North and South groceries

Living in a metropolis like Chang'an City, basically as long as you have money, you can eat everything from all over the world.

Borderlands like Changle County can't do it. This spring, when Azhi and the others first arrived here, they were a bit uncomfortable.

Among other things, ordinary people here don't even have an oil-paper umbrella, because neither tung oil nor bamboo is produced in the area.

A few large families may have one or two oil-paper umbrellas, which are also goods from the Central Plains. They are very expensive, and they are rarely used. broken.

Azhi has been used to seeing all kinds of oiled paper umbrellas in Chang'an City these years. When it rains, or when the sun is shining in summer, you can see many oiled paper umbrellas on the street, folded with straight handles, There are various colors and patterns, among other things, just looking at these umbrellas reveals a rich and beautiful atmosphere.

Since I came to Changle County, not to mention oil-paper umbrellas, even rainwater is a rarity.

It's nothing, at most, I wear a straw hat to go out on rainy days occasionally, and water is more precious, so I need to use it sparingly on weekdays.

What Ah Zhi misses most now is the various snacks and foods in Chang'an City, the cherry cheese in spring, the smoothies and cold melons in summer, the various fruits in autumn, the canned food in winter, and the Mifangzhai’s cakes, North-South groceries’ desserts, food stalls selling all kinds of food in the streets and alleys, sister’s food shops are full of various snacks...

Azhi often sat outside in the sun with some women in Changle County doing needlework, and while working, he told them about the various foods in Chang'an City, which made these women and the children onlookers salivate.

"Then we in Changle County don't have anything that you don't have in Chang'an City?" One day, a woman felt a little unhappy in her heart when she listened to it.

"Of course there are." Azhi smiled and said, "There are white folded flowers here in Changle County. There are many white folded flowers, and the price of white folded cloth is also low. Anyone in this county can have a job." , there is no one who can’t afford white folded cloth, which is rare in the Central Plains.”

The Central Plains is rich in linen and silk, and the hemp and mulberry plants must be grown in good soil and water. Many families use their best Yongye fields to plant mulberry trees in order to raise silkworms and produce silk. Yongyetian is called mulberry field, and the so-called change of sea to mulberry field is just this mulberry field.

If you want to get silk, you have to start by planting mulberry trees; if you want to get linen, you have to start by planting hemp, retting hemp and rubbing hemp. After paying taxes, it is difficult to scrape together a few pieces of fabric for the family to make clothes.

This white fringe is different, it is planted directly from the ground, and after the tidbits are picked, it can be used for spinning with the cotton gin. It can be planted in many dry and saline lands in Longxi. I have gained a lot.

This has caused the local cloth price to drop steadily. In the past, the cloth price here was much higher than that in the Central Plains. Now, the price of ordinary white folded cloth here is only about three times the price of ordinary linen cloth in the Central Plains. Two-thirds, in another year or two, the price may be even lower.

"We still have melons here," a child next to her added.

"And grapes!" said another child.Because Ah Zhi is kind and often eats with these children, these children have a good impression of Ah Zhi.

"Yes, there are raisins." A Zhi put down the needle and thread in his hand with a smile, took out a palm-sized cloth bag from his arms, grabbed some raisins from it, and shared them with the children at the scene, and then with them. The women shared some, and the raisins were eaten, and the gossip resumed, which was soon forgotten.

In fact, it's not that Ah Zhi wants to talk to these women about Chang'an City all day long, she doesn't think she is a Chang'an person, and she doesn't mean to look down on Changle people. Earlier, the women asked her first, wanting to know what happened. Let Azhi tell them what Chang'an City looks like.

It's just that while talking, I unconsciously said too much, which made some people feel unhappy, so that's all, I will say less in the future.

A Zhi was sold to Qiao's house as a maid since she was a child. After Qiao Junlin's mother passed away, it was not easy for the two of them to make a living under the new mistress. Later, they went to Chang'an City, first lived in Hou Lin's courtyard, and later married The brothers and sisters of the Luo family lived together, and later went to the White Mansion.

Her life experience is much richer than that of ordinary people, she has seen all kinds of people, and when faced with some situations, she is a little more flexible than ordinary women.

In today's situation, if someone insulted me for no reason, if it were someone else, they might get angry, and the two would quarrel on the spot, but to Ah Zhi, this was nothing at all, not worth it When angry.

It is also true that the current life is a bit too comfortable. She and Hengzhi are the only two people in the family. How much money Hengzhi has is handed over to her. It is also stable, this comfortable life has passed a lot, and before I know it, I have started to feel a little heartless.

In fact, there are indeed many places in Changle County that are not comparable to other places. As long as the biogas lamp costs three renminbi a month, even the people of Chang'an will be envious of it.

Earlier, because of the low temperature in winter, those biogas digesters didn’t produce much biogas, so Luo Yong asked Hengzhi to build a boiler, and then sent people to the biogas pond to arrange pipes, and then burn coal in the boiler. The hot air is transmitted to the surroundings of each biogas digester through pipes, thereby increasing the temperature in the biogas digester and promoting the production of biogas. It has been more than ten days in the blink of an eye, and I don't know how it is progressing.

At this time, it was getting late, so Ah Zhi said that he was going back to cook with Hengzhi.

The women asked her to sit for a while, but she couldn't tell, not only to cook, but also to boil hot water early, so that every time she came back from the machine workshop, she would be covered in black, dusty and oily, and she said Then he went back to his yard.

"What were you talking about just now?"

"Speak well, and you will get annoyed for no reason."

"Azhi didn't say anything bad."

"..." After Ah Zhi left, several women complained and persuaded him in a low voice.

"That's not what I said." The woman who spoke looked a little weak.

Ah Zhi treats them well on weekdays, he has some food on his body, and often distributes it to them and their children. Although everyone does not always eat Ah Zhi, sometimes they each bring some, but in the end they still eat Ah Zhi. More.

Besides, Ah Zhi is Hengzhi's wife anyway, and Hengzhi is Luo Yong's disciple, so far, she seems to be the most capable one. To find the reason why people are unhappy.

Several women murmured in low voices, and then they talked about the boiler again.

I heard that these days, the newly opened biogas ponds have also been consumed a lot. If this continues, there must be no biogas available in their city. They have long been used to the bright biogas lamps. Can bear that dark night.

"If you don't know, you will have to light the oil lamp for a few days."

"Oh... don't you want to buy that oil lampshade, and each lampshade costs a few pennies."

"Lets see."

"The oil lamp consumes oil to burn, and it can burn a piece of suet soap after burning it overnight."

"That's right, that much suet can be exchanged for a piece of suet soap in a shop."

"If you really don't want to part with it, go to bed earlier."

"..."

Speaking of suet soap, suet soap here in Changle County is also cheap, mainly suet is not rare.

Especially at this time of winter every year, as long as people who are diligent, go outside the canning workshop to pick up some corners and corners of the sheep belly, they can make some sheep oil, although the large pieces of sheep oil must have been used by the canning workshop. The people who picked it up ahead of time.

Most of the people in the city took suet oil to the shop to exchange for suet soap, and there were shops dedicated to this business.

The clerk in the shop measured the amount of suet brought by the customer with a measuring tool, and then used a knife to cut a small piece from the large piece of suet soap on the counter as an exchange. Sometimes the cut size was not suitable and had to be removed. A little, or add another head.

Speaking of which, the suet soap in their place has been cheaper every year for these years, and now basically every household can afford it. It is always more convenient to wash hands, face and clothes with this suet soap than in the past many.

Look at these dolls running around in the city today, they are much cleaner than when they were young.

Just talking about the doll, there came the voices of several children arguing over there.

Just now Azhi distributed some raisins to those children. One child ate slowly and hadn’t finished eating. As a result, he was surrounded by a few herdsmen’s children outside the city. Looking at their young age, they are as fierce as those little wild wolves. The children in this city are really hard to please under their hands.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Seeing her child being bullied, a woman who was doing needlework here roared angrily. The voice was full of anger, like thunder, which made the wolf cubs a little timid.

"What are you looking at! Don't let go, see if I don't kill you little bastard!" Before they had any reaction, the woman put down the work in her hand and was about to pounce on her. She looked so fierce that those little bastards were frightened. They ran away one by one.

"Dare to snatch it next time! See if I won't break your legs! You uneducated little..." The woman walked over cursing, pulled her child up from the ground, and patted the dust on his pants.

Looking at his son's wimpy appearance, he was also furious, and wanted to scold him a few words, but after thinking about it, he held back: "Okay, let's go play."

Originally, she didn't care about it, but when her temper came up, she scolded fiercely.

Some time ago, one day she also scolded like that, but A Zhi persuaded her a few words, saying that she scolded like this all day long, she would be so timid to scold her as a child, and she would be bullied even more when she went out.

She felt that what Azhi said made sense, and she gradually restrained her temper when facing her children.

The women over here just watched with a smile on their faces. They didn't care much about the kids in and out of the city playing around all day long.

I heard that the county magistrate has arranged for an official to go to the herdsman gathering area outside the city in the past few days to teach people the law there.

There are indeed some herdsmen who sit there all day and listen to the lectures, and some people from the city specially go to listen to them. They are all people who want to join the guard team, otherwise who would have the patience to listen to that.

There were also quite a few children listening to the lectures there. After all, all the boys, big and small, in and around the city hoped to be servants in Changle County when they grew up.

At that time, with food, clothing and high wages, and marrying a little lady in a cashmere workshop as his wife, he can earn three hundred cash a month, and his wife can earn another one or two hundred cash. Wen's income, coupled with New Year's benefits, is really the life of a rich family.

The most popular bragging content of the little boys in Changle County is this, what will happen to them when they become servants.

Recently, the children of the herdsmen outside the city have also learned it. They fantasize all day long that they will be servants in the future, with a big knife hanging on their waist, and patrolling the city majestically. Wanting to marry them, such a beautiful future, just thinking about it makes me so happy, I almost wake up from my dream.