North and South groceries

On the Luo family side, Luo Siniang's brothers and sisters also sat around the room to read the letter that night.

In fact, I read it earlier, when the aunt and the couple were there, and now they have gone back, and after dinner, the children took out the letter and read it again and again.

What needs to be explained is almost explained before. This time Luo Yong wrote a letter, mainly for the tea, and this letter to his family is nothing more than a report of safety, and then he told them about Hexi. The local customs and customs over there, several children read his letter as a travel note, and read it with great interest.

At the end of the letter, as the head of the family, Luo Yong inevitably told the family members to study hard and exercise more.

"Go to bed early, and you have to study tomorrow morning."

"Sister, you can take me to Bai's house tomorrow too."

"Why did you go to Bai's house?"

"I want to ride a big horse!"

"Little brat, you can't even climb up on a horse's back, and you still ride a big horse."

"I'm going, I'm going..."

"Wait till you grow taller."

"How long until then?"

"That depends on whether you grow up fast or not."

"..."

Luo Siniang often goes to the Bai family to take classes these days. The elders of the Bai family have hired someone to teach the children in the family knowledge and martial arts. Most of these big families attach great importance to the cultivation of the next generation. The adults of the Bai family will often take part in the battle in person, as a guest teacher character of.

Luo Siniang is good at arithmetic, and she can recite the "Book of Songs" so fluently. Even compared with the children of the Bai family who have received a good education since childhood, her foundation is not too bad, and her learning ability is very good. Qiang, her joining will put pressure on some lazy children of the Bai family and encourage them to work hard. The adults of the Bai family will naturally be happy to see the results. Of course, they also have the intention of supporting the Luo family to some extent.

As for the Luo family, Mrs. Zhao still came to teach every day. For Qiniang's age, it's good to follow him to lay the foundation. In Si Niang's situation, it's not suitable.

Recently, more women came to their classes. Some people really want to learn how to read and write. They had no channels before. Now I heard that there is such a place. Even if you get up early every day and walk half of Chang'an City Come and listen to the class.

These women attend classes here, and they will bring some Shuxiu to Master Zhao. Basically, they eat all kinds of food. Master Zhao, who is over 20 years old, has a red face, and it is not a problem to live another [-] years. .

There were also people who brought things to Si Niang, A Zhi, and the others. This had happened a long time ago. In the past, Luo Yong asked them to push it away. It was said that if they collected things at this time, some women who couldn't get things out at home, I dare not come to this yard to attend classes again.

Recently, when Luo Yong was not at home, and when someone brought something over, A Zhi and the others still pushed it away.Many women who read here are grateful to the Luo family. They can't help with other things, but they will clean the yard after class every day.

Hou Lin was there at breakfast the next morning. He was in a good mood today because he also received a letter from Qiao Junlin yesterday.

After breakfast, Siniang, Wulang and Liulang waited for the school book, and each of them rode a Yanerfei and went out.The Yanerfei they use at home are all upgraded versions: steel bearings, Eucommia rubber wheels, spring sheepskin cushions, and gear chains are also made of steel, only the body is still wood.

This bike rides fast, you don’t have to worry about breaking the chain, and it’s very comfortable to sit on. It’s much more comfortable than those hard-bodied ox carts and carriages. As a result, there has recently been a trend of flying swallows in Chang’an City. It is proud to fly such a swallow.

Of course, the real local tyrants can use the technology of Yanerfei to transform their own ox carts and carriages. There are not many such cars at present, and the entire Chang'an City adds up to about ten or twenty.

Chang'an City in the second half of the lunar calendar is already a scene of early spring. There is already a humid atmosphere in the air, and the trees on both sides of the street are also sprouting buds.

Many people in the city have turned over the vegetable fields in their yards, and some have grown vegetable seedlings on the kang in their houses. After a few days when it gets warmer, they will move them to the field.

Si Niang is now a 15-year-old girl. Today she is wearing a ochre-colored top, brown bottoms, black underwear inside the bottoms, and a pair of black rubber-soled leather boots.

This girl has also grown a lot recently, she is no longer the fleshy look raised by her elder brother two years ago, and she looks quite tall and energetic, when she was practicing martial arts with those Bai family children on the school training ground , is very heroic, even though he is not very old, but he already has a bit of grace.

The Bai family also has a teacher who specializes in teaching girls. Si Niang once went there once under the advice of the elders of the Bai family, and she never went again after that time.

However, Si Niang also felt that their family didn't even have a single talent in this field, so it was really not suitable. She planned to train Qiniang in this field when she grew up a little later. Mother said that the girl is probably not happy either, if she wants to make a fuss, the roof will be toppled.Forget it, let's talk about it when brother comes back.

Brother: ...let me do this when I go back?Then I'd better not go back.

