Cheng Wanwan stood at the entrance of the courtyard.
She looked at Mrs. Zhang in front of her. Like her original self, she was a widow in the village.
However, the original person had a very bad reputation in the village, but this widow was different. She was soft-spoken and got along with everyone. When people in the village mentioned Widow Zhang, they couldn't help but praise her.
"Sister-in-law Zhao, you also know the life of my family. We have three daughters and one son, all waiting for food. There are no men in my family, so I was the one who raised me. I am a few years younger than you, and I look like I'm older than you, so life is really hard." Ms. Zhang sighed, "Sister-in-law, can you help me with your food business? Just let me help you. I can give you three to five cents a day... …”
Cheng Wanwan's face was very pale: "Three to five fen a day, why not pick up more lanterns? Two pounds of lanterns only costs 4 fen. Why do you come to me to make a plan?"
Mrs. Zhang's expression froze: "Don't I want to make a living?"
Cheng Wanwan refused lukewarmly.
The original person had never dealt with this widow at all, let alone her. How could she let an unfamiliar person attack her?
She turned around and entered the house, closing the courtyard door and then the main room door, cutting off all sight.
Mrs. Zhang gritted her teeth angrily. She offered to help out with three to five cents a day, but Sister-in-law Zhao didn't agree. This was too high a tone.
Isn’t it just a little food? Isn’t it just making a little money? Do you really think you are going to become a rich man?
She turned around and left. After taking a few steps, an arm in the corner pulled her behind the big tree. She looked over and saw that it was Zhao Fugui.
She broke away and cursed in a low voice: "What are you doing, it's not even dark, how can someone see you?"
"What are you pretending to be, you bitch? You weren't the one who hooked up with me in the first place?" Zhao Fugui grabbed her chest and squeezed it hard, "Go up the mountain or find a place casually?"
Mrs. Zhang stretched out her hand: "Give me the money, or I won't do it."
Zhao Fugui cursed and took out a penny from his waistband, then dragged Zhang into the field. After a while, he heard heavy breathing.
It was getting dark.
Cheng Wanwan and her children are still busy. Making three buckets of ice powder in the past two days will keep them busy until the end of Xu. Today, the workload has doubled, and I am afraid it will not be finished before midnight.
There were torches in the room, and she was filtering the ice powder carefully. Zhao Ergou also joined in. It would be faster for mother and son to do it together.
Zhao Sanniu helped Zhao Dashan wash the ice powder together.
Zhao Sidan and Wu Huiniang peeled out the stone flower seeds in the lantern together.
While busy, I heard Zhao Sanniu exclaim: "Brother, what's wrong with your hand?"
Cheng Wanwan put down his hands and walked over. He looked through the firelight and was shocked. Zhao Dashan's palms were all soaked white. Because of excessive force, the outer skin of the palms was rubbed open, revealing the white inner flesh. , the only good thing is that there was no blood.
For the past two hours, his hands had been soaked in the water of stone flower seeds, and the boy didn't say a word.
Cheng Wanwan pursed her lips.
It's a wonderful idea to imagine that if you sell hundreds of bowls of ice powder in a day, you can earn more than one or two yuan.
But the reality is that the more they sell, the more tired the family becomes. Today is the first day, and Dashan’s hands are almost useless.
Zhao Dashan smiled naively and said, "Mom, I'm fine, it doesn't hurt at all."
Zhao Sanniu said: "Brother, you go do other work and leave this matter to me. I have thick skin and can withstand it."
Cheng Wanwan glanced at the wooden basin beside him. There was still half a kilogram of stone flower seeds waiting to be washed. The basins in front of Dashan and Sanniu each had half a kilogram of stone flower seeds being washed.
If these tasks are not completed, the goods will not be delivered on time tomorrow. She has never been a dishonest businessman.
"Da Shan, you come and filter the ice powder." Cheng Wanwan and Zhao Dashan changed places, "There can't be any black things in the ice powder. Please be careful."
