As the head of this half of the family, Yi Niang spoke first and said: "Third brother, didn't our family earn a lot of money by relying on your method of burning charcoal? How about we continue to burn charcoal now?" ?”
"The charcoal burning was originally done by my brother Zhao, and then we sold it to Xiatinglou. It happened to be last winter, and the Xiatinglou collected charcoal for use in the guest rooms. Now that the weather is getting warmer, Xiatinglou The pavilion probably won’t be able to collect much, and if we continue to use the charcoal-burning method, we will definitely not be able to sustain it.”
"Then let's continue burning charcoal?" Yi Niang listened to Liang Chuan's words. She didn't have any other skills. She could only do housework or help Liang Chuan chop some firewood, but she couldn't make any money from these.
"Burn!" Liang Chuan answered simply and firmly. "Don't underestimate charcoal. There are many trees in the south, so it is easy and convenient to burn it. But in the north, there are mostly plains, with many people and few trees, so charcoal is a rare item. In winter, the heavy snow starts to fall like feathers. , It’s freezing cold, and charcoal is a valuable thing.”
"Do you mean to sell the charcoal to the north?" Ye Xiaochai was smart and reacted immediately.
Liang Chuan felt that Ye Xiaochai had a better brain than the rest of them and had seen more of the world. He said happily: "Yes, we want to sell to the north, but there are too many restrictive factors now. We have no sales channels and rely on the current confusion. The charcoal produced by the mud craft is like playing house, and it is far from enough to meet the cost. It is not enough to transport it to the north and sell it."
Several people fell silent because they had never considered this issue. Moreover, when they were burning charcoal, there were only three people, Liang Chuan Zhaodi and Yi Niang. As for the three of them, they had no contact with each other and didn't know how normal it was.
Liang Chuan continued: "After the house is built, I will ask the master to help build a charcoal kiln. It will be made of bricks. This way, we don't have to play with mud every day, and we will burn much more charcoal at once. We have charcoal." Save it, and when winter comes, there will be many merchants heading north, and by then we will earn enough money from these merchants, and we will have enough for food."
Firewood is quite easy to use, but in the late Song Dynasty, in several big cities such as Dabianliang, coal will replace this fuel. Because coal has a high calorific value and a large amount of mining, it is better than destroying forests and burning charcoal. The cost was lower, and the court also encouraged the use of charcoal. But at present, the several coal-matching charcoal mining areas that Liang Chuan knows are quite far away from Fengshan. Being a matchmaking boss is still a dream.
"Third brother, what should I do if I can't burn the charcoal now? Do you have any other ideas?" Zhaodi asked.
"I remember the last time we were in Dafushan, Xiaochai said that Sister Yang and Sister Li have a craft. I wonder what kind of craft they are?"
A group of people looked at Sister Yang and Sister Li curiously. They had always been people with a low sense of presence. Now everyone looked at them, but they felt uncomfortable.
Yang Xiu's face turned slightly red and she said with a smile: "My boss, please don't call me Sister Yang. My name is Yang Xiu. My family has always been a pickle maker. I learned how to pickle vegetables from my father when I was a child. I watched There aren't many people in this place who have sauce jars for pickling vegetables in their front yards. If the owner doesn't dislike it, I will bring this skill to life in the future."
Pickles? Liang Chuan first asked: "The pickling method passed down by your family is the kind of pickling where you sprinkle salt on the vegetables and put them in a jar, or is it?"
Yang Xiu said: "That's not the case. It's also called pickled vegetables, but it's very salty. Don't eat too much. If you eat too much, you'll get stoned and wet easily."
"Shi, Lin?"
"I just have a stone in my stomach and can't urinate..."
Liang Chuan instantly understood that this stone and Lin were stones. Pickled vegetables contain more oxalic acid and calcium. The acidity of pickled vegetables is high. When eaten, oxalic acid will not be easily excreted in the stomach. Instead, a large amount of oxalic acid will be absorbed and deposited in the body to form stones.
"So what are your pickles like?" Liang Chuan asked curiously. Yang Xiu said that this is a craft, and it shouldn't be simple.
Yang Xiu said slowly: "My ancestors were deserters when Emperor Taizu invaded Shuchuan. It turned out that when he came out, he didn't have any skills. He knew the unique pickled vegetables of Shuchuan. Our ancestors discovered it. Not many people in Sichuan know how to make these pickles, so we set up a shed, bought sauce jars, and started selling pickles. As a result, over the next several generations, life got better and better. We passed on this craft."
Liang Chuan was overjoyed. The pickles mentioned by Yang Xiu must be Sichuan pickles. He couldn't help but swallowed when he heard the term. Sichuan pickles are famous and unique to Sichuan. Liang Chuan's brother who slept in the upper bunk at university in his previous life was from Mianyang, Sichuan. Every time he returned home during holidays, he would bring a few jars of home-pickled pickles to share with Liang Chuan. Liang Chuan was responsible for going to the cafeteria to get two bowls of white rice, and the two of them could eat it all off their tongues with just the kimchi. They ate too much and finished it within a few days. As a result, they couldn't get enough of it, so the two of them made kimchi by themselves in the cafeteria.
