Autumn is getting stronger and stronger.
The autumn planting in Dahe Village is slowly coming to an end.
After the autumn planting is over, the busiest time of the year is over. The next month or so is about preparing for the winter. In addition to repairing farm tools, we also need to repair the roof, cut more firewood, make backpacks, and store dry vegetables. Mending winter clothes... In order to make more money, some men will take this time to go to the town to find some hard work, and they can make a little bit.
Cheng Wanwan is also busy making winter clothes at home.
This work was assigned by Wu Huiniang, Cao Yingying assisted from the side, and Ah Fu also helped cut the fabrics. There were too many people in the family, and it would take at least a month for one person to make a winter coat.
Zhao Dashan and Zhao Sanniu are responsible for cutting firewood every day. The firewood for a whole winter is not only used for cooking, but also for burning earthen kangs. Therefore, the more dry firewood the better, these two people have no time to relax in the mountains every day. when.
Cheng Wanwan called Zhao Ergou over: "Now go to the village and ask who has extra adobes and buy them all."
After their family finished building their house last time, they still had about a thousand pieces of adobe left, but this was far from enough.
Zhao Ergou asked: "Mom, what are you buying adobe for?"
Cheng Wanwan said, "Is the soap I gave you a few days ago good for use?"
"It's very useful!" Zhao Ergou nodded vigorously, "I wash my hands, shower and wash my hair very cleanly. Mom, what are you doing..."
He seemed to have guessed what his mother was going to do.
Cheng Wanwan took out a sandbox and drew on it with a tree stick.
"This is our home, with the mountain on the right and the land bought by your eldest brother on the left. There are three or four acres in total. We are going to grow some vegetables that are commonly eaten at home. I plan to build a production house in the middle of this vegetable field. Soap workshop." She laughed, "Because you have to burn firewood all day long to make this thing, so we will build a greenhouse outside to grow vegetables that are only available in spring and summer..."
With this greenhouse, you can eat other fresh vegetables in winter.
Of course, this is not the focus. The focus is to build the soap workshop as soon as possible. This is the most critical thing at the moment.
"There are about four soap workshops. This one is used to boil lard, this one is used to filter plant ash, this one is blended and stirred, and this one is used to solidify... Four rooms are still too few." Cheng Wan He bent his chin and thought, "In the future, various fragrances will be added, and it would be best to have a unique mark engraved on the soap... Then build eight rooms. Calculate how many adobes are needed, and then each household will buy them." "
People in the village have the habit of accumulating adobe bricks. If they don’t build a house at this time, it will be impossible to build adobe again this year, which can be used by their families.
"After buying the adobe, ask which men in the village are free and ask them to come over and help build the house. The same price as before is thirty cents a day." Cheng Wanwan said with a smile, "It would be best to find thirty men. It will be completed in five or six days.”
Zhao Ergou suppressed the excitement in his heart, stood up and went out to do things.
Cheng Wanwan took out a piece of rough paper and started drawing on it with a brush. This time, he drew a mold picture, which is the most common square shape of soap in later generations. It is slightly concave in the middle for ease of use. It is not slippery when held in hand.
After drawing the model drawings, she started thinking about the logo.
Any modern product will have the manufacturer's unique brand imprint. Since she wants to open a workshop and do big business, she must establish brand awareness.
She wrote four words on the paper: "Dahe Zhao family."
Two lines are underlined under this line, which is regarded as the big river in Dahe Village.
She was very satisfied with the brand name and shouted: "Zhao'er, come here."
When there was no class, Cheng Zhao would read in the room. When his aunt called him, he put down the book and walked out.
He saw the four words on the rough paper and silently looked away.
My aunt is good at everything, but her calligraphy is not good-looking, worse than Zhao Sanniu... But my aunt can write without going to school, which is already much better than many women in the village.
Cheng Wanwan was also very helpless. She was used to writing with a hard pen. The brush was soft and it was in traditional Chinese characters. It was very difficult for her to write.
She put the brush into Cheng Zhao's hand: "Just write these four words again, and add the two lines that represent the river."
Cheng Zhao always used his twelve minds to do the things that his aunt asked him to do.
He spread out the paper and took the brush, but he didn't start writing.
Cheng Wanwan didn't rush him. This nephew could write and draw, so he would definitely live up to her expectations.
After Cheng Zhao thought for a while, he dipped his pen in ink and started writing on the paper. He did not write horizontally, but two characters up, down, left and right, and the two lines representing the river passed through the four characters. Winding up to the northeast, they were obviously just two simple black lines, but when he casually outlined and bent them, they became inexplicably majestic, with a kind of positive beauty.
"Zhao'er, you are so amazing!"
Cheng Wanwan's eyes shone. Zhao'er expressed all the feeling she wanted. These few words were so perfect.
She took two drawings and walked to Lao Zhao's house in a hurry.
Old man Zhao is weaving baskets in the yard. Bamboo is all over the mountain. After weaving it into bamboo utensils and selling them in the town, he can also sell them for some copper coins.
"Dad!" Cheng Wanwan came in quickly and placed two drawings in front of the old man, "Can you make these two things?"
Old Man Zhao picked up the two pieces of paper and looked at them carefully: "It's not difficult to make this boxy thing, but how do you make these words?"
"It's just like making a seal. The words and pictures must be reversed." Cheng Wanwan said, "You can try making one with a radish first. If it doesn't work, I'll go to the town to find someone to do it."
"Okay, of course!" Old Man Zhao responded, "Give me two days and I'll definitely figure it out for you."
Cheng Wanwan knew that the old man loved to study as he got older, so she smiled and said: "There's no need to be in such a hurry, just make a show of it in three days."
Old man Zhao didn't ask her what she wanted to do. Anyway, this daughter-in-law had always been reliable and accomplished whatever she did... Of course, he had automatically forgotten how generous his eldest daughter-in-law was.
When Cheng Wanwan returned home, many people from the village came to deliver adobe bricks. She asked Chunhua to help count them, while she counted them and settled the money on the spot.
Every household in the village bought adobe bricks worth about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, and they were all stacked in the open space next door.
The next morning, Zhao Ergou found 30 men who were starting work. These men were all people who had not found a job in the town. They didn't have much serious work at the end of the day. They could find a job of 30 cents a day in the village. It was a piece of pie-in-the-sky work. They didn’t ask why Cheng Wanwan’s family wanted to build another house, they just rolled up their sleeves and started working with their heads down.
Building a house this time is different from the previous ones. The adobe walls are built diagonally, and many ventilation holes must be left. Because soap making requires high-temperature work, there are no holes for air to escape. If people stay in the house for a long time, they will easily suffer from physical problems. …
In addition to building walls, we also need to build a large stove for the fire, one in the middle of the room, according to the size of the pot.
This pot was a steel pot that Cheng Wanwan bought in the mall. Steel products were also available in this dynasty, but she didn't know where to buy them for a while, so she went to Zuixianlou to check out, and then brought back four big No one in the village said anything about steel pots... After all, even a horse-drawn carriage could afford it. It was just a few pots, and it didn't have the shock of a horse-drawn carriage.
