Qin Xiaomi looked at the piece of red cloth and frowned: "Shopkeeper, your red cloth is unevenly dyed. Some places are red, and some are red and yellow. It looks like inferior goods at first glance, and you still sell it for three hundred coins per foot." , It’s too much to bully customers.”
“Little girl, don’t talk nonsense!” The shopkeeper wanted to do business and was afraid of getting a bad reputation, so he simply asked the waiter to bring two kinds of good red cloth. come out.
“This is the finest vermilion cloth, dyed with the finest cinnabar pigment. The workmanship is complex and the materials are expensive, costing one tael of silver per foot.”
“This is High-quality ocher cloth, dyed with ocher pigments, a deep red color, also costs one tael of silver per foot. If you want to make a wedding dress, even if the skirt is The sleeves are cut tight, and it costs eight feet of cloth and eight taels of silver!”
“So it’s not that we don’t have good products, but...” The shopkeeper laughed twice, and the meaning was self-evident. , and said loudly: "Our Baojin Cloth Shop never deceives customers, and will only sell the corresponding cloth according to the customer's wealth!"
These words made many guests from the county town look over, point at them and laugh at them: "If you are poor, don't come to the county town to buy things, lest the dirt from your countryside will dirty the green brick floor of our county town!"
Qiao The aunt felt uneasy when she was told that. She pulled Aunt Xu and whispered: "Let's go and ask elsewhere. Maybe it's cheaper."
The shopkeeper heard this and said, He smiled and said, "The price is the same in any cloth shop you go to. If you really can't afford a big red cloth for a wedding dress, then buy a foot of red cloth and make a red hijab to show your face, or you can rent one from someone else." The red wedding dress that I have worn!”
“What do you mean? You can’t curse my daughter!” Aunt Qiao’s eyes turned red with anger. This rented wedding dress also implies that the bride will not marry again. The hidden meaning of purity.
Xu Erjun was also very angry and pumped his fists: "Shopkeeper, please speak more clearly!"
The shopkeeper was amused: "What, you still want to beat someone in public? If you dare to do it, I will report it to the official and arrest you all as slaves!"
Bang!
Qin Xiaomi slapped the money bag on the counter, opened the mouth of the bag, and let the shopkeeper see the silver inside: "Here are ten taels of silver."
The shopkeeper's eyes lit up and he immediately He changed his face and called the waiter: "What are you doing standing around? Hurry up and serve tea to the guests. Remember to add sugar!"
"Oh." The waiter hurriedly went to pour the tea.
The guests in the cloth shop were also shocked. This little girl could actually take out ten taels of silver. These people were probably country landlords pretending to be poor.
The shopkeeper smiled and apologized to Aunt Xu and Aunt Qiao again: "Sisters, it was me who was rude and said stupid things that I shouldn't have said. You two, please don't be as knowledgeable as me... You two want to Are you planning a wedding? It’s best to choose this bright red color as wedding dress. It’s festive and can ward off evil spirits. A lifetime of trouble-free life."
Aunt Qiao quickly grabbed Aunt Xu: "Sister-in-law Xu, I can't buy it, it's too expensive. Let's go quickly."
But Aunt Xu didn't want to wrong Qiao. Lizi, but her family didn't have so much money. She was embarrassed for a while and looked at Qin Xiaomi.
Qin Xiaomi smiled at the shopkeeper and said: "Shopkeeper, my two aunts are not very satisfied with your goods. Let's go to other cloth shops first. We might encounter someone who won't take it. Hongbu deceived the customers and secretly cursed the shopkeeper who slandered the customers.”
She took back the money bag and called to Aunt Xu and Aunt Qiao: "Two ladies, let's go and buy big red cloth from other cloth shops!"
They just asked the price and said the price. The goods were expensive, so the shopkeeper secretly scolded the bride for being unclean, saying that even if she had money, she would not let this cloth shop make money.
“Hey, don’t leave!” The shopkeeper chased her out, but Qin Xiaomi and the others had already disappeared into the crowd. The shopkeeper could only go back to Buzhuang and endure the guests’ low-pitched ridicule at her. .
......
Aunt Qiao no longer dared to visit Cloth Village, and said to Aunt Xu: "Sister-in-law Xu, our two families have known each other for decades, and we fled together. You need to pay attention to those scenes. Instead of buying big red cloth, buy a few feet of cheap cloth, make a new dress for Lizi, and buy a red flower to wear.”
Aunt Xu hurriedly said: "No, it is precisely because of the friendship between our two families that my family cannot wrong Li Zi."
