"If you can't blend them together, what if you let them dry? Then apply a layer of tung oil on the outside. I remember that on the printing plate of our banknotes, didn't you just apply tung oil on it? I just don't know how to do it. Can you light it up after you lick it? It should be fine, right?"
Shen Luzhu suddenly thought of oil painting. After the paint dries, apply a layer of varnish on top, which can not only protect the color of the paint, but also add luster. Although the two properties are different, it should still be possible to add a little luster through this. .
"Yes, but if you use a large amount, it may not be easy to buy in the future."
Tung oil is squeezed from the seeds of the tung tree. This tree likes the sun but is intolerant of water and moisture. It can only grow in a few warm and dry south areas and is very precious. Only a few state capitals in Daqian can plant large quantities of tung oil, so tung oil is not only not cheap, but can only be purchased in large quantities by shipyards and paint factories licensed by the imperial court.
Ordinary people want to buy, not only the price is much higher, but also relying on luck. Even so, they can only buy a small amount. Therefore, the price of Daqian paint is also very high. This is also an important reason why many ordinary people do not paint their coffins. .
Ningchuan Prefecture is located in the northernmost part of Daqian. This kind of tree does not grow naturally, so compared to other places, this tung oil is more difficult to buy.
"The ones at home were bought by chance when my third uncle went to the south in the early years. There are still a lot of them. A Zhu can use them first, and then we can think of a solution." Chu Yi rubbed his wife's head soothingly.
"It's better not to use it. Let's think of other ways. Anyway, the shop is not particularly anxious to get new ones. The worst thing is that they won't be oiled. In fact, it's not that big of a difference."
"Okay, listen to my A-Zhu."
The matter of gold and silver ingots had to be put on hold for the time being. The paper money shop opened again in March. There was still some time before the Qingming Festival, so the work in the shop was not too busy.
That day, Shen Luzhu was looking at the shop and teaching Xiu Xiu a new embroidery pattern when he saw his aunt Wang hurried into the yard. This was the first time Wang came to her door since the temple fair!
Grandma Chu had been waiting patiently for Mrs. Wang for half a month. She was so anxious that she didn't dare to mention it to anyone else. She looked forward to the stars and the moon, so much that the bubbles at the corner of her mouth started to form. But then Mrs. Wang came!
"Why did you come back? That's your son, why are you so unhurried and unhurried! Did you get the things back?" Grandma Chu pulled Wang into the main room. Seeing that there was no one around, she dared to scold Wang. .
"Auntie, how can I not be in a hurry? I'm almost dying! But after all, this thing was given to Mr. Li. I can't think of any reason why I can't go up and grab it!"
Mrs. Wang hurriedly went to the town to get the pendant. She thought that even if she couldn't return on the same day, she would be able to return to the village in three or four days, but she didn't expect to be away for nearly half a month. She really couldn't think of anything good. For this reason, coupled with the current situation of the Li family, Wang opened her mouth several times and swallowed it back.
"Did you get it back?"
Mrs. Wang took out the pendant from her sleeve and handed it to Grandma Chu: "In the end, I really had no choice but to make up a lie and blame it all on my mother's family. I said my brothers over there were shouting for separation. At home, my sister-in-law knew there was such a thing, so she insisted on taking it back and redistributing it! Mrs. Li reluctantly gave it to me. Because of this, I am no longer a human being inside or outside! "
"Then who are you relying on? It's not because of your own greed. You even boasted that it was passed down from your natal family. If you don't blame your natal family, then where can you blame it?"
Mrs. Wang was speechless by Grandma Chu, and she just prayed that her mother-in-law wouldn't find out about this!
The most important thing right now is to return this hot potato as soon as possible. Grandma Chu didn't want to say more, she just said: "Since you got it back, why don't you return it as soon as possible?"
"Auntie, the Cui family hasn't been around for that long. We can't throw this pendant on her grave. If we lose it again, she will rely on us again..." Mrs. Wang is indeed afraid. The main reason is, But she didn't dare to go to Mrs. Cui's grave to pay it back. Who knows if Mrs. Cui would do something else because she was angry!
"Then what do you mean?"
"My daughter-in-law is thinking, how about we return it to Chu Yi? It would be appropriate to return his mother-in-law's things to him!"