Different from the color of early spring in Chang'an City, Changle County still can't smell the smell of spring at this time, and it is dry and yellow everywhere.

Luo Yong wanted to start infrastructure construction inside and outside the county, but he had neither money nor people in his hands. There were only a few hundred households in the entire Changle County. Recently, when he was engaged in this tofu business, everyone who could move started to work in the workshop. Those who live go to the workshop to work, and those who sell tofu sell it. There are not many idlers left in the whole city.

Seeing that spring plowing is about to start again, those who live in the village below will have to go back to farm, and then the manpower will be even tighter.

So those basic constructions have to be put aside. The most important thing right now is to let the people in and out of the city earn money as soon as possible, so that they can have extra money in their hands, and make Changle County lively. When the number of migrants increases, there will be surplus labor, and then the next step of construction will be ready.

As for making wine, this matter cannot be rushed. Luo Yong handed this matter over to Qiao Junlin. He has just found someone to cultivate distiller's yeast in the county government. It will take some time to cultivate distiller's yeast with ready-made liquor. These people I have never been exposed to liquor before, so I have to take some detours.

The reason why I handed over this matter to Qiao Junlin is also to increase his capital and reputation. When I go back to Chang'an City in the future, I can increase my confidence by interacting with those Chang'an children. .

Wine making still takes time. What Luo Yong is most concerned about right now is the restaurants and wine shops in the city. He has to visit them from time to time to understand their daily business conditions, how many Hu merchants they received that day, and how many Hu merchants stayed. How many Hu merchants have left, and what is the reason for failing to keep them.

"Isn't everyone rushing to Dunhuang to see the goods?"

"It will be at least two months before the caravans from the Western Regions arrive in Dunhuang. These people are rushing for their lives, and they are afraid of falling behind."

"Hey, to do business, you must hurry up."

"..."

There is really no way around this kind of thing. Dunhuang is the place where Hu merchants trade. There are a lot of goods and a big market. Seeing that the peak trading season of this year is coming soon, those people must want to go there early. , Find a good place to live, and then go out to look at the goods every day. If you are lucky, you can buy a batch of good goods and transport them to Liangzhou and other places to resell them, and you can make a lot of money.

On this day, a restaurant owner said to Luo Yong that after the beginning of spring, no one would kill sheep on their side, and mutton was hard to buy, so the government-run vegetable store might as well buy more mutton now and use it. Salted and cured, hung up to dry, made into bacon.

Luo Yong also knows that the goats start to shed cashmere after the beginning of spring. At that time, if they kill the goats, they will not get any cashmere. So now many herdsmen choose to kill the goats in winter. The situation should be similar in all parts of the country.

"Shan, let's buy some more mutton in the next few days."

Luo Yong had just finished saying this in the morning, and in the afternoon, a farmer from the outskirts of the city came to sell three sheep. The movement was so fast, Luo Yong felt that this guy was a relative of the store and did not run away.

The sheep was not bad, and the asking price was reasonable, so Luo Yong bought it. The man scraped off the cashmere, collected copper coins, and went home happily.

The three sheep were slaughtered, the sheep's blood and the sheep's water, a tofu workshop and the servants in the yamen were all consumed in one meal, and even the bones of the sheep were removed to make soup.

For the remaining clean meat, Luo Yong first soaked them in water, then marinated them with condiments, hung them up to dry, and hung them in a hut in the backyard of the county government to smoke after they were almost dried.

This smoked for several days, the smoky smell, at the beginning, the officials in the county government were not used to it, but in the next few days, the smell of bacon came out, making people swallow .

The bacon was finally hung on the beam of the government-run vegetable shop.

The county magistrate of Luo told the old guard who was in charge of the store that as long as someone came to eat at the restaurant in his county, and the store came to buy vegetables, no matter how much the other party bought or how little he bought, he would let him deliver bacon according to the number of people. As a gift, three tablets per person will be fine.

On this day, several Hu merchants passed by their Changle County, entered the county seat, and found a restaurant to eat. When they arrived there, among other things, they ordered a pot of corn porridge and a cold dish.

They met another caravan on the road a few days ago, and the other party told them that the new magistrate of Luo County in Changle County taught the restaurants in the county to cook food, let alone the cold dishes. It's really good, it's most suitable with corn porridge, the price is affordable and the portion is large, the taste is good, and it is very refreshing.

People who have walked on the Gobi Desert for a long time, once they hear that it is delicious and the price is very reasonable, basically there is no one who doesn’t like it. No, when they enter the shop, they don’t ask anything else, and they order cold salad first. vegetable.

Not long after, the corn porridge cold salad was brought up by the store, along with a small dish of bacon, which was said to be sent by their county.

