Chapter 1548, the money disappeared without knowing it
This is a bustling commercial street in Xincheng, South District of Beijing.
As night falls and lanterns are put on, glass technology is getting better and better, and glass lamps of various colors are being manufactured one after another. When the whale oil lamps are lit, the whole street is brightly lit and colorful, attracting countless people to linger.
Tomorrow is the weekend, a legal holiday. Factories, schools, workshops, etc. are all on holiday. Naturally, a large number of people flocked to the commercial street, making it the most lively and noisy place.
Li Erxiu took Wang Gensheng to stroll around the streets, holding the candied haws in his hand and taking a bite, his mouth was full of sweetness.
For them, when their families were very poor when they were young, sugar-coated haws on a stick were something they could hardly hope for. Now that they have grown up and their conditions are better, they saw them while shopping and bought two bunches.
It's not expensive anyway, only five cents per skewer, and two skewers only cost ten cents.
“This candied haws on a stick is so delicious~”
Li Erxiu was as happy as a little girl eating candied haws.
Although she is already the mother of several children and is already in her twenties, in future generations, she is still just a little girl who just left school.
People in this era get married early, and many people are already married and have children when they are thirteen or fourteen years old. By the time they are in their twenties, they already have a lot of children.
The same is true for Li Erxiu and Wang Gensheng, who came from poor rural families. Wang Gensheng married Li Erxiu, who was 14 years old, when he was 16 years old. The eldest child was born the next year, and then one child a year. In just a few years, the children were born. I have given birth to many children, and since I have been working outside in the past few years, my husband and I have not spent much time together, so we have not had another baby.
Because she got married early and had children early, her body recovered very well. At this time, Li Erxiu still looks very young and beautiful, and her figure is not out of shape at all.
In addition, although working in a factory is tiring, it is simpler and more relaxed than life in the countryside. In the city, I pay attention to dressing up like the people around me, and I look completely different from the people in the countryside.
"If it tastes good, eat more, and I'll give you some too."
Wang Gensheng handed the candied haws in his hand to Li Erxiu's hand.
"You can eat too, one bunch is enough for me."
Li Erxiu's heart is very sweet. Women in this period are all great. They don't have high requirements for their husbands. As long as they are down-to-earth and hardworking, they can take care of the family. Wang Gensheng obviously fits this perfectly.
He is very hard-working and down-to-earth, and he never plays with money, drinks wine, etc. He lives a down-to-earth life. The couple works together, and their life is getting better and better.
Eating sweet candied haws, Li Erxiu casually looked at the shops on both sides. Soon her eyes were deeply attracted by the clothes displayed at the entrance of a clothing store.
The whole person walked over unknowingly and looked at the clothes inside the glass window. The sky blue color, exquisite patterns, and silky smooth color seemed to have infinite magic power, attracting a large circle of people around them. Watch here.
"If you like it, go in and have a look. Summer is coming soon, so it's time to change some clothes."
When Wang Gensheng saw Li Erxiu's appearance, he also smiled and said.
"The clothes from Caiyun Textile Factory are really good-looking, but they are expensive. A girl from Henan in our factory bought one and it looks really good when she wears it."
Li Erxiu looked at the store's recruitment, Caiyun Textile Factory, which is the most famous textile factory in the Ming Dynasty. It is a textile factory that specializes in manufacturing ready-made garments. It specializes in the mid-to-high-end market. Any piece of clothing in it may cost several taels of silver.
, some of the better clothes are made of fine silk and fine dyes, and the designed clothes may cost several hundred taels of silver each.
Even in the winter, there are special coats made of furs from the Arctic regions. A piece of clothing can cost thousands of taels or tens of thousands of taels of silver.
However, that kind of store is usually opened on Zhuque Street in the old city of Beijing, and sells exclusively to the really wealthy people in the capital. Ordinary people simply cannot afford it.
The clothes displayed in front of me are all mid-range clothes, made of exquisite materials, and the colors printed and dyed are also unique to Caiyun Textile Factory.
For example, the sky blue in front of you is a color that currently only Caiyun Textile Factory can print and dye, and other factories cannot print and dye this color.
It is said that it was a chemical printing and dyeing method developed by the teachers and students of Imperial College, and the Caiyun Textile Factory spent hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to buy it.
Not only is it sky blue, but there are also several colors that can only be printed and dyed by Caiyun Textile Factory. Even if other textile factories can print and dye the same color, they will fade without washing, and the colors printed at the same time
It is unnatural and difficult to achieve the effect of Caiyun Textile Factory.
In addition to color, Caiyun Textile Factory is also constantly pioneering and innovating in the design of clothes, producing a large number of new styles of clothes. This is also an important reason why Caiyun Textile Factory can stabilize the leading position in the textile industry of Ming Dynasty.
