"Yes, do you want a big one or a small one?"

"Where, I'll see." Li Ziyu thought that she had to look at the size before she could decide what to buy.

He Dashan tied the ox cart to a tree to the right of the grocery store, and then walked into the shop as well.

Under the guidance of the young man, Li Ziyu came to the place where the iron pot was placed. I saw that there were all kinds of iron pots here, large and small. Li Ziyu looked at He Dashan who came over and asked, "Brother Dashan, what do you think you can buy?" He Dashan squatted down and looked at the thickness of the various iron pots stacked together, knocked again, pointed to a medium-sized iron pot and said, "This mouth, this one is strong." ”

Li Ziyu adopted He Dashan's opinion and said to the young man, "How much is such a pot?" "This pot will cost two hundred and fifty dollars." The young man replied.

"I'll buy two pots, a little cheaper, right?" Li Ziyu thought that saving a penny was a penny, so he bargained.

"This is really the cheapest, I don't believe you can ask." The young man is also unambiguous, and the sincere expression on his face makes people feel that this is the lowest price.

Li Ziyu and He Dashan glanced at each other, both of them were a little hesitant, feeling that this pot was a little expensive, so they wanted to go to another house to have a look. In fact, Zhao Zhenmin also has a grocery store in the city, which is a little far away from here, which is still secondary, mainly because every time he goes, he asks for a lot of money, which makes Li Ziyu embarrassed to go. I heard that it was also a rented shop, and the rent was not low, and the shop still took care of the guys, and it was not easy to do business in the city, so Li Ziyu didn't go again. Actually, Li Ziyu thought about it a lot, and in the village, Li Ziyu asked for less money to buy things. The main thing is that Zhao Zhenmin and Li Ziyu's father Li Chunhai are the best, he pities a few orphans, so he always keeps less money.

Li Ziyu was hesitating, and suddenly heard the young man shouting: "Shopkeeper!" ”

Li Ziyu turned her head and saw that it was the shopkeeper in the shop. Shopkeeper Fu walked over with a gentle smile on his face, looked at Li Ziyu and said, "If the little girl is sincere, then take four hundred big money." ”

Li Ziyu was happy in her heart, but she didn't show it on her face, and said in her heart, she was still a shopkeeper who would do business, even if she had two hundred dollars and a pot, she would definitely make money. Li Ziyu paid with a smile, and said in her mouth, "Thank you for the shopkeeper." When I was about to leave, I remembered that I didn't have a pot lid yet, so I spent ten yuan to buy two pot lids sewn from sorghum stalks. When I turned my head, I found a straw dragonfly hanging on the north wall, with purple-orange eyes, an emerald green body and wings, lifelike. Busy asked, "How do you sell this?" ”

Shopkeeper Fu shook his head with a smile: "This is not for sale, this is what my master brought back from the south to give me." ”

"Uncle Shopkeeper, don't we have anything for sale here?" Li Ziyu asked in a super innocent tone, but complained in her heart, pretending that this little Lori is really a technical job.

Shopkeeper Fu said proudly: "Where do we have here? I heard that they were sold from the South Seas. ”

Li Ziyu was dumbfounded. How is it possible, China's straw weaving craft can be traced back to the Hemudu period, with a history of 7,000 years, with many varieties and patterns, and exquisite production, which is simply countless. Her grandmother, grandfather, and uncle are the best craftsmen in the folk, and she lived in her grandmother's house for five years when she was a child, and she couldn't be more familiar with the straw weaving process. Oh my God, there's no straw weaving yet. Actually, it's not that there isn't any, but there is no beautiful straw weaving process called a work of art here. The farmers here basically have straw things like straw hats, hats, poufs and so on, and most of the peasant men and mothers-in-law also have relatively simple weaving techniques, but they have not yet been elevated to the level of art. Li Ziyu suppressed the excitement in her heart and turned around and walked out of the shop.

He Dashan moved the two pots to the car, and the two hurried out of the county seat.

When I got home, the kang in the Westinghouse had already been set up, the roof of the hall had been repaired, and even the yard was going to be clean. Everyone is waiting for them to come back, and they will put the pot on for today's work.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Wang Chunqiu set up the two pots and carefully wiped the gap between the pot and the pot. The stove is the same as the one in the East House, and it is also a two-burner. Wang Chunqiu lit the two stoves on fire to see if there was smoke coming from the kang and stove in the house. After burning for a while, the kang and stove in the house were steaming, and it seemed that the house was warm, but there was no smoke, and everyone was relieved.

