"Yes, yes, how many times has your scholar met the county magistrate?" Other women agreed.
They have long been dissatisfied with Li Cuihua, because she has a son who is a scholar and shows off endlessly every day.
"A bunch of ignorant village women! I won't tell you!" Li Cuihua was speechless and turned away angrily.
A few days later, the Xiao family's second crop of rice was transplanted, and Ye Luoxin's braised pork plan was finally put on the agenda.
Because of Xiao Jing's words, they planned to make pig's trotters first and rely on these students to publicize it.
After many inquiries, it was found that Changting Academy, the largest in the county, has 84 students. Including the dean, direct students and teachers in the academy, there are more than 100 students in total.
In this era, those who can afford to read, their family conditions are not too bad.
However, it is not ruled out that some people rely on the support of the villagers, so Ye Luoxin does not plan to make too many, and prepares half of the number of people, that is, 50 pairs of pig trotters.
Usually few people want pig's trotters in the market. They have little meat and are difficult to dispose of.
Only before autumn can the price of pig's trotters rise.
Xiao Mu visited butcher shops throughout the county, and hired oxcarts to go to two neighboring villages, and finally managed to collect 50 pairs.
"A few days ago, it cost five cents per catty, and today it costs ten cents." He reported the bill to Ye Luoxin. However, many of the items I collected were not cleaned up. I negotiated the price with them and gave them 7 cents. A pound of money, these cost a total of 260 yuan.
260 yuan, less than 3 taels of silver.
Ye Luoxin did the math in her mind.
In order to make her pig's trotters look high-end, she had to buy a beautiful food box to put the pig's trotters in.
"Husband, is there a place in the county that sells food boxes? We still need to buy fifty food boxes."
Ye Luoxin asked.
"Yes, Wang Ji in the south of the city specializes in selling various food boxes." Xiao Mu replied.
That night, they threw all the pig's trotters into the charcoal fire and burned them all, and then filled several wooden basins with water and soaked all the pig's trotters in the water.
The next day, Xu Zhengxiang took Yang Feng and others to scrape pig trotters at home, while Xiao Mu took Ye Luoxin to the city to pick out food boxes.
There are many styles of food boxes, and the most expensive one can be purchased for twenty taels of silver.
Ye Luoxin was stunned when she saw it. The worst wooden food box cost 80 cents. In the end, she chose the cheapest bamboo food box, which cost 10 cents.
"Luoluo, the price of a food box is almost as much as half a pig's trotter. Isn't it a waste?" Xiao Mu asked.
"How could it be?" Ye Luoxin carefully checked the quality of the food box and replied while looking at it: "People rely on clothes and horses rely on saddles. These gifts must be very exquisite in order to sell them at a high price."
Gift giving is all about face. In addition to the genuine materials inside, the outer packaging also plays a large role.
Sometimes, the packaging is even more important than the content inside.
"If we talk about face, this bamboo basket food box doesn't seem to be able to support such a function."
Ye Luoxin had already picked the basket, smiled at Xiao Mu and said, "It doesn't matter, I have a way to make it look more advanced."
After choosing the basket, it was Liu Er's car that took them home.
Ever since Liu Er made a few bucks by delivering a threshing machine to the county magistrate last time, he has been particularly attentive to the Xiao family's affairs.
Seeing the two of them returning home with so many baskets, he asked: "You bought so many baskets at once, are you going to do something big again? If you need a car, remember to call me."
"Uncle Liu, I'm sorry to trouble you. I really have to use a bullock cart these two days. I leave in the morning and come back in the evening. I only bring our people and goods. It costs 30 cents a day. Is that okay?"
After listening to Ye Luoxin's words, Liu Er swung his whip on the cow's back and said happily: "Okay, okay, why not? I don't even need 30 coins a day, just give me 20 coins."
Liu Er's family has finished planting all their rice. Taking advantage of this gap, they can make some money to spend.
People in the village rarely use bullock carts except for going to the market. For him, this job in the Xiao family is like giving timely help.
"Then I'll trouble Uncle Liu."
Ye Luoxin didn't say what she wanted to do, and Liu Er was sensible and didn't ask.
After returning home, Xu Zhengxiang and Yang Feng had already packed away the pig's trotters.
The pig's trotters, which were burnt like coke last night, were now shaved white, with not a single pig hair on them.
"Mom, sister-in-law, you have worked hard." Ye Luoxin said, taking out two boxes of cloud cakes from the food box that she carried with her: "These two boxes of cloud cakes are for mother and sister-in-law, please try them quickly. .”
Yang Feng was very happy.
Unexpectedly, Ye Luoxin would bring something back for herself.
She quickly wiped her hands, took her portion, and looked at it carefully. It tasted like sesame and red dates.
"Why is this so embarrassing? I'd better not take it. It will cost a lot of money." As she said this, she wanted to return the cloud cake to Ye Luoxin.
"Sister-in-law, I saw that you stared at this thing for a long time when you went to the market last time. I thought you would like it."
Ye Luoxin didn't take it, and handed another box to Xu Zhengxiang: "Mom, this is very sweet, you will definitely like it."
Ye Luoxin didn't say it. In fact, the person she had been watching the longest was Xu Zhengxiang. The old lady was thin-skinned, so she had better not expose her.
In the past, Xu Zhengxiang went to the market to buy snacks for these children. Unexpectedly, this time she was treated as a child by her daughter-in-law.
She took the cloud cake from Ye Luoxin, twisted a piece and put it in her mouth, and she immediately laughed so hard that her eyes disappeared:
"Your father hasn't eaten this stuff either, so I'll save it to eat with him tonight."
"Sister-in-law, do you have mine?" Xiao Jing had been watching from the side. Seeing that Ye Luoxin had not come up with his share, he couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, how can I miss you!"
Ye Luoxin took out another box from the basket.
Xiao Mu was about to reach out to take it, but Ye Luoxin withdrew her hand.
"You have a box for yourself, but I have conditions!"
Without waiting for Ye Luoxin to tell her the conditions, Xiao Jing grabbed the pastry box, took out a piece of cloud cake and put it in his mouth, licked his lips and said:
"As long as my sister-in-law asks me to do anything, I will do it."
"It's not that difficult!"
Ye Luoxin said as she picked up a food box, "I want you to use cinnabar to write four words for me on this food box: Gold List Title."
"What's so rare about this! It's just a word."
Xiao Jing gained confidence and took out two pieces of cloud cake and stuffed them into his mouth: "Actually, my second brother's calligraphy is better than mine. Why don't you let him write?"
Um?
Ye Luoxin has never seen Xiao Mu write in such a long time since she was married.
She tilted her head and looked at Xiao Mu. Xiao Mu's eyes flickered and he said, "I can write it if you need it."
That night, Ye Luoxin saw Xiao Mu writing for the first time.
I had only seen him holding a knife before, but I didn't expect that he looked more elegant when he picked up a pen.
Xiao Mu first observed the food box, and then started writing without hesitation, one after another quickly.
Although Ye Luoxin didn't know calligraphy, Xiao Mu wrote like a dragon and a snake. His pen was sharp and powerful, which was enough to intimidate a layman like her.
Xiao Jing squatted aside and watched with admiration. While watching, he said to Ye Luoxin: "Sister-in-law, it has to be you. I haven't seen my brother holding a pen in several years. Look at his writing, how beautiful it is! "