Caiyun Textile Factory relies on its unique printing and dyeing colors and constantly innovative designs, as well as its first attempt to make ready-made clothes, to firmly dominate the mid-to-high-end market.
The same clothes are sold more expensively than others, and they sell faster and better than others.
"It looks good, we will buy it too~"
Wang Gensheng smiled and said, "I don't have enough money to buy clothes now."
In the past, there were so many things to pay attention to in the countryside. A new piece of clothing was only available when you got married, and the clothes you usually wear were mended and mended for who knows how many years.
But things are different now. People in this city are very particular about it, not only during the New Year and holidays, but also during the rotation of the four seasons. Every time the seasons change, you need to buy a few new clothes.
In addition, even if you have new clothes, you still need to look at the color and style, and follow the fashion trend.
For example, young people nowadays are popular in wearing tight-fitting clothes. The original long shirts, long-sleeved, and wide-sleeved clothes are no longer popular. A large number of students in new schools wear school uniforms that are both good-looking and young and fashionable.
, and at the same time convenient for work and life, it has gradually become a trend.
When working in the city, men are relatively better off, especially for people like Wang Gensheng who work in construction sites. Their clothes are easy to get dirty and damaged, so there are no big requirements.
But for the female workers in the textile factory, these women love beauty and like to compare. Naturally, now they not only compare the clothes that everyone wears, but even some young girls want to imitate the clothes of wealthy families.
Like a young lady, you need to dress up.
More than half an hour later, Li Erxiu walked out with a new piece of clothing, feeling completely satisfied.
"The clothes from Caiyun Textile Factory are really expensive. The cheapest clothes cost 1 tael."
Li Erxiu looked at Wang Gensheng with some worry. One tael of silver to buy a piece of clothing was really too expensive. He had never been so extravagant.
"It's expensive, it's expensive. I don't buy it often, so it's okay to buy one once in a while."
Although Wang Gensheng felt extremely distressed, he thought that all the female workers in Li Erxiu's factory had to change and buy new clothes, and Li Erxiu had been promoted to team leader, so it would be impossible without suitable clothes.
One tael of silver is not that expensive. A piece of cloth costs less than 100 cents. It is enough to make many clothes. But there is no way, who can make his wife like it.
"Gensheng, there is a store over there that sells men's clothes. Would you like to go and have a look? They also sell new clothes. We can wear them when we go out to play on the weekends. This will also save face."
Li Erxiu took the new clothes and looked in front again. He soon saw a store specializing in men's clothes and said the same thing.
"I won't go, I won't go~"
"It's enough to have some clothes to wear, not to mention the things here are expensive, so why spend so much money?"
Wang Gensheng shook his head repeatedly, but he couldn't resist Li Erxiu and was dragged to the store anyway.
"It's too expensive, it's too expensive. A piece of clothing costs more than 200 yuan. Why don't you go and grab it~"
“And I only planned to buy one piece, but now I bought two pieces~”
For half an hour, Wang Gensheng held two new clothes in his hands and kept talking.
"Two hundred for one piece, three hundred for two, isn't that a hundred cents left over? These clothes fit so well and look so good. I feel like I am a student in school."
Li Erxiu said nonchalantly.
Women have been the same since ancient times. Under the sales tactics of merchants, they unknowingly bought one more item and spent an extra hundred cents.
Time is passing slowly, but the crowds on the streets are getting larger and larger, and they do not become thinner as the night falls.
In an inn in the capital, Li Erxiu and Wang Gensheng walked in carrying large and small bags and put down the things in their hands.
"It feels like the Chinese New Year. I went shopping and bought so many things."
"These clothes, shoes, trousers, your rouge and gouache, and all these food, after all, these twenty taels of silver are gone."
Wang Gensheng pointed at the things on the table, counted them, and suddenly felt distressed.
"What, more than two taels of silver are gone?"
When Li Erxiu heard this, he immediately screamed.
"What do you think? Your clothes are only one tael of silver. My two clothes are three hundred cents, the pants are one hundred cents, and the shoes are one hundred cents. And your shoes, rouge and gouache, cost one hundred cents on the left and two hundred cents on the right.
Yes, it’s almost three taels of silver.”
Wang Gensheng calculated it carefully for Li Erxiu and said.
"If I had known better, I wouldn't have bought so many things. The money would have disappeared before I knew it."
Li Erxiu suddenly felt distressed. In the past, he was reluctant to spend money because he basically didn't have any money. But today when he got paid, he habitually started buying things like he had received money during the Chinese New Year. All of a sudden
It cost more than two taels of silver.
"Isn't that right? I originally thought this was not expensive, and that was not expensive either, but I didn't expect to spend so much money all at once."
"Sleep, sleep, it's better to look at houses early tomorrow and buy a house."
"From now on, wages will be paid on a monthly basis. If you are still as lavish as you are now, you won't be able to keep much money during the New Year."