Song Sanshun lowered his head, took out the beads from his lapel, looked at them, and then put them back into his lapel.
The next day, he suppressed his worry and did not go to the new house to visit his father.
However, two uninvited guests came to the village.
One was a Taoist priest in a gray robe with a sparse Taoist bun, and the other was a peddler carrying a basket on his back. They came to Songjia Village, asked a village boy for directions, and went straight to Song Sanshun's house.
At this moment, many villagers were fetching water at Song Sanshun's house. They saw the two of them walking into the yard and greeting Chang'an: "Little Chang'an, long time no see!"
Changan ran over and asked curiously, "Uncle Baldy, why are you here?"
Baldy Zhang said unhappily, "I have a name, and it's not Uncle Baldy."
Changan blinked and waited for his next words.
Baldy Zhang coughed, swept the whisk in his hand, and stroked his beardless chin and said, "My Taoist name is Ling Xiaozi, and my family name is Zhang Tu."
"Oh." Chang'an responded, wondering in his heart: Isn't his name still Zhang Tu?
"Tu! The Tu that means working hard to govern the country, not bald!" Zhang Tu seemed to see through the little kid's thoughts and explained it patiently.
Changan blinked and nodded: "I know, Uncle Zhang Tu."
Zhang Tu:
Li Sier couldn't help laughing. Seeing Zhang Tuzi's unfriendly look, he quickly said, "Chang'an, we are here to buy clay statues. How many have you made?"
"Six." Chang'an scratched his head embarrassedly.
She has been busy playing house recently and hasn't made many clay figures.
Zhang Tu: "Can you show it to us?"
"Okay, follow me." Chang'an said, inviting the two to come to the west room.
She climbed onto the kang on a stool and pointed at the six clay statues in the cabinet and said, "This is it."
Among the six clay statues, two are new-style dragon king statues and four are water god statues.
Zhang Tu glanced at the other clay statues in the cabinet and asked, "Why aren't you selling those?"
Chang'an told the truth: "My uncle doesn't allow me to sell it." And that was something she had made before, and now it seems to have many flaws, so she put it in the cabinet.
"I want them all." Zhang Tu said, "I'll still charge 500 each."
Changan smiled, took out six clay statues and handed them to Uncle Bald.
Zhang Tu took it in his hand, looked at it, and said, "Xiao Changan, where is your uncle? I want to talk to him."
Wu Chonglou, who was standing by, heard this and hurried out to find his brother-in-law.
Song Sanshun bowed to Zhang Tu and said, "Master, I am sorry to meet you."
Zhang Tu returned the greeting and said directly: "I am here to buy the Chang'an clay statue, but I have a suggestion."
"Master, please speak."
"It's like this." Zhang Tu took out a small square box from his backpack and put a clay statue inside it. "Your clay statue is too fragile. It will break if you're not careful. You'd better order a wooden box to put it in. Well, like this box of mine."
Song Sanshun stretched his head and looked, and saw that the inside of the wooden box was painted black, and the clay statue was placed inside, which just brought out the color of the clay statue.
Zhang Tu closed the lid of the wooden box and said, "The box doesn't have to be very elaborate, as long as it can hold the clay statue."
He paid 500 wen for a clay statue, so it's not too much to ask for a wooden box, right? People who sell dim sum for 500 wen a piece always have to have a beautiful box.
Song Sanshun nodded quickly: "Okay, we will make a box next time." The clay statues in Chang'an can be sold for 500 coins each, so they should at least come with a box. It was his own negligence.
Zhang Tu nodded with satisfaction and took out three strings of money from his pocket: "Here, this is the money for six clay statues. I will come to collect the goods once a month in the future. You just need to prepare ten, and each one needs a box."
Song Sanshun: "Master, don't worry."
Changan, who was sitting on the edge of the kang, looked at Uncle Zhang Tuzi, then looked at his uncle, and asked, "Uncle Zhang Tuzi, how much do you want for the box?"
Zhang Tu smiled and said, "Aren't they all within 500?"
Changan shook his head: "I don't know how to make a box. You have to pay someone else to make it."
Zhang Tu:
The little girl is quite clever.
