When it's dark.

Zhu Niang's mother and son returned to the shop, and Aunt Li hurriedly came over to ask: "Madam, is there any progress?" ”

Zhu Niang smiled: "Let's talk about the three." ”

"Huh?"

Aunt Li didn't expect it to go so smoothly.

Zhu Niang looked at her son with a loving gaze and said with a smile: "Thanks to Xiao Hao, he talked a lot when we talked, but now we have to hurry up and supply salt......

"Mother, the supply is not a problem, in two days we will start to dry salt in large quantities, as long as the salt is good, the price is not high, there must be a market, it is better for us to find more people, and strive to make all the pools tomorrow, take advantage of the rainy season before the arrival of more salt......"

Suddenly, the family came to life.

The salt drying went surprisingly well.

Five days later, the first batch of salt, about three or four hundred catties, had been dried.

And with the current progress, three or four hundred catties can be dried every day in the future, and more than ten pools take turns to store water and drain water......

When Zhu Niang and Aunt Li looked at the salt crystals harvested in front of them, they were both attracted by the crystals that sparkled in the sun.

"Mother, let's hurry up and grind it and send it to those restaurants that ordered, remember to pay for it with one hand and deliver it with one hand, and I'm afraid a few of us will not be able to do it in the future, and we need to find someone to come back to help."

Water storage and drainage of these, as long as Zhu Hao teaches Zhu Niang and them, they can actually do it.

But when it comes to the final grinding of salt and shipment, someone needs to help.

Zhu Niang understood the matter, and said with a bow: "I will go to Uncle Zhong tonight and discuss it to see if they are willing to come to the house to do long-term work......

Zhu Hao grinned and said, "Mother, in fact, we can find some healthy women to work at home, so we may be able to save a lot of money." ”

Because of the backwardness of production tools, there is a huge gap between male and female labor in terms of employment prices.

"Xiao Hao is right, I'm going to ...... for my mother."

Zhu Niang saw the harvest in front of her and understood that the thing of drying salt depends on the sky to eat, and it cannot be delayed.

The first batch of salt was successfully supplied.

Get the money back.

The matter of finding a healthy woman to work was also surprisingly smooth, and according to Zhu Hao's suggestion, the hired women were all hired from villages outside the city.

Ordinary women from peasant families usually dig in the fields and work hard every day to earn a few dollars, but now they have the opportunity to obtain income in addition to the income from the fields, and they naturally flock to it.

As a peasant woman, she has a lot of strength, and she is also simple and honest, illiterate, and has not so many ghost eyes, so naturally she has no ability to draw gourds and build salt ponds by herself to dry salt, and hire them back without worrying about technology leakage.

"Tomorrow four people will come, and if necessary, they can be expanded at any time, and it will be difficult for others to invite women to work in the city, but the situation is different with us......"

Zhu Niang bears the name of a festival woman, and naturally there are many inconveniences when she comes out to do business.

But it's too convenient to hire a female worker.

Naturally, the peasant woman doesn't want to show her face, but if she goes to work at the festival woman's house, she can reassure the family no matter what she does, and she will not let the villagers gossip.

This is a special advantage that the festival woman has.

"Mother, let's set up the store tomorrow, I'm talking about selling official salt, and I will make a name for it, so that people can know that our official salt is cheap and ......good," Zhu Hao proposed.

Aunt Li was puzzled: "Brother Hao, didn't you say that we can't do business in the neighborhood?" ”

Zhu Hao said: "But you can't always stop selling official salt!" It's hard at the beginning, I've calculated, if you rely on the inns and restaurants in the city, it's hard to sell the salt we dry every day, and they don't consume much in a day......"

"We have to sell 10,000 catties of salt in order to recover 160 taels of silver and pay off the foreign debts we owe, but 400 catties of salt a day, it is difficult to sell it if we don't work hard!"

Zhu Niang forgot her troubles because she was busy today, and her face was sad when she heard the words.

