Xie Jin's sister looked at Xie Jin who came back empty-handed and couldn't help but shed a tear.
The three members of the family had been hungry all day. Xie Jin went out to borrow food, but could not borrow a grain of rice.
Xie Jin's family is a tenant farmer in Wuqiao County, Hejian Prefecture. The three members of the family farm 19 acres of dry land and were able to make ends meet. However, at the end of last year, Tatars invaded the country and plundered the country. When they passed by Wuqiao, they looted massively. The three members of Xie Jin's family hid in the county seat.
, was not killed by the Tatars. But the crops in the fields were wasted because of this.
After hiding in the county town for a while, when Xie Jin returned home, the wheat had missed the irrigation period and the fields were already full of weeds. The harvest this year was extremely poor. The harvested grain was eaten in five months.
, Nowadays, in this lean season, I don’t know how to survive.
Xie Jin wanted to borrow food from relatives and friends, but his relatives and friends were also affected by the disaster, and it was difficult for any family. The first few times Xie Jin went to pray, he could still borrow a few liters of rice. But this time Xie Jin went there again, and his relatives and friends did not have any extra food.
I lent it to Xie Jin, but Xie Jin returned empty-handed.
Xie Jin also hadn't eaten for a day and was very hungry. He sat weakly on the chair and sighed.
Xie Jin's mother said: "My son, without rice and noodles, how will we live in the future?"
Xie Jin's father died last year, and now he has only one mother and one sister at home. Xie Jin could not have imagined that he would encounter such a predicament in his first year as head of the family. Now that he cannot borrow food, will his family starve to death?
Xie Jin said helplessly: "Take another winter coat and go to the city to pawn it!"
Xie Jin's mother said: "Winter is about to begin. We only have three winter coats left at home. If we go into winter again, we will freeze to death."
Xie Jin rubbed his face with his hands and was speechless.
A family of three was sitting in the yard hungry, when they suddenly heard a noise in front of them. Surrounded by dozens of people, a strong man strode on the dirt road in the countryside, heading towards Xie Jin's house.
Seeing the noisy crowd, Xie Jin's timid sister was startled and hid in the house.
Xie Jin was stunned and thought to himself that he had not committed any crime. Why were so many people rushing to his yard? He took a closer look and saw that most of the people rushing over were small vendors nearby, with a few Benli walking in the middle.
A is a famous old man. The strong man surrounded by the vendors is wearing a Fanjiazhuang military uniform and is obviously a soldier from Fanjiazhuang.
Xie Jin vaguely guessed something and hurried to the door.
The group of people walked to Xie Jin's door, and the Fanjiazhuang soldier in the middle shouted: "Is this Xie Jin's house!"
Xie Jin quickly replied: "Yes, I am Xie Jin!"
The Fanjiazhuang soldier looked at the old men around him. Those old men all nodded and said, "Yes, this is Xie Jin!"
The Fanjiazhuang soldier smiled, handed a waist badge and a document to Xie Jin, and said: "Congratulations, Xie Jin, you have been recruited by our General Fanjiazhuang, and you will be a Fanjiazhuang soldier from now on. This is your waist
With these two things, you can report to Fanjiazhuang next month!"
Hearing the soldier's words, Xie Jin's face flushed with excitement, and he felt dizzy as if happiness had suddenly arrived.
Fanjiazhuang's soldiers have been recruited by themselves. From now on, I will be a soldier with three to two months' salary and three meals of meat. My mother and sister will no longer have to worry about food and drink!
Xie Jin held up the badge and admission certificate with trembling hands, and couldn't stop crying.
The village elder next to him had a cane and said with a smile: "Xie Jin, this is a happy event, why are you crying?"
Xie Jin said in a trembling voice: "My family hasn't eaten for a day, but now I have recruited soldiers from Fanjiazhuang. You let me, you let me."
However, even though he raised money, there was still one month left to report, and two months left before the monthly payment was issued. There was no rice in the house during these two months, how would the family live? Xie Jin suddenly became confused again, looking at the man who came to deliver the letter.
Soldiers from Fanjiazhuang.
