Zhou Zhoulang's eyes almost popped out of his head, and Manbao couldn't help but let out a sigh. Finally he couldn't pretend to be honest anymore, and stuck his head out from behind the second brother and asked, "Has the price of beans increased?"
"Beans? They've gone up, but not that outrageously. They seem to be worth twelve cents a bushel now." The stall owner glanced at the crowds of people who came in to buy things, and lowered his voice and said, "But I guess there will be more in the future."
It will rise again, so if your family has food, don’t sell it to grain dealers easily. If you press it harder, you might be able to sell it at a higher price."
The doctor's eyes were bright on Tuesday, but he was heartbroken at the same time. After last year's autumn harvest, his family sold a batch of grain. If they had kept it at that time, they would have made at least twice as much money now...
Man Bao's eyes were also bright. He took one look at their tofu, then pulled his second brother's shoulder, leaned into his ear and whispered: "Second brother, the price of our tofu has to increase."
Zhou Erlang quickly came to his senses, took a look at their tofu, and then looked at the streets where the flow of people was gradually increasing.
He carefully observed their faces, clothing and expressions, and soon discovered many unfamiliar faces.
In the same way, Luojiang County is only so big, and there are only so many nearby villages. Most of the people who come to visit this street, Zhou Lang, have seen it.
He is very good at remembering people. He is not as good at remembering people as Man Bao, but he can still remember them after seeing them several times, and at least they will feel familiar.
And now he doesn't know quite a few of the customers picking up things on the street.
He coughed lightly, carried Man Bao to the stall and stood up, lowering his voice and saying: "Don't move, Lao Liu, you take them here to look at the stall, I'll go for a walk."
Of course, you can't just say that prices will go up. You must first look at other people's prices before making any decisions.
Zhou Lang often did this kind of thing to inquire about other people's prices. He coughed lightly and went shopping with his hands behind his back.
Liu Lang squatted behind the stall and asked Daya to start wrapping the flowers on the small bamboo basket, while Man Bao was responsible for taking out the candies from the cloth bag and putting them in.
He stared at the second brother's figure and asked Manbao: "Why do you think the second brother is going?"
"Go and ask the price," Man Bao said in a accustomed manner: "I don't think you need to ask, since we are the only one selling tofu on the same street, so there won't be any difference between high and low prices."
Having said that, Zhou Erlang still walked from the end of the street to the street, asked about the prices of most stalls, and also observed the business situation of others.
Then he came back with a face full of excitement.
He said: "The price of bamboo weaving has not increased, but the price of everything to eat has increased, and the price of vegetables has also increased. I think their business is not bad. I will try selling it today. If it is good, I will not bring bamboo weaving tomorrow."
Yes, we specially picked vegetables."
Man Bao said: "We don't have many vegetables at home."
Although the vegetable garden was not flooded, many vegetables had root rot due to too much rain.
Zhou Erlang comforted her and said, "It's okay. I'll ask my sister-in-law to bring out the pickles at home."
Man Bao: ...I don’t want to eat pickles, I want to eat fresh ones.
Both Zhou Lang and Datou Daya couldn't help but look at Zhou Lang.
Zhou Erlang stretched out his hand to straighten their heads and said, "Don't look at me. The family is short of money. We must seize the opportunity to save more money."
Man Bao felt that the world was too big for him, so he said: "Sister, I'm not in a hurry to ask for money."
"It's not repaying the eldest sister, it's the autumn tax," Zhou Zhoulang lowered his voice and said, "Dad, I did the calculations two days ago. Even if God rewards me and the weather goes smoothly until the autumn harvest, our family's food may not be enough for our rations.
What about taxes?”
That is to say, Man Bao is a scholar and understands all these things. Only Zhou Erlang would explain to her. If it were another child, he would not say more and just suppress it with force.
Look, Datou and Daya looked confused, obviously half understanding and half not understanding. But Liulang also understood, he sighed sadly and asked: "Second brother, are you still going to the county government?"
Zhou Lang hesitated.
Da Ya quietly poked Man Bao.
Man Bao immediately threw away all the messy things like the autumn tax, and looked at Zhou Lang with sharp eyes, "Second brother, why don't you wait for us here? You see, there are just a lot of people on the street, but it's actually not chaotic. We
Just go by yourself."
Zhou Zhoulang saw the light in her eyes and looked a little sad, "Man Bao, do you dislike your second brother so much?"
"No, no, I don't dislike the second brother, I just think we can't delay the second brother from making a lot of money."
Saturday Lang and Datou Daya nodded fiercely at the same time and responded: "Yes!"
Zhou Erlang glanced at the guests walking on the street, hesitated and said: "Okay, Lao Liu, wait until they come, hold hands, and don't get lost. Also, don't get into arguments with others. If you accidentally get involved,
It's troublesome, just give in if you can, endure your anger for a while, don't show off your aggression, if it doesn't work, just call the yamen officer, do you understand?"
"clear!"
Liu Lang immediately went to carry the basket with the small bamboo basket on his back, Datou rushed to carry the basket with flowers, Da Ya carried the flower basket she had just made, Man Bao also grabbed two, and then the four of them happily chatted with Zhou
Erlang waved goodbye.
Zhou Erlang looked at them like fish taken out of a fishing net and put into the river, wagging their tails happily, brushing them twice and disappearing.
He couldn't help but shook his head. The stall owner next door had obviously seen it, and he was quite familiar with these children, including Liu Lang. When he saw it, he smiled and said: "Your children are really smart.
.”
Zhou Zhoulang smiled modestly and scolded, "It's clever, it's just fun, but there are so many strangers in the county now, how dare I let them go out and wander around, I won't bring them here next time."
"It's fine if they don't have money with them," the stall owner said, "There are people stealing money and food in the city now, but there are really no people taking pictures of children."
The stall owner said: "Children are not worth much nowadays. I heard that outside, a sixty-jin bag of millet can buy a seven or eight-year-old girl. Even smaller ones can be bought for twenty kilograms."
Zhou Zhoulang was stunned, "Is this, so serious?"
He looked around and whispered: "Isn't that right? I have an uncle who sells food on the official road. I heard from him that the entire Yizhou area was flooded. Not to mention the food, even the houses were destroyed.
The roof was gone. Many people were swept away by the water and disappeared instantly. Think about it, even their houses were gone, let alone their food. Many of the people who escaped had only the clothes on their backs, and some even had no shoes.
Gone."
Zhou Erlang's face turned pale.
The stall owner sighed, "Look at this scene, does it look like the severe drought in the 11th year of Dade? Fortunately, the flood here is not particularly serious. Although the harvest of crops in the fields is definitely not good, at least there is some harvest, unlike
At that time in the eleventh year of Dade..."
Zhou Lang's eyesight went dark, and he felt that the stall owner's voice was getting blurry, but he just heard it, "We were miserable here at that time. My brother and sister both starved to death at that time, and my family just couldn't survive."
I was beaten...Tuesday, what's wrong with you, why are you so pale?"
Zhou Erlang stood up holding the wall, forced a smile and said: "It's okay, maybe it's the sun."