……

……

Early the next morning.

Zhu Niang wrote the word "official salt" on the wooden sign and hung it at the door in person, so that the neighbors could know that the shop would start trading official salt again.

"Ouch, Third Lady, what are you doing? Still selling salt? Do you have salt? ”

A man in his forties walked out of a grain store across the street, his lean face was full of wrinkles, and he said in a strange tone of yin and yang.

Zhu Niang didn't want to talk nonsense with the other party.

In Zhu Hao's few memories, this person's surname is Qian, known as "Qian Chuanzi", I don't know what his real name is, but there is no wrong nickname in this world, and the shop he runs also sells grains and miscellaneous grains and official salt.

Zhu Hao smiled and said: "Money shopkeeper, we sell our salt, if there is a customer coming to the door, we will sell it to him, does it have anything to do with you?" ”

Qian Chuanzi pointed at Zhu Hao: "You kid is still so stubborn...... Hmph, I persuaded your mother to redeem the shop earlier, and wouldn't it be good to do something about husband and children in the future? Oh yes, your mother doesn't have a husband to ...... The cheekbones are high, and you don't need a knife to kill your husband, but it's a pity that it's a pity ......"

It's really a pot that can't be opened!

Zhu Niang actually looks very standard, a typical goose egg face, with rounded cheekbones to support a face with a very three-dimensional sense, which looks beautiful and delicate, dignified and elegant.

Zhu Niang dragged Zhu Hao inside, Zhu Hao looked back and asked loudly: "Aunt Qian has higher cheekbones than my mother, I wonder if she is also Kefu?" I'm going to have to ask her in person......"

"Phew, oily little ghost!" Qian String scolded.

Zhu Hao stuck out his tongue and grimaced.

Fight the mouth cannon, lose the person does not lose the battle.

……

……

The shop put up a signboard, saying that it would continue to sell official salt, but because of the previous official government's propaganda that the shop would eat bad people, who would patronize it for a while?

In the morning, not to mention that they came to buy salt, they all came to buy grains.

But Zhu Hao is not worried.

In the morning, Zhu Niang took Uncle Zhong and Yu San to the inns and restaurants around the wharf to negotiate the sale of official salt.

Zhu Hao and Aunt Li stayed to see the store.

On the other side, the business of the Qian family's shop was bleak, but under the elimination of the other, the Zhu family's rice shop was in difficulty, and the business of the Qian family's shop improved.

Whenever a business is done, Qian Chuanzi deliberately sends customers out of the store, and then glances at them with a provocative gaze, as if they are demonstrating.

But I didn't know that the salt drying and sales actions in the small courtyard were in full swing.

God gives face, it is a sunny day for half a month, and under the scorching sun, there is no delay in drying salt.

However, the rainy season in the Huguang area is coming soon, and it is generally rainy in June and July.

In order to "pick" the salt in the pool as soon as possible, Zhu Hao personally went into battle, after all, he is the only one who knows how to catch up with the brine, and even if others learn to draw gourds in the same way, it is impossible to produce such a quality of refined salt.

It was early in the morning, just after midnight.

The back hall of the Zhu family.

The old lady Zhu Jiashi called her son Zhu Wanjian to her.

"Mother, what are you looking for me?"

Zhu Wanjian looked tired, recently he often lingered in the flower streets and willow alleys in the city, and he didn't return at night.

Zhu Jiashi pointed to Steward Liu who was standing aside.

Steward Liu said: "I heard that the shopkeeper Zhao, who takes care of the family's rice business, said that several inns and restaurants that originally booked official salt with us have recently broken their contracts, and they don't say where to buy salt......

"Huh."

Zhu Wanjian looked disdainful and sneered.

Zhu Jia's face was grim: "What do you say?" ”

"Cut, what should I do, those inn restaurants that have been booked, it seems that they don't want to do business, the salt of the third family is cheap, but the coarse salt fished out of the pool water, it is common to eat bad stomach, I'm afraid I will have to come back to us to buy salt in a few days!"