"Later, my father-in-law heard that someone at Shibo Company in Qingyuan County was selling a very pungent and strong spicy pepper. It would taste even better when added to pickles, so my husband and I prepared to go to Qingyuan County to see it. Let’s see what this pepper tastes like. When I arrived in Xinghua, I encountered a big fly..."
Yang Xiu spoke excitedly and uprightly, and almost told her what happened to her in Dafushan last year. Liang Chuan was afraid that she would think of the previous hellish experience, so he quickly stopped Yang Xiu.
The mention of kimchi made Liang Chuan think back to his past life that he could not go back to, and he fell into deep contemplation. Yi Niang looked at Liang Chuan who was lost in thought alone, shook him, and pulled Liang Chuan back.
A group of people were laughing at Liang Chuan. How could he be distracted while talking? His dazed look was a bit funny. Liang Chuan reacted and said sarcastically: "Sister Yang talked about the pickles from their hometown, which reminded me of some past events. Everyone laughed, what did you just say?"
Yang Xiu continued: "Speaking of my family's ancestral pickles, they are different from other places."
"Yes! I've tasted the pickles from Shuchuan. It's a craft. Sister Yang, let's find a chance to search on the streets to see what raw materials are needed. We can buy them to make pickles. It's a way to make pickles."
The catering industry is always a profitable business. Although the profit is not much, it is very stable, just like Yang Xiu introduced his ancestors. Although his ancestors were deserters, they were still able to support their family business by selling pickles, and they even prospered. Although selling kimchi is not the main business now, it can definitely pass the time and even become a source of income. A steady flow of water, a small amount of money adds up to a large sum, and this is not how our great achievements are accumulated.
Now that I have a way out, my mind is a little calmer. Liang Chuan looked at Sister Li next to Yang Xiu. After Sister Li experienced the incident in Dafushan, she was timid. She only smiled with others and seldom spoke, as if her heart was completely closed.
"Sister Li? Do you want to talk too?"
"Li Erhua." If Yang Xiu's voice is as outgoing and carefree as her craftsmanship, Li Erhua's character is the gentleness and tenderness of a southern girl. Even her voice is thin and continuous, and she returns her favor. Name, without saying any more unnecessary words.
"Sister Erhua, tell me?"
"I can weave bamboo..." Li Erhua didn't even raise her face, like a child who made a mistake and buried his head low.
Another surprise! On the mountain behind He Lu, there was a large bamboo forest. From the first day Liang Chuan met it, he kept thinking about how to make use of this land of wealth. He didn't expect that God would give him a pillow while he was sleeping. Then I met a craftsman who knew how to weave bamboo.
It is better to eat without meat than to live without bamboo. Without meat, one will become thin, while without bamboo, one will become vulgar.
If the audience for pickled pickles may only be a small number of people, then the audience for bamboo woven products is everyone in the world. In that era when there were no plastic industrial products, iron utensils were extremely expensive, and all farmers could afford were wooden and bamboo utensils. Compared with wooden products, the value of bamboo weaving is newer, and the style is more suitable for various daily needs.
Bamboo is harder and denser than wood, has higher compressive and bending strength, and is closely related to people's lives. A slender bamboo can be made into bamboo baskets, bamboo sieves, bamboo fences, bamboo steamers, cooking brooms, bamboo dustpans, bamboo dust buckets, bamboo rakes, baskets, bamboo poles, bamboo chopsticks, bamboo brooms, bamboo back baskets, It is not an exaggeration to say that bamboo mats, bamboo beds, bamboo stools, and bamboo chairs are all the same. Nothing is necessary or indispensable for a farmer's family. If a farmer buys a bamboo basket at home, if it is not worn out, it will continue to be used for ten or eight years, because there are no substitutes for bamboo products in this era.
Several villages are lacking everything but manpower. There are strong laborers everywhere who have no work to do. If these people are all mobilized, life will be greatly changed. According to Liang Chuan, these people are not too lazy, just No golden lumps can be found in the ground, just some broken jars.
The bearded Li Chengfu invited Liang Chuan to participate in the Lantern Festival in a few days. The Lantern Festival has been spread among the people since the Tang Dynasty and became very popular in the Song Dynasty. Some dignitaries often ask lantern makers to create exquisite lanterns. One of them is to tie the bones with bamboo strips and paste silk or colored paper on the outside. Some even use bamboo silk weaving as decoration, which shows how popular this craft is. Modern people may not find these handicrafts that can be woven by machines to be difficult. In ancient times, they all had to rely on their hands. This was the way to make money!
Now I just don’t know what Li Erhua’s skills are and what kind of bamboo weaving she can do. If she can say that she can do all kinds of bamboo weaving, then that’s true. . Inheriters of precious intangible cultural heritage.
There was a meeting all night. It was a successful meeting, a victorious meeting. Liang Chuan was surprised one night after another. The two helpless elder sisters really kept their secrets secret. Liang Chuan secretly rejoiced at his momentary act of righteousness. He did not expect that he had sown good causes and now they are bearing good fruits.
