After breakfast, the old man asked Bai Gu to sit down for a while while he went to clean up the dishes.
Bai Gu still wanted to help, but was held down by the old man, and each of them tried to push him away before giving up the idea.
Bai Gu once again gave the old man a good guy card in his heart.
Bai Gu sat on the chair and was bored, so he reached out and pulled out a long piece of weed and started to weave it.
Gee, why are these weeds so difficult to control? It's harder to resist than iron sheets, but with this kind of quality, the quality of the things we make shouldn't be much worse.
Well, braiding a pair of straw sandals should last you a long, long time.
Generally, straw sandals are extremely durable if they can be worn for ten days. Ordinary ones will break out in one day and need to be replaced in three days.
Therefore, Bai Gu is not very old, but he has quite a lot of experience in weaving straw sandals.
Two years ago, I thought about knitting some straw sandals and selling them in the city in exchange for food. But because I was setting up a street stall, I was begged for protection money by gangsters, chased away by pickets in the city, and forced by my strong and arrogant colleagues to set up a stall. Things happen. Even if someone comes to ask for a price, they will walk away because the quality of the straw sandals is not worth the price.
For three consecutive months, Bai Leng didn't sell a single pair of straw sandals.
Although the pampas grass weeds used for weaving straw sandals were picked from the roadside or ponds without a penny of capital, Bai Gu could not sell a pair of straw sandals for three months, which made Bai Gu no longer think about this matter. I'm thinking about it.
In addition, after spending three months thinking about selling straw sandals in exchange for money, Bai Gu couldn't think of any other way to exchange for food. As a last resort, Bai Gu had no choice but to go to Li Dashan's house in the north of the city. He took the straw sandals that no one wanted and shyly made an unreasonable request to exchange the straw sandals for food.
Li Dashan was also kind and tolerant, and generously exchanged ten yellow flour cakes for Bai Gu's ten pairs of straw sandals.
Two yellow flour cakes are worth a penny! Ten yellow flour cakes cost only five cents! They replaced Bai Gu's straw sandals that no one wanted. Bai Gu felt that it was not worth it for Li Dashan.
You know, even in those grocery stores, you can buy three pairs of good-quality and good-looking straw sandals for one penny, and it can get even cheaper if you buy more. Li Dashan spent a "big price" to get Bai Gu's straw sandals and suffered a big loss.
But even though he was embarrassed, Bai Gu still shamelessly took those yellow noodle cakes back. And in the next three months, Bai Gu went to Li Dashan's house every day to try his luck and see if he could get some food in exchange.
It was okay at first, and if I was lucky, I could still get sesame seeds. But as time went by, the servants received by Li Dashan's family became a little impatient, and regarded Bai Gu as the kind of scoundrel who begged for nothing, behaved when he got an advantage, and didn't know how to advance or retreat. The servant gradually reduced the amount of food he replaced. In the end, more than a dozen pairs of straw sandals were exchanged for four or five cold, hard black dough balls. These were the most worthless items. One penny could buy a lot of them.
People's kindness is actually like a pool of water. If you blindly give to others, your resources will dry up sooner or later.
But as soon as Bai Gu finished taking the black dough dumplings, the servant turned around and gave a few hot sesame seed cakes to the beggar behind him.
After this time, Bai Gu never went to Li Dashan's house to exchange for food, and he also gave up the idea of selling straw sandals to make money.
The servant's contemptuous eyes, the smell of hot sesame cakes, and the cold and hard touch of black dough balls made Bai Gu not want to experience it a second time.
Maybe, I am not born to do business.
Bai Gu shook his head, put aside these distracting thoughts, and concentrated on weaving the weeds in his hands.
Weeds are so tough that you will get cut if you are not careful.
The old man suddenly came over and said softly: "You kid can also knit straw sandals?"
"There's nothing we can do, otherwise we won't have shoes to wear, we won't be able to go out, and we won't have food to eat." Bai Gu lowered his head and didn't look back at the old man.
"It's very good. I have a skill and can fill my stomach." The old man said with a smile.
"I don't know how to sell anything. I just knit straw sandals to have shoes to wear."
"How about this? How about you make me a few pairs and I'll show you the way to find ginseng?" Seeing Bai Gu's puzzled look, the old man laughed and said, "No matter how cheap straw sandals are, you have to spend money to buy them. It's just right." Why wouldn’t I want free straw sandals? Besides, you also have to go find ginseng, so I’ll show you the way. Isn’t it just right?”
Bai Gu nodded, "Master Xu, have you seen that kind of purple ginseng?"
The old man stroked his beard: "Look for it, maybe there is one."
Bai Gu silently calculated in his mind, and then said: "Master Xu, I will have to trouble you for two days first."
It has been four days since I went up the mountain. If I don't come down for another three days, Brother Peng will be anxious to go up the mountain.
Two days of searching and one day of descending were just the right time.
If you really can't find it, you can decide whether to go up the mountain a second time after meeting up with Brother Peng.
Finding ginseng was indeed important, but Bai Gu didn't want anything to happen to him because of it. After all, there are two people at home, Xiaoxiao and Ayue, who need to be taken care of.
