Ordinary clear day

Chapter 17
Ermo finished the matter smoothly.The carpenter she found was very skilled and smart enough to immediately discover the value of this set of tools. Not only did he not charge the wages, he even asked if he could sell the blueprints to him, so she had to go home and ask Shuning.I have to say that there are still many clever people among the ancients.However, these things are not high-tech, and others can easily imitate them. Shuning didn't ask him for money. It was agreed that every time a set was sold in the first three months, she would get [-]% of the profits, and the rest would go to that company. The carpenter, except that he was not allowed to spread the fact that she was the inventor.After three months, all the money earned belonged to him.

The carpenter thought that the pie fell from the sky, how could he not agree?Ermo couldn't understand either, and felt that her young lady gave up the opportunity to get rich to outsiders for nothing.Shuning didn't care, they would know when pirated products appeared in a few months.Now she finally has some private money, but she must keep it well.

Sure enough, the carpenter's shop combined the four items on the drawing with a high-quality broom to form a set of sweeping tools, which sold extremely well in the city.There are many small and medium-sized officials and well-to-do families in Fengtian. They are willing to spend a little money to buy a set of this kind of equipment. It is not only convenient to use, but also cleans the place much cleaner.Even high-ranking officials and big households will buy one or two sets freshly.The carpenter made a lot of money, and Shuning's purse also bulged a lot.

It's just that the good times don't last long. In this era without intellectual property protection, counterfeit products soon appeared.Some are crudely made and sold very cheaply; some are very finely made and carved with flowers on them, taking the high price route.The carpenter's business fell into the cold, much to his disappointment.

But Shu Ning had expected this kind of situation earlier, she got more than 20 taels of silver in the past three months, and distributed eight taels to Ermo, and let her keep the rest for herself.If you keep it in your own room, you will inevitably be discovered by Xiaotao, and Tong Shi will also know it. If you ask about the history, it will be difficult to answer.Ermo and his wife are both honest people, and they have always loved themselves.It would be safer to put it with her before he was old enough to own private money openly and aboveboard.Ermo hesitated to accept the money, thanking her for her trust in him, and swore that she would keep it safe, even Chang Fu would not let him know.

The popularity of sanitation supplies quickly swept the city.Soon, more than half of the households had one.Even Shuning's own house was decided by Tong, and Changgui bought a set.Talking about it before dinner one day, Mrs. Tong complained: "Ermo had already bought a set at home, and she didn't say anything, which made me spend an extra money." I asked a carpenter to do a little favor, and he did it for our family for free, without spending any money. The servant was confused and forgot to mention it to grandma." Tong waved his hand: "Forget it, it's just a trivial matter. But this set of things is really easy to use , I don’t know who came up with it. It used to take two people an hour to clean the entire front yard, but now it can be done by only one person, and the time is much less. Mopping the floor with a wet mop doesn’t take much time. Washing with water can save a lot of work." Zhang Bao agreed, and also mentioned that the government office also bought two sets as spares.

Shuning pretended to be nonchalant, lowered her head to eat, and only occasionally raised her eyes to meet Ermo, secretly smiling at each other.

After eating, the whole family sat in the main room and talked. Zhang Bao said to Mrs. Tong: "It's winter now, and it will snow soon. Are you going to give the New Year's gift in Beijing?" Mrs. Tong nodded and said yes. , He said again: "Don't give away any more wine this year. Because Fengtian rice has a good harvest this autumn, the price of rice in the south of the Yangtze River has plummeted after entering the customs. The imperial court was worried that the price of rice would hurt farmers, and it had to be prepared for future wars, so it ordered that Fengtian rice not be allowed to enter the customs. The military rations are only farmed outside the customs, and at the same time, only rice that is more than three years old can be used to make wine. Now that the major wineries are caught off guard, I am afraid that the wine brewed this year will not be enough for the outside of the customs, so they should replace it with other things. "

When Tong heard the words, she was worried: "What should I do? In the past few years, this alcohol was the most important gift for the New Year. If you don't give it away now, you will have nothing to pay for it."

Zhang Bao also knew this difficulty, thought for a while, and said: "The corn, potatoes, peanuts and other things that were planted for trial this year have a good harvest. The imperial court does not allow Fengtian rice to enter the customs, but it didn't say that these are not allowed to enter the customs. Just send some over. Zhou Mansion Cheng loves things made of potatoes. The potatoes grown here for hundreds of miles are all proposed by him. His family has a large recipe for potatoes. I asked him to ask for it. Let's send it together."

Tong Shi nodded while listening, but still felt that it was not enough: "After all, these are worthless. Now that you have been promoted, you must not be too stingy."

Zhang Bao sighed: "Think about it again, my salary is much higher now, and the people below are often filial, the situation is much better than a few years ago, you can figure it out, just spend more money, lest Beijing Someone in there is talking."

Tong agreed, and then talked about pickling Chinese cabbage this year.Duan Ning had already slipped out out of boredom, Shu Ning couldn't sit still when she heard this, she complained to her parents and went back to her room.

