The drizzle is like a bead curtain, thin and dense, misty.
It splashed onto the ground, mixed with the dust, and raised a slight mist of rain. The air was extremely fresh.
Ming Qi and Wan'er moved a small stool and sat at the door of the wing. They both held their chins and stared at the rain and mist.
Fortunately, it was already May, so there was no need to worry about them getting sick due to the rain, so I just let them go.
Qiao Mingjin was sitting in the side room, looking into the courtyard with a faint smile on her lips.
The raindrops fell on the eaves, and then hit the ground like broken threads, causing ripples in circles.
Her heart was unusually quiet.
In front of me is a pile of account books sent by Zhou Yanqing.
After taking over the account books of Zhou Mansion, Qiao Mingjin used this wing as a study room. Sometimes she would rest here at night after reading the accounts late.
"Mom, how long will this rain last? We can't go out to play anymore." Wan'er ran in, pouting and complaining to her.
"I just wanted to play. I still remember that you haven't written the big characters yet. I only practiced abacus once today." Ming Qi exposed her shortcomings unceremoniously.
The little thing turned his head and glared at his aunt. Mingqi looked at her without any sign of identity.
Qiao Mingjin couldn't laugh or cry when she saw it.
Although the two people are almost the same age apart, they are actually separated by a generation. But neither of them seems to have this awareness. They still fight and fight. Fortunately, the more they fight, the closer they become.
It's just that every day there are big eyes glaring at small eyes, and small eyes insisting on accusations.
Qiao Mingjin waved to the two of them to climb onto the low couch.
"The ground outside is full of mud, and there are bumps everywhere due to the rain. After it clears up, it will take two days to get out of the sun before you can go to the water. If you want to play, the shoe lady won't help you wash it."
Qiao Mingjin held her daughter in her arms, poked her forehead and said.
"That's right, those shoes are difficult to wash. If you wash them too much, they will crack. If they are splashed with mud, they will still be dusty even after they are washed. I won't help you make shoes then."
When Ming Qi and Wan'er are together, they always look like children who have not grown up.
Wan'er snorted at her, twisted and threw herself into Qiao Mingjin's arms: "Mom, don't you have deerskin boots for summer? The kind that are waterproof and not afraid of rain?"
Qiao Mingjin groped her daughter's head, turned her body to one side, and looked under the couch. Three pairs of cotton shoes were placed on the ground in front of the couch.
There are no rain boots made of plastic these days. Cotton shoes made of glutinous rice paddles cannot be allowed to drip in the rain.
Of course, there are also clogs. Some have wooden soles, or even the uppers are made of wood, but they are awkward no matter how you wear them.
The soles made of wood are just fine. The uppers are at least made of soft fabric. However, they are not suitable for dripping in the rain. Wooden shoes made entirely of wood are uncomfortable to wear. They cannot stretch or bend, and they squeeze the toes and pinch them.
Put your heels on.
She only wore it once and then put it down.
When it rains, I have to stay at home.
It has been raining for several days, and it is pouring. The three of them are nestled at home, and they rarely go out to the courtyard.
When it rains in the workshop, the wooden piles cannot be baked, and if they cannot be baked, they cannot be dried. If they are not dried, they cannot be carved. The progress is somewhat delayed.
Fortunately, the impact is not big. There are still a lot of wooden piles that have been processed. But the workers doing handyman work are free.
Nowadays, the demand for clothes hangers at Yao Ji has decreased. Delivering them once a month can support sales for one or two months, so there is no need for a dedicated person to do this.
A few days ago, Qiao Mingjin watched the workers idle and waiting for work, so he taught them how to make wooden flowers.
The wood chips scraped from the wooden piles in the workshop every day can be packed into several sacks. Usually, these discarded wood flowers are just stuffed into sacks by Xia and He and carried to the kitchen for ignition.
A few days ago, when it rained, Qiao Mingjin took Wan'er and Mingqi to the workshop to play with Yun Luan.
I saw the workers collecting the wood chips that the masters had planed. I also saw that my daughter and Yunluan were idle because they could not go out to play because of the rain. So I picked some thin and long wood flowers. They were round and round.
I went around and made a bouquet of dried flowers for them both.
Wan'er, Yunluan and Mingqi thought it was fun and novel, so they showed it off around the workshop.
When the workers who did odd jobs saw it, they all came to see it. Even Xia and He came over to learn from it.
Everyone brainstormed and gathered all the wood flowers they had planed. They also carried a few sacks that had not been burned in the kitchen and laid them out in the house. They looked for usable wood flowers and assembled various gadgets.
In the end, even the families of the handymen workers were so idle that they got the news and ran to the workshops to have fun.
Soon, everyone made various dried flowers based on the dried bouquets made by Qiao Mingjin. Some of them were assembled into paintings, and some were made into wooden flower baskets, sewing baskets...
Various. Small and cute.
Even the masters with poisonous eyes praised him repeatedly when they saw it.
In this way, the workshop has more work to do.
The firewood in the kitchen turned into pine hair and fallen leaves in the forest.
