In the morning, she was even more exposed. Qiao Mingjin found a thick piece of clothing to wrap up her sister and brother, and they sat on the bullock cart together.
The cow was covered with a thick felt cloth, and a pole was supported on it, with a basket containing eggs placed at each end. The cow walked slowly, and the basket did not move. The eggs in the basket were supported by straw, and the one hundred and eighty eggs did not move at all.
The two sisters looked very happy.
However, it was quite uncomfortable to drive in the cold dew before dawn, sit upright on the back of an ox, and wander for two or three hours on the road.
If it were running as fast as a horse, it would be fine. But this ox-cart moved slowly and leisurely, making people feel sleepy. The long road was very boring.
It would be really unbearable to have to travel on such a starry night every day.
Fortunately, today is the last trip to deliver firewood to Zhou Mansion. I will start delivering firewood to Yuji tomorrow and deliver it every other day. I have time to take a rest. Take a breather and find something else to do. Otherwise, it will be like this every day.
Qiao Mingjin was really afraid that she wouldn't be able to bear it.
Because there were a lot of eggs today, Qiao Mingjin didn't put Mingheng down and took him to the Zhou Mansion.
That Zhou mother happened to be there too.
When Qiao Mingjin arrived, the boy at the door came in to announce, and Zhou's mother also came out.
"Mama Zhou," Qiao Mingjin greeted her first employer with a smile.
"Hey. It's early for you today."
"Yes, some folks in the village asked us to help sell some things today. They had to rush to the early market, so they were a little early."
Qiao Mingjin talked to Zhou's mother while watching the boys in the house move firewood.
That week, her mother looked at her and said, "If it weren't for the troublesome firewood delivery guy in the house, I would really want to make a long-term reservation with you. The firewood you send is well chopped and neat, so I don't even have to worry about it."
Heartfelt."
Qiao Mingjin thanked her with a smile and said: "Starting from tomorrow, I will deliver firewood to Yu Ji's Blacksmith Shop on West Street the next day. If mom needs anything else, she will look for me there."
That week’s mother nodded repeatedly after hearing this.
This is a big house with a lot of people, and there's no telling when there will be such a happy event or a banquet, so it's always good to have some connections.
While the two were talking, Zhou's mother saw a pole hanging across the cow's body and baskets hanging on the left and right. She was very curious and stepped forward and asked: "What are you bringing to sell? Let me see, it is what our house needs."
"
With that said, he stepped forward and lifted the straw covering the basket.
His hand was still holding the straw, but his whole body was stunned.
"This is... an egg?"
Qiao Mingjin also walked up and lifted up the entire layer of straw above.
Said: "Yes. It's just eggs."
As he spoke, he picked up a bunch and handed it to Zhou's mother, who was still stunned, and said: "It's a long way from our village to the city, and the road conditions are not good. These are all sold by others. I didn't take a few hard-earned money, but
If you get hit on the road, you have to pay for firewood, which is really not cost-effective. So I thought of this method."
That week, my mother looked surprised. She took the bunch of eggs and looked at them again and again, and even looked at them in the morning sunshine.
He was amazed: "How did you come up with this? It's really wonderful. We also have many villagers in our house, and the villagers also send vegetables, meat and eggs to our house every now and then. The eggs are packed in baskets and can't be transported all the way.
It took a lot of beatings. Our old lady’s heart ached every time. She has also endured hardships. If she knew there was such a way, I don’t know how happy she would be.”
After speaking, he rolled his eyes and said: "Ms. Jin, you wait here, I will take these eggs to show the old lady. Although there is no shortage of eggs in our house, this is the first time I have packed eggs in this way.
See you. Our old lady will definitely be very happy to see you. Just wait here. If we, the old lady, are happy, I won’t buy all your eggs. Just wait a moment."
Saying this, without waiting for Qiao Mingjin to react, she picked up two bunches of eggs and turned around and ran into the courtyard.
Qiao Mingjin had no choice but to wait outside the door.
After the firewood was emptied, the boy guarding the door and several other boys and girls carrying firewood also came to the basket and looked around.
As if seeing some rare treasure, everyone grabbed a bunch in their hands, looked left and right, and finally took off the straw to study it.
Qiao Mingjin didn't care and let them take a look. She and Mingheng unpacked the bags and took pancake rolls with pickles to eat.
A little boy of seven or eight years old came out of the door and asked, "What are you looking at?"
Several young servants stood up straight and saluted him: "Fourth Young Master."