After the day's work was completed, everyone said goodbye to Li Ziyu and them one after another.

After sending off the workers, Li Ziyu took the pot of sorghum rice left over from the rice soup boiled on the earthen stove in the courtyard to the hall and went to close the courtyard door. When she saw the courtyard gate, she suddenly remembered that she hadn't told He Shigui about the gate yet. So he said to Xiaoshan: "Xiaoshan, I'll go to Uncle Gui and talk about the gate, you go to the house to see Xiaowen and them, call them up, and I'll eat when I come back in a while." ”

Xiaoshan said yes and went to the east house.

Li Ziyu walked out of the courtyard gate, turned around and tied the cloth tightly, and strode towards He Shigui's house.

At this time, it was already the beginning of the unitary time, and the winter dusk had fallen in this small mountain village. Although the snow has long since stopped and there is no wind, the bitter cold is still biting. There were a few dark gray clouds floating in the western sky, and a few stars looming. Scattered on both sides of the path, the uneven spired mud and straw roofs floated with curling smoke, interspersed with a few barking dogs. The whole small mountain village is quiet, tranquil and beautiful, which also makes Li Ziyu feel a lot of emotion.

This Daye Dynasty, Li Ziyu is sure that it is inconsistent with any dynasty in Chinese history, and it is an overhead dynasty. She didn't know why she came here, this incident subverted all her previous cognitions, is it because of the same name and surname? As far as she knows, this dynasty has a history of more than 100 years, and now the ruler is the third generation of emperor named Jiang Jiming, and this year is the twenty-fifth year of Jingtai. It is said that this emperor had several sons, but he did not appoint a crown prince, so that several princes had their own thoughts and were not very stable. When the Daye Dynasty was just established, it once crowned several meritorious ministers who fought the world together as vassal kings. For more than 100 years, these feudal kings have been self-respecting and disagreeable with the court. The imperial court also repeatedly wanted to withdraw the feudal domain, but it was powerless. In addition, in recent years, natural and man-made disasters have continued, and bandits have been rampant, resulting in the poor people selling their children and daughters, and suffering unspeakably. The Liao State bordering the Daye Dynasty in the north has been recuperating in recent years, with strong soldiers and horses, ready to move, and harassing the border from time to time. And this border town of Baishan City is only more than a hundred miles away from Fuyuan County, where she is located, which makes her very uneasy. Fortunately, I heard that the eldest son of General Zhenguo Ren Changqing stationed in Baishan City was meticulous, steady and scheming, and had extraordinary martial arts. Moreover, 20,000 soldiers and horses were stationed, and these 20,000 soldiers were brave and good at fighting, and the military discipline was strict. This made Li Ziyu breathe a sigh of relief, and her heart was a little more steady.

Li Ziyu walked while thinking about it, and when he arrived at He Shigui's house, his house was having dinner.

Because his house did not close the courtyard door, Li Ziyu entered the courtyard directly. There is a wide courtyard in front of and behind He Shigui's house, and high walls are built in front and back. Because there is a small road in the village, it is common to enter his house through the north gate. The south yard is built with wings on the east and west, the north yard is built with a pigsty and toilet on the west, and the east is built against the wall with a chicken coop. As soon as Li Ziyu entered the courtyard, she saw the lights on in the landlord's house, and it was estimated that the family was eating. So he called out in the courtyard, "Uncle, how about eating?" I'm Xiaoyu. ”

I heard He Shigui's voice in the room: "Xiaoyu, come in." The words fell, and a sound of footsteps came, and He Dashan greeted him.

Li Ziyu shouted with a smile: "Brother Dashan, I saw that I forgot about your meal." ”

He Dashan smiled innocently: "It's okay, just eat, what's wrong with you?" ”

"There's really something going on." Li Ziyu said as she walked up the house.

He Dashan's daughter-in-law, Zhou Xiaomei, opened the curtain and asked with a smile: "Sister Xiaoyu, is it cold outside?" Fast into the house. ”

Li Ziyu helped Zhou Xiaomei's arm and entered the house: "Sister-in-law, you see how ignorant I am, and I have to bother you to open the curtain for me, you go to the kang and rest." So saying, he went into the house.

