In the years of ancient traders

Early the next morning, Song Shu called Anan and went to the village mill to grind noodles.

It is said to be a mill, but it is actually just a stone mill under a thatched pavilion. When Song Shu arrived, one family had just finished grinding, and two others were waiting at the side. .

Song Shu was also polite and asked Anan to push the millstone.

"Are you making white steamed buns again today?"

"Yes."

These days, most of the men in our family went to the battlefield, and the burden of supporting the family naturally fell on the women.At this moment, there were also two daughters-in-law waiting by the mill, each carrying wheat grains, and agreed to work together to grind the wheat into flour.

"You have such a good steamed bun, isn't the yeast precious?" asked a slightly plump daughter-in-law.

Yesterday everyone tasted the white steamed buns, which are really delicious and can withstand hunger, but everyone knows that there is yeast from hibiscus in it, so the price is not too much to think about.

"It's not very expensive, otherwise I wouldn't be able to afford it." Song Shu smiled.

"Then... can we do it too?" asked another thinner daughter-in-law.

"It's not difficult to make these steamed buns, but there are some tricks in mixing the dough. Even if you don't use Fuso yeast, you can still make it." Song Shu said, "Do you want to learn?"

"Are you willing to teach?" The chubby daughter-in-law was sitting on the ponytail, but when she heard this, she stood up suddenly.

Someone was passing by carrying firewood. He wanted to rest under the pavilion for a while, but when he heard Song Shu's words, he couldn't help asking, "Can I learn too?"

"Of course." Song Shu kept adding wheat grains to the stone mill without stopping, and said after a while, "Anyone from Xianghe Village will come to my house to help for 20 days for free. After 20 days, I will definitely hand over the recipe for the dough. .”

Last night, Song Shu thought about it all night.

Xianghe Village and the surrounding villages have all been baptized by the conscription locust plague and floods. The situation is similar. If you want to do business, it may be difficult to open up sales. However, the county is different. Residents can also find jobs to make ends meet, which is much better than farmers who watch the sky for food.

From the village to the county town, it takes at least two hours to walk. His family has limited labor force. If they grind noodles, make steamed buns, steam the buns every day, and then carry them to the county town to sell, they may not even have time to sleep.

He thought about making steamed buns at home and asking the villagers to sell them to him, but this idea is too avant-garde, and in this era of small-scale peasant economy, it may be difficult to work out.

In the end, he decided to spend money to hire someone to make steamed buns, and he and Anan would recite them and sell them. However, in this way, the initial financial pressure was huge.

Seeing that the villagers were so interested in making steamed buns now, it was a pleasant surprise. He simply pushed the boat along with the current, just in time to solve the urgent need.

The news of free labor for 20 days in exchange for steamed bun recipes spread like wind to every household in Xianghe Village.

20 days, the time period given by Song Shu is also very particular.Now the winter wheat has just been harvested, and the corn that is planted in rotation with wheat has not yet reached the best time for sowing. These 20 days are just during the slack season, and there is no big deal for each family. How can I use this free time to exchange for steamed buns? It seems that it is a profitable business.

The daughter-in-law of the Zhou family was washing clothes by the Xianghe River, and several other daughter-in-laws and ladies were together. The girls were chatting, and someone talked about the steamed bun recipe.

The mother-in-law wanted her daughter-in-law to go to school, but the daughter-in-law wanted to rest for a few days during the farm slack and asked her mother-in-law to let her sister-in-law go. Because of this, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had a few words, and the daughter-in-law complained to others while washing clothes.

"You said about changing the steamed bun recipe, but is it true?" The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had conflicts every day, but Zhou's daughter-in-law didn't care, but she was concerned about the steamed bun recipe.

"Of course, that kid from the Song family said it in front of several people. Anyone in Xianghe Village can learn it."

"But don't you need yeast from Fusang to make these steamed buns?"

"I don't know about that. My mother-in-law wants me to go, why not let her daughter go?"

"This daughter-in-law and the first-line daughter..."

The topic of several people turned to the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Zhou's daughter-in-law didn't listen, but she knew that the mother-in-law was a shrewd one, otherwise how could she escape the conscription a few years ago and leave the male in the family?The life of her family is much better than other families.

Like most people, the men of the Zhou family were also conscripted into the army. At the moment, there is only Zhou's daughter-in-law with a pair of brothers and sisters. The oldest is only thirteen. They all want to add some income to the family.