Grandma Chu rolled her eyes at Mrs. Wang, and regretted more and more that she had married this stupid woman to her boss: "Repay Chu Yi? How did you tell him that you stole his grandma's belongings back then? Are you crazy!" "
"Of course we can't explain it clearly. Auntie, let's help my daughter-in-law think of a way to give this thing to Chu Yi without letting him suspect us. If he knows about it, it will not only be me, but also you, Aniang." You have to be blamed!"
Mrs. Wang had no idea and could only hold on to Grandma Chu. If she couldn't hide this matter, she couldn't just be scolded!
Grandma Chu was so angry with Mrs. Wang, but there was nothing she could do to her. The only hope now was to come up with a good excuse that would not make Chu Yi suspicious and return this thing to him. Otherwise, the longer it was delayed, the more he would do to Chu Yi. The more benevolent it is, the worse it will be!
In the next two days, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law would get together alone and murmur when nothing happened. I don't know if they came up with any good solutions. I only know that at dinner on the seventh day of March, Grandma Chu suddenly said that there would be a general cleaning of the whole family the next day.
Before anyone else could say anything, Mr. Chu was the first to vote against: "We are busy with spring plowing right now, why bother with it?"
Grandma Chu did not listen to Grandpa Chu as usual: "It's not that the weather is getting warmer, so we have to tidy up. You men should be busy at home. Mrs. Shen should also go to your shop. The boss and his wife will come back to help, plus Come on me and Xiuxiu, that’s enough!”
The matter of cleaning was settled at Chu Grandma's insistence. The next day, Mrs. Wang came to the old house to help with the cleaning, as Grandma Chu said.
Chu Yi was making coffins in the backyard, while Shen Luzhu was in a daze in the shop, thinking that it looked like the aunt and grandma were going to take action.
The aunt helped clean up the house all morning. We had lunch together in the old house at noon. The elders drank tea in the main room. Shen Luzhu and Chu Yi went back to the house to rest. As soon as he entered the house, he saw a blue handkerchief on the kang cabinet, and it seemed that there was something wrapped in it.
Chu Yi stepped forward and opened the veil, and saw that inside was the relic of Chu Yi's mother-in-law Cui. The pendant was inlaid with silver and looked like a poached egg. Chu Yi held it in his hand for a long time and then stepped forward to hug it. Former wife.
"Thank you, my A-Zhu!"
Shen Luzhu hugged Chu Yi back and patted his back: "I told you I would get it back for you!"
The story goes back to gold and silver ingots. When the young couple were looking for colored paper and paint in a shop in the town, they met an old man with a goatee who was setting up a fortune-telling stall on the street.
The old man stopped the young couple who had just left the shop and said that he was looking at Mian Shan and wanted to make a fortune for the two of them. Shen Luzhu was so tall and he had never seen it with his own eyes. He was naturally a little curious and took two steps forward. , struck up a conversation.
"How much money does it cost to tell a fortune?"
The old man touched his beard and said with a smile: "For fortune-telling, only one hundred coins are taken. However, changing one's luck and solving problems have to be calculated separately. It depends on the size of the matter and the loss of cultivation."
Shen Luzhu looked at Chu Yi beside him and sat down on the chair in front of the stall: "Can everything be solved?"
"Girl, you might as well talk and listen first."
"I don't count, and I won't do it here. Sir, can you go to the place I told you to calculate for others? I'll give you two taels of silver."
Hearing this, the old man with the goatee sat upright and looked at Shen Luzhu for a long time: "I will not do anything that is harmful to nature or murdering people!"
"Sir, you misunderstood. I only need you to say four words to that person. As for the rest, I will not interfere."
"What four words?"
"Return the property to its original owner!"
The old man stroked his goatee and suddenly smiled: "Don't worry, girl, I will help you find the lost thing, but I also want you to tell me the details about the thief!"
"It's natural."
But having said that, the old man with the goatee was quite capable. Shen Luzhu just told him about the general appearance of his uncle and that on February 19, they would go to Qichan Temple to take the imperial examination for Chu Ren. The son asks for fortune. When the time came that he would need to make a fortune for the eldest uncle at the temple fair, the old man followed this piece of information and swayed the eldest uncle and Grandma Chu, making them believe in it. It was really amazing!