Before Xie Jin finished speaking, a small vendor carrying a heavy pole shouted loudly: "Xie Jin, why didn't you tell me earlier that your family was out of food? I'll give it to you on credit!"
Xie Jin was stunned for a moment, and then he saw the vendor carrying the pole in front of Xie Jin. When he opened the lid of the heavy pole, it was filled with snow-white rice noodles.
The hawker said flatteringly: "Xie Jin, I'll sell you this hundred pounds of white rice noodles for one to two six cents. You set up an IOU for me, and when you get to Fanjiazhuang and get the monthly payment, you can give me the money again!"
The hawker took out an IOU and as long as Xie Jin pressed his fingerprint, the rice noodles would belong to Xie's family.
Xie Jin looked at the vendor in disbelief, and then at the white rice noodles, as if he was overjoyed from heaven.
In fact, Xie Jin didn't know that these vendors were already used to Xie Jin's business these days. As long as he followed the soldiers who reported the news in Fanjiazhuang and sold rice and noodles to the farmers who had applied, he could make a steady profit. The grain sold on credit at this time was naturally higher than usual.
The selling price is higher, and these farmers who are recruited into the army will have high incomes in the future. With the IOUs in hand, they will not worry about not paying back the money.
A hundred kilograms of rice noodles can only be sold for one to two or four cents in the market, but they can be sold on credit to the recruits for one to two to six cents, making two cents of silver in one go. This is a good business that is hard to find anywhere in the country.
Xie Jin's mother excitedly walked to the load of rice noodles, scooped out a cup of rice noodles with a spoon, looked at it again and again, bursting into laughter and said, "Do we have rice noodles at home?"
Seeing that the business was done, the rice noodle vendor was in a happy mood. He took out the suona on his back and started playing. For a moment, everyone in the crowd in front of Xie Jin's house was beaming with joy. The scene really didn't look like he was going to be a soldier, but more like Xie Jinzhong
A scholar.
Sister Xie Jin saw that the group of people were not here to seek revenge, so she ran out of the house and stood in front of the load of rice noodles, crying and wiping her tears.
"Brother, do we have something to eat?"
A boy from the cloth shop came out and said, "Xie Jin, I see your sister is wearing rags. Would you like to come to my place to cut a few feet of cloth and make some new sets of clothes for your sister?"
Xie Jin said: "I have no money."
The cloth shop boy said loudly: "Xie Jin, buy a few more feet of cloth, and I'll give it to you on credit. Give it to me when you make money in Fanjiazhuang!"
Xie Jin was stunned for a moment, looked at his eager sister, and said, "Okay!"
Xie Jin's sister, who had not made new clothes for more than a year, jumped up with joy when she heard this, with a smile on her face.
Seeing Xie Jin being so generous, all the vendors were very excited. They all rushed to Xie Jin and shouted: "Xie Jin, I'll give you the oil on credit!"
"Xie Jin, I'll give you the quilt on credit!"
"Xie Jin, I'll give you rice on credit!"
Xie Jin agreed one by one, and the vendors placed goods at his door. The goods piled up little by little, and finally the pile was half a person high, with everything included.
All of a sudden, the Xie family, who had been hungry just now, lacked everything.
A pawnbroker came out and said: "Xie Jin, is it inconvenient for you to have no money now? I'll lend you money. I'll lend you ten taels of silver, three-cent interest, and no property mortgage! I'll wait until you go to Fanjiazhuang to do it.
Soldier, return the money to the Wang Family Pawn Shop in the city."
Xie Jin was stunned for a long time and asked: "This is ten taels of silver. Aren't you afraid that I will run away?"
The pawnbroker laughed loudly, as if he had heard the funniest joke, and said, "You work as a soldier in Fanjiazhuang and earn ten taels of silver in three months. How could you run away just for this little money?"
Xie Jin thought for a while and said, "Okay, I'll borrow the money!"
The pawn shop clerk smiled brightly, took out an IOU on the spot, gave Xie Jin his fingerprint, and then handed Xie Jin the white 10 taels of silver. (To be continued.)