The old man took out a pipe, lit the tobacco inside, took a good sip, and blew out an unsightly smoke ring before he said: "Two days? You are so confident. You probably won't be able to find many places in two days." . How many days won’t we say more?”
Bai Gu shook his head and told what happened to Brother Peng.
"That's right." The old man took another puff of his cigarette. "Then you might as well go down the mountain now, tell Brother Peng of yours, and then come back up and look for him slowly. Wouldn't it be better?"
After braiding the last piece of weed into the sole, Bai Gu placed the braided straw shoe on the stone table, then pulled out another piece of weed and continued to weave. He kept moving his hands and pondered for a while before speaking: "I'm afraid of death. I'm afraid that a sudden heavy snowfall will block the mountain. I won't be able to go back. There will be no one to take care of my two sisters at home."
The old man was stunned for a moment, and then laughed: "Haha, I have lived on this mountain for many years, and I have seen the mountain closed countless times. What are you afraid of? At worst, I will take you in!"
"I have no money."
"Knit my straw sandals and do some work for me, and the wages will be enough to cover the rent and food."
After another silence for a while, Bai Gu said quietly: "The main reason is that I'm afraid of injuring you, and you are old. If something unexpected happens... I can't bear this responsibility."
The old man was speechless for a while. Not to mention the life experience he had accumulated at such an old age, just the experience he had gained in the past few years on the mountain. It is still possible to lead a person through the snow-capped mountains. It is not a difficult task.
Bai Gu shows a distrust of him! This is questioning his ability!
He glanced at Bai Gu and expressed his dissatisfaction.
Are you questioning my ability? underestimate me?
The latter returned the look.
Yes.
The old man twitched the corner of his mouth, you really don't believe me, I'm so good to you! Please say something nice, I'm very sad to be so direct! My little heart!
The old man was so angry that he took a deep puff of his cigarette and said, "You bastard! I have eaten more salt than you have eaten rice, and I am older than you on this mountain. Even if the mountain is blocked by heavy snow, I can still do it." Take you down the mountain!"
Bai Gu raised his head and said with a serious face: "I haven't eaten much rice since I was a child. I have only eaten rice twice and porridge five times."
"Ahem, cough." The old man choked at Bai Gu's sincere tone. The latter quickly went over to help the old man pat his back, and it took a while for the old man to recover.
The old man was left speechless by Bai Gu, and said dullly: "Today, stay here for me to knit straw sandals, as many as you can. Starting tomorrow, I will take you to patrol the mountains to find ginseng."
"Okay!" Bai Gu chuckled. Straw sandals lead the way, and he will make a profit this time.
There was just one thing he couldn't figure out.
"Master Xu, don't you think it's a loss to exchange a few pairs of straw sandals for you to spend two days with me patrolling the mountains?"
"The soles of the feet are sweaty when patrolling in the summer. Wearing cloth shoes is easy to sweat. Straw sandals are more refreshing, but they are easy to break and need to be replaced frequently, which costs money. Now there are free straw sandals, why should I not use them?" The old man paused, "Besides, no Do you have the money to treat me with straw sandals?"
This time it was Bai Gu who was speechless.
That's true, he does have no money.
Bai Gu shrugged and continued knitting straw sandals with an indifferent expression.
The old man looked at Bai Gu's open look and didn't bother to say anything. He picked up the pipe and continued to smoke.
Speechless for a moment.
In the pavilion, Bai Gu closed his eyes slightly and concentrated on knitting straw sandals. The weeds were tough and sharp, and they kept cutting small blood marks on Bai Gu's hands. Just for a short while, Bai Gu's hand seemed to be woven with a blood-red spider web.
The biting cold wind blew, and the penetrating coldness and sharp pain penetrated directly into the bone marrow.
When he couldn't bear it anymore, he ran to the snow nearby, stuck his hands in the snow, and used the biting coldness to offset the pain of the wound. By the way, it can reduce inflammation of wounds and stop bleeding and scabbing.
It's just that even though Bai Gu was gritting his teeth in pain and gasping for cold air, he still kept moving his hands, and one straw sandal after another kept appearing on the stone table.
The old man glanced at it and knocked the ashes from his cigarette: "If it hurts too much, just take a rest first. You are looking weird like this."
Bai Gu put down one of his knitted straw sandals, bared his teeth, then smiled and said a little embarrassedly: "Master Xu, please help me boil a kettle of water. I want to scald it, but my hands are stiff."
The old man glanced outside the pavilion again. It was almost noon, so he could go and cook. "Well, you wait."
When the old man went to the kitchen, Bai Gu put his hands in front of his mouth, pressed his lightly scarred palms against each other, breathed and rubbed, trying to warm his frozen hands and make him feel better.
Looking at one...two...three...fifteen, fifteen straw sandals on the stone table, Bai Gu nodded, very satisfied with the number.
At this rate, we can probably make twenty pairs of straw sandals today, which is still a little short. Leading the way up the mountain is very hard work, and he is still as old as the old man.