After speaking, Zhu Wanjian glared at Steward Liu angrily.

not only blamed the other party for not helping him speak, but also felt that this person bypassed him to report to the old lady, obviously not treating him as the big shopkeeper of the Zhu family.

Zhu Jiashi waved his hand: "Bring the salt." ”

Immediately, Steward Liu took out a snowflake salt from a small bag on the bookcase next to him.

Seeing the color of this salt, Zhu Wanjian's eyes widened, and his face was incredible.

Zhu Wanjian pinched a grain of salt and put it in his mouth, and then looked at Zhu Jiashi in surprise: "Mother, where did you get this salt?" Not to mention Anlu, even the entire Huguang, I have never seen such good salt. ”

Steward Liu said: "It was the kitchen salt stolen from those inn restaurants through the hands of the guys that was bought back from the third lady. ”

"This ...... How is this possible? ”

Zhu Wanjian was stunned.

Zhu Jiashi asked coldly, "How do you explain this?" ”

"Mother, you heard the child say, the quality of this salt is so good, it is definitely not the third daughter-in-law can get it, we have a very personal relationship with the big salt merchants in the city, if there is good salt, will they not want to invite us to distribute? Among them...... There must be a fraud. ”

Zhu Wanjian couldn't understand what was going on, she only felt that she had been calculated.

Zhu Jia's face was gloomy, and he almost wanted to eat this unlucky son alive.

"Let's just say that you are not a businessman, the store at home is handed over to you, and the annual profit is not enough for you to toss, and now you dare to say that you don't know if such a thing happens? It seems that it is better to find outsiders to take care of this family business than to leave it to you. ”

"Mother, don't be in a hurry to deny the child's efforts over the years...... The child will take someone there, and the woman will be good-looking! ”

Zhu Wanjian was furious, and turned around to find trouble with his brother-in-law's family.

Zhu Jia's face was expressionless, but it was Steward Liu who persuaded him: "Second master, you should calm your anger first, and this matter should not be made a big move." ”

Zhu Wanjian said angrily: "The surname is Liu, you are a bad eater, you don't tell me something, but you came to tell the old lady, I think you want to take the position of Lao Tzu's big shopkeeper!" ”

"Enough!"

Zhu Jia's anger was full of momentum, and he suppressed Zhu Wanjian's arrogance at once. Zhu Wanjian drooped his head, the green tendons on his forehead burst out, and he couldn't wait to eat the old and weak family of Steward Liu and the third daughter-in-law.

"Steward Liu, tell me your opinion."

"Yes, old lady."

Steward Liu was not in a hurry or slow, "From the villain's point of view, it is not appropriate to go to the third lady to settle accounts at this time. ”

"First, we are not sure whether this salt came from the third lady, and even if it is, it is more important for us to find a way to purchase it.

"Such a good salt, it is estimated that it is still official salt, if you come to the door to ask for a crime without a reason, I am afraid that I will be criticized by the countryside, it is better to call the third lady back to the house and ask it in person."

Although Steward Liu is a subordinate, he can distinguish the priority of things.

Zhu Wanjian sneered: "Let's just say that the woman must have hidden private money, no wonder she has no fear, saying that she may not have hooked up with someone who is not careful...... There will definitely be problems when a woman comes out to show her face, and the Zhu family will be disgraced sooner or later because of her......"

Zhu Jiashi ignored the second son's slander against the third daughter-in-law, and said to Steward Liu: "Go to the shop and inform me, saying that there is an important matter to discuss in the house today, and let her be sure to attend the house on behalf of the old three-day room." ”

"Yes, old lady."

Steward Liu glanced at Zhu Wanjian and walked out quickly.

Zhu Wanjian stood there, neither to go, nor to stay, the whole person was in a state of confusion, and his brain was completely insufficient.