"Slow down, no one is competing with you!" said Zhao Zheng.
After drinking a bowl of sugar water, Zheng Chunmei also recovered. She licked her lips, as if she was still savoring the taste of the sugar water. "Thank you, thank you Uncle Zhao, thank you Xiao E!"
"You can't go on like this. Sooner or later you'll get hungry and die." Zhao Zheng frowned and said, "Go home and don't come here again."
Zheng Chunmei thought Zhao Zheng would pity her, but she didn't expect him to be so cruel. "Uncle Zhao, you're driving me away again!"
As he spoke, tears began to flow.
Zhao Zheng wasn't buying it. "You worked two days, and I'll exempt you from the remaining six days. It's all written off. Isn't that good enough for you?"
"Uncle Zhao, I must pay you back..."
"If something happens to you here, won't your old lady tear down the roof of my house?"
Zheng Chunmei was furious. She knew that Zhao Laokou was afraid that something might happen to her. "I'm just hungry for too long..."
"That wasn't my fault." Zhao Zheng stood up. "Rest for a while and then leave. Zhaodi, Xiao'e, if she won't leave, you should send her away!"
"Yes, father-in-law." Both girls nodded.
Compared to eggs, human life is more important, and they don't want their family to get into more trouble.
Zheng Chunmei had no choice but to leave, but she felt even more resentful. "I'll come back tomorrow. I won't be satisfied until I die if I don't eat the meat from Mr. Zhao's family."
...
"The bricks are almost done. Just let the extra ones dry. Tomorrow you can pile up the dried bricks at home. I have to go to the market to see if there's any work. It's not good to just sit around and eat up all the money."
Zhao Zheng felt a little panicked because he hadn't received any income for a few days.
Winter is still coming and there are so many places to spend money.
The thatched roof of my house leaks when it is windy and when it rains. If it really snows, it will definitely collapse.
Without a roof over your head, you won't feel safe even if you have a kang.
So, he had to replace the roof.
Moreover, if there is a continuous income in the future, I can explain it to Zhaodi.
"Father-in-law, let us go and do the work, and you can rest at home." Yang Zhaodi said.
"Yes, we'll go and you can rest at home." Zhang Xiao'e also said.
"We agreed beforehand. You take care of the interior, and I take care of the exterior. You have the final say on matters at home, but you must obey me on matters outside!" Zhao Zheng saw the two women hesitate and continued, "In this year, labor is worthless. We work ourselves to death but still can't get enough to eat. This situation will only get worse as the disaster worsens. Those landlords are jackals. They're taking advantage of this opportunity to buy and sell land at low prices, and then when the year improves, they rent it out to farmers at high prices."
"Even if you two work your asses off, they won't be able to squeeze you out. So, there's no future for you in this industry. Maybe starting a small business will give you a chance to make a name for yourself. It's not good for a woman to be in the spotlight. I'll go. You have to have faith in me."
The two girls were dejected, but they both knew that their father-in-law was right.
What Zhao Zheng said was the truth, and the reality was even more cruel than what he said.
It is normal for people to die in years of disaster. If your parents die, they must be buried, right?
A funeral gift is not cheap.
If you do it in a hurry.
Those landlords' gossips and spies will use filial piety to crush you.
He forces you to sell your fields, your land, your sons and daughters, and bury your parents with great honor, and in the end you still have to thank him for giving you your life.
If Zhao Zheng wants to live a good life, he must prepare for the future.
The next day, Zhao Zheng got up before dawn.
The weather is getting colder and there seems to be a hint of moisture in the air.
Yang Zhaodi made him a pair of thermal underwear using bear skin.
He wore a padded jacket inside and a worn bamboo hat, so except for his hands and feet, he was not cold anywhere else.
Yang Zhaodi took the clam oil and frostbite ointment, and without any disgust, she picked up Zhao Zheng's feet and applied the ointment on the frostbite.
After being fully armed, Zhao Zhengcai left home carrying a basket.
It took him more than an hour to reach the market.
The big fair does not take place every day, usually once every three to five days.
There were a lot of people at the market, shoulder to shoulder, but everyone exuded a sense of fatigue and decadence.
There are more and more people kneeling on the streets selling their children.
Some people even placed their parents' bodies on the ground and knelt to beg for burial.
However, it cannot attract pedestrians' attention.
There are so many things like this that everyone has become numb.
The same goes for Zhao Zheng.
The world is like this, it's so pitiful.
[Ding, dried wild chicken mushrooms, one pound for one thousand coins...]
Zhao Zheng squatted in front of a mushroom stall and asked calmly, "Fellow villager, how much are these dried chicken mushrooms?"
Seeing someone asking the price, the stall owner was also delighted and introduced enthusiastically: "Brother, this is what I got from Zhuzui Mountain this year. I don't need to tell you how delicious this thing is, right? Whether it is cooked alone or stewed with meat, it will make your tongue swallow!"
Zhao Zheng nodded. Chicken mushrooms are very expensive in modern times, and wild ones are even more expensive. Even in the low-end market, a pound costs two or three hundred yuan.
And if he remembered correctly, this thing used to be a tribute.
But in Fugui Township, it can only be said to be average.
It seems like no one knows how to drive a mountain.
"People can't even get enough to eat now, so no matter how delicious this thing is, it can't be priced well. My daughter-in-law is about to give birth, and there's nothing to eat at home. I can't afford meat, so I'll just make some chicken mushrooms for her to nourish her body!" Zhao Zheng started talking.
"Huo, my dear, your daughter-in-law is so lucky." The stall owner smiled and said, "How about this, if you really want it, I'll give you 15 cents per pound..."
Zhao Zheng stood up and left, "Who's robbing me? I have fifteen cents to buy a pound of rice, isn't that nice?"
"Brother, don't go. The price is negotiable!" The old stall owner was anxious. "Twelve cents, oh no, ten cents. If it's lower than this, I'll lose a lot of money. At least let me earn some money for my work!"
Zhao Zheng stopped, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, but when he turned around, he pretended to be dissatisfied, "Forget it, forget it, you don't have much anyway, I want them all."
The stall owner grinned, "That's great."
[Ding, dried wild chicken mushrooms, one pound for one thousand coins, worth four thousand coins, for storage/sale?]
Zhao Zheng counted out forty copper coins and handed them to the stall owner, then put the dried chicken mushrooms into a bamboo basket.
"Thanks, brother. If you need more mountain products next time, you can come to me!"
"Well, my daughter-in-law can't give birth to babies every day, right?" Zhao Zheng laughed, waved his hand and left, but he was very happy in his heart. The price difference was a hundred times, and he made a lot of money.
If he hadn't been afraid of being targeted, he would have definitely cleared out all the other mountain products on the stall.
However, Zhao Zheng remained calm.
It's all his, there's no need to rush.
Few people buy this kind of mountain product.
These days, corn and millet are the hot commodities.
Wheat, rice and flour are all out of reach for poor families.
Zhao Zheng walked around the store and bought a lot of good things. Just when he was about to leave, he saw an acquaintance.
"Why is he setting up a stall again?"
Zhao Zheng rolled his eyes and walked to the stall. "Brother, how much is this fox fur?"