I didn't expect that my first public appearance in the village would be like this. I spent a lot of time shopping in Licun.

When leaving the village, Chu Qing complained in her heart. In a strange world, in addition to teaching Xiaobao how to speak, Chu Qing basically followed the principle of speaking less and making fewer mistakes in front of others.

What just happened made Chu Qing feel a little unhappy. No one would be happy to be pointed at and scolded so early in the morning.

Chu Qing was angry, so he walked very fast. He didn't notice someone trotting behind him. They had already entered Licun, and the woman was still following. Xiaobao patted Chu Qing on the shoulder and pointed back. Chu Qing

Only then did he see the woman who was already trotting and stumbling.

Chu Qing stopped and waited for her to arrive and asked, "Are you looking for me?"

"Huh~, yes." The woman responded with a long breath.

"Slow down your anger before talking," Chu Qing said kindly.

"Hehe, it's nothing. I, I just want to talk to you and get to know you." The woman said with a smile.

She looked a little thin, but she had a round little face, which was as red as a little apple because of her trot just now. "My man is Wu Baiqiang, you can just call me from Baiqiang's family."

"Then what's your name?" Chu Qing asked when she saw her closing her eyes.

"My maiden name is Zhang, and my name is Erni." Poor Jian'er, she is not worthy of a name.

"I'm going to the grocery store to buy something, can we come together?" Chu Qing invited.

"Okay, okay." The two of them chatted and walked to the grocery store. With Zhang Erni leading the way, Chu Qing saved herself the trouble of asking.

"Sister-in-law Yuan, no matter what others say, I thank you. My Qiu Sheng has been full for the past two days. Yesterday, he brought me a bowl with rice and vegetables. It is more delicious than what I cook at home." Zhang Erni said in a sincere tone.

"My Qiusheng is 14, and he is considered to be the youngest in the economics class. He came back to me yesterday and told me that in the past, she couldn't compete with other students, and she was too embarrassed to compete with those in the Meng class. She always didn't have enough to eat, but now she can eat enough, and he

I want to eat half of it every day and bring the other half back to me."

In fact, according to ancient weighing calculations, one pound is 600 grams, and 6 pounds of rice is calculated based on 27 meals per month. Each meal is 133 grams of rice. When cooked, rice is more than 333 grams, which is about the size of 3 fists.

In ancient times, there was little food and water. For a half-year-old child to eat three fist-sized meals was actually not a lot. He might not be completely full, but he would definitely not be hungry.

Zhang Erni's child said that he would save half of it and give it to his mother, which shows his filial piety.

"Then can he still be full?" Chu Qing asked.

"Well, of course I don't have enough to eat. So I told him that he didn't need to take it home, but he didn't listen. He said that going to school doesn't take much energy, so he didn't need to eat too much." Zhang Erni lowered her head, "The child feels sorry for me and is afraid that I will be hungry.

"As you know, in every family, women drink the thin drink and the men drink the thick drink. Only the children who can go to school have a solid meal."

Chu Qing frowned as she listened, because she saw that people here had two meals a day. If both meals were watery, how hungry would this person be? "Is this true in every family? How could it be possible?

So poor? I think there is a lot of land here, so it shouldn't be that bad." Chu Qing couldn't help but ask.

"It wasn't originally like this. Things were fine in the past few years and every family had enough food," Zhang Erni said. "When the new emperor succeeded to the throne, he took advantage of the civil strife and the Dong Lun and Vos countries joined forces to attack us.

Donglun is so close to us, and the imperial court recruits troops every year and pays more taxes every year, so we are very poor."

Alas, war has made people miserable.

"I saw many women going to the fields?" Chu Qing asked.

"That's right. Qiu Sheng's father went to be a soldier in our family, so my older children and I have to work in the fields." Zhang Erni replied.

"Then when you go to the fields, aren't you working as a laborer? Why don't you drink something thicker?" Even if you drink the thicker drink, you still won't be full, but it's better than the thinner drink. Chu Qing was a little puzzled.

"In a family like ours, it takes the whole family to support a child in education, so in order to prevent his brothers from complaining, Qiu Sheng's father always went to do corvee work, including military conscription." Zhang Erni said in a bitter voice:

"I will give you 2 taels of silver for conscription. If you can come back alive, your family will be exempted from some corvées and taxes. If you can't come back, you will be given 5 taels of silver as a pension."

Zhang Erni saw clearly that she was looking at her seriously when she spoke, and felt respected, so she spoke in more detail: "But his father is not at home, and his work usually falls on me, and I can't do it."

After finishing so much work, the other brothers have to help share some of the work. Before his father left, he told me to do as much as possible and don't let those other brothers gossip, just wait until Qiu Sheng is ready to retire."

