Chapter 7 Harvest

The next morning, Er Gouzi came to the foot of Shekou Mountain with a hoe and a hatchet.

Shekou Mountain is full of big rocks, small rocks, and thin rocks... One or two crooked small trees grow tenaciously in the cracks of the rocks.

There is a stone cave near the foot of the mountain, shaped like an open snake's mouth. A clear spring flows out of the stone cave, pouring down between the rocks, forming a small stream.

Next to the small stream, there is a small path up the mountain.

This path is only one or two feet wide, and the narrowest part is less than one foot. You can only squeeze through the cracks between the rocks sideways.

The mountain is high and the road is slippery. It is more difficult to climb than the mountain where he planted seedlings. After stumbling and bumping, he finally reached the top of the mountain.

Looking down from the top of the mountain, he finally saw some slightly flat stone nests scattered on the top and the mountainside.

This kind of stone nest is surrounded by stones on all sides, with a pit in the middle that can receive some rainwater and soil. Locals call it a stone nest.

There is a relatively large stone nest, surrounded by huge rocks on all sides, with a flat land in the middle, about three acres, where the new field reclaimed by the old stubborn donkey is located.

Coming to this kind of stone mountain to reclaim wasteland, the old stubborn donkey is also a man who dares to think and act, which is very appropriate to his name.

Unfortunately, this old stubborn donkey, who forgot to eat and sleep, got up early and went to bed late, died after only half of the work.

Walking into this stone nest, using a hoe to dig through the thick ice and snow, revealing the black soil underneath.

The soil is so fertile, no wonder it was favored by the old stubborn donkey.

Er Gouzi first cleared the snow on an acre of land, then sprinkled rice seeds and watered it.

In the next few days, Er Gouzi went back and forth to Shekou Mountain every day to move firewood, straw and other family wealth.

At the same time, the rice seedlings over there are gradually maturing. After harvesting this time, all the rice stubble will be pulled out and burned with a fire, leaving no trace.

After more than ten days of hard work, all the rice seedlings on the top of the mountain were harvested, and even the wild vegetables were moved over.

This time, more than ten buckets of rice were harvested, filling three full bags.

Er Gouzi lay on the rice, counting on his fingers, if he ate one liter a day, these millets would be enough for him to eat for half a year.

Moreover, the one acre of land on the Shekou Mountain side was about to be harvested, and at least four stone of rice could be harvested.

As long as he didn't eat too much, the food ration for the whole year would be enough.

This man had food, and he began to have other little thoughts.

He looked down and saw the half-length pants that were torn into rags. Not only were there leaks everywhere, but the places that should be covered could not be covered, and the ropes tied several times could not hold them up.

He wanted to buy a new pair of pants.

He also wanted to buy an iron pot. Now he didn't have a pot, and he fried rice with tiles every day, which made his throat smoke, his mouth get hot, and he was constipated.

Sometimes I think about it and feel that I am too hypocritical. I didn't get angry when I ate pig food before, but now I have so many problems with food and drink.

People can't live too well.

In the future, I will live here for a long time, and I have to build a thatched house. This time I have to build a bigger one.

If there is extra money, he also wants to get a few wooden boards and make a bed. Sleeping on the ground with thick grass is cold and damp...

Er Gouzi shook his head and threw away many unrealistic ideas in his mind.

After just two full meals, he didn't know who he was. He actually had so many ideas to squander the family and even wanted to have meat every meal.

Five days later, the one acre of rice in the stone nest was harvested and more than four stones were harvested.

However, just when he planned to go to the town to sell grain and buy pants, one thing made him very embarrassed.

What if so much rice was placed here and it was stolen?

Even if no one stole it, the rats and sparrows in the mountains would steal a lot.

He was thinking, can I put these rice into the gourd and carry it with me.

The gourd was already filled with a lot of water. Would the rice be soaked if it was put in?

But this question can be answered by trying.

He first tried to put some rice in, and then tried to pour it out the next day.

He found that sometimes what came out was water, and sometimes it was rice. The two were not mixed together in the gourd.

As long as he thought of rice, what he poured out must be rice, without a drop of water.

If he thought of water, what he poured out must be water, without a single grain of rice.

He spent three days making the gourd taller than a person and the mouth of the gourd bigger than the mouth of a bowl, and put most of the rice in through the mouth of the gourd.

He only left two sacks, which he planned to take to Sanchazi Town to sell for money to sew a pair of pants.

After another three days, he finally changed the gourd back to its original size, and then he carried two sacks of rice to Sanchazi Town.

He was exhausted like a dead dog carrying a load of rice for 20 miles, and he rested several times on the way.

Finally, he staggered to the market, and with a "bang", he quickly threw away the burden on his shoulders, took out the gourd and gulped down a big mouthful of water.

