Chapter 64: Lowering Again and Again
The shed is now set up and the mill can officially open.
In fact, it is more appropriate to call it a pavilion. The shed only has a roof, with supporting bamboo poles on the four sides. A bamboo pole is placed horizontally in the middle of three sides as a fence, and one side is left empty as a door.
Qin Yao was satisfied that she could get such a mill in such a short time and without spending a penny.
The mill was just at the foot of the mountain where she lived, so she didn't have to worry about it being stolen. She could hear any noise from her home.
After everything was ready, Qin Yao took advantage of the time when the villagers gathered at the village well to rest and went over to explain the rules for charging fees to everyone.
It cost five cents per hour, and as long as they delivered the grain to be ground, she would be responsible for grinding it for them and sending it back home.
Qin Yao herself felt that this service was very good. After all, the villagers only needed to spend a little money, leave their things with her, and then they could go about their own business.
If it were her, she would be very willing to pay the service fee.
Liu Ji felt that he was at a great disadvantage. Only a fool would not come to help guard the goods and send them home.
So the couple each took a stool and sat in the mill waiting for guests to come.
Liu Ji also brought a small table from home, put a pot of boiled water and two cups on it, thinking that he could have a drink by the river when he had free time, and imitate the noblemen in the city, indulging himself in the mountains and rivers.
Qin Yao shot so many birds yesterday that she plucked all their feathers and dried them, planning to use them to make gloves, scarves and other things.
Bird feathers are also feathers, so they can be made into down jackets, right?
At this moment, the couple, one drinking boiled water, the other sorting out feathers and down, waiting for customers to come.
Even though they had drunk three cups of boiled water and sorted the feathers and down, why hadn't anyone come yet?
Qin Yao looked at Liu Ji, "Too busy to have time?"
Liu Ji was also confused. "No matter how busy you are, you should take some time off in the middle of the day, right?"
It's impossible that they think their fees are too expensive!
Qin Yao: "Wait a little longer?"
Liu Ji finished his fourth glass of boiled water and said, "Yeah."
No, I can't hold it in any longer, "Madam, I'll be right there!"
But when he came back from the toilet, there was still no customer in the mill.
This made the two people who were originally full of confidence lose their confidence. Qin Yao was not a person who would sit and wait for death. She immediately went to the village well where the villagers gathered to see what was going on.
There were only a few people there, all children.
Qin Yao caught Jinhua and asked her where her parents were. Jinhua called her "Auntie" affectionately and pointed her little hand towards the ancestral hall.
Qin Yao hurried towards the ancestral hall. Before she arrived, she saw the baskets of grain lined up in front of the mill.
No one was sure how long the person who used the mill would need it, and there was work to do at home and in the fields, so the idea of using baskets of grain to reserve space in the queue was developed.
The more loads of grain there are, the more people will need to use the mill. Looking at the long dragon-like loads, Qin Yao was even more confused.
The stone mill was so crowded, why didn't anyone want to go to her water mill?
What went wrong?
There really is a problem, and it's a big problem.
Zhang went to the field to weed the vegetable garden. On her way home, she passed by the river and subconsciously glanced at the water mill. She thought there would be a lot of people there, but to her surprise, the millstone was not even moving and there was no one there.
She felt strange. This water mill was much more convenient than a stone mill. She had experienced it herself yesterday. It was just a matter of standing and putting grain into the millstone. It was not tiring at all.
At this time of year, the amount of water in the river is high, and the impact makes the water mill turn much faster than human grinding. Yesterday, she carried a load of grain and it only took her about half an hour to grind it, which saved almost half the time than before.
"Why is there no one here?" Zhang muttered, and returned home with a confused look on her face.
As soon as I entered the house, I heard He and Qiu complaining while weaving, "Aunt Zhou came to me and asked why the third brother's water mill was charging such a high price. The people in the village are all relatives who are connected by bones and tendons. How can you still want to earn money from your relatives?"
"She wanted to go to the water mill to grind flour in the morning, but when she heard that it would cost five cents an hour, she went back to the stone mill in despair."
"She's just sitting around doing nothing anyway, and the stone mill is free, so it's nothing for her to put in some effort."
Listening to He's vivid retelling, Qiu frowned, feeling a little dissatisfied on behalf of her family member.
"The water mill at the Third Brother's house wasn't blown in by the wind. I spent money on it. How can she use it for free without paying? There's no such thing as a good thing."
He tutted, "You know how stingy she is, that's just how she is."
"Then she will just be tired." Qiu sneered.
"But." Thinking of the price of five cents per hour, Qiu's heart skipped a beat. "For ordinary people like us, it's not easy to earn five cents."
He thought that it was because the third brother's family let them use the mill for free that they felt it was a good thing.
But if they really had to spend money to rent a water mill, they would rather be a little more tired and slowly grind it themselves using a stone mill.
Of course, when a large amount of grain is needed for a wedding or funeral, people are willing to spend some money to rent the water mill.
But only occasionally.
Reluctance is just one of the reasons.
There is another one.
Don't think about it, five cents is only for a pound of brown rice, but everyone is used to hardship, and suddenly using so much rice to buy some leisure time feels like something evil.
If any daughter-in-law is afraid of hard work and fatigue, she can spend five cents to rent a water mill. I am afraid that the men and women in the family will scold her!
After listening to the conversation between the two sisters-in-law, Zhang finally figured out why there was no one in the water mill.
She guessed that the third brother and his wife probably didn't know the reason.
Call back the eldest grandson who was catching grasshoppers for chickens on the edge of the field and ask him to pass on a message.
Jinbao went there happily. He wanted to find Dalang and the others to catch grasshoppers together. It would be more fun with more people.
After learning the truth, Liu Ji jumped up and down, "You don't even dare to spend this little money, you deserve it!"
Qin Yao was a little calmer, but not much.
"Lower the price, three cents an hour, someone should come, right?" Qin Yao was no longer confident.
Let Liu Ji go to the village to publicize it, and continue to wait the next morning.
From morning till night, only Yunniang from Liu the peddler's family came with a bucket of husked wheat to grind flour.
The water mill was very efficient and it only took her half an hour to grind the flour and she earned two small melons.
Because half an hour cost less than a penny, Yunniang allowed Liu Ji to pick two small melons from her vegetable garden at any time.
At night, the family of six drank white rice porridge with a plate of stewed melon slices, which was so tasteless.
"Lower it further!" Qin Yao still didn't believe it. No one wanted to spend money to save effort and time.
Liu Ji asked in a trembling voice: "How much will it drop?"
Qin Yao gritted her teeth and said, "Two cents for an hour!"
Liu Ji then went to the village to publicize it again.
Thank God, Liu Dafu came and walked towards the water mill with his fifty heavy loads of grain!
He wants to husk all the grain.
Qin Yao and Liu Ji gave them a warm welcome. After seeing Liu Dafu off, Liu Ji was responsible for grinding the grain and Qin Yao was responsible for carrying it. It was the first time that the two of them completed this large order with such tacit understanding. It only took three and a half days to deliver all 50 loads of ground grain to Liu Dafu's home.
Three and a half days, actually took 25 hours.
Looking at the fifty cents that Liu Dafu handed over with a smile, Qin Yao couldn't smile at all.
Inner villain: Destroy them all!
(End of this chapter)