When Cheng Wanwan got home, it was still early.
The kennel has been made, a few simple wooden boards, covered with thatch and hay underneath.
The injured Xiao Hei was put inside to recuperate, while Da Hei ran around in the yard, scaring the chickens and ducks so much that they huddled in the corner and shivered.
Zhao Sidan shouted angrily: "If you keep chasing chickens and ducks, you won't be allowed to eat at night."
Da Hei immediately gave in and obediently went into his kennel, occupying one side with Xiao Hei and barely coexisting peacefully.
At this moment, Xia Hua came over and helped to wrap hay in the yard. This was a new job Cheng Wanwan assigned her. After wrapping the hay, she would then lay the chopped firewood at home neatly, and she could earn two cents a day.
Xia Hua doesn't like to talk, she just keeps her head down and works.
Zhao Sidan drove the ducks to the fields to eat, but there were too many ducks. He was a little confused. In the end, Cheng Wanwan couldn't stand it anymore and helped him drive the ducks down to the ground.
Zhao Sidan put the ducks and dug wild vegetables at the same time, and also took care of the chicken's food.
Cheng Wanwan was filtering ice powder in the house and needed to make seven buckets today.
While she was busy, Xia Hua suddenly rushed in from outside the house: "Auntie, a carriage stopped at the door!"
Cheng Wanwan quickly wiped her hands and walked out, and sure enough she saw the carriage.
However, this carriage is not as luxurious as the magistrate's car, but even if it is not luxurious, it is still a rare thing in Dahe Village.
In just a moment, all the people working nearby gathered around.
A man jumped out of the car. Cheng Wanwan knew him as shopkeeper Zheng from Rujia Restaurant in Ping'an Town.
Shopkeeper Zheng walked towards Cheng Wanwan: "Sister-in-law Zhao's house is really easy to find. I finally found it."
Cheng Wanwan smiled and said: "Today's ice powder has been delivered this morning. I wonder why shopkeeper Zheng is here now?"
"Half an hour ago, the county magistrate, along with dozens of government servants and a dozen men, suddenly came to our Rujia Restaurant and ordered ice powder as soon as he opened his mouth." Shopkeeper Zheng sighed, "Ice powder is delivered early in the morning. We went, almost all were sold at noon, how could there be anything left for the county magistrate, but the magistrate specifically asked for it, so I had no choice but to come in person, I wonder if there is any left at Sister-in-law Zhao’s house?"
Cheng Wanwan raised his eyes: "The county magistrate has returned to Ping'an Town?"
Shopkeeper Zheng laughed: "Listening to their discussion, it seems that they have found some kind of water source. The rice in the fields may be saved. This is a good thing, a huge good thing!"
"Then shopkeeper Zheng, wait for a while, I'll go in and get the ice powder."
Cheng Wanwan went into the house, took out the sweet potato starch from the cabinet, and stirred it into a bucket of filtered ice powder.
She filled a larger wooden bucket with water and put a bucket of ice powder into it to weigh it down with water, which would speed up the solidification.
She told Shopkeeper Zheng: "It will take about half an hour for the carriage to go all the way to Ping'an Town. If it hasn't condensed into lumps, let it go for a while."
Shopkeeper Zheng was very grateful and wanted to pay immediately.
Cheng Wanwan glanced at the crowd watching the excitement outside the yard and said with a smile, "It's not too late to check out tomorrow morning."
A bucket of ice powder costs one hundred bowls, which is one hundred coins. It's not much money, but when so many people come in and receive a bunch of copper coins, it's easy to make people jealous.
Shopkeeper Zheng understood what this meant, cupped his hands, picked up the ice powder bucket and left quickly.
As soon as he left, people gathered around the door and rushed in.
"Da Shan Niang, is that shopkeeper Zheng from Rujia Restaurant just now?"
"I thought Dashan Niang was doing a small business, but it turned out she was doing business with a big shot like Shopkeeper Zheng."
"Da Shan Niang is incredible. No wonder she has money to buy so many chickens and ducks to keep. Hey, he also feeds two dogs. This family doesn't have to worry about food and drink."
These women were so envious that their words had a sour taste.
