Xu Yue and Xu Dalang walked along the field ridge by the river and gradually walked down the hillside.
I saw a boy of twelve or thirteen years old and a little girl of four or five years old. They were holding long wooden strips in their hands and driving the sheep over.
Seeing two strangers at once, they slowed down and looked at them curiously.
Xu Yue and the others also stopped and stepped back to the roadside to let the group of sheep pass.
The young man looked at them, his eyes always falling on Xu Yue's scarf.
Xu Yue made this from duck down. Because there was too little duck down, Xu Erniang could only make her a scarf.
There is no concept of high-collar thermal underwear these days, and it’s still a bit cold in early spring, so Xu Yue wears a scarf on her body.
There was probably no one around who had worn it like this. The young man found it very novel and looked at it all the way, forcing Xu Dalang to the point where he almost beat him.
The sheep walked leisurely in front of the Xu Yue brothers and sisters, leaving behind a few tufts of wool.
Xu Yue was startled, then stepped forward and picked up the smelly wool. She saw that it was the innermost fine velvet on the sheep.
Spring and autumn are the seasons when sheep moult. Now is spring, which is when sheep are about to shed their hair. If you want to collect cashmere, you can only receive it at this time.
In an instant, Xu Yue seemed to have foreseen the various rich cashmere products that would exist in the future through the handful of cashmere in her hand.
"Hey!" Xu Yue hurriedly shouted forward.
The little girl driving the sheep looked back first and said timidly, "Huh?"
The young man then turned around, pulled the little girl behind him, and looked at the Xu Yue brother and sister who were running towards them with some vigilance.
Sensing the young man's vigilance, Xu Yue turned around and glared at her brother, telling him not to stare at others fiercely.
Turning around, he smiled at the pair of children in front of him who seemed to be brother and sister.
"Don't be afraid, I don't mean any harm. I just want to ask if this sheep belongs to you?" Xu Yue smiled harmlessly.
However, the tall young man standing behind her did not restrain his fierce look. The boy still took a step back uneasily before nodding warmly.
Seeing that he was the owner of the sheep, Xu Yue asked again: "Do you sell your wool?"
"Sell?" The boy gave Xu Yue a strange look, "Can wool also be sold?"
"We only sell sheep." Seeing Xu Yue's gentle and harmless smile, the little girl stuck her head out and smiled at her, and sucked in the snot that was about to fall down.
"I want wool, won't you sell it?" Xu Yue asked again without giving up.
The young man shook his head. He had never heard of this kind of selling method. Although he was a little excited to hear that the wool discarded by the butcher could be sold for money, he didn't dare to think about it again when he thought that the butcher might not accept the shaved sheep.
But seeing that Xu Yue looked like she wanted it very much, he kindly reminded her: "If you want wool, you can go to the butcher's house to pick it up."
The young man said so, and Xu Yue also knew that the rules were not easy to change. She nodded and did not chase after buying wool anymore, but asked the young man:
"When will your sheep be sold? Does the butcher kill sheep every day?"
She wants a lot of wool, and she doesn't know how long it will take to collect them one by one.
After much deliberation, it was more convenient to stay with the group of sheep in front of me.
The young man shook his head. He didn't know how many sheep the butcher's family killed every day.
But after holding it in for a long time, he still couldn't help but ask Xu Yue: "Why do you want wool?"
Xu Yue smiled and said, "Wool can be spun into thread, and then you can make many, many things."
The little girl asked curiously: "What can I do?"
But Xu Yue stopped talking. Seeing that the two of them couldn't decide, she asked the butcher's house address, turned around and left.
"Wait a minute!" The young man suddenly called them.
Xu Yue stopped and looked back, and the young man asked tentatively: "I'll go and ask the butcher first if he accepts woolless sheep. If he is willing to accept them, I will sell you all the wool of my sheep, okay?"
"
This feeling is so good!
Xu Yue nodded, "Okay, but you have to hurry up, I'm in a hurry now."
Seeing this, the young man hurriedly handed over the long strip in his hand, "Then I'm going to ask, can you help me look after my sheep and my sister first?"
Saying that, without waiting for Xu Yue to agree, he gave her the sheep note and ran towards the village.
Despite his skinny appearance and malnourished appearance, he ran so fast that Xu Yue had no time to shout, and he was already far away.
Looking at the note in her hand and the little girl's blank eyes, Xu Yue simply couldn't laugh or cry.
Isn't this young man afraid that strangers will steal all their sheep?
I really don’t know how people’s hearts are and how evil they are. Fortunately, she is not a bad person.
"What's your name?" Xu Yue asked the little girl softly.
The little girl paused and then answered: "My name is Qiniang."
Xu Yue asked again: "Qiniang, what is your brother's name?"
Qiniang replied: "The third brother's name is Yangwazi."
Seeing that she looked young but answered questions very clearly, Xu Yue couldn't help but wonder: "How old are you, Qiniang?"
Qiniang thought for a while and then said uncertainly: "Six years old?"
Such a little guy at six years old?
Xu Yue gestured and found that compared to her seven-year-old self, the six-year-old Qiniang was a whole head shorter than her.
Turning around and looking into the village, Xu Yue saw no sign of Yang Wazi, so Xu Yue asked Qiniang to drive the sheep down the hillside without blocking the sidewalk.
After driving the sheep to the foot of the mountain, the three of them found a piece of grass and sat waiting for the sheep to come back.
During this period, Xu Yue counted the number of sheep and found that there were more than a hundred.
I asked Qiniang again and learned that there are many people raising sheep nearby, and you can also go to the surrounding villages to collect wool.
Xu Yue estimated the amount of wool and found it to be quite considerable.
The softest layer of cashmere can be used as cashmere socks, cashmere gloves, cashmere sweaters, and cashmere pants.
The leftovers can also be made into wool felt mats. If they are paired with rich colors, they will definitely be loved by aristocratic families.
After all, people here are used to sitting on their knees, and the winter in the north is long. Wool felt cushions with bright colors and exquisite patterns are more durable and warmer than soft cushions made of silk cloth.
Thinking of this, Xu Yue couldn't wait to buy some wool and go back to experiment.
Because she only knows that these things exist, and if she wants to turn them into reality, she has to try step by step.
Now that the weather is getting warmer day by day, there is not much market for cashmere thermal products. She has enough time to experiment before autumn arrives.
If you want to make money now, you have to think of another way.
Xu Yue was thinking about the future development route in her mind, and Xu Yue didn't even notice that her brother was no longer squatting beside her.
By the time she found the traces of Xu Dalang, Xu Dalang had already run to the river bank and was rummaging in the pile of rocks washed down by the river.
"Brother, what are you doing?" Xu Yue stood on the hillside and shouted loudly.
Xu Dalang raised his head and looked over, holding a huge stone in his hand and said:
"My grandma asked me to find some big rocks to take home and practice my skills on. I think the rocks here are just right."
After explaining, he signaled Xu Yue to stay where he was and stop running around, and continued to focus on picking out the boulders.
Xu Yue was stunned for a moment, and an idea flashed through his mind.
