On the second day, the three of them had eaten early, and began to fetch water, burn fire, and refine sugar, and after a busy morning, they refined another 20 catties of sugar.

However, this is when the problem gradually arises.

This sugar boil must be burned with firewood, and the firewood at home is almost gone, so you either have to cut it yourself, or you have to spend money to buy it.

There is also a problem is the difficulty of fetching water, at this time there is no water pipe, you have to go to the well to fetch water, with the Zhao family's dilapidated home has no well, you must go to the public well at the entrance of the village to fetch water, it is a lot of effort to come and go.

There is also a problem that is not a problem, the iron pot used to boil sugar is the one used to cook at home, after all, it is smaller, the diameter is less than 40 centimeters, if it is the kind of large iron pot with a diameter of more than one meter, and the stove is built outside, the speed of boiling sugar must be much faster than now.

There was no way, Zhao Dagui could only stop refining sugar first, and let Zhao Xiaohu call some of his friends, that is, some half-grown children in the village.

The magic capital of this place, the population is a lot, and it is an important salt production area, there are a lot of people who boil salt, so that the price of firewood here (before the opening of the port there is no coal available) is much higher than elsewhere, a load of dry firewood (about 100 catties), the price reaches seven, eight, nine points, sometimes the supply can not keep up, and even can reach more than one penny.

In comparison, the price of firewood in most areas of the Qing Dynasty was about five cents per load, which was very cheap.

Fortunately, that is the price in the county, after all, Sanlipu is a rural suburb, and firewood will not be so expensive.

Zhao Xiaohu called more than a dozen and a half children, Zhao Dagui made an appointment with them to give five cents of silver for a load of firewood, and these teenage children happily agreed.

As for going to the well to fetch water, a child surnamed Wang next door volunteered to fetch water for the Zhao family for free, but asked Zhao Dagui to immediately refuse.

Just took the initiative to take the initiative at this kid, and always looked at Zhao Xiaomei with a grin, even if he killed Zhao Zhushen, he didn't dare to take advantage of this.

In a word, it is still to talk about money, Zhao Dagui made an appointment to fetch twenty buckets of water for a penny, and the children were a little too little, but finally agreed.

Oh, manpower is really cheap now, Zhao Dagui thought to himself, without any shame of employing child labor.

In this way, Zhao Dagui took out several large clay pots at home, asked the children to fetch water and load them, and put the firewood cut back by the children with fast feet into the firewood room, so as not to be drenched in the rain, and worked for a long time, and then there were guests at home, and he needed to receive them personally.

"Ah Gui, what are you busy with all this time before and after?" A middle-aged man about forty years old entered the courtyard, wearing a robe that had taken an unknown amount of time, and asked Zhao Dagui curiously.

"Oh, I'm cleaning up the house. Zhao Dagui looked at the person who came, and had a vague impression, but he just couldn't remember what the relationship was with the original owner, so he could only say vaguely.

"Uncle, have all your tofu sold out?" Zhao Xiaohu and Zhao Xiaomei were very close to the visitor, and hurriedly came over to say hello, and seemed to be very affectionate.

Oh, Zhao Dagui remembered, this should be the family that sells tofu in the village, it seems that it has some kinship with the Zhao family, and it is also in the memory of the original owner, but there are some key parts that I just can't remember.

"Seeing that you have made a lot of noise, have you given people back money?" asked the visitor disapprovingly.

"Yes. Zhao Dagui nodded and replied, unwilling to say it for a long time.

Zhao Dagui had a ghost in his heart, and when he knew that it was an acquaintance, he immediately cherished the words like gold, for fear that he would miss something.

"Your lawsuit has just ended, and your body and bones are not good, why are you spending money again. The person who came hated the iron and said that it seemed that he didn't know how to say that you were good.

Zhao Dagui knew that what he was doing now was a loser's behavior in the eyes of ordinary people, so he kept silent when he saw this, neither refuting nor justifying.

The owner of the tofu shop pointed at Zhao Dagui and asked, "Ah Gui, Huo Daya asked you for a debt yesterday, right?"

"There's this. ”

"So what are you going to do?

"It depends. ”

"What can you do, isn't it to find someone to borrow? Besides, now that your fame is gone, is there anyone willing to lend you money?"

"Well, it depends. ”

The middle-aged man asked a series of questions, which made Zhao Dagui speechless, and he had the heart to say that I wasn't trying to find a way to make money, and he felt that there were too many secrets to be revealed, so he simply passed perfunctory.

The middle-aged man looked at Zhao Dagui carefully, and felt that Zhao Dagui must be at the end of the road now, breaking the jar and falling, he couldn't help but sigh, and finally made a decision.