The Hu merchants saw that this county is also very stingy, they either don’t give them away, or they give them decent ideas, what’s the matter with giving these slices of bacon, in their area, bacon is not worth much at all , These people are on the road all day, and they eat a lot.

The shopkeeper put down his things and went down. Just now, these Hu merchants ordered some other dishes, so he had to hurry to cook them.

These Hu merchants drank corn porridge and ate cold dishes with big mouthfuls. The people in the caravan did not lie to them. The cold dishes here are really delicious. Such a large portion only costs a penny, which is a good deal!

"This bacon is delicious." When he was getting excited about eating, someone suddenly said on the table.

"Tsk, why have you never eaten bacon?" The others were very disapproving.

"It's really delicious, if you don't believe me, try it."

"what……"

"Why is it so delicious!"

"Strange! Is this mutton?"

"It's mutton."

"Store! Store!"

"Hey, what do you want for the guests?" The store owner was busy working in the kitchen, when he heard the guests in front calling him, he ran out quickly.

"This bacon is delicious, and we need a plate of bacon," said a barbarian.

"Hey, there is some bacon, so I can go to a government-run shop and cut it. It's just that the price of this bacon is more expensive, it costs [-] Wen a catty. If you think it's suitable..." the shopkeeper said.

"It's thirty cents!"

"How much is a catty of mutton here?"

"I passed by here before winter last year, and I heard that you can sell a catty of mutton for less than three Wen."

"Are you trying to trick us?"

"I can't, I can't, how can a small shop deceive people." The shopkeeper waved his hands again and again:

"Three cents a catty of mutton, that was the price last year when winter just entered. Now this clean mutton can be sold for five cents anyway. Besides, the bacon is expensive because of the few ingredients. Our There is no place to buy them at all, and they were all brought over from Chang'an City by our county magistrate Luo, and there are not many of them, and if you use them, you will use less."

These barbarians also knew that the people in Chang'an City ate fine food, maybe some expensive seasoning was used in the mutton, if so, thirty Wen a catty is not expensive at all.

"Look, is this mutton still available?" The shopkeeper asked them again.

"Forget it, let's quickly serve those tofu dishes." Thirty cents a catty, it's not that I can't afford it, but I just don't want to part with it. No matter how delicious it is, it's still mutton.

When the shopkeeper went down again, the barbarians on the table started talking:

"It costs thirty Wen a catty. Didn't we eat a few Wen just now?"

"This is enough to buy a big plate of cold salad."

"The magistrate of Changle County is not stingy."

"I heard people say that Luo's sisters and brothers are all rich, and it's true."

A few people sighed while eating, and when the meal was over, the shopkeeper and a few of them brought up a small bowl of goat's milk. The goat's milk looked weird, it was gray-brown.

"Please have a taste of the milk tea presented by our county. The magistrate Luo used the tea he brought from Chang'an City to cook with our goat's milk. The taste is very good. I heard that the tea is precious. Those of Chang'an When people make tea, they are only willing to put a little bit in."

"Thank you."

"..."

These barbarians were much more polite this time, one by one carefully took their own bowl of milk tea, and tasted it very cherished.

I heard that the literati in Chang'an really like to make tea. I didn't expect them to receive such courtesy here in Changle County. Tsk, this milk tea is really delicious.

While drinking milk tea, these barbarians talked with the store owner for a while.

Then they knew that this milk tea was not for sale, because the county magistrate Luo came from Chang'an this time, and he brought not much tea in total. It is not popular to eat tea in Hexi these days, and even if you have money, you can't buy tea. .

There is a large courtyard behind this shop. The owner lived in a few rooms, and the rest were guest rooms. After asking the price, these Hu merchants decided to live here tonight.

At dusk, they were still led by the shopkeeper, went shopping outside and visited a tofu workshop. The county town of Changle County is very small, the streets are dusty, and the houses are low. There is really nothing to see. The tofu workshop is still a bit fresh and lively.

On the way back, they met the guards patrolling the city again. They saw it once when they first entered the city, and saw it again when they were sitting in the shop eating, and now they saw it again.

"When are they going to patrol here?"

"There are people all night long. Those who have shifts are scheduled, and there are people during the day and night. After the guests go back, they can just sleep in peace. Our city is very peaceful."

They really slept soundly that night, and the next day, when these people went to the front shop to have breakfast, they saw these city patrollers again.

In addition, there are many ordinary people who are driving out of the city with their burdens. I heard that they carry tofu and sell it like this, and their income is also very good.

Looking at it, for some reason, I felt a little close to this dusty little town.

"What would you like to eat in the morning?"

"One bowl of corn porridge per person, one plate of cold vegetables, and two catties of cooking cakes."

"okay."

"Is there any stewed tofu?"

"Have!"

"Another half a catty of stewed tofu."

"Hey!"