Traveling Through Farmhouses: Taking the Baby on a Famine Escape

Zhou Dashan quickly took it and excitedly counted it.

Good heavens! This is the first time he's ever handled so many banknotes!

"Have you finished counting?"

Zhang Dacheng quickly nudged Zhou Dashan, wondering why he was daydreaming!

"That's right, that's right!"

Zhou Dashan realized what was happening and replied.

"Then I'll leave first!"

Zhang Xixi and the others hurriedly saw Granny Yun off at the door, and only started their journey back after they got into the carriage at the village entrance.

With so much money, each family could get more than a hundred taels, and the hundred taels that the county magistrate had awarded them last time could be used to repair the village roads.

Zhou Dashan made a plan and handed two silver notes to Zhang Xixi and Zhang Dacheng respectively.

“Father-in-law, sister-in-law, you must accept this thousand taels. In principle, all this money should be yours, but we have to give an explanation to the villagers. We’ve taken advantage of you again this time!”

Seeing that he had already said so much, Zhang Xixi and Zhang Dacheng had no choice but to accept the silver notes.

Zhou Dashan continued, "I plan to spend one hundred taels of silver to build a threshing ground."

"This is acceptable."

Zhang Xixi and Zhang Dacheng both agreed.

After dinner, Zhou Dashan called a meeting to distribute the money to everyone and also explained what needed to be done.

With over a hundred taels of silver, the head of each household would be overjoyed; it was a huge sum of money!

A few days later, Granny Yun brought two people to learn how to make vermicelli. Zhang Wenhong taught them step by step and told them all the precautions.

At this time, hot and sour noodles were selling like hotcakes in Fucheng!

It turns out that in order to promote his fans, Manager Qian specially opened a small shop that sells hot and sour noodles.

Since its opening, business has been booming, and many fans have become known about it.

Of course, he took the fans back and sent half of them to the Northwest, while keeping the rest. They were sold out in a few days and were taken to other places by other merchants.

The people at the vermicelli factory in the village worked hard to make vermicelli, and Zhou Yuping borrowed 100,000 jin of sweet potatoes from Zhang Xixi's family and moved them to the factory.

This afternoon, Wang Daniu and his group returned, bringing with them more than twenty children, all over six years old.

The village is now lively again!

Seeing that so many people had come, Zhou Fu carried some rice and sweet potatoes downstairs, and also took some vermicelli with him.

With more people this time, Zhang Xixi increased Cuihua and Zheng's wages to twenty coins. Their usual tasks were cooking and finding wild vegetables.

With so many people, we're running out of meat at home!

I wonder how the pigs are doing at Old Wang's place?

There were enough chickens and ducks at home for the family to eat, and Xiao Chen's family also sent Zhang Xixi ten ducks. They kept all of these for their own consumption.

Now that there are more people, at least one meal of meat a day is still possible, or even just some meat broth.

Zhang Xixi found Xiao Chenshi and bought all of her family's ducks, asking Cuihua and Sun Xiuxiu to feed them, and slaughtering one for them to stew every day.

The next day, Wang Daniu took the children who wanted to study to the school, and some other families in the village also sent some children there.

Now that we have some money, we hope our descendants will be successful.

Zhang Xixi also asked Zhou Fu to send the two children to study there, saying that she had already made arrangements and they could just be sent there directly.

The school has recently enrolled more than thirty students. Once Zhang Wenbo and his classmates have completed the enrollment procedures, they will be assigned to classes.

Those who had never been to school were placed in the beginner class and taught by Zhao Quanfu; those who had already received basic education were placed in Class B and taught by Zhao Xiucai; and those who studied diligently and were preparing for the imperial examinations were placed in Class A and taught by Zhao Wenbo.

Zhou Yujie, Erbao, Zhang Zehui, and three other children from other families in the village were in Class A, making a total of only six people, the fewest in the class.

Of course, Zhang Wenbo also had to find time to study, so his teaching time was definitely less, and therefore his monthly salary was only half that of the other two teachers.

More people in the village are studying, and it feels very peaceful. Many short-tempered people have taken the initiative to regulate their emotions and no longer yell and shout at the drop of a hat, for fear of affecting the children's studies.

Wang Daniu and his family would remind their children to study hard every day, because in ancient times, in addition to the high cost of tuition, the cost of writing materials was even higher.

This time, buying books and pens for the children cost them quite a bit of money. If it weren't for Zhang Xixi providing them with a stable job, they wouldn't have been able to afford such a large expense.

So they've been working really hard lately as a way of thanking Zhang Xixi.

Zhang Xixi also went to the Zhang family to watch Chen make pastries. Because there were quite a few experimental products, the ones that the family couldn't finish were taken to the school for the children to eat.

"Mother, how is she!"

"There is a difference between this made with milk powder and this made with fresh goat milk."

Zhang Xixi picked up the cake and tasted it. "It's still just as delicious as ever!"

"Forget it, I can't explain it to you. You just say all pastries are delicious!"

Zhang Xixi chuckled foolishly, "Mom, take your time, I'm going back now."

After saying that, she took a plate of pastries and went back.

A few days later, Manager Qian came again.

This time they came to settle the bill. Zhou Yuping weighed the oilcloth they brought, deducted the amount, and calculated how many fans they had attracted last time.

Manager Qian wanted the factory to supply all its fans to him from now on, but Zhou Yuping did not agree to this without his consent.

The main reason was that he knew he wasn't familiar with sales and was afraid of agreeing to things too easily and getting ripped off.

"Manager Qian, I can decide how many fans you want this time, but I can't decide how many fans you'll supply in the future."

Looking at the man's honest and simple face, Manager Qian realized that this man was surprisingly self-aware, so he decided not to make things difficult for him.

"Prepare more fans for me this time, the more the better. I'll talk to Zhang Xixi about the rest."

"Ok!"

Knowing that Manager Qian had arrived, Zhang Xixi came from home and happened to overhear this.

"Manager Qian, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Upon seeing Zhang Xixi, Manager Qian quickly explained the situation.

"Does that mean, Manager Qian, you want to monopolize the fans!"

Manager Qian nodded.

"No, Manager Qian, I'm afraid that won't work. I can only promise to give you priority supply, because I've already sold the vermicelli recipe, and we can only produce it in Dafang County. What will we do if you don't want it anymore later?"

Shopkeeper Qian was shocked; the prescription had actually been sold.

"Madam Zhang, who did you sell the recipe to?"

"Manager Qian should know which family the magistrate's wife of Dafang County is."

"I do know that, but why did you sell it!"

Zhang Xixi retorted, "Why can't we sell it? The county magistrate is here and can control us, and the price he offered is quite reasonable."

Since it's already been sold, let's just leave it at that!