Two pieces of money!
Gu Zhengchen breathed a sigh of relief. Although the money could not solve the Gu family's crisis, with this money as a foundation, life would always get better.
As long as sugar is produced, the Gu family will be completely transformed!
To make white sugar, sucrose is needed.
No one in Teng County grows sugar cane, so it’s not practical to get fresh cane sugar. Fortunately, brown sugar is sold in sugar shops.
Entering the store, shopkeeper Yang welcomes you.
Gu Zhengchen looked at the big black lumps of brown sugar and listened to the introduction of shopkeeper Yang: "30 cents per catty". He couldn't help but feel a little pain. You must know that a catty of fish now costs nine cents, and a catty of pork only costs thirteen cents. , this black candy is as much as more than two kilograms of pork.
There is no way, sugar is really a bit of a luxury for the people in ancient times. The children at home are really greedy, so they can only get some maltose to eat, and most of them are reluctant to buy candied haws...
Gu Zhengchen looked at the expectant Shopkeeper Yang and said with a smile: "Shopkeeper, I can buy this candy, but it will cost twenty-five cents."
"No."
Shopkeeper Yang refused directly.
Gu Zhengchen raised his right hand and stretched out a finger: "What if I buy these?"
"A pound?"
"..."
"Ten pounds?"
Shopkeeper Yang was hesitant. If he could sell ten kilograms of brown sugar at a time, the business would still be profitable.
Gu Zhengchen put down his hand and said seriously: "I want a hundred catties."
Shopkeeper Yang looked at Gu Zhengchen in surprise. This outfit didn't look like someone from a wealthy family. One hundred pounds, you're not kidding, you're running a shop, right?
Ordinary people can't eat a hundred pounds of candy in ten years.
"This young man must not make jokes."
Shopkeeper Yang said seriously.
Gu Zhengchen took out two hundred and fifty kilograms of money from his arms: "Buy ten catties first. Tomorrow, I will buy another ten catties until I buy a hundred catties. Can it be done?"
Shopkeeper Yang looked at the copper coins in Gu Zhengchen's hand, cupped his hands and said, "It seems I've made a mistake. Dare you ask Mr. Gao what his name is?"
That means, don't just say how much you want to buy, sign up first so that I can find you if you don't come.
Gu Zhengchen smiled and said, "I'm Gu Zhengchen."
"Gu Juren?! You have clumsy eyes and clumsy eyes. I will wrap them up for you right now."
Shopkeeper Yang was doing business in the city and was well informed. When he saw it was Gu Zhengchen, he was not polite. He collected the money and prepared brown sugar.
Gu Zhengchen carried ten kilograms of brown sugar, bought a five kilogram big fish, and wandered out of Tengxian County.
Halfway through the walk, Gu Zhengchen was sweating profusely. He looked at his red hands and was so depressed that he wanted to vomit blood. His body was really in bad shape. He had to rest even if he changed his hands back and forth. It seemed he needed some exercise. You just need to exercise. As frail as this is, I think a cold wind can take him away...
"Yeah, Gu Juren bought fish."
As soon as they entered Dayan Village, Aunt Wang saw it and immediately exclaimed.
Gu Zhengchen greeted with a smile: "Aunt Wang, do you want to come to my house to eat fish..."
Aunt Wang swallowed her saliva, waved her hand and said: "Forget it, you have just recovered from a serious illness, so you should take good care of yourself. Baby, life is difficult, but you can always get through it..."
Gu Zhengchen was a little touched. If it weren't for the help of his neighbors, the Gu family would have been out of food.
The news of the Gu family's fish purchase spread like wildfire in Dayan Village, and all the thirty or so families knew about it. Several aunts and ladies were muttering under the tree, and everyone was guessing where Gu Juren got the money.
"elder brother!"
Gu Qingqing was talking to her mother who was collecting shoes. When she looked up and saw Gu Zhengchen carrying a bunch of things home, she couldn't help but be surprised: "Fish, mother, look, brother brought a big fish!"
Mrs. Gu put the shoe samples in the basket, raised her hands to straighten her hair, looked at Gu Zhengchen who was walking over, and said doubtfully: "Brother Zhengchen, what's going on?"
Gu Qingqing took the big fish and saw that the big fish was still moving. He screamed again and quickly threw the fish on the ground.
"Put the fish in the basin."
Gu Zhengchen called to Gu Qingqing, put a bag of candy on the ground, and said to his mother: "Mom, I wrote some articles and exchanged some money in the city, so our family will have a good meal today."
"Ah, this is candy, mother, my brother also bought candy!"
Gu Qingqing put the fish in the basin, ran over and opened the candy wrappers, shouting something.
Gu looked down at the bags of brown sugar, which might have weighed ten kilograms, and she couldn't help but frown: "Why do you buy so much sugar?"
Gu Zhengchen looked at the yard and saw that his mother had borrowed an earthenware bowl with a funnel-shaped bottom. He nodded slightly: "Mom, you will know tomorrow. Let's make sugar in the afternoon and kill the fish first."
Mrs. Gu looked at the tired Gu Zhengchen and didn't ask any questions. She tapped Gu Qingqing who put her finger in her mouth and sucked it: "Go and fan your brother with a cattail leaf fan."
Gu Qingqing squinted her eyes and looked up at her mother: "Mom, it's so sweet. Try it."
Gu's eyes turned red. The child hadn't eaten sweets for a long time.
Gu Zhengchen was lying on the bed, recovering his strength, when he saw Gu Qingqing coming over with a cattail leaf fan, enjoying it peacefully.
"Brother, why are we buying so much candy?"
"Sell it."
"ah……"
Gu Qingqing never imagined that the purpose of buying sugar is to sell it, so what do you do with it? We don’t have a store, so where can we sell it.
Gu Zhengchen folded his hands behind his head, enjoying the cool breeze, and asked, "Is there any official official coming to our house?"
Gu Qingqing shook his head.
Gu Zhengchen was a little confused.
The Zhao family spread the news that they regretted their marriage to the whole city. It was impossible for people in the magistrate's office not to hear it. What made them not come to find him?
Forget it, let’s focus on making sugar.
A big fish weighing five kilograms, plus wild vegetables, made a full pot. Gu made a bowl and sent it to Aunt Zhang's house across the door. She came back with the bowl and made another bowl to send to another neighbor. After sending out seven or eight bowls, he came back and asked Qingqing and Zhengchen to eat.
Gu Zhengchen looked at the embarrassed Gu Qingqing and felt a little sad.
"Brother Zhengchen, eat more."
Gu took a piece of fish.
Gu Zhengchen looked at his mother who had eaten very little, put down his chopsticks, and took out the remaining copper coins from his arms: "Mom, here is the usual seven coins and five cents. I will keep the seven cents first and give the five cents to my little sister. It will be enough to make pocket money and pay off the debt once the sugar is made."
"W-what on earth is going on?"
Mrs. Gu looked at the copper coins on the table in surprise. Gu Qingqing had already started to take action.
Gu Zhengchen smiled and said, "Mom, didn't I tell you that my son wrote some articles, and the old man from the Liang family took a fancy to it and bought it for two thousand dollars."
"What article can be worth two thousand dollars?"
Gu still couldn't believe it.
Gu Zhengchen patted Gu Qingqing's little hands that didn't know how to hold back, and said to his mother: "Mom, there's no need to ask. Our money is all clean, so feel free to use it. Come on, we have to make candy after dinner."
Mrs. Gu put away the money and stretched out her hand towards Gu Qingqing. Gu Qingqing looked at Gu Zhengchen pitifully. Gu Zhengchen pretended not to see it. Gu Qingqing had no choice but to hand over the few copper coins he had hidden...
After meal.
Gu Zhengchen asked his sister to make a fire. After lighting the firewood, he added a little water to the pot, poured three kilograms of brown sugar into it, and kept stirring. After the brown sugar was boiled, he added another two kilograms of brown sugar...
Gu Qingqing looked at the dark syrup in the pot and asked worriedly: "Brother, this is brown sugar. Can it really be boiled into white sugar?"