"Uncle came to you today, in fact, he wants to discuss something with you. ”

The middle-aged tofu shop owner suddenly had a twisted look on his face, and said very embarrassedly.

"Speak. ”

"I remember when your father was here, our two families were very close, and on a whim, I ordered you and my family Cuihua to be a family of children. ”

"Hmm. ”

"However, that was many years ago, and the two old men just said it casually, and they couldn't take it seriously. ”

"Oh. ”

"Although your mother was very concerned about this matter before she left three years ago, and even specially found someone to send a dowry and write a marriage letter, but that was just to reassure your younger siblings before leaving, and not to count. ”

"Hmm. ”

"Besides, now that you have younger brothers and sisters to take care of, and you have been dismissed, you should work hard to make money, it's really not the time for children to grow up. ”

"Huh. ”

"This, so, can we return this marriage letter and dissolve this marriage contract?

"Ahh ”

Zhao Dagui looked at the middle-aged man in surprise, and set off a storm in his heart, it turned out that it was the original owner's Taishan old man in front of him, and more importantly, it seemed that he had encountered the legendary divorce, which was so embarrassing, and his tone couldn't support it.

"Uncle knows that you are difficult now, it is the most difficult time, but my daughter is only sixteen years old, and I can't let her jump into the fire pit. It's really not good, Uncle will give you some money, it's my heart, how about it?"

The owner of the tofu shop said crampedly.

"I'd rather bully the white-bearded man than the poor young man... Hmm, how much money do you give?" Zhao Dagui originally wanted to leave a few words that were appropriate for the scene, but when he heard the word money, he immediately changed his words.

At this time, Zhao Dagui finally understood that this tenant turned out to be the original owner's cheap father-in-law, and his daughter Cuihua should have written a marriage letter with the original owner and was engaged.

However, looking at today's posture, this father-in-law is not optimistic about the original owner, or Zhao Dagui's situation, and wants to withdraw this marriage.

However, Zhao Dagui is naturally not interested in this marriage, and combing through the information about this girl, Cuihua, Tofu Shih, and Sixteen years old, which keyword is enough to make people retreat.

Moreover, girls in this era, whether rural or urban, have to bind their feet since they were young, but it is Zhao Xiaomei of the Zhao family, because she happened to encounter her parents' affairs when she was a child, and the original owner didn't care about the little girl's affairs, so she didn't bind her feet from beginning to end.

"You can't do this, hurt my daughter... What, you promised to dissolve the marriage contract?" The middle-aged man originally only said that Zhao Dagui must oppose it, and he must rely on it, so he instinctively said the words of opposition, and only reacted until the end, and looked at Zhao Dagui in surprise.

"Of course. Let's invite the elders of the village tomorrow to solve this matter, how about it?" Zhao Dagui said.

"Don't be in such a hurry, I'll tell you, it's not that it has to be so fast. The owner of the tofu workshop was flustered for no reason, and said subconsciously.

To tell the truth, this father-in-law had a very good relationship with the original owner's father, and the original owner was a rare child in the village at that time, so he was very willing to marry his daughter.

It's just that later, the Zhao family fell into the middle of the road, and the original owner's childhood reputation was removed again, and the last hope was gone, so he thought about finding Zhao Dagui to withdraw from the marriage.

Originally, both families had given a dowry and wrote a marriage letter, but they didn't get married for a while because of the funeral of the Zhao family, and it was really troublesome to withdraw from the marriage, and even Zhao Dagui insisted that the marriage contract was established, according to the customs and laws at this time, his daughter couldn't marry him.

Therefore, he still thought that this matter was very troublesome, and he had to toss back and forth several times to succeed, but he didn't expect Zhao Dagui to agree to dissolve the marriage contract so happily.

"Oh, aren't you in a hurry, then do you want to find a monk and Taoist priest to ask, choose an auspicious day for the zodiac and then withdraw from the marriage?" Zhao Dagui said disapprovingly.

"Pick a yellow... Well, you're right, the sooner the better.

I got the old people in the village and got this done. The owner of the tofu workshop was stunned for a moment, and immediately figured out the key to it, and was afraid that Zhao Dagui would regret it, so he agreed, and then immediately turned around and ran home.

"This, the money matter hasn't been negotiated yet, why did you run away?" Zhao Dagui suddenly remembered the most critical thing, and shouted at the back of the middle-aged man.

"Brother, why did you agree to withdraw from the marriage, you can't say anything. Zhao Xiaohu and Zhao Xiaomei suddenly understood, and said with a crying voice, their eyes were already full of tears.

"What's this, the twisted melon is not sweet, we can't force others. Zhao Dagui shook his head and coaxed his younger brothers and sisters.