Xu Erjun's eyes were already red and he promised: "Mother-in-law, I will do more work to catch up. Before getting married, I bought red cloth for Li Zi to make a wedding dress. If it doesn’t work, I’ll borrow it... I’m young and strong, and I can pay off the debt in less than two years!”
Aunt Qiao disagreed: “No, you can’t borrow money. You will have to spend money after you get married! There is plenty of room for money. Listen to me, we don’t care about noodles. Son, just make it simple. The most important thing is that you can live a good life after you get married."
To be honest, Qin Xiaomi was a little moved, but said: "Aunt Qiao, Aunt Xu, Xu. Second brother, I’ll cover Sister Lizi’s red wedding dress.”
< br>The three of them were shocked, and Aunt Qiao hurriedly said: "No, no, no, if you, a little girl, can take on such an expensive task, you'd better save your private money." Qin Xiaomi smiled: "It doesn't cost anything. If you have money, let’s dye the red cloth ourselves and make the wedding dress.”
What?
Aunt Xu and Aunt Qiao both laughed: "You want to pick wild flowers and dye the cloth red, right? You can't dye it. We tried it long ago when we were young. Don't look at the red flowers. But what comes out is not red at all, but muddy yellow, which is ugly... Although other colors such as blue, yellow, and green are common, even if they are dyed, the fabric will fade after starching and washing, making it unusable."
This is why farmers' clothes are so gray. The reason is that they cannot afford to wear those colorful clothes.
Qin Xiaomi said: "Don't worry, two ladies. Before Sister Lizi gets married, I will dye the red cloth for you. If you can't dye it, I will use my own money to buy red cloth for you. Sister Lizi’s wedding dress is my dowry for Sister Lizi.”
Aunt Xu and Aunt Qiao both laughed. They didn't believe she could dye red cloth, so they just said: "Let's go to the Yamen first. Let's think about the wedding dress later."
Qin Xiaomi didn't do it either. Explain more and follow them to the Yamen.
The thief who was following them saw them going to the Yamen, cursed it to themselves, and had no choice but to give up on the deal and withdraw.
Qin Xiaomi was very sorry... The thief was caught and sent to the Yamen, but there was a reward for it.
After arriving at the yamen, Qin Xiaomi and the others waited outside the yamen for more than a quarter of an hour before Grandpa Qin and the others came out of the yamen. Everyone had smiles on their faces. Chai and Zhang's family were still a little excited.
Old Man Chai said: "Thanks to Brother Qin, otherwise we would never have seen so many officials."
Guan Annong corrected again: "Old man, I am just a petty official, not an official."
br>Old man Chai said: "Sooner or later, you will definitely become a master. Officer."
Guan Annong was helpless and did not explain. He said to Grandpa Qin: "I will mention it to the county magistrate. You should just leave it alone so as not to get into trouble."
It is said that someone may have borrowed the help of villagers to buy land secretly.
However, the county magistrate generally does not take care of this kind of matter. Firstly, there are too many local gangsters involved in this matter. Secondly, the county magistrate will be transferred, and no one who is not stupid will quarrel with the local gangsters.
He said again: "Go back, otherwise it will be dark when you get home."
This is the county seat, far away from the village.
"Hey, thank you so much for your help today, Secretary Guan." Grandpa Qin and the others thanked Secretary Guan, and took Qin Xiaomi and the others to the city gate together.
After learning that the price of red cloth had increased and the Xu Qiao family had not bought it, Grandpa Qin sighed: "Things are expensive in the county. Maybe they can be cheaper in the town. Let's go home first."< br>
But the red cloth in the town is all bought in the county, so it will only be more expensive.
The Chai and Zhang families also had a wedding. When they heard that red cloth was expensive, they sighed with sadness. Old man Chai almost cried because his daughter couldn't even afford a red wedding dress when she got married.
Seeing that the atmosphere was so bad, Aunt Xu took Qin Xiaomi's talk about dyeing red cloth as a joke, and said: "Girl Xiaomi has many ideas, maybe she can really dye red cloth, how can we do it?" All the girls at home wear free red "Wedding dress."
And asked Qin Xiaomi jokingly: "Girl Xiaomi, when are you going to pick flowers and dye the cloth?"
Qin Xiaomi: "I don't use flowers, I use wild grass." .”
Everyone laughed when she said this, and the atmosphere became more relaxed, but no one believed that she could dye red cloth with weeds.
(End of this chapter)