I forgot where I saw it in my previous life. The fortune tellers who set up stalls were actually masters in psychology and linguistics!
After lunch, the eldest uncle Wang not only did not leave, but also stayed in the main room to drink tea together. Shen Luzhu guessed that she was afraid that she and Chu Yi would find something and ask, so she thought of an excuse and waited for them in the main room. Woolen cloth!
In this case, since the play had to be performed in full, they naturally had to go to the main room to ask questions.
Shen Luzhu took the things and went to the main room with Chu Yi: "Grandma, grandson's wife just returned to the house and found this on the kang cabinet, but who left it in our house?"
Grandma Chu and Mrs. Wang had already thought about the words, and said calmly: "Well, when I was cleaning up the house, I found this from the crack under the cabinet, and I put it on the cabinet in your house. !”
"But this pendant doesn't belong to grandson's wife. I've never seen it before. Did grandma make a mistake? Could it be the aunt who dropped it? This veil looks familiar to me. The aunt seemed to have a similar one before. Up?"
After saying that, Shen Luzhu stretched out his hand and put both the handkerchief and the pendant in front of Wang's eyes: "Auntie, look at it, do you recognize it?"
When Wang saw the pendant, she backed away as if she had seen something terrible: "No, it's not mine."
"Auntie, I haven't even read it yet..."
Grandma Chu stopped Shen Luzhu's hand: "If it doesn't belong to you, then it belongs to your mother-in-law. Your house originally belongs to the second son and his wife. Take it back and keep it quickly."
"So that's it, then my granddaughter-in-law accepted it."
It wasn't until the young couple left the main room and disappeared behind the door of the east wing that the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law breathed a sigh of relief, then sent the hot potato back.
While he breathed a sigh of relief, he couldn't help but dream about the good days ahead. After returning the things, the bad luck should be gone. Now the family's bad luck should be gone. Chu Ren's road to the imperial examination should go smoothly. After all, he is a school teacher and a fortune teller. Double approved!
Maybe he will be able to go to high school again in August this year, and the day when the Chu family will be proud of their family name may be coming soon!
After March 20th, more and more people came to Chu's shop to buy paper money, and the life of the young couple became busy again.
Shen Luzhu's copper coins and burning paper have been sold for almost a year, and are becoming more and more popular in several nearby villages. After the Spring Festival, various aunts and daughters-in-law visited relatives and friends in each village to promote it, and their reputation spread further and further. , in the days before Qingming Festival, people from further villages came to buy from time to time!
The business is getting better and better. The Chu and Shen families, as well as people like Zhao Cheng and Chu Ping, are very happy. Most of the people in the village are also sighing. In less than a year, the Chu family has begun to falter. , Now let’s talk about the Chu family who bought coffins in the mountain village. Apart from the unlucky things that happened to his family in the past few years, no one can say that Chu Yi and his wife are capable people!
But this is the way it is today, there are always some happy and some sad. The better the business of the paper money shop, the more depressed some people are, such as the cousin Chu Fang, and those who have discussed marriage with Chu Yi and Shen Luzhu.
As soon as Aunt Xie bought paper money from the other side of the river and returned to the village, she was stopped by Granny Ai, who was washing clothes on the bank: "Hey, Aunt Xie, are you going to the other side to buy burning paper?"
"Where is Ai's sister-in-law doing laundry? It's Qingming Festival, buy some burning paper!"
Aunt Zhang, who was washing clothes nearby, added: "The little daughter-in-law of the Chu family, Mrs. Shen, is half your niece in terms of relatives. Why do you have to spend money to buy some burning paper?"
The women in the village just love to talk. Aunt Xie's family doesn't care about the family's shortcomings. .”
The man of Xie's aunt is the younger brother of Shen Luzhu's maternal aunt, Xie. If one must make a conclusion, he is indeed Shen Luzhu's elder.
Mrs. Ai put down the mallet in her hand: "Let me tell you, you really made a mistake. Those matchmakers helped Erlang of the Chu family negotiate with so many girls' families. Didn't you all think that they were poor and sluggish? Too many. Look at the result now. People are getting up, and they have to have some skills. You see, this business is booming. I just don’t have a daughter. If I have one, I will take this son-in-law! Hey, he thanks Auntie, I remembered that the matchmaker also came to your house, and she was talking about the third girl, right?"