"Okay, I'll pay fifty cents to customize the box. Is that okay?" Zhang Tu said helplessly.
Changan turned around and asked Song Sanshun: "Uncle, can I make a box for fifty cents?"
"Yes! Of course!" Song Sanshun agreed immediately.
Changan was satisfied and said to Zhang Tu with a smile: "That's it."
Zhang Tu glared at Chang'an resentfully and put the clay statue away.
"Uncle Bald, I have some Zhuzhu at home, do you want them?" Chang'an asked.
Zhang Tu said angrily: "No!"
Li Si'er said, "I want it, I want it! Bring it over and let me see it?"
Are you kidding me? Didn't I come all this way just to exchange the little kid's goods? Strangely enough, no matter how much goods I exchanged for the little kid's goods, I could sell them all and make a lot of money. For this reason, my family is planning to build a new house in the town.
"I'll get it." Mrs. Wu quickly brought over all the Buddhist beads she had strung, dozens of them.
In the end, Li Si'er exchanged all of them for ten cents a string.
It's expensive to buy and expensive to sell, so I'll just sell it at twenty or thirty cents a string.
At this time, Mrs. Qian and Jin Guihua also brought their own pearls, the number of which was almost the same as Mrs. Wu's, as well as clay statues made by their children.
Li Si'er actually didn't want to exchange it, but he couldn't resist the lobbying of the little kid and finally exchanged it.
The price of a string of beads was still ten cents, but the price of a clay statue was only one hundred and fifty cents each.
When the two men said goodbye, Wu felt a little sorry, so she picked some vegetables and radishes from her own vegetable garden and gave them to Zhang Tu and Li Si'er.
The two men didn't hesitate to take the dishes, ate the radishes and left the village.
Now, the whole village saw with their own eyes that someone had spent money to buy the clay statue and beads, and they were immediately excited. They immediately brought their smartest children over to try to get close to Chang'an.
"Changan, this is my pig. He will be nine years old during the Chinese New Year. Can he learn to make clay figures from you?"
"Changan, come here, this is my daughter Mei Zi, she is about the same age as Qiao Er, she has long wanted to learn craftsmanship from you."
Changan was confused and before he could say anything, he was pulled behind him by his aunt.
"Dear ladies and sisters-in-law, Chang'an is only four years old. I really can't teach too many children." Mrs. Wu apologized.
When the women saw that Wu politely refused, they had to leave even though they were reluctant.
However, after that, more and more children came to Chang'an to play with Goudan and Xiao Chutou.
Changan is a little worried.
Because when she was teaching her uncle and others to read in the morning, someone always came to disturb them.
The children were ragged and unkempt. As soon as they entered the yard, they started wandering around and picked the vegetables and radishes in the vegetable garden without paying attention.
Even though the radishes were covered with straw mats, they were still able to find them. They plucked one without washing it, wiped it with their hands and started to eat it directly, as if they had been hungry for a long time.
Seeing them like this, Mrs. Wu couldn't bear to scold them, so she had to wait until the villagers finished fetching water and then close the gate early.
"Oh, you don't know, many families in the village are having a hard time, they can barely afford even a bowl of porridge a day."
Mrs. Qian and Jin Guihua came to do needlework with Mrs. Wu. As they were sewing the cotton-padded jacket, they said, "Several people came to my house yesterday to look for Goudan, saying that they wanted to ask him to be their teacher. How could I dare to accept? What if I worked so hard to make a jacket but no one wanted it? Wouldn't they hate me to death?"
It costs money to make clay statues. At least you have to buy paint and ink, right?
These things are not cheap. Once you buy them and lose money, your family will have no easy life.
Wu nodded: "Yes, I think so too. The business of clay statues is so small. Who would want them if we make too many?"
"that is!"
Jin Guihua approached Wu and said, "Aunt, let me tell you something new. Mrs. Zhao is asking people to sell the house."
Wu raised her eyebrows: "Which house?"
"Which other one? It's the compound where they live now."
Jin Guihua said with disdain, "What do you think she is thinking? She wants to sell the newly built yard even though she is living a good life. What on earth does she want to do?"