Chapter 30 Start practicing today
“I asked Uncle Zhang that red bricks are cheaper than blue bricks. It costs at least forty taels to build five red brick houses. It costs at least forty taels of silver to set up a kang, build a fire wall, build a stove... and all sorts of things. I'm afraid it will cost fifty taels to get up, and including the additional furniture, it will cost up to sixty taels."
"More than that," Shang Wan said, "There are five of us. Regardless of the size of the room, there must be five bedrooms. Counting the main room, study room and kitchen, there are eight bedrooms, as well as a pigsty and a latrine."
Xiaohuan felt that Shang Wan had made the wrong calculation, "Sister, we only need three bedrooms. Yuanyuan is still young now, so she has to live with you. Shitou and I have one room each, making a total of three bedrooms."
"What about Lu Chengjing?"
Xiaohuan: