mtl008 Chapter 249 Preparation for Departure (2)
Chapter 249 Preparation for Departure (2)
Hearing that they were going to Wuzhou, a thousand miles away, Chen Yuzhen opened her mouth slightly in shock. After a moment, her eyes were red and her worry was overflowing in her eyes:
"Since you said that, I think you must have already thought of a plan. Then do it according to your wishes. However, the journey is long, so you must be extra careful on the way!"
Xia Qingyue walked forward and held Chen Yuzhen's hand. She also felt sad. "Don't worry. Zhibai has been there before. We have a map and we can follow the route. Besides, we both have the ability to protect ourselves. We will protect ourselves."
Chen Yuzhen smiled with tears in her eyes and nodded.
Suddenly, a bang caught the attention of the three people.
I don't know when the two little ones ran off to play somewhere else, and maybe they were having too much fun, and they accidentally knocked over something that was drying in the yard, which was placed in a colander and covered with a bamboo raft.
Knowing they had gotten into trouble, the two little ones ran back one after the other, squatted in front of Xia Qingyue and Han Zhibai, opened their mouths wide, and smiled like a devil.
Xia Qingyue bent down slightly and said in a more serious tone: "Heihei, Xiaobai, you can play but don't make trouble."
Han Zhibai walked towards where the thing fell, intending to pick it up.
"It's okay, we are drying flowers."
After Chen Yuzhen said this, Xia Qingyue sniffed. She then saw a lot of things covered with bamboo rafts drying in the yard. "It smells so good."
She opened a bamboo raft and took a look. The flowers being dried were pink peach blossoms with their stamens removed. They were almost dry.
Seeing so many flowers being exposed to the sun, she guessed it might be related to Li Weisheng making lip balm.
The basket of dried flowers fell everywhere. Dried flowers are light to begin with, so they all flew away when the wind blew. Han Zhibai and Xia Qingyue stood there regretfully, while Chen Yuzhen said it was nothing, just some peach blossoms.
Xia Qingyue patted the two little ones' heads gently and said seriously, "Be careful when you play, don't knock them down again."
"Mmmmm!" Knowing their mistake, they lowered their voices and took the initiative to rub their heads against the palms of her hands.
Over there, Fang Xiaoyu stood under the eaves and called them to drink water.
Before that, they worked together to take off the things from Xiao Hei.
Seeing the familiar honey jars, Chen Yuzhen recalled the honey sales a few months ago. "Afterwards, I asked the owners who wanted the honey, and they all said they still wanted it and could wait. When we have it, let them know. Should we go to the town in the afternoon to sell it?"
Xia Qingyue thought about it and realized that the honey was brought down for the Li family, so they could do whatever they wanted with it.
Those hosts are more or less engaged in business in the town, or are rich and powerful. If the Li family can establish good relations with them, it will be much easier to handle some things in the future.
She said, "Sell the ones the owners want in the quantities they want, and you can keep the rest for yourself or sell them."
"By the way, Auntie, we also raise bees on the mountain. We have a lot of things to bring today, and they are not easy to carry. Zhibai and I are thinking of moving the beehives one by one to the shelter where you originally lived on the mountain in the next few days. When you are free, you can move them up and down the mountain one by one."
Chen Yuzhen was surprised, but soon she said seriously: "We will raise these poultry for you, don't worry!"
After moving the things, Han Zhibai took Xiao Hei to the poultry house in the backyard and got some grass for it to eat.
When he returned to the main hall, Fang's mother and daughter were holding Xia Qingyue's hand, worriedly reminding her to be careful on the way to Wuzhou.
After talking about this, Xia Qingyue saw that the men in the family were not at home. After asking, she learned that Li Benfu, Chen Dawei and Fang's father had gone to the neighboring town to make earthen bricks for people. They came back once every half a month. Li Weikan had already gone to Fenglai Town at the end of last month.
When talking about Li Weikan, although Chen Yuzhen's tone sounded relaxed, a hint of sadness could be seen between her eyebrows.
Years ago, Li Weisheng successfully made a batch of lipsticks, which he sold specifically to the ladies of the host families. The subsequent response was quite good. Later, during the Chinese New Year, the streets of Datong Town were quite lively, and he took the lipsticks to the town to sell. There were many people watching, but few people paid for them.
Recently, he used the plum blossoms he had found some time ago to make a batch of colored lip balms, which he sold specifically to the ladies and girls of the host families. It was unexpectedly popular and they were not enough to sell. As the peach blossoms were in full bloom, he went to each household every day to collect peach blossoms.
Chen Youmao went to Liu's house as usual to learn to read and write. At present, he was the fastest and best learner. Later, when Li Weisheng came back from work, he would go to Liu's house and learn from him.
After hearing this, Xia Qingyue nodded in understanding. The peach, pear and plum blossoms in the valley were all in bloom, pink and white, the flowers were gorgeous and fragrant. The beautiful scene of petals flying around emerged in her mind, and she missed the valley a little.
After chatting for a while, Chen Youmao came back, and the family was busy preparing lunch so that they could eat early and go to the town in the afternoon. Xia Qingyue just wanted to buy some supplies before setting off for Wei Hai.
They killed two chickens and two ducks, washed a large piece of bacon, cured pig's trotters and cured pig's tongue, and bought three big fish from a family in the village who had a fish pond. After everyone divided the work, a sumptuous lunch was ready in an hour.
Near noon, Li Weisheng, who was busy outside, came back. He asked a few people to push back several carts full of peach blossoms.
Xia Qingyue and the others heard the noise in the house and went out together to carry the peach blossoms into the house. They were all packed in sacks. Although one bag looked a lot of peaches, it was not heavy and they finished moving them in no time.
Li Weisheng was overjoyed to see Xia Qingyue and the others.
After not seeing him for a while, he looked a little thinner. Not just because he had lost weight, but he was leaner. You could see the strength in his body. His skin was darker, and his eyes were bright and lively.
"Brother, hurry up and wash your hands and eat. We'll talk after you finish eating."
"Okay, sister, you guys go sit inside first, I'll be right there."
The family had lunch happily.
After the meal, Chen Youmao and Han Zhibai rushed to clean up. The sun was strong at noon, so the others moved stools to sit in the yard to bask in the sun and chat.
Li Weisheng couldn't wait to tell Xia Qingyue about his experience in selling lipstick and lip balm, as well as his recent plans.
"I thought that if people of average means can't afford this kind of thing or are reluctant to buy it, then I can make it and sell it to those who can afford it.
And I went to the market shops selling rouge and powder in various towns and learned about their prices and their quality. Then I had an idea in my mind: lipstick was priced at twenty-five cents a tube and lip balm was 45 cents a tube.
At first my parents said the price was too high and advised me to lower it, but I didn’t do that.”
"At first, the lipstick didn't sell very well, and only a few people bought it. Just when I was planning to go to another town after the New Year to try it out, some people from the main family came to my father and said they wanted to buy lipstick.
Later, my father accidentally overheard the ladies talking about the lipstick, saying that not only was it easy to use, but whoever got this new thing would be asked about by many people and would be proud of it. "
"As of today, I have sold 55 lipsticks and 89 lip balms, earning over 5200 wen. I used up all the money a few days ago and didn't have time to make any more. Many people have paid deposits for the lip balm."