Even with twenty pairs of straw sandals, Bai Gu still felt that the old man was at a loss.
"Here, the hot water is here." The old man brought a basin with water mist still lingering behind it.
Just by looking at it, Bai Gu knew that the water had just been boiled. It's just that at this temperature, are you sure it won't cook immediately if you put your hand in it?
The old man knocked the ashes from his cigarette and said with a smile: "It's not hot, I mixed it with some cold water."
Mr. Bai felt that the old man's smile was a bit unreliable, so he doubtfully put his hand into the basin.
In an instant, a thrilling feeling like a wave surged from both hands to Bai Gu, causing him to gasp in pain.
Even though the pain made him jump, he didn't cry out.
The old man laughed and said, "Hahaha, you kid can really bear it without even screaming." Then he walked back to the kitchen and said, "You soak slowly, I'll cook first."
Bai Gu was completely numb now.
His hands, and even his whole body, were not only stiff from the cold wind, but also numb from the pain.
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In Lingding Alley.
Bai Xiaoxiao had just wiped Ah Yue's body and was squatting at the door to pour out the dirty water in the basin.
But as soon as she raised her head, she saw several children standing at the corner, staring at her.
Bai Xiaoxiao suddenly felt bad.
Although he is a child, he grew up in Lingding Alley, and although he is neither tall nor strong, he can no longer resist Bai Xiaoxiao, a ten-year-old girl.
Besides, there was a child inside, even taller than Bai Gu!
Just as Bai Xiaoxiao was about to stand up and run into the house, the group of children moved faster. The tallest child howled: "Hurry, catch her! She must have food at home!"
Several children jumped out, grabbed Bai Xiaoxiao before she was about to enter the door, and pressed her to the ground.
Bai Xiaoxiao struggled violently: "What are you going to do! Let me go!"
Other children swarmed in and rushed into the room behind Bai Xiaoxiao, tumbling around. After a while, several children came with a few sesame seed cakes, a shabby cotton coat and a quilt that was not too thick.
When Bai Xiaoxiao saw the cotton-padded clothes and quilts, he immediately struggled harder and harder, "Don't move! Don't take my cotton-padded clothes and quilts! Let me go! You bad guys!"
The tall kid at the head walked up and kicked Bai Xiaoxiao in the face: "Fuck you, I can do whatever I want, you have to control me." He glanced at the cotton coat on Bai Xiaoxiao's body again, He turned around and said to the child behind him: "The cotton coat she is wearing is not bad. Take it off and wear it."
Two children stepped forward to hold down Bai Xiaoxiao, preparing to take off her cotton-padded clothes.
Bai Xiaoxiao struggled even harder.
After all, they are one of the few cotton-padded clothes in the family.
This is what I left behind!
It must not be snatched away!
Thinking of this, Bai Xiaoxiao used all her strength to suck the milk, so much so that the five or six children could hardly hold her down.
When the tall kid saw this, he frowned and couldn't help but feel a little angry. He stepped forward and stepped directly on Bai Xiaoxiao's back.
The force was so fierce that it kicked up some dust under Bai Xiaoxiao's body.
Before Bai Xiaoxiao could cry out in pain, the tall child grabbed Bai Xiaoxiao's hair and pulled her head up a little. Then he punched Bai Xiaoxiao directly on the back of his head.
Several children around heard a muffled "bang" sound.
The tall kid didn't seem to be relieved yet. He threw away the other kids who were helping to hold Bai Xiaoxiao down and lifted her up.
Suffering three heavy blows to the face, back and back of the head, Bai Xiaoxiao's consciousness had begun to blur. He could not muster the strength to resist, let alone make a sound.
The tall kid picked up Bai Xiaoxiao by the back of her neck, treated her like a punching bag, and punched her abdomen several times before throwing Bai Xiaoxiao to the ground with satisfaction.
We have food and cotton-padded clothes, which is good. The tall kid was very satisfied with this action.
He raised his arms and shouted, and the other children followed him and left the hut.
Only Bai Xiaoxiao, who was covered with injuries and looked like a broken porcelain villain, was left on the ground, and A Yue, who had long since passed out on the bed, with a face as white as snow.
————————
On a snowy night, the moon is waning, so I am on the snowy peak.
Bai Gu's place of weaving straw sandals has been moved to the house. Because it was night outside, the wind and snow were heavy, and the kerosene lamp was not easy to light, so he had no choice but to go back to the house.
"Thirty-seven of them. Three more to go before we reach twenty pairs." Bai Gu grinned.
Bai Gu glanced out the window and saw that the moon had begun to set.
"It's Haishi, it's very late." The old man's voice suddenly came from the door, "I have to go find ginseng tomorrow, so go to bed early and recuperate."
"Okay, Master Xu, please go to bed early too!"
The old man stood at the door and glanced at the kerosene lamp in Bai Gu's house, wondering if there was too much kerosene.
But he didn't do much, so the old man went back to the house to rest.
The wind and snow don't stop, and the bright moon doesn't stop.
The small light in the house was on all night.