"What kind of money do you have? For a little loss-making business, no one is doing any work in the fields!" Old Mrs. Zhao suddenly squeezed in and cursed, "Boss, wife, I don't think you need to do this business. Look at you. In my rice field, the weeds are nearly as tall as one person. Wait for someone else to harvest the grain in half a month, and you can collect a pile of grass and feed it to the chickens!"
Everyone looked back at the rice fields. They didn't see the tall weeds, but they saw little ducks flapping around.
Driving the ducks into the rice fields, isn't this a waste of food? I originally thought Dashan Niang was a lot more reliable, but why did she start doing things that were out of tune again?
Standing on the outside, Mrs. Sun gritted her teeth angrily.
The old lady was telling lies with her eyes open. If the sister-in-law didn't make any money, how could she give her man such a high salary?
Afraid that her sister-in-law would be jealous of the villagers, the old lady even made up a lie.
She insisted on telling everyone that the sister-in-law had made money, and it didn't look like the old lady was still talking nonsense.
Mrs. Sun squeezed in with a basket of stone flower seeds: "Sister-in-law, the twenty-four kilograms of lanterns collected yesterday have been peeled out. How much do you think they cost?"
Cheng bent over and paid her twelve cents.
Sun deliberately counted them one by one.
The people in the village were shocked. Just peeling such a basket of seeds costs twelve cents?
Can these seeds make a bucket of ice powder?
They thought that Dashan Niang had made a lot of money. After all, a bowl of ice powder costing two or three pennies was not much profit at all.
In their opinion, Dashan Niang is just too lazy. If she picks lanterns and peels seeds by herself, all these costs can be saved and it will be a net profit.
Dashan Niang is just a little lazy, so they can take the opportunity to make some money.
A woman said: "It turns out that Dashan Niang collects the seeds in the lanterns. My two girls have nothing to do all day long, so I just let them peel them and deliver them over. What do you think?"
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Sun was stunned.
It was different from what she imagined. Shouldn't the villagers find out how much money the sister-in-law made?
She immediately defended her interests: "This job is mine, no one is allowed to take it away."
"My rich daughter-in-law, you don't want to hear what you are saying. Everyone has the skills, so how can it be your job alone? You can't win with just one hand, can you? Dashan Niang's business is so good, even shopkeeper Zheng I came to get the goods in person, you are too slow, what if the goods are out of stock?"
"That's right, Dashan Niang, I can also peel the seeds and send them to you, is that possible?"
Sun was almost angry to death.
She was trying to plot against her sister-in-law, how could she let these people compete with her for work.
She wanted to say something else, but Mrs. Zhao gave her a cold look: "It's not easy for your sister-in-law to do some business, but you can't let me delay you. You can't make ends meet by yourself, and others can help with this business." Only then can we continue doing it for a long time.”
Cheng Wanwan laughed a little.
The old lady had just scolded her for doing a loss-making business, but now she was worried that the business would not last long.
Her mother-in-law is really getting cuter and cuter.
Without even looking at Mrs. Sun, she said to everyone: "Lanterns cost two cents per catty, and peeled lantern seeds cost ten cents per catty. No matter what they are, send them to the old house for liquidation."
The villagers quickly calculated their accounts and found that about four kilograms of lanterns can peel out one kilogram of seeds. In other words, they will be paid two cents for peeling four kilograms and one penny for two kilograms. This price is very fair. Peeling seeds is not a big deal anyway. It is actually a day's hike up the mountain. I can only pick up a lantern weighing about one or two kilograms, and it doesn’t take more than an hour to peel it all off. Who would think of such a good thing?
"Da Shan Niang is such a cheerful person."
"I'll go back and ask the children to peel out the seeds quickly."
Mrs. Sun's eyes widened suddenly. Although she had earned the money very hard, she had indeed earned it.
But now, even this hard work is gone.
Mrs. Zhao glared at her fiercely and cursed: "You deserve it!"
The people watching at the door had no intention of laughing at Mr. Sun. They had to quickly send their children to go up the mountain to collect more lanterns, peel the seeds, and exchange them for money.
In the crowd, a pair of eyes stared at Cheng Wanwan jealously. It was Zhang, the widow of the village.
