looking forward to it. With water, the workshop can be opened. I want to lead everyone to make money, to earn the money of the rich, so that everyone can have enough food and clothes. Besides, aren't Wang Xiaogou and Qiangzi worried about not being able to find a wife?"

"Isn't it because I don't have money that I can't marry? I want to make my workshop bigger and stronger, and give out gifts during festivals and holidays, so that all the villagers will envy me. Then Qiangzi and Wang Xiaogou will be able to marry..."

The workshop was locked.

Lin Chunhua went back.

The two dogs were also taken away by Lin Xiaoman.

Seeing her daughter looking disappointed, Li Taohua nodded at Lin Dajiang, signaling him to go and persuade her daughter.

Lin Dajiang nodded, walked to Lin Xiaoman, looked at the key in her hand, and understood everything.

"The workshop is closed?"

"Ah."

"Xiao Man, don't be sad."

"Dad, I'm not sad. This is a natural disaster. Anyway, everything is still there. When the disaster is over, the workshop can still be opened."

Lin Dajiang nodded, "Yes, it can still be opened."

......

"Taohua, why isn't our water tank moving at all?" Lin Dajiang stared at the water tank in a daze.

"You don't know how actively Xiaoman is watching the well at home." Li Taohua admires Xiaoman's perseverance. Xiaoman watches the well at home from morning to night.

Water is also pumped from the well and poured into the vat during Xiaoman.

Just yesterday he heard his second brother complain that the water from the well near the old house was flowing slowly and he couldn't draw a bucket of water for a long time.

There was only one well in the old house, and Lin Gui and his three companions and Lin Dahai and his four companions used the same well.

How did he respond to his second brother?

He seemed to say that there was no water in the well at home.

Well water is useful only if it is positive. This is simply nonsense.

"Taohua, do you think Xiaoman might have some problems here again?" Lin Dajiang asked worriedly, pointing at his head.

Li Taohua stared at Lin Dajiang without saying anything, "How can you talk about your daughter like that? You are the one with a problem in your brain!"

Lin Dajiang looked hurt. "Why do you think Xiaoman is watching the well all day long? Even if there is water in the well, she can't open her workshop. What a pity for the rice in the field. I went to check it out today. We filled the field with water at first, and there is still a shallow layer in the field. But it won't last long. At most, in three or four days, the field will dry up."

Li Taohua and Lin Dajiang looked at each other in silence and could only pray silently in their hearts.