Qiao Mingjin stayed there for a few days, then left Mingqi and Wan'er there and went home to settle accounts.
Today, the wood flowers have almost been picked. The workers and their families are watching the masters with gleaming eyes, waiting for them to plan the wood flowers. I wish I could go to the backyard and carry the unprocessed wood piles and plan them myself.
Plan a few times.
The two children had nothing to do and returned home again. They watched and listened to the rain with her.
"Sister, do you think anyone will buy the things we make with wooden flowers?" Ming Qi looked suspicious.
Qiao Mingjin smiled and said, "I want to know if anyone buys it. I'll find out when my cousin comes back later."
The day before yesterday, Yunjin sent some baubles made of wooden flowers to Yao Ji for trial sale. The quantity was not large, so they just wanted to put them there to test the waters.
I sent another batch today and wanted to see the results of testing the water.
After listening to Qiao Mingjin's words, the two little ones gathered together and chatted about the wooden flowers they had participated in making in the past few days.
To pick out usable wood flowers from a pile of wood flowers growing high on a hill, two little things played an important role.
Not all wood flowers are usable. They must be planed into one continuous piece, have no cracks and are complete, and the length must be appropriate.
Because they had not thought about the issue of waste recycling before, the masters were not careful when shaving wood. Although the wood shavings were piled up in half the room, there was not much that could be used.
Ming Qi and Wan'er led several of the workers' children. Their entire bodies were almost buried in the pile of wood and flowers, and they could only find a small part that was usable.
In the process of use, a lot of damage was caused during the threading, stitching, winding and gluing process. In addition, it was the first time to make it and the workers and their families were not skilled, so the actual finished product was not many.
But this can be regarded as finding a new way to utilize waste.
If we get a lot of wood in the future, we can also arrange for a few more workers' families to work in the workshop. Everyone will have their own place.
"Mom, it's so boring."
Wan'er finished writing a few large letters in the side room, and then flipped the abacus beads for a while, then lay down on the small table.
The little thing is now at the age where she is playful and active. Although Qiao Mingjin is usually very strict with her and has to study, practice calligraphy and have an abacus, she does not restrict her nature.
As long as she completes the homework assigned by Qiao Mingjin, she can go anywhere and have fun.
Qiao Mingjin raised her head and gave her a funny look, then turned to Mingqi. Seeing that she also looked listless, she shook her head in secret joy.
If the aunt and nephew were locked in the mansion, they would probably go crazy, and they couldn't bear not going out for a whole day.
Then he said to them: "Then you go to the workshop to play with Yun Luan."
"I'm not going. I'll stay in the house even if I go over there." Wan'er, the little thing, didn't even raise her head, lying on the table and replied blearily.
Qiao Mingjin thought for a while and said to the two little ones: "Then you go to the next room and bring some black beans and peanuts to the workshop so that Grandma Xia can fry them for you."
After hearing this, the two little things immediately writhed and straightened up, and their eyes instantly shone.
"Why didn't I think of that? Oh, go ahead!"
Wan'er ran to Lao Gao and followed Ming Qi to the next door room.
He almost walked to the door, then turned back and said, "Mom, can you get some black sesame seeds and let Grandma Xia help you crush them and fry them to make sesame paste?"
Qiao Mingjin nodded: "Well, take some more and let Grandma Xia make some for the workshop."
"Oh, mother is the best!" Wan'er said and jumped out.
Qiao Mingjin smiled and shook her head. She buried her head in a pile of account books again.
This job was not easy. She had been looking through it for days, and she had some clues. The slow speed was mainly because the traditional Chinese characters were so crowded that she felt dizzy. She had to convert those numbers again.
Arabic numerals became familiar to her... Sometimes when she put down her account book, stars would appear in front of her eyes.
It would take ten days and a half at the earliest to do the calculations and compile the internal accounts of each shop.
However, this Zhou family is not only as rich as the country, at least it is one of the richest families in Qingchuan County. Just looking at these account books, it seems that the money is flying towards the Zhou family with wings flying.
And this is a very small part of it.
She finally understood what it means to be a distinguished family that has been in the family for many years. There is really no comparison between this person and other people. Otherwise, why should we say that people should be compared with each other?
Sighing, Qiao Mingjin resignedly pulled the small abacus used by Wan'er, put the big one and the small one together, making a crackling sound.
After a while, two little guys appeared in Qiao Mingjin's study carrying several small sacks.
"Sister, let's go then."
"Mom, we can't take it. Wan'er will come back and get it if it's not enough for a while."
Qiao Mingjin glared at her daughter angrily. Are you trying to evacuate the land? She doesn't farm, so is it easy to get these things?
Seeing the earnest look in his daughter's eyes, he had no choice but to nod and say: "Go and put on your clogs. Then cover the shoes with oilcloth. If there is mud splashed on it, wash it off yourself."
"Hey." The two of them agreed in unison and went looking for clogs and oilcloth everywhere.
After a while, Qiao Mingjin heard the courtyard door squeaking deeply, then squeaking again. As it opened and closed, the sound of the two little things could no longer be heard. (To be continued. If you like this
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