Spring passes very quickly, the villagers of the silkworm baby began to form cocoons, this is the most critical step, every household began to pay attention to the humidity and temperature of the home, the silkworm baby is very delicate, cold will freeze to death, hot will also die, high humidity is not good, low is not good.

As for Li Xingmeng's Huangqi Silk Factory, it is already quite large-scale, but because every household has its own silkworm baby to take care of, those who are willing to go to work in Huangqi Silk Factory are some people who have relatively few silkworms.

Sister-in-law Tian is the first villager in Xinyuan Village to work in the silk factory, at first when the Bai family and his wife came to Xinyuan Village to recruit female workers, they were ridiculed by the villagers, especially when Lao Zhang also said: "This Bai family tied the thighs of the old man, was ransomed by the old man, and looked down on us fellow villagers." ”

At the beginning, everyone heard that the silk factory was the Bai family couple was reluctant to go when they supervised the work, because the Bai family and his wife had to sell themselves after going bankrupt, which became the laughing point of the whole village.

However, Sister-in-law Tian couldn't resist the temptation of wages, thinking that she had few silkworms at home and nothing to do if she stayed at home, so she went to the silk factory.

On this day, Sister-in-law Tian took a few bags of mulberry leaves and oil cakes to distribute to the villagers, and said while distributing: "The Bai family and his wife have made a fortune, for the sake of the villagers, I will give everyone some benefits." ”

Lao Zhang, who wanted to get mulberry leaves and oil cakes at first, hurriedly withdrew his hand, and said stubbornly: "Who is rare about their things." ”

But the daughter who was already hungry with her chest against her back scolded: "Dead ghost father, do you really want me to be a slave for the eldest master?"

Looking at his yellow-faced and thin-skinned daughter, Lao Zhang had no choice but to say cheekily: "Thank you Sister-in-law Tian, thank you to the Bai family and his wife." Then he took the mulberry leaves and the oil cake and walked away quickly with his head down.

When he returned home, Lao Zhanghe refused to eat oil cakes at all, and the Bai family and his wife always felt humiliated when they gave it to themselves.

After some time, the villagers' silkworm babies finally finished cocooning, and the villagers cut the silk cocoons and collected them, so that they could be sold to the silk collectors.

Lao Zhang's silkworm baby has a lot of cocoons, Lao Zhang and his daughter are smiling from ear to ear, now, at least this year can live a stable life. After spending several days collecting the silk, as in previous years, the silk merchants in the city began to walk from village to village to buy silk, and then resell the silk to the big lords, who in turn sold it to the lords of the textile industry, who in turn sold it to the silk shops, and finally the silk shops sold the silk to the rich and powerful. When the silk was first bought, it was just a load of five copper coins, and when it became silk and sold to the rich and powerful, the price rose nearly a thousand times, and there were many labor costs and various middlemen in this process to make the difference, as well as the government layers of deductions, the silk produced by the people, but only those who were powerful and rich, the people produced more silk, they could not wear it, after all, they could only wear rags and linen clothes.

Outside the village, silk traders come with baskets to buy silk.

However, when they heard that the silk buyers were only willing to buy at the usual price of copper coins, the villagers were furious.

Lao Zhangtou scolded: "What are you doing, you have always been a load of copper money, and you can't even earn back the money you buy mulberry leaves, and the more you sell, the more you lose." ”

The silk dealer also said helplessly: "What's the use of you scolding me, this price was decided by the great masters of the Silkworm Relief Association, and even the envoys agreed to it, and there is a kind of way that if you go to the county town to scold those lords and the envoys of the scriptures, you will know that you will lose your temper at me." ”

The village chief also came out and said: "You can do it, okay, don't ask for better than in previous years, we can be content with five copper coins according to the custom." ”

The trader also sighed: "The old village chief, we are also old friends, if you usually beg me like this, I am not hard-hearted, but this time the price of silk is regulated, has always been a load of copper money, can only be low, not high, which buyer dares to buy at a higher price than consistent, is to be caught in the yamen to hit the board, there are already several traders in other villages because of the price has been beaten to death, you are also considerate and considerate of me, I don't want to be killed by the board in the yamen." ”

"This kind of price is even more black-hearted than the demons, is this going to starve us to death this year?"

"The mountains don't turn around, the price of silk in Jiangxia is so black, so I went to other counties to sell silk, but I was tired and rowed for a few more days. Old Zhang Tou snorted coldly.

"Yes, it's a big deal, let's go to another county to sell silk. "The villagers seem to see hope again.

Immediately, Lao Zhangtou and dozens of villagers rowed their own broken boats loaded with silk and left, looking at the villagers who left with silk, the trader sneered in his heart: A group of mud-legged people still want to fight the old man, what do you think, can you think of other counties, the old man will not think of it?

Thinking of this, the merchant said in a strange manner: "You will come back, and you will have to beg me to buy it at the same price of one load." ”

The villagers didn't believe it at all when they heard this, and the price of a load was simply black-hearted, and they were begging you to buy it, how could it be.

