Everyone thought so. When they thought of the silkworm cocoons being sold for silk, and the white silk becoming white silver, everyone's eyebrows relaxed. <Binghuo#中文 Although there are still many unknowns from getting green to climbing the mountain, there is still hope for how much fear and fear one will have to go through. Everyone has pinned their vain hopes on this.
"As for news, there is something new." Shen Kaibao said.
The biggest new thing is that word has spread in the town that in order to provide famine relief this year, the prefect has placed a sign. The Hangzhou Prefecture’s purchase of silk cocoons this year has been entrusted to the Famine Relief Bureau. The Silk Cocoon Shop has to purchase silk cocoons. Passed by the Famine Relief Bureau. It is said that the government plans to use the profits from the silk cocoons to specifically provide relief to the victims.
For this reason, various silk shops holding ministry licenses have gone to Hangzhou these days. It is said that they are going to discuss the silk cocoon market with the Famine Relief Bureau.
After hearing the news, the originally joyful atmosphere suddenly turned cold. Everyone, look at me and I look at you. I don’t know whether to be happy or scared, because I really can’t figure out what this news means.
After a while, someone muttered: "Whoever collects silk is not a collector. As long as the market is good, just give them money."
There was an old man who was worried: "How can we be so peaceful? Since ancient times, whenever the officials get something nearby, we ordinary people will suffer."
This was met with a moment of silent approval, and the crowd began to stir uneasily. Some people sighed, and some people's expressions turned gloomy.
They have been tortured by all kinds of suffering and injustice in life and have very low expectations. They dare not expect any good changes, but only hope that they will not get worse.
But this sudden relief project cast a gray shadow of uneasiness on everyone's expectations, and they no longer had the intention to chat.
Each family took what they bought from Shen Kaibao, and the crowd dispersed in this uneasiness.
Shen Kaibao returned to the house and drank a large bowl of coarse tea - not tea, but tea made from mulberry leaves. Then he took out the bag from his waist, poured all kinds of copper coins inside on the table, and started counting them one by one.
There is no income from "sailing the ship". The boat owner neither charges commission nor earns the price difference. The income is free entertainment from the shops in the town and three "rebates" or gifts. It is a convenient business for Shen Kaibao who often goes to town.
But he occasionally takes advantage of good opportunities to make a little money from it. This time he made a small fortune by buying "paste paper". The paper-making shop in the town began to sell a new kind of "paste paper". It is said to be shipped from Guangdong, so everyone calls it "Guangdong paper". The quality is better than the native paper from local paper workshops. But the price is only half. As soon as it was put on the market, the original local paper became unsalable.
Shen Kaibao made some money buying "glued paper" on his behalf. Although this little money was just a drop in the bucket, it gave him a good sign. It's just that he really can't understand the things about the Famine Relief Bureau - he has mixed emotions of worry and expectation in his heart.
The news that the Famine Relief Bureau was collecting silk cocoons blew by like a gust of wind. Create a little ripple. Silence again. Compared with selling silk, raising silkworms is more important. Every household is busy making preparations.
The weather continues to get warmer, and the young leaves on the mulberry trees are now gradually growing up. The mulberry forests around the village are growing well. From a distance, they look like a piece of green brocade spread over dense layers of gray and white short fences. The empty rice fields were filled with water again, farmers with hungry faces began to plant rice in the fields, and the long-lost cattle also appeared. The Famine Relief Bureau lent seeds, grain and cattle to all four villages. Seeing the green seedlings in the ground, the villagers of Jixian Village breathed a sigh of relief - as long as they can plant food now, they are somewhat certain about the harvest in the second half of the year.
That's when. The half-collapsed ruined temple at the east end of the village, which had been in decline for a long time, suddenly disappeared. Just when everyone was surprised, news soon came out: the temple property had been bought.
Not long after, masons and carpenters came, demolished the ruined temple and built a house. The young men in the village helped with small jobs in their spare time and made a little money - the foreman was very stingy. Knowing that everyone would have no money after the disaster year, they cut their wages to death.
The house was built quickly. It has a small brick courtyard with front and rear entrances. It looks neither expensive nor cheap, a bit like the mansion of a small landowner in the countryside. The villagers are watching the fun. There was a lot of discussion about who would live here - because the house was built somewhat strangely - and it didn't fit the bill.
While everyone was discussing and speculating on the owner of this sudden house, the wife of the Shen family came back.
The news immediately caused a stir. The Shen brothers were originally from this Jixian Village, and compared with Shen Kaibao, they were still brothers in the fifth server. This family used to live very well in the village, with several acres of mulberry land, and the wife could raise silkworms. Unexpectedly, a few years ago, because I wanted to grow hair so much, I borrowed money to buy leaves. As a result, the silkworms got sick and I couldn't harvest any silkworms. Not to mention that the land and house were taken away by Mr. Cao. I heard that the whole family sold themselves and became slaves. , and disappeared.