She washed the clothes as fast as she could, and rushed home holding the wooden tub before she even had time to say goodbye.

When her husband was still at home, he would go to the city to sell hot water during the winter slack.

This business sounds absurd, but there are indeed some people in the city who will buy it.His man told her that people in the city are particular about using hot water for washing and drinking tea, but if they use firewood every time, it would be a waste, not to mention troublesome, so there is no shortage of stall carts in the county all year round. Come out to sell hot water.

Her husband also has one. During the slack season, he simply lives in the city, finds a place where he can sleep, and sells hot water every day. When it’s Chinese New Year, he can just add new clothes for the child, and once bought it for her. A silver hairpin.

After the man left, she wore it on her head every day.

"Ada, Ada, push out your Aye's stall cart." Zhou's daughter-in-law came in holding the wooden basin, shouting while drying the clothes.

This cart is specially made for selling hot water. It looks like a square cart made of wood. There is a round hole in the middle. The diameter is about the forearm of an adult man. The inside is made of bricks and mud. It can be set on fire.

It can heat hot water, so it must be possible to steam things.

Although everyone does not know how steamed buns are made, there is a consensus that the final step is steaming.

After finding the cart, Zhou's daughter-in-law hurriedly asked Zhou Dalang to clean it, while she went into the main room and took out two eggs from a bamboo basket hidden under the quilt.She put the egg into her bosom and rushed towards Song's house in the west of the village.

Song Shu didn't expect that his words would cause such a big reaction. Before noon, more than a dozen families came, and even Mr. Xiao Lang, who had just got married from the village Zheng family, was brought here by his Aye.

Song Shu asked Sanniang, and knowing that these people had no problem with their conduct, they took them one by one, and they were all working in the empty room next door.

In recent years, wars and famines have caused some people to leave their homes one after another when they saw that the situation was not good. As a result, many houses in the village were left empty.At this time, it is different from the 21st century. This kind of empty house in the village is not worth much at all, so when Song Shu asked, the village official readily agreed to use it for him.

This house also has rammed earth walls and a thatched roof, a main house with east and west rooms.It has been empty for a long time, and it needs a lot of repairs if it is used for a while. In order to speed up the efficiency of steaming steamed buns, Song Shu also hired someone who is skilled in technology to help, and asked him to build a stove in the West Room.

Song Shu couldn't do these tasks, so he went back to steam his steamed buns after watching it for a while. When the place got on the right track, not only the amount of steamed buns produced would increase greatly, but the consumption of materials would also be very fast.

He has to figure out with Sanniang Anan quickly how to quickly open up the market.

When the market opens up, steamed buns of various flavors will be available. Bean paste, vegetarian, and meat stuffing, these are the most common dim sum in later generations, but here they are enough to set off a wave of new flavors.

Song Shu walked home while thinking, and saw Zhou's daughter-in-law talking to Sanniang in front of his house. They were pushing something on each other, it seemed... two eggs?

"Shiro." Sanniang called him as if asking for help.

Song Shu heard Sanniang talk about the situation of the Zhou family. There were only three of them, mother and child. The labor force in the family was not as good as that of the Song family. Naturally, life was difficult. Under such circumstances, it was no wonder that Sanniang refused to accept eggs. .

"Song Silang, look at your sister, these two eggs are my kindness, how can I not accept them?" Zhou's daughter-in-law said, "The steamed buns you sent yesterday are rare things, I have to return a gift anyway. .”

Song Shu heard Zhou's daughter-in-law a lot this morning, and the people who came brought some gifts in return.Half a liter of wheat and a heap of corn were all his wishes, and Song Shu also accepted them one by one, but the two eggs were a bit too generous.

Seeing Song Shu's hesitation, Zhou's daughter-in-law didn't play charades at all, and told Song Shu about her plan in detail.I want to buy and sell white steamed buns, and I must have kept this matter a secret for a long time. Rather than being exposed by others in the end, it is better to say it myself.It's just that Zhou's daughter-in-law is not sure about the price of steamed buns, and secondly, she is afraid that Song Shu will want to sell them by herself. If she interferes like this, she will be suspected of cutting off people's wealth.

