perfumer

After dinner in the evening, Bai Xin went into the room to grind the spices. Before he had done it twice, he felt his stomach twitching. Hearing elder brother's urging voice from outside the door, "Sanlang, hurry up!"

After Bai Xin finished the solution, he pulled up his pants in a hurry, and let him out swiftly. The elder brother got in like a wind, and he didn't have time to say a word.Bai Xin washed his hands and went back to the room to continue grinding. Not half an hour later, he gradually felt pain in his stomach again, as if stabbing a dagger and stirring vigorously. He endured the pain and ran to the toilet again, only to see his sister-in-law just When he came out from the inside, his face turned red when he saw Bai Xin, and he called "Uncle" and ran away.

Bai Xin broke out in a cold sweat from the pain, and when he came out, he let the wind blow. He felt tired in his limbs, and wished he could lie down immediately. After returning to the house, he didn't continue to grind, so he tidied up anyway and lay down on the bed.

This whole night, the Bai family took turns tossing and vomiting. They finally realized that the whole family might not be acclimatized.

Early in the morning, everyone looked pale, couldn't sit down, and wanted to lie on their stomachs. Mrs. Cao and Mrs. Cao barely cooked, and after eating a few mouthfuls, they had to run to the toilet again.

On the contrary, Bai Xin was the one with the mildest illness in the family. He stood up while supporting the table, and said weakly, "I'll go grab some medicine."

Cao waved his hand weakly, "It's just the acclimatization, it will be fine after a few days of adaptation, and taking medicine won't help."

Bai Xin frowned disapprovingly, and raised his voice, "Mom, the whole family is like this, how can we stay together? In case of minor illnesses and serious illnesses, it will cost more money."

"Then you go get some medicine." When Cao heard that it cost more money, she was also afraid. After she finished speaking, she sighed, "I really can't drink water, so why is it so powerful?"

Bai Xin took the money and staggered out. He tossed and tossed all night last night, and the spices hadn't been ground yet, so he couldn't get out of the stall. After asking for directions, he came to the nearest medicine shop, and there was a fairy sitting in the back The old man was stroking his beard and closing his eyes to rest his mind. When he heard someone coming, he raised his eyelids and looked towards the door.

Bai Xin walked over and said, "The whole family had a lot of diarrhea last night. Presumably they are not acclimatized and want to get some medicine."

The old man was the doctor of the pharmacy. He asked Bai Xin to stick out his tongue, feel his pulse, and then asked, "You said you are not acclimatized, but you just moved to the capital?"

Bai Xin's voice has a slight accent, and he can tell that the capital city is not long ago and has not been assimilated. He nodded, "It's only been two days since I arrived in the capital city."

The old doctor nodded and asked again: "What kind of water did you drink these two days?"

Bai Xin was dumbfounded by his question, with a confused expression on his face, "What kind of water do you eat? Isn't it just ordinary water?" After finishing speaking, he remembered that he and his elder brother went to the river to fetch water the day before, and said, "Go to the river to pick up water, Why, can't you drink the water?"

He was asking casually, but the old doctor showed such an expression, and nodded, "The river water in the capital city has been polluted by people, and it has been banned repeatedly, so it is not suitable for drinking. If you eat too much, you will get sick. You are new to the capital city. I think it is for food." The situation got worse after getting used to the spring water in the village.”

Bai Xin was taken aback. He had never heard that even the water in the river could not be eaten, so he subconsciously asked, "The river water can't be eaten? What kind of water do people in the capital drink?"

"Of course someone brings well water from villages outside the city to the capital to sell it."

Bai Xin asked again, "Water can be sold? Is there no well in the capital?"

The old man stroked his beard and said: "There is a well in the capital, but the water dug out is salty, bitter and sour, not as good as river water."

Bai Xin stood there and muttered, "So it's because of the water."

The old man picked up his pen and wrote a prescription, "I will prescribe some medicine for you, and I will fry it when I go back. The river water can no longer be drunk. You outsiders don't know how powerful the river is, let alone people swimming in it and doing laundry. Someone is dumping garbage, shit and pee, how can they enter?"

As soon as Bai Xinjing told him, his stomach turned up again uncontrollably, gurgling with sour water, and he felt even more nauseated.

Afterwards, the old doctor prescribed several doses of antidote and antidiarrheal medicine, and gave some detailed instructions, and Bai Xin went home with the medicine.

When Mrs. Cao saw her son came back, she first asked how much the medicine was spent on, but Bai Xin didn't answer, but explained the reason for everyone's illness.

When Mrs. Cao heard that it was the water problem that made the whole family sick, and that they had to spend money to buy water for drinking in the future, she was shocked and distressed. She didn't even ask how much money was spent on the medicine, and kept sighing, "What's wrong with this capital city?" It’s all expensive, and even water for food has to be bought, so I can’t afford to live here for a long time.”

Spending money to buy water is a knot in Cao's heart, and he can't get rid of it. The more he thinks about it, the more depressed he becomes. The aunt is holding the medicine bag, and she can't take it in or keep it. She can only ask, "The decoction is boiled with home water , or buy water to boil?"

Mrs. Cao hurriedly waved at her, "This water can be drunk once it is boiled with medicine, you can go to the kitchen to decoct the medicine first."