He stuffed the gourd back into his jacket and looked around the market.

Probably because the New Year was over, most people's money was empty, and they could only sell some of the items at the bottom of the box.

There were more people selling their children, and the people were picking and choosing in the crowd like choosing livestock.

When I have money in the future, I will also buy a strong girl to be my wife.

I can give birth to a baby in the evening, and I can still work in the fields, wash clothes and cook during the day.

Next to his stall, an old man had a sad face. There were several old belongings and an old hen on his stall.

Er Gouzi picked up a shiny bamboo tube from his stall.

"How much is this bamboo tube?"

"One penny!"

Er Gouzi took out a copper coin from his jacket and bought the liter.

This thing is not difficult to make, as long as you have bamboo and a saw, it can be made, and the price is not expensive.

"Young man, how about I exchange this hen for your rice?"

The old man looked at the rice in the sack and asked greedily.

Er Gouzi took a look at the old hen the old man was holding. It was bald and probably couldn't lay eggs. He shook his head and refused immediately.

It happened that someone wanted to buy grain seeds at this time, so Er Gouzi ignored it and concentrated on selling grain.

Now the ice and snow have melted, it is the busy spring farming season, and seeds have become more popular.

It only took half a day to sell out all the grain in the two sacks.

A total of 2,600 coins were sold, and the copper coins on his body weighed nearly 20 kilograms.

A large number of scattered copper coins filled the torn jacket, but the clothes were too torn and had too many holes. He couldn't cover them up, and they always fell out from the cracks.

Finally, he had no choice but to pull a few straws, squat on the ground, string all the copper coins together, and then tie them around his waist, and cover them with clothes.

When he walked out of the market, Er Gouzi felt that his waist was heavy, and he reached out to touch it from time to time, feeling that he was rich.

This was the first time he had touched so much money in his life.

With money in his pocket, even if his crotch was leaking, he was still much more confident.

After leaving the market, he went straight to the tailor shop. There were no ready-made clothes and pants in the shop, so he could only buy cloth and make them.

"Do you want to sew clothes?"

Er Gouzi looked at the woman in front of him, who was about the same age as him, wearing a washed-out flowered cotton jacket with patches on the sleeves neatly sewn.

Looking at his ragged clothes, he felt inferior, and he lowered his head involuntarily, blushing and pulling his shirt down, and closing his legs a little.

"Well! I want to sew a cotton coat and a pair of cotton pants. How much does it cost?"

"The labor cost is 15 coins in total, and cotton is 100 coins per pound. There are many kinds of fabrics. It depends on what kind of fabric you choose."

The woman then introduced several kinds of fabrics in the store to Er Gouzi.

The cheapest ones are ramie and linen, which are only 30 coins per foot.

The slightly more expensive ones are cotton, which are 40 coins per foot.

These are all original colors without printing and dyeing. If the cloth is printed and dyed, the price will increase by another 10 or 20 coins.

There is also a kind of cloth that is said to be satin, shining with jewels and gems, which is different at first glance.

The woman did not say the price, and Er Gouzi was also very tactful and did not ask, and directly chose the cheapest fabric.

"I'll use linen!"

Then the woman took out a ruler and helped him measure his body size, shoulders, arms, legs, and waist circumference, which made Er Gouzi embarrassed and blushed.

"A total of nine feet of cloth and three pounds of cotton will be needed."

"Including the labor fee, the total is 585 coins."

"Okay! Okay!"

Er Gouzi blushed and took off the long string of copper coins from his waist, counted out 585 copper coins, and held them in front of the woman.

"Count it, how long will it take to sew it?"

"585, just right, my sister, mother and I will do it together, it will take about half a day."

"Okay, I'll come back later!"

Er Gouzi said, then he clamped his legs together and walked out of the tailor shop step by step.

He walked to the street, took a breath, touched the copper coins on his waist, and strode to the blacksmith shop.

He bought an iron pot and spent 600 coins.

He spent another 200 coins to buy a small knife.

The blade of this knife is only five inches long and one inch wide, with a single-sided blade, which is very convenient for cutting small things.

And you can carry it with you for self-defense.

It's hard to make money, but it's easy to spend it, especially ironware and cloth, which are always expensive.

He spent 800 coins in the blacksmith shop, plus the previous 585 coins, and the money he just got was less than half.

After buying what he needed to buy, when he passed by the pork stall again, he saw the fat pieces of meat, hesitated for a while, and finally made up his mind to buy half a catty of fat.

As for the smell of meat buns wafting from the pork stall next door, he still resisted it.

He was just a small tenant, and even the landlords could not be so extravagant.

The clothes had to wait for a long time, and he had nothing to do, so he strolled on the street with a string of pork.

He had not been to Sanchazi Town many times since he was a child, and everything on the street felt very strange.