This is what she planned, let her son push a cart to sell steamed buns in the city, just like him Aye, live in any place in the city, she ran at both ends, working for the Song family during the day, and bought steamed buns for her son at night The only problem is that her second mother has no one to take care of her. She also has this consideration in sending eggs. If the Song family can take care of them, she can rest assured.

As Zhou's daughter-in-law said, she observed Song Shu's expression. The egg was still in her hand, and Song Shu refused to take it.

Song Shu didn't think too much about it. Not only did he not feel that he was robbed of his wealth, but he was very happy.Generally speaking, compared with these authentic ancient farmers, he is a master who does not work hard. If he is asked to walk four hours a day on the mountain road to sell steamed buns in the city, it is better to go back to modern 996 and grow old forever.

But now that Zhou's daughter-in-law is willing to make this charge, Song Shu can't wait for her, and immediately agrees.

Zhou's daughter-in-law didn't expect Song Shu to be so forthright, she was taken aback for a moment, and then pushed the egg into Song Shu's hand again, this time Song Shu accepted it, and offered to come to his house if Mother on Tuesday was left alone With Wuniang and Liuniang as companions.

"Thank you so much." Zhou's daughter-in-law breathed a sigh of relief, "The price of the steamed buns..."

Seeing that the deal was promising, Zhou's daughter-in-law immediately asked the price. She made up her mind that even if the steamed buns were more expensive, as long as she could afford it, she must do this business.Her family has limited labor, and she can't support herself by farming alone, so she must do something else to earn a living.Song Shu's steamed buns can cause such a big response in their village, and I believe they will be sold in the county.

She must grab ahead of others and open up sales in the county.

"Aunt Zhou's words reminded me. I have been busy for a long time, but I didn't talk to everyone about the price." Song Shu smiled, his mind was spinning rapidly. He had thought about the approximate price yesterday, and if he wanted to sell it to the villagers now. , it must be cheaper than the price given to the county.

At this time, some people came to work to exchange recipes, and they were all interested when they heard Song Shu mention the price. They also thought about it in private, and thought that this food was novel and delicious, and it had to be the same price as Liu’s steamed cakes , even if there is no meat filling in it, it will be slightly lower. After all, there are steamed cakes everywhere, which is not considered Liu's unique craftsmanship, but Song Shu's white steamed buns are unheard of.

"Four for one penny, and twenty for five pennies." Song Shu thought about it and said.

This year’s wheat is about [-] cents a penny, and one stone is [-] liters. One liter can make about five white steamed buns. The cost of wheat alone is ten pennies a penny for steamed buns. In addition, we need plant ash, water and firewood for boiling lye. .This price can make about [-]% to [-]% profit. In modern times, selling steamed buns would never be so profitable, but here it is a rare item, and it is normal to be more expensive.

Zhou's daughter-in-law and the few people who just arrived didn't speak for a while.

Liu's steamed cakes cost one penny, and according to their previous speculation, white steamed buns cost at least two pennies, but they didn't expect that Song Shu's price was only half of what they expected.

As a result, the few people who originally only wanted to learn how to do it also became interested in buying and selling.

It's just that this cash is not available to every family.

Song Shu was not sure whether the price he gave was appropriate, but seeing the faces of several people, he knew that the price was no problem.He continued: "If you don't have cash, you can also exchange wheat. A bucket of wheat can be exchanged for twenty, a liter can be exchanged for two, and a bucket of plant ash can be exchanged for one."

"Is this true?" When they heard this, they were overjoyed.

In their grandparents' generation, it was very common to exchange grain for things, but now, unless neighbors exchange occasionally, they mostly use cash to buy anything, and even silk is less and less used.

Song Shu was willing to exchange wheat, which undoubtedly gave them great convenience.

It's just that Song Shu can still use the wheat, so why do you want this plant ash?This question only flashed in everyone's mind, and was immediately forgotten.

The price of white steamed buns quickly spread throughout the village, and even many people in neighboring villages got the news.When the Song family's first batch of steamed buns were steamed today, someone had already rushed over with ash on their backs.At the end of this long day, Song Shu received a total of 36 buckets of plant ash, which was too much to pile up in the kitchen, and put them in the main room to keep him company.

Before going to bed, Song Shu stared at the basket of ashes and scolded himself seventeen or eight times this morning.

The author has something to say: 【Congratulations to Song Shu, the head of the Jia Dynasty, Bai Mantou, who has raised 36 buckets of plant ash. 】

Thank you for your support, okay~