A tragic journey through ancient times, trying to make money

"I'm glad you like it. We were originally thinking about what kind of handkerchief we should embroider for you, and then Xiao He said that there is a moon in your name, so we'll embroider a moon for you."

Then we thought about it and realized that the moon was too simple and lacked a star. We didn’t expect it to be so beautiful after being embroidered.”

Zhao Xiaoxiao said.

"I just saw that Xiaohua's is an orchid, what about yours? Let me see it quickly."

Zhang Xiaohe handed both her handkerchief and Zhao Xiaoxiao's handkerchief to Zhang Yunyue to see.

"Mine is a rabbit, Xiaoxiao's is a plum blossom."

Zhang Yunyue looked at the two handkerchiefs and found that the embroidery skills of the three people were all quite good.

"You two's are also beautiful, and you three are really good at embroidery!"

"It's mainly because Xiaoxiao's mother is good at embroidery. Sometimes we go to play with Xiaoxiao, and when Aunt Xiang is embroidering a handkerchief, she lets us watch from the side." Zhang Xiaohua said.

"Yes, Aunt Xiang has great skills. She even takes the embroidered handkerchiefs to the town to sell, and she can make a lot of money." Zhang Xiaohe also nodded.

Zhao Xiaoxiao listened to the sisters Zhang Xiaohua and Zhang Xiaohe, admiring her mother and just laughing along.

Zhang Yunyue was also laughing at the side, and suddenly thought of Xiaohua and the other three who were all good at embroidery. Moreover, the embroidery patterns of the handkerchiefs here were all fixed, like the modern cartoon dolls, and the various funny emoticons on the chat software.

These are not allowed here, so can they be embroidered on handkerchiefs? It will definitely attract people. Otherwise, when I have free time, I can draw some modern cartoon dolls and then let the three of them try to embroider them.

Zhang Yunyue played for a while at Zhang Xiaohua's house, then went home with the handkerchief embroidered for her by Zhang Xiaohua and the other two.

"Mom, look, this is the handkerchief Xiaohua and the others embroidered for me." Zhang Yunyue handed the handkerchief embroidered for her by Zhang Xiaohua and the others to Zhang's mother.

Zhang's mother took it from Zhang Yunyue and looked at it carefully. "It's beautifully embroidered. Xiaohua and the others are good at embroidery. Unlike you, you can't do it at all." After saying that, she pointed her finger at Zhang Yunyue's forehead.

"Oh, mother, I don't know how to do it. It's okay if you can do it!" Zhang Yunyue stepped back where her mother's finger pointed.

"Can I embroider for you forever?"

"Then I will work hard to make money now and buy it later."

After saying that, Zhang Yunyue ran back to the house. She put the handkerchief embroidered by Xiaohua and the others in the house, and then left the room again.

"Grandma, how much have you cut?" Zhang Yunyue took a stool from the side and sat next to Grandma Zhang. There was a pile of cut cloth in front of her.

Grandma Zhang shook her head. Zhu held the unfinished end and kept cutting with scissors. "This is not counted. Why don't you count it? If it's still not enough, we can cut some more. There will be enough linen cloth."

"Okay, let me count first." Zhang Yunyue held the cut cloth in the basket beside her and started counting. A total of 115 pieces of cloth were counted.

"Grandma, there are 185 pieces here in total. I think the bags I made yesterday have 57 pieces, so the total is 242 pieces. Let's sew another or pieces, so that we can make exactly bags.

This is about a month's supply, and the bags can be reused after use, so just sew that much first, and I'll cut the rest. Grandma, mother, and second aunt, you start sewing."

"Okay, let's get the needle and thread and start sewing." After saying that, Grandma Zhang went to the inner room to get the needle and thread, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law started sewing the bag.

After more than half an hour, all the cut fabrics had been sewn into belts, and they were all made into drawstring bags like yesterday.

"Yueyue, it's still early. You can take out some of the spices you bought in the county town. We can then pack them up now." Zhu suggested.

"Well, okay, Second Aunt." Zhang Yunyue took a dustpan and a basin and poured a portion of each spice into the dustpan or basin.

"Grandma, Second Aunt, you guys weigh first. I'll go to Xiaohua's house to borrow another scale to weigh together. There is only one scale at home and it may not be in time." After saying this, Zhang Yunyue handed the scale she took out from the utility room to Zhang's mother, and then ran to Xiaohua's house to borrow a scale.

"Aunt Mu, I'm busy again now."

"Yueyue, you're here to see Xiaohua again."

"No, no, I'm not looking for Xiaohua this time. I want to ask Aunt Mu to borrow your scale to use."

"Hey, what's the matter? Okay, wait, I'll get it out for you."

After saying that, Aunt Mu turned around and went into the house to get the scale from home and handed it to Zhang Yunyue.

"Thank you Aunt Mu, I'll bring it back to you when I'm done."

"No hurry, take your time."

Zhang Yunyue brought Aunt Mu's scale back home and weighed the spices with Zhang's mother. Zhu was responsible for putting the spices on the scale plates for both of them, while Grandma Zhang was responsible for opening the bag, putting the spices in, and drawing the rope to tie a loose knot.

The four of them worked in perfect harmony and finished packing everything before the sun went down. Zhang Yunyue put all the bags of spices into a big bag and put it back in the utility room.

Zhang Yunyue thought that she had finally solved the spice problem. At least she wouldn't have to worry about the spices within a month after the workshop started operating. After that, she could just load the spices when she had nothing to do.

Three days later, it is the day to raise the beam.

In these three days, the walls of the wasteland workshop have been completely built.

Today is the day for raising the beam. The Zhang family bought everything needed for the raising of the beam in the town yesterday: red cloth, firecrackers, snacks, wine, incense, candles, steamed buns, and so on.

Moreover, the custom in Yuanqi Country is to invite the workers to dinner on the day of raising the beam, so yesterday the Zhang family bought some meat in the town to entertain the workers.

Early in the morning, all the people in the Zhang family were at the wasteland. And because the beam raising ceremony was today, the old and young in the village were also waiting at the wasteland to grab snacks for the beam raising ceremony, such as steamed buns.

After the Zhang family members finished their worship, the person setting off firecrackers lit up the firecrackers.

“Crackle, crackle…”

The workers began to put up the beams. After the beams were moved up and fixed, someone sat on the beams and started shouting:

"Today is the day for happiness and good fortune; glory and wealth, prosperity for eternity."

"Auspiciousness in raising the beam brings prosperity to the family; a safe home brings happiness and longevity."

"When the beams were put up, it happened to be the ecliptic day, and when the pillars were erected, it happened to meet the Purple Star."

"The magpies chirp on the beams, bringing joy and happiness to the house."

"The firecrackers going off at the top of the beam bring good luck and prosperity to the world."

"Purple air from the upper beam flows smoothly from the east, and auspicious clouds from the upper pillar flow leisurely to the north."

"When the beams were erected, it happened to be on the ecliptic day, and when the pillars were erected, it happened to be on the Purple Star."

While shouting, snacks and steamed buns were scattered down. The villagers waiting below began to grab the scattered snacks and steamed buns. This also meant to bring good luck, so the villagers grabbed them very actively.

After the snacks and steamed buns were all scattered, the villagers were still not satisfied, and everyone went out to visit the workshop built by Lao Zhang's family. After all, it was built entirely of blue bricks, and it was larger than the only two blue brick and tile houses in the village.