Zhao Dashan was unwilling, but could not disobey his mother's order.
Cheng Wanwan put his hand into the stone flower seed basin. It felt cool at first, but as he rubbed it, a slight pain began to spread in his palm.
She clicked on the mall and searched for plastic gloves. A pair only cost five cents. Wearing gloves to wash such things should not hurt your hands.
She picked up the wooden basin and said calmly: "It's too hot here. I'll go into the back room to wash myself."
Zhao Dashan quickly lit a torch and followed: "Mom, let me do it. I'm used to doing this..."
As soon as he put down the torch, he was kicked out by Cheng Wanwan.
She bought a pair of plastic gloves from the mall. When she put them on and rubbed them, she no longer felt the pain. She started scrubbing quickly.
After washing the tub, she walked out, took the remaining half a pound to the back room, and started rubbing it mechanically with her hands.
This is not an easy job. Even with the protection of gloves, the fingers are very sore, the wrists are very stiff and painful after repeating the same movement, and the back is sore even when sitting still. After washing all the stone flower seeds, Cheng’s bent waist cannot be straightened. Woke up.
She walked out with the wooden basin, and five pairs of big black eyes in the main room looked at her.
Zhao Dashan blamed himself to the extreme: "Mom, I am so useless."
Zhao Ergou said: "In the future, this job cannot be left to one person. The three of us take turns, each weighing a pound, so our hands will not be injured."
Zhao Sanniu nodded: "Just leave this matter to us. We can't make my mother work so hard all the time."
Cheng Wanwan felt a little worried.
At first, she only regarded her four sons as responsibilities and obligations. Unexpectedly, they actually became a family.
She will feel sorry for the injured children, and the children will be filial to her as their mother.
However, when it comes to washing stone flower seeds, you won’t see much if you wash a pound a day, but for three or four days in a row, your hands will definitely become white and peel off.
The gloves were made of rubber, a product that didn't exist in this era. She couldn't take them out openly.
Three kilograms of stone flower seeds a day, divided into at least six times of scrubbing, all by herself, she will definitely become the first time traveler in history to die from exhaustion.
If the market continues to expand in the future, the amount of stone flower seeds washed in a day will increase to five or ten pounds, and the workload will become larger and larger.
Therefore, this work must be subcontracted.
But who to ask to do it is also a matter worth thinking about.
The family of six was busy until it was almost midnight, and they finally finished making the ice powder they needed for tomorrow. Almost all six people fell asleep as soon as they hit the bed.
"Oh oh oh!"
The red rooster flew to the firewood pile and crowed, waking up the sleeping Dahe Village.
Cheng Wanwan was lying on the bed, not wanting to get up at all. Her arms were very sore and hurt when she moved, and her whole body was about to fall apart.
She glanced out the window, it was gray, it was still early, so she should squint a little longer.
She closed her eyes and continued to sleep until she heard voices outside the door, and then she got up and walked out.
It turned out that Xia Hua had arrived, carrying a large basket on her back filled with wild vegetables and weeds, and carrying a basket filled with endives in her hand. They dumped them all in the yard, and she dragged a piece of dry firewood to use as a stool to sit on. , lowered his head and started to chop wild vegetables, chopped half of them and threw them aside for the chickens and ducks to eat, and then continued to chop.
Cheng Wanwan walked over and said, "Xia Hua, enough is enough. If you feed the chickens and ducks any more, they will be exhausted."
Xia Hua raised her head and said: "Auntie, chop this half into pieces and save the chicken and duck for the afternoon. I will finish it in a while."
Cheng Wanwan sighed softly, Xia Hua is really an honest child. She agreed that she only needed to prepare a meal for the chickens and ducks. This child got up so early and actually dug two meals of wild vegetables back. These two pennies were spent. Quite worth it.
It's definitely not possible to add more money, so just leave Xia Hua for breakfast.