On the kang in the east house, there is a rectangular dining table, and He Shigui's family is eating. In the countryside, everyone eats at the same table, and there is not so much attention between the in-laws and daughters-in-law. Unless there are guests in the house, they will eat separately. He Shigui's family has two sons, the eldest son is He Dashan, and the younger son is He Dahai, who is fifteen years old this year. At this time, He Shigui sat in the middle of the table, with Aunt He in his right hand, his eldest son He Dashan on his left, and Zhou Xiaomei next to He Dashan, who sat on the edge of the kang to serve rice. Don't look at being pregnant, although the rules of the farmer are small, the daughter-in-law also has to serve her in-laws. The youngest son, He Dahai, sat next to Aunt He on the right.

Li Ziyu was let to a stool by Zhou Xiaomei, and Li Ziyu first called someone and then sat on the stool.

He Shigui looked at Li Ziyu and said, "Xiaoyu, just say anything about it, as long as your uncle can do it, it's okay." ”

Aunt He also said: "Jade girl, you haven't eaten yet, have you?" Come on, come on, eat hot porridge first. You said that it is not easy to set up a household with such a little child, just say anything, no matter what, don't worry, there is your uncle. ”

"No, you don't have to be busy, Aunt He, I'll go home to eat in a while, I'll have something to do with Uncle Gui." Li Ziyu hurriedly excused herself.

Li Ziyu sighed in her heart, all the people she met were good people. So he smiled embarrassedly and said, "Uncle Gui, this is such a thing, you see that we live in front of the mountain, and our younger brothers and sisters are still young, and they are not safe, so they want to make two gates." You will calculate the total amount of money together with the wood money, I brought the money today, and the wages for repairing the house will be counted again after the work is completed, this time only the wood money for building the house and the wood cost for the gate, and the wages for the gate will also be counted. As he spoke, he took out his purse containing the money. In the past few days, the purse containing the money has been on her, and she is afraid that it will be too troublesome to open the box to withdraw the money for temporary spending.

He Shigui waved his hand: "Money is easy to say, you don't have to worry." What kind of wood do you want to use for the door? ”

"This" Li Ziyu pondered for a moment, "Uncle Gui, I don't understand this, you can look at it, just use it, as long as it is strong." ”

"Then use fir, which is strong and durable, and the price is not too expensive." He Shigui gave pertinent suggestions according to the actual situation of Li Ziyu's family.

Li Ziyu nodded in agreement, and then took out the purse containing the money: "Uncle Gui, how much do you calculate?" ”

"Your money is also very tight, give it to me when the money is loose in the future." He Shigui hesitated for a moment and said.

"Where's that?" Li Ziyu was anxious, she knew that He Shigui was saying kind words. After all, it is the wood of three rooms, and there are two wooden doors, how can people always have money. "Uncle Gui, I really have money. I went to chop wood and ran into a stupid roe deer, which I sold for a few taels of silver, really, I don't lie to you. ”

He Shigui saw what Li Ziyu said, so he believed it. Besides, he can't really don't want money. It's not that he is reluctant to give up the money, but he knows Li Ziyu's character, if he doesn't want money, she will only have more pressure.

"Okay, I'll do the math for you" He Shigui thought about it and began to report the account, "Six hundred big dollars for three big beams, two hundred big dollars for the rafters of three rooms, and four hundred big dollars for the gate, a total of like this, you give a whole number, a thousand big dollars." ”

"Uncle Gui, this money is not calculated like this," Li Ziyu knew that there was water specified in the price quoted just now, and he must have reported it to Shaoli, and hurriedly said, "You already have less to ask for, how can you ask for less again?" If you do this again, I won't be able to find you again. ”

"Okay, is it all the same? How can I earn your money, and if I earn your money, I won't be able to sleep well at night. He Shigui said that he took one or two pieces of silver, but still did not accept the two hundred copper coins. To tell the truth, this has to be elsewhere, and it will cost two taels of silver. But looking at this little child, supporting the whole family with his immature shoulders, his heart was sour, he could only do his best to help a hand, I hope their days will be better and better.