Mrs. Zhao sat under the shade of the trees in the yard.
When I looked up, I saw two silly sons walking in, and they cursed angrily: "Are you drunk or just awake?"
Zhao Youyin took out the ten copper coins in his arms and said, "Mom, the wages given by my sister-in-law."
Zhao Youcai swallowed his saliva: "The work is quite simple, and my sister-in-law is so generous, she even gave me ten cents."
Mrs. Sun immediately came over and said coldly: "It's so simple. Look at these hands. The thick calluses are soaked white. If you do it for a few more days, both hands will be useless. Even ten cents is not enough to buy medicine." "
"That's okay." Mrs. Zhao nodded, "Third brother, don't go to your sister-in-law's place tomorrow. I'll find a reliable person to go to you."
Mrs. Sun smiled dryly and said, "Mom, I just complained casually. I don't really blame my sister-in-law for not being paid enough."
Hands can also be injured when doing farm work, and sometimes they are cut when chopping firewood. You don't get ten cents for this kind of work.
The old lady usually takes half of the money and confiscates it, and they can save the remaining half as private money.
Mrs. Zhao took five cents from each of her two sons and said in a low voice: "Don't delay the work in the fields by helping your sister-in-law. Take a rest and go to the fields as soon as possible. The weather is not so hot now. It’ll be more comfortable to work.”
Ms. Sun dragged her man back to her room and asked carefully: "What did my sister-in-law ask you to do? What did you do to wash your hands when they are soaked like this?"
Zhao Youcai rubbed his ears: "Sister-in-law has told me not to say anything."
Mrs. Sun secretly resented that her sister-in-law was afraid that she would teach her the recipe and would not tell her. How could she not guess it?
There are lanterns pulled back from spring flowers at home, and they are piled under the eaves. When there is time, you can pick the lanterns one by one and send them to your sister-in-law to exchange for money.
Mrs. Sun took off a lantern and played with it in her hand. She had secretly cooked two lanterns before, but there was nothing interesting about them after they were cooked.
The outer layer of the lantern was very thin, and it broke after being washed in water for a while. After peeling it off, there were brown and black seeds inside. She took the seeds and smelled them, and they had nothing to do with the smell of ice powder.
But lanterns only have these two parts, either the outer skin or the seeds inside.
Mrs. Sun has been standing under the eaves thinking about it.
On the other side, Wen and Zhao Youyin were also talking. She collected the five cents and hid them in the hole under the bed, and warned: "Sister-in-law allows you to do this job because we are all named Zhao and we are a family. Can you You have to work hard and don’t be lazy..."
Cheng Wanwan and her sons are still busy.
Although Zhao Youyin and Zhao Youcai shared two pounds of stone flower seeds, there was still one pound left to deal with. She and Zhao Sanniu each washed half a pound.
The washed ice powder is all in the wooden basin. It needs to be carefully filtered and put into the wooden barrel. This is another job that requires patience and carefulness. Zhao Sanniu cannot do it with rough lines, so Cheng Wanwan can only do it slowly by himself... ...If the business expands in the future, she is afraid that she will become more and more tired, painful and happy at the same time.
When the sun sets, the six buckets of ice powder are finally finished, and then a little sweet potato starch is stirred in, and it's done.
The main work was completed before dark, so the whole family didn't need to stay up late tonight.
Cheng Wanwan hammered his sore waist and stood up to cook.
As soon as she walked to the door, she saw a man crouching outside the yard and looking around.
She frowned and shouted: "His third aunt, what are you doing?"
Mrs. Sun was startled, stood up straight immediately, coughed and said: "I'm here to deliver the lantern, haha, sister-in-law hasn't eaten yet?"
Cheng Wanwan walked over and opened the door to the yard. She looked at the basket in Sun's hand. It was not filled with lanterns, but peeled stone flower seeds.
Her eyebrows skipped a beat. Is the third child so unreliable that he would reveal what happened here as soon as he got back?
Mrs. Sun picked up another basket on the ground, which contained the layer of smock outside the stone flower seeds. It was also full of baskets.
"Sister-in-law, these are all spoiled by winter flowers." Mrs. Sun sighed, "She had nothing to do, so she peeled out all the lanterns under the eaves. She scattered the seeds everywhere. I don't know what sister-in-law wants to do outside. As for the smock, I still want the seeds inside, so I brought them all separately."
Cheng Wanwan heard some meaning.
It seems that Zhao Youcai is not that unreliable, otherwise Sun would not bother to come and test him.
But this Mrs. Sun is really a bit clever. In order to find out the ice powder recipe, she even figured out this matter.
Using stone flower seeds as raw material to make ice powder is no secret in modern times, but not everyone can make ice powder.
Sun could be the first to figure it out, and others could also guess it. Since it wasn't a secret, there was no need for her to hide it. And after the matter was brought to light, she could tell another one. Work can be easier for the whole family.
Cheng Wanwan smiled: "It's really hard on his third aunt, we were supposed to peel it out too."
She weighed the stone flower seeds and the lantern outer garment together. They weighed two kilograms in total. She took out four copper plates and handed them over.
Mrs. Sun took the copper plate and didn't plan to leave yet. Even if she knew that the raw material was the seeds inside, she didn't know how to make ice powder.
She smiled shyly and said, "Sister-in-law, I see you are busy all day long. It takes a lot of effort to peel the lantern. How about I help you peel the seeds? I will give you the wages as long as I do."
The corners of Cheng Wanwan's lips curved: "Is it worth a penny to peel off ten kilograms of lanterns?"
Sun nodded immediately: "Okay, okay!"
When she agreed, she regretted it again. It took her less than half an hour to peel off the two pounds.
Ten kilograms of lanterns would take most of a day to pay for just one penny. This was like working for nothing!
However, as long as she can stay at my sister-in-law's house for a day or two, she will definitely learn how to make ice powder secretly, and then she will make it herself and sell it.
How could Cheng Wanwan not understand her thoughts?
There are more than a dozen people in Lao Zhao's family, but such a strange thing happened, which is still within the range of her tolerance.
Although Mrs. Sun is careless, her relationship with Zhao Youcai is not bad and should last a lifetime. In other words, as long as she does not leave Dahe Village, she will deal with Mrs. Sun, her sister-in-law, for the rest of her life.
Instead of letting Mr. Sun have to deal with it every day, it is better to find something for Mr. Sun to do.
Cheng Wanwan said: "Our yard is narrow, so his third aunt may have to peel it over at the old house and bring it over."
Sun's face instantly turned green.
She was given a penny to work, and she was not allowed to stay here to steal from others. She would not do such a loss-making business.
Cheng Wanwan continued: "I plan to ask his second aunt to help me collect the lantern. After the lantern is put away, I will ask his third aunt to help me peel it out. However, one penny for ten pounds is really too little. Two How about a penny per pound?"
Just now, it was ten kilograms for one penny, and now it was two kilograms for one penny. This sense of surprise made Mr. Sun grin from ear to ear.
She originally wanted to inquire about ice powder recipes, but now she feels that peeling lanterns is quite profitable. It is not a difficult job, and you can do it sitting or lying down. You can also ask Donghua to do it together. My sister-in-law can probably earn two in a day. Thirty kilograms, if you peel it all off, it will cost you ten to fifteen cents.
Sun couldn't wait and agreed.
The corner of Cheng Wanwan's mouth evoked a hint of deep meaning. This was what Sun asked for.
She closed the courtyard door and went to the old house with Mrs. Sun to tell Mrs. Wen about collecting the lanterns.
