Ling'er spent nearly half an hour selling all the soles, shared the money with Xiaohuzi, and found a place to have breakfast.

In order to save money, they each made two steamed buns and squatted on the side of the road at the entrance of the town to nibble. There are many people in the same state as them, and everyone is familiar with each other to get together and talk about their harvest today, what they buy and sell, and what the price is, and by the way, bring some gossip about the proprietor Li Jiaxiao.

Ling'er bit the steamed bun dry, her eyes rolled around, and she pointed her ears to listen to the gossip of others by the way. This is a good opportunity to inquire about the news, and of course you can't miss it.

First of all, there is the price problem here, for example, steamed bread is two wen a liter, millet is two wen a liter, white rice is three to five wen a liter, and pork is six to ten wen.

Ordinary peasant households are counted according to a family of five acres of land and five acres of land, and generally one acre of fertile land can get five stones of millet, and one acre of dry land can get four stones of wheat and eight stones of sweet potatoes, which are enough for a family of six to eat for a year. If you are more frugal and diligent, do some manual work, go into the mountains to hunt, chop some firewood, dig some medicinal herbs, and get some wild fruits to sell, then these are enough to cover the daily expenses and leave some of the surplus!

Of course, the above is an ideal situation, according to this algorithm, the average annual income of this family can be between ten taels and fifteen taels, which is considered the middle and upper level of farmers! If you encounter an era of bad income or heavy taxes and frequent wars, this kind of family life is also very sad!

However, at present, it seems that the world here is peaceful, although there are corrupt officials and profiteers, but they are also moderate, and civilians just need to live their own lives. Therefore, Ling'er decided that her current goal is to strive for her family to reach the level of per person per mu of land as soon as possible, in other words, to let her family live the life of an ordinary person!

In addition, Ling'er also learned a news from everyone's conversation, that is, there is a big mountain not far west of the mountain behind her house, named Cangmang Mountain, which is extremely high and stands in the west of the plain like a heavenly wall. The top of the mountain is covered with snow all year round, and there are often herds of wild beasts above the mountainside, which is extremely dangerous; Halfway up the mountain is the area of human activity, but it is not calm, and people who are not familiar with it generally dare not rush into the mountain.

Of course, Ling'er has no interest in the beasts on the mountain, even if he has a little strength, this small body is really not the opponent of the beasts. Her idea was very simple, just dig some herbs, find some mountain fruits, and chop some firewood halfway down the mountainside! If you don't make this effort in vain, why can't you make some money on the premise of safety?

Ling'er thought about it in her heart, and by the way, she paid attention to the porter who sold firewood, and when she saw it, she shouted: "Uncle, how do you sell firewood?" ”

This porter is in his thirties, with dark skin, and his open clothes reveal the strong muscles inside! He glanced at Ling'er when he heard the sound, and said with a smile: "Little girl, do you want to buy you a cheap price, how about twenty wen a load?" ”

Ling'er pouted: "People sell ten wen, you want to sell twenty wen, where is your firewood?" ”

"Hey! You girl don't know the goods, my firewood is specially cut from the vast mountain, ten wen a load is burned for five days at most, and my load is enough for half a month! How? Do you want? ”

Mrs. Yang hurriedly said with a smile on her face: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, my daughter is asking about playing, there is Chai He at home!" Sorry, big brother! ”

The porter didn't care, and smiled: "You will know at a glance, little girl, don't bargain next time you see someone, beware of meeting a careful person who hates you!" ”

Ling'er stuck out her tongue and said with a smile: "Uncle is a good person, this load of firewood will definitely be sold for thirty wen!" ”

"Hey! Thank you for good words, let's go! ”

"Uncle, go slowly!"

Then Ling'er asked several porters, some of the firewood was thick and solid, and it did cost more than 20 yuan a load, and the farmers at the foot of the vast mountain lived by selling firewood in addition to hunting. Of course, the most cost-effective is to sell firewood, which is used to make furniture and build houses with beams and columns.

However, this kind of firewood is very rare at the foot of the vast mountain, and if you want to find something valuable, you have to go up and near the halfway point of the mountain. It's a pity that the area is too dangerous, and the old forests in the deep mountains are not convenient to transport, not to mention that the vast mountain will be closed in October, and it will not be opened until March of the second year, so there are basically no people nearby who specialize in selling firewood for a living!

Ling'er was secretly pondering in her heart, staring at the direction of the vast mountain to make an idea, thinking about when to find an opportunity to explore!

Mrs. Yang stood up after eating the steamed buns, habitually touched the money bag on her chest and said: "Ling'er, it's rare that we have sold out of things today, and we have a good price, you wait here, my mother will buy two steamed buns for your father and go home, ah!" ”

"Mother, are you going home so early? Aren't we going to buy hoes? ”

Speaking of hoes, the old lady frowned, and said a little deflated: "No, we only get a total of eighty wen, and it's not enough to buy a hoe!" Let's talk about it next time! ”

Xiaohuzi said: "Grandma Yang, the big hoe my mother bought last time was only fifty yuan, why is eighty yuan not enough?" ”

The old lady was stunned, and said a little woodenly: "Yes... Is it? Can... But the hoes in the shops outside the village are more than 100 yuan! ”

Ling'er pouted: "Mother, that place is the most tricky, let's not buy it from him, let's change places!" ”

"But... However, our family's things are all bought from there, and if we don't buy them, will the outsiders ......?"

Ling'er felt uncomfortable when she heard it, turned her head and glared at Xiaohuzi and said, "Mother, what are you afraid of?" Don't we sell all the soles of our dustpans? That family is bullying us to be honest! Let's go, let's go to town! ”

Ling'er happily pulled the old lady to the town, and Xiaohuzi followed in a daze! I didn't pay attention to it before, but now I look closely, there are really a lot of things in this town, and the slightly more spacious places on both sides of the street are full of stalls, and the things in the shops on both sides are also dazzling, shouting and selling one after another.

Ling'er, who went shopping for the first time, was naturally happy to do it, looking around happily, and I didn't know when I lost my mother! Ling'er looked around, shouted to her mother while walking back, walked most of the street, and her mother didn't find it, but a kind middle-aged woman came up, and said with a smile: "Little girl, looking for your mother?" ”

Ling'er looked at her, frowned, and said, "Yes, auntie, my mother is in her fifties, gray hair, so tall, and a little hunchbacked, have you seen it?" ”

The woman slapped her face and said, "Oh, it turned out to be the old lady, I saw her, and I saw her asking the guy in the shop!" I don't know if you're gone now, little girl, why don't you take you to see it? ”

The woman said that she stretched out her hand to pull Ling'er, Ling'er instinctively dodged sideways, squatted down and pretended to lift her shoes, picked up two small stones from the ground, stood up and said, "Thank you, auntie, I'll go and see it myself!" ”

Then she ran away quickly, and pedaled to the shop that the woman had pointed out, wondering if the woman was not a bad person, right? Why didn't she catch up? Ling'er came to the door of the shop, stretched out her head to look in, and called her mother twice tentatively, and a guy stepped forward with a smile: "Little girl, what do you want?" ”

"It's nothing, little brother, have you seen my mother?"

"Your mother?" The guy rolled his eyes, and said with a smile: "Yes, yes, she is interviewing for clothes!" ”

"Trying on clothes?" Ling'er remembered that the old lady was the most thrifty, and the old clothes on her body were changed from the old clothes given by the aunts in the village, how could she be willing to buy clothes? There must be a problem!

Ling'er turned around to leave, and suddenly a big hand reached out behind her, covering her mouth and nose, she didn't struggle twice, she felt dizzy and fainted!