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A few days later, the villagers of Xinyuan Village came back, and when they saw that the villagers had come back and were still injured, the village chief was surprised: "It's just selling silk, why are they scarred one by one, how are you selling silk in other counties?"

Lao Zhangtou sighed and said: "Alas, don't say it, as soon as we arrived at the pass of Jiangxia, a group of officials stopped us, saying that we were smuggling silk, violating the ban of the silkworm society, and wanted to confiscate our silk, my boat was behind, and I saw that some of the people in front of me were confiscated silk, and some were unwilling to hand over silk so they were beaten, so I hurriedly rowed back with my silk. ”

"Ah...... What a good thing this is!" the village chief was anxious.

"Oh my God, this world still doesn't let people live. Some villagers looked up to the sky and sighed.

"Otherwise, let's borrow some usury from the old man, otherwise if we don't have money, we can't watch the family starve to death." A villager suggested.

"I borrowed it again, I haven't paid it back last year, and you don't want your family's land anymore?"

"It's important to live or not, you can't starve to death for the sake of the field, right?" a villager retorted.

"If you want me to say, it's just the other way around, the emperor will take turns to do it, and he will come to my house this year. Some villagers said this in despair.

"Don't talk nonsense, you'll lose your head. The village chief was shocked when he heard this.

At this time, Sister-in-law Tian shouted: "The lady of the Bai family has arrived!"

I saw a delicately decorated boat floating on the river at the entrance of the village, which was not beautiful.

"The lady of the Bai family is developed, and this boat is too beautiful, my broken boat is about to leak. Some villagers said with envy.

"Hmph, maybe it's the glory and wealth that I sold my hue to Master Xing in exchange, it's really shameless. Lao Zhang scolded with his head.

A woman came out of the boat, it was the lady of the Bai family, and when she saw the villagers, the lady of the Bai family smiled and said, "Everyone, I haven't seen you for a long time." ”

Although everyone was jealous of the Bai family lady like Lao Zhangtou, they didn't dare to say it in front of her, but complimented one after another: "What am I talking about, the Bai family lady is the dragon and phoenix among the people, and when she meets a noble person today, she is on the rise." ”

At this time, the lady of the Bai family said her true purpose: "The merciful and compassionate Miss Xingmeng knows that everyone's life is unsatisfactory, so she is willing to provide you with interest-free loans, without a penny of interest from everyone, and you don't need to use cash to repay your debts, you can use the wages of the work to offset the debts with other goods." ”

"Ah...... There is such a good thing in the world, and the loan without interest does not need to be repaid with cash. The villagers felt as if they had misheard.

"Hmph, these official ladies, they are young, but they have a lot of thoughts, and they probably have some new tricks to harm our people. Old Zhang Tou snorted coldly.

Although the villagers didn't believe it, they thought that they would starve to death if they didn't have money, so they had to make a desperate bet and expressed their willingness to take out a loan to the Bai family's lady.

Lao Zhang's daughter pushed Lao Zhang and said, "Dad, go quickly." ”

"I am dignified. Old Zhang Tou said stubbornly.

"You!" The daughter felt that her father was stubborn, the family was going to starve to death, and she was still insisting on her humble dignity, so she had to take out a loan by herself.

After the villagers had signed, the lady of the Bai family said that in the evening, Miss Yunyue, the personal maid of Master Xing, would come to drink with everyone and celebrate the happy cooperation.

In the evening, a large flower boat with carved jade bracelets came to Xinyuan Village, and many men and women came down from the boat, all of whom were helpers of the Huangqi Silk Factory. These people came to the village with all kinds of food and wine from the flower boats.

The village chief hurriedly toasted Yun Yue, Yun Yue drank a few glasses and left, there are many villages like Xinyuan Village that are forced to take loans from Huangqi Silk Factory, and they have to go to investigate one by one in the name of drinking.

After Yunyue left, looking at the villagers who were still drinking and eating meat, the lady of the Bai family said: "Big guy, this meal of the Huangqi Silk Factory is not for nothing, in the future, the silk of Xinyuan Village is only allowed to be sold to the Huangqi Silk Factory, and the mulberry leaves planted in Xinyuan Village can only be sold to the Huangqi Silk Factory, and all your future food and living utensils must be purchased from the Huangqi Silk Factory, and you are not allowed to buy from the outside world without authorization."

"Ah...... This, this is a bit excessive!" the village chief couldn't help but say.

"Excessively, hum, without Miss Xingmeng's interest-free loan, you would have starved to death, and you don't want to repay the favor, but want to raise the bar?"

"If you don't want to accept this contract, it's okay, pay back the money now, the money from the silk factory is not given for nothing. The lady of the Bai family added.

But where did the villagers have the money to pay it back, and if they paid it back, they had to starve to death the next day, so they had no choice but to sign the contract.