As long as there are people in the village who are chatting, they will always bring up "The Story of Shen's Downfall" to talk about it and express their emotions. Some comments can't help but have the villainous heart of "some people are angry, but others are not laughing". In short, Shen Da's family is a "negative example" of the villagers educating restless "youngsters".
Because Shen Kaibao and Shen Da are brothers in the "front door", everyone is reluctant to say more every time Shen is mentioned. However, he also felt that Shen Da's defeat was entirely his own fault. He was a little jealous of this cousin: he was richer than him, had more land than him, and even his wife was much prettier than him. Moreover, Shen Da looks so cowardly and doesn't know how to discipline his wife - his wife Wang Siniang's flamboyant and frivolous attitude makes people uncomfortable to watch. I deserve to be a slave now, and sometimes I feel a little happy in my heart.
Wang Siniang, who had disappeared from the village for a long time, suddenly appeared, causing all the idle people in the village to crowd the river pier to watch the excitement. As expected, it was Wang Siniang and his wife who were dressed decently and neatly. Although they were not silk or satin, they were still half-new and half-old jackets and culottes, clean and neat without patches. The boat was filled with items covered with reed mats. It looks like hair is growing outside. It's just that there are four more strong men dressed as servants on the boat. It's scary to look at.
The boat docked at the river pier. Shen Dayan looked at a group of villagers gathered around, and he was still a little timid. On the other hand, Wang Siniang was generous and called her brothers and sisters-in-law all the way. When she met children, she even gave them candy. They were very friendly. Everyone originally wanted to see their jokes, but when they saw this behavior, they were too timid to come forward and say more.
Shen Da's homestead had long been sold to Mr. Cao, so there was no place for him in the village. When everyone was wondering where his family was going to live, the group actually went straight to the newly built house. Many boxes and cages were unloaded from the ship and moved in one by one.
Now the whole village was in a sensation! This Shen family is going to be successful as slaves! For a while, there were different opinions in the village. Some people thought that the daughter of the Shen family had become a concubine. She was very favored by the master's family and her parents were also prosperous. The evidence is that none of the Shen family's daughters came back.
However, in the evening, some relatives of the Shen family who went in under the pretext of "helping clean up" to find out what was going on soon came out with the exact news - it was not so mysterious, this house belonged to Master Shen's family. The master wanted to raise silkworms and reel silk here. He knew that the Shen family was a sericulture farmer, so he sent them here specially.
When Shen Kaibao heard this, he felt that it didn't sound like anything - Shen Da's master had nothing to do but asked his servants to go to the countryside to raise silkworms and reel silk. If rich people want to wear silk and satin, do they need to raise their own silkworms? Could there be some hidden secret here? The four servants who came with the ship looked bad.
He was so wary that he didn't even say a few words when Siniang Wang came to deliver the cakes for the completion of the new house - the cakes were something he hadn't seen in almost a year, and when he took them out, the children's eyes seemed to burst out. Like fire. On the day Wang Siniang came back, some lucky children got candy cubes from her. They were said to be sweeter than rock candy and also had a sour and delicious taste. I don’t know how to describe it. The grandson of the Shen family didn’t get it. Listening to my friends, I shed tears of envy.
Wang Siniang didn't care about Shen Kaibao's lukewarm attitude. After saying a few polite words, she gave the children two pieces of candy and got up and left.
Before Siniang Wang could go out, the children of the Shen family eagerly peeled off the wrappers and stuffed candies into their mouths, which made Shen Kaibao angry for a while. He cursed a few times, which made his wife look very uncomfortable.
But what happened next seemed to show that Wang Si’s family’s job here was indeed to raise silkworms, and they began to see their family packing up silkworm-raising equipment by the river. It's just that this equipment is very different from the ones used in the village. It's much lighter and more beautiful, and there are more types. It makes people feel angry just looking at it - is raising silkworms for fun? Do these useless fancy tricks! No wonder a whole family is required to be slaves!
The topic stirred up by the return of King Shen, his wife and his wife soon fell silent. After all, this is a "busy" time. The villagers not only have to go to the fields, but also pack up silkworm gear and paste "silkworm baskets". Men, women, old and young were all busy. Everyone Shen was also busy.
Originally, Shen Kaibao was a little suspicious of them, but the local land security guard didn't say anything after he came. He gradually let go of his doubts - he was still too busy with his own affairs!
Several more men and women were added to the Shen family's yard one after another. They were seen coming in and out of the yard every day, carrying water and sweeping the floor. I simply bought lime and made a lime pond outside to dissolve the lime. After the lime was dissolved, bucket after bucket was carried in to paint the house. It was painted like a snow cave inside and out.