Chu Qing felt sad after hearing this, for the sake of women in ancient times. Zhang Erni saw Chu Qing's depressed expression and felt a little uneasy: "Look at me, why are I talking about this? I've made you upset by my blabbering."

While I was talking, I also went to the grocery store.

It's actually a warehouse in a farmyard. With the windows removed, you can see the bottles, jars, needles, and threads placed inside.

The placement is not very particular, and it looks a bit messy. There is no signboard, anyway, it is enough that the village knows that there is such a shop.

Someone came over to say hello to Zhang Erni. When they heard that Chu Qing was the cook at the school, several women gathered around them. Unlike Wushu Village, the people in Li Village were very enthusiastic because their children were well fed in the school.

Already.

Several children in Licun are all in Mengban. They are young and don’t eat much. The children are also sensible. During the past two days, after school, the saved meals are given to the family.

Chu Qing's principle of equal distribution benefited Li Cun's children the most, so everyone invited her to their home.

Even the proprietress of the grocery store, Village Chief Li's old wife, grabbed Chu Qing's hand and tucked it under her arm, asking Chu Qing to go home with her.

These people also praised Xiaobao one after another, one touched Xiaobao's head, and the other pinched Xiaobao's face.

Xiaobao's little face soon turned red from being pinched. Chu Qing felt that the bunch of stupid hairs on Xiaobao's head seemed to stand taller.

Chu Qing declined everyone's kindness and walked back with Xiaobao on her back.

Xiaobao sat in the basket and quietly sorted out the things he had just bought. It almost covered him. There was also a hanging cotton thread wrapped around his neck.

Zhang Erni followed, and the two of them chatted while walking. Chu Qing learned more about these villages.

The three villages are close to each other and they marry each other. Zhang Erni belongs to Zhang village.

Among the three villages, Li Village is the poorest and Zhang Village is the richest.

Zhang Cunfu was rich because his village chief's brother had access to do business in Donglun, and he would also do small business with the merchants in Donglun and the merchants in Vos.

Village Chief Zhang's brother raises funds in the village every time to buy some seasonings, cooking utensils, etc. and sells them to Donglun. The money earned is then distributed to each family in proportion to their investment.

Basically, they are doing business without capital. If they make a big profit, each family can also make a small amount of money, so Zhang Village is the richest among the three villages.

Zhang Erni's family did not participate in this kind of business because her younger brother wouldn't let it.

"My brother said that our family cannot get involved in this matter. The two countries are at war, and the court has banned trade with Donglun and Voss. They also sell iron products such as cooking utensils, and I heard that there are also some farm tools.

It can be melted down to make weapons. Isn't this the same as delivering weapons to the enemy? If you are caught, you will be beheaded."

"My brother also said that he should work hard at home and farm, and don't worry about my parents' family. He will find a way to support the family." Zhang Erni explained again:

"My family consists of three children: me, my brother and my little sister. Both my parents are in poor health. My mother suffered a lot after giving birth to her little sister, and she can hardly walk now. I once had a sister,

But he got sick when he was 8 years old and disappeared. My brother was also weak since he was a child, and he got better as he got older."

"My little sister is too young. She is about the same age as my Qiu Sheng, so she is not a big deal, but she has reached the age to propose marriage. My brother is already 26 and has not yet started a family. I just want to support my mother's family, but I can't get married.

Since I don’t have money to spare, I just want to do more work for my parents’ family to share the burden.”

"But my brother is smart and knows how to calculate accounts. He works part-time in several shops in the city, specifically checking people's accounts. Even if he helps people check their accounts every few days, he can still make some money."

Oh, it turned out that I was a part-time cashier. It was a good job. I didn’t have to work, I had relatively free time, and I earned more money than being a full-time employee.

"That's not bad." Chu Qing agreed.

"Yes, otherwise with his small body, he wouldn't be any better than me in doing field work. Fortunately, my family has little land. He and my father are the only men, so he won't be drafted in the army." Zhang Erni.

Also laughed.

"By the way, my brother will start delivering food to your kitchen tomorrow." Zhang Erni suddenly remembered.

"Huh?" Chu Qing was confused.

"Even if my brother took over the job of delivering food, he didn't need to be paid, just to help. Otherwise, this person would deliver food to you every day, and the other would ask you to deliver oil, and it would be unseemly to disturb the school like a revolving door, so the village chiefs specially sent

My brother has collected all the things from various houses and sent them to you. He can also do calculations and write receipts." Zhang Erni was a little proud of what her brother could do.

"Well, that's good." Chu Qing nodded. It was really troublesome to have different people delivering food this morning.
Chapter completed!