The boy was dressed up in a noble manner, with a gold hoop on his head, a silk skirt on his body, a jade belt around his waist, sachets and jade pendants on his left and right sides, and a round face with a pleasing look.
The boy straightened his chest and back like a little adult and said, "Yeah."
He walked to the basket with his hands behind his back and asked, "What were you looking at just now?"
The two boys following behind the boy, one carrying a food box and the other carrying a book box, hurriedly pushed through the crowd, got closer, reached in and took out a bunch: "Master, they are looking at this."
The little boy picked it up from the straw and asked, "What is this?"
"Master, these are eggs."
The little boy turned around and kicked him: "Don't I know this is an egg?"
The boy then turned around and asked the servants and girls standing around him: "What is this? Did it come from our village?"
A little girl replied: "No, Fourth Young Master, this little lady sold it."
The little boy turned around and glanced at Qiao Mingjin and Mingheng: "Did you sell them? Why are you pretending like this? Aren't the eggs one by one? It's so troublesome to open them up."
Qiao Mingjin glanced at him and wondered why the young master came out of the side door. This is where the kitchen is. He might have come here early in the morning to find something to eat.
After taking a look at Mingheng, Mingheng said: "Go back to the young master, our home is far away from the city. The reason for tying them like this is to prevent them from colliding, so that they will not be broken."
The little boy said oh, picked up the edge of the basket again, and stood on tiptoe to look into the basket.
He reached out and took out a few skewers and said to Mingheng: "How much does this skewer cost? I want to take it to the school to show it to my classmates. I want to tell them that such a clever method was thought up by our servants."
Qiao Mingjin rolled her eyes, "Young Master, we are not your servants."
Mingheng glanced at his sister and said, "This egg costs two cents. We also have to spend time tying the straw and waste straw. One string will cost two cents more."
Qiao Mingjin glanced at Mingheng, her younger brother was really talented and shrewd. He must be cultivated well.
When the young master heard this, he asked, "Is it so cheap?"
He lowered his head to touch the purse at his waist and found that he was holding egg skewers in both hands. He turned back to the two boys and said loudly: "Ah Da Ah Er, give me the money quickly! Well, just give me a tael of silver. It's more."
This is a reward for you. If you come up with anything interesting in the future, be sure to tell me. I am the fourth young master in this mansion!"
After saying that, without looking at the two boys behind him, he ran away carrying two bunches of eggs left and right.
One of the boys carrying a bookcase followed immediately, while the other took out his wallet to pay and shouted: "Master, wait for me!"
Mingheng took a tael of silver and thanked him. The young man quickly went after his young master.
After a while, I saw Zhou's mother coming from a distance, and the few boys and girls surrounding her quickly ran away.
That week's mother was all smiles: "Jin Niang, I don't know how you came up with such a good idea! Our old lady was so happy when she saw it! She said that in the future she would eat eggs again, even if they were sent to her from Zhuangzi, no matter how far away she was.
Don’t be afraid of being beaten!”
"There is no shortage of eggs in the house, but you still have to leave ten bunches for me. The old lady said that she would let all the gentlemen and ladies in the house take a look, and some good friends also took it over. They are just like us.
Every month when Zhuangzi delivers eggs, we lose a lot of money. With this method, it will be great."
As he spoke, he took out a piece of silver from his pocket and stuffed it into Qiao Mingjin's hand: "Here, this is the reward from the old lady. She said that we bought your method. She also said that the eggs that are broken every year are more than this amount.
.Don’t push it away, take it quickly. The old lady is not short of this money. Today is not the first or fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, otherwise the ladies in the house will go over to pay their respects, and I am afraid they will also be rewarded with the money. None of them have any money in their hands.
One or two from Zhuangzi?"
After hearing this, Qiao Mingjin quickly thanked her. Who would think it was too much money?
Besides, this idea was indeed hers. In a house as big as theirs, and with some good families in the neighborhood, who doesn't have Zhuangzi? Then the old lady will get a lot of benefits if she sells it to others.
Then he accepted it with peace of mind and gave Zhou's mother ten more skewers, for a total of twenty skewers of eggs. Then the sister and brother said goodbye and left.
This week, twenty-four bunches of eggs were sold at the door of the house, and I got eleven taels of silver.
The two siblings looked at each other, and they could see the joy in each other's eyes. It was enough to take the two baskets of eggs home and eat them at home.
ps: Thanks to "680722" for the reward. I came back late. It's time for vacation and I went to have dinner with my colleagues. This public version does not have a scheduled release function, so the release time is a problem. I'm sorry everyone.