Since the beginning of autumn this year, there has been strong winds, especially cold in winter nights, making the window paper pasted on the windows flutter, and a corner was blown two days ago, but it was repaired immediately.At times like this, I really miss the glass windows.I heard that in Fengtian's old palace, most of the palaces and pavilions are made of glass windows, and even the Fengtian government office and Fu Yin's official residence also have windows inlaid with glass.It's a pity that my family didn't have enough money to reach that level, so I had to continue to use traditional white paper to paste.Although not as strong and light-transmitting as glass windows, the advantage is that it is cheap and safe from fragments.

Shuning picked up a book of Tang poems, flipped through a few pages, and couldn't grasp it just after the watch was over.Asked Xiaotao to come in with water, washed her face, changed her clothes and went to sleep.

A good night's sleep.

In a daze, she felt a little cold, and rolled up the quilt on her body, but the coldness still couldn't be eliminated. When she opened her eyes, she saw a white light outside the tent.It turned out that it was already daylight!She was startled, and was about to get up, but as soon as she left the bed, she couldn't help shivering.

With a creak, the door opened, Xiao Tao came in with something, saw Shu Ning got up, quickly put down the things, wiped her hands, and took out a thick dress from the box: "Miss is up?"

"Why is it so cold?"

"Girl guess?" Xiaotao squeezed her eyes and helped her change her clothes, "A reminder: it's still early, but it's very bright outside."

"It's snowing?" Shuning was pleasantly surprised.Putting on her clothes in a hurry, ignoring Xiaotao's yelling behind her, she rushed out of the room.

Sure enough, there was a vast expanse of whiteness outside, and the sky was clearly still dark, but it was set off by the color of snow as if it were daytime.The snow had stopped, and the snow on the ground was less than half a foot, and it was almost overflowing into the corridor.The small trees in the yard were covered with snow, and the branches were all pressed down.

Shu Ning saw the beautiful snow scene, before she had time to sigh, she sneezed and rushed back to the room.Xiaotao muttered: "I told the girl not to go out, is it cold? Brother Ma was so cold that he sneezed six times this morning, and I also sneezed twice. It's snowing, and it's about to Be careful of catching a cold, anyway, the snow won't melt for a while, so it won't be too late to go out after wearing thick clothes and burning the hand stove..."

It was only then that Shu Ning realized that what she had brought in before was a charcoal plate, and it was already on fire: "Why is it burning right now, I have to go to the upper room to eat when I come back, and it won't be too late to burn it when I return to the room." Xiao Tao smiled wryly Said: "My little aunt, look at yourself. You haven't washed your face and combed your hair yet. It will take half an hour. If you don't burn it now, I'm afraid you will catch a cold when you turn around. Ermao will fry my skin." " She put the charcoal plate away, went out, brought in a copper pot of water after a while, put it on the charcoal plate to heat up for a while, then poured it into the face plate, brought a towel, and waited for Shuning to wash her face.

Shu Ning let her play with her, but she was thinking about other things.This is the first snowfall since the beginning of winter. With such heavy snowfall, it seems that next year's harvest will be good.It’s just that the snow is so heavy, and the weather is much colder. This winter, I have to find some way to keep warm. It’s best to be convenient and inexpensive. The winters of the past few years have been very sad.

After freshening up, I came to the upper room. Breakfast was already served. Because it was cold, all the food was piping hot.Shu Ning greeted her, and after sitting down, she first drank a bowl of hot soybean milk.This is something that has only appeared in the city recently. It is made after the soybean harvest. The soybean flavor is very strong, and honey is added. It tastes much better than the thin soybean milk mixed with water in modern times. This is a healthy food. !

Mrs. Tong also drank a bowl, took the corn bread and broke it into several pieces, added it to the Duanning bowl, turned to Zhang Bao and said, "I just asked someone to take out your pair of cowhide boots, and that sheepskin boot." In a big cloak, I asked Ermo to find a strong oil-paper umbrella, and told the old Wu to put a heater in the car. When you go back to the yamen, be careful not to blow the wind." Zhang Bao nodded: "You are also at home. Be careful, burn the stove in the house to keep warm, and remember to open the windows for ventilation." Tong replied.

Duanning finished eating the buns, and interjected: "Mr. has something to do today, so you don't have to go to class, son, go back to study in your own room. I just practiced calligraphy in the study room. The two big windows are open, blowing the air all over the room." The books rattled and the windows were closed, and it was stuffy, dark, and cold, so it’s better to be warm in the room.” Zhang Bao agreed: “That’s fine, the study room is colder than other rooms, I’m afraid the ink is not enough Easy to use, but hard to write."

Shu Ning suggested: "Why don't you let my brother come to the upper room with me, we can read and write in the right room, we won't disturb Er Niang, and we can also save a heater. Didn't Er Niang say that now the charcoal Is it more expensive than last year?" Zhang Bao and Tong's family all called it Dashan, and Duan Ning also beamed with joy, it's better to be with someone than to be alone, not to mention that the upper room is the warmest place for the whole family.

(End of this chapter)