The aunt didn't move immediately, but looked at Bai Xin, who shook her head at her, then looked at her mother, and said, "Mother, we took the medicine to cure the disease, the doctor clearly said that the river water can't be drunk again, you I still have to use river water to decoct the medicine, isn't this medicine wasted for nothing?"

Mrs. Cao stopped insisting, sighed and said that everything in the capital is expensive, Bai Xin stood up and walked to the kitchen, saying as she walked, "I'll go get some pots out and go to the street to see if there is any water seller."

After tidying up, Bai Xin went to the street with the jars in his arms. After a while, he saw a man scooping water from the cart beside him to fill others. He saw that the donkey cart was full of wooden barrels with lids.

Bai Xin shouted: "But the water seller?"

The man followed the reputation, and when he saw Bai Xin holding the jar, he knew he wanted to buy water, so he immediately nodded with a smile on his face.

After the water man scooped up the water, he drove the donkey cart to Bai Xin. Bai Xin asked, "How do you sell the water?"

Shui Lang recognized that he had a foreign accent, so he said, "Five Wen a jar."

A big jar of five cents may not be expensive at first glance, but when you think about it carefully, the whole family has to use two or three jars a day, and the water they used to drink open will cost money to buy. Some depressed.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Shui Lang thought it was too expensive, so he hurriedly explained: "My water is from a spring transported from the mountains outside the city, so it's good to drink."

Bai Xin bought water and went back with two jars.

After returning home, Mrs. Cao heard that the water cost five cents a can, so she yelled. Bai Xin hurriedly put the water in the kitchen, avoiding her nagging, and the eldest sister followed her in, "I'll come Decoction."

After the aunt cooked the medicine, Mrs. Cao looked at the bowl and sighed, holding it tightly with both hands unconsciously, even dropping a drop of it, her heart ached terribly.

Dalang has been distracted since just now, hesitant to speak several times, and after everyone drank the medicine, he finally couldn't help but say, "Mother, don't worry about buying water and food, I think this is not bad..."

Mrs. Cao's eyes widened when she heard him say that buying water was good, Manniang poked him suspiciously, and Dalang hurriedly said: "I heard from Sanlang that others bring water from outside the city to sell. If that's the case, We can also carry water and sell it! A jar of water costs five Wen, and a cart of water costs about a hundred Wen.”

Cao's eyes lit up when she heard this, she patted her thigh, and said, "That's right, that's right, if you sell water to sell, it's just hard work, but it doesn't cost you money, and you can make a steady profit without losing money, and we can save water by drinking water at home. "

Man Niang also had a look of joy, the whole family depended on her uncle to earn money, and her husband was the eldest in the family, so she couldn't make any money.Da Lang had the same thoughts as her, before in the village, he was able to help cut trees up the mountain, but now that he came to the capital, the cost was even higher, but he was no longer able to help, so he felt depressed.

However, Bai Xin shook his head in disapproval, "We don't know where water can be eaten outside the city. I don't think it's close. If not, the people in the city will go out of the city to fetch water. I'm afraid I won't be able to walk back and forth, at least I need to buy a donkey cart. Besides, the people in the village outside the city want to make money for themselves. It's hard to say whether they will let you fetch water from them. You are not allowed to come close?"

After hearing this, Da Lang stopped talking, lowered his head in distress, and sucked his teeth.Cao's interest was extinguished by others, and his face became sad again.

Bai Xin also knows what big brother is thinking, but he has been thinking about making money for a few days and ignored it. He persuaded: "Brother, don't worry, wait until I make more spices, let's set up a stall in two places, it will be better than me alone." To make money."

Da Lang finally felt better, and nodded heavily, "Brother listens to you, you have a lot of ideas!"

Mrs. Cao opened her mouth, wanting to say that the incense you make may not be able to sell, and it might end up in your hand, it is better to buy a donkey cart to sell water, but in the end she swallowed the words and put them in the bowl. Dizizi took two sips of the remaining medicine.

After drinking the medicine and changing the water to eat, within a day, the Bai family was in good shape. Bai Xin continued to make sweat-repelling incense, put it in the flower sachet that mother and eldest sister learned recently, and took it outside. Selling, the business is even better than before, and about [-] can always be sold every day.

……

In Songshan Village, Yunzhou, the Bai family sold the field, and the whole family tidied up a dozen boxes and cages in the yard. Everyone looked excited and looked out frequently.

It turned out that Erlang was going to Beijing to take the exam in the spring. Seeing Dafang's family leaving first, she couldn't help being jealous, and insisted on following her son on the grounds that his son's coming to Beijing would cause trouble and he would have to stay for a year or a half, with few people to take care of him. , she was full of confidence, thinking that her son would pass the provincial examination in one fell swoop, and she was waiting to settle down in the capital.

How could the third room just let the second room go?Fearing that they would be ignored after being left behind, they wanted to follow, and said that the whole family would have no money to support themselves in Beijing, so Mrs. Xu arranged for Grandma Bai to sell the land, and Mrs. Ding had even more reason to follow.

Grandma Bai was at the end of her life, she sold what she could sell at home, and scraped together a hundred or so taels of silver. The nine members of her family hired two carriages, full of expectations for the future, and set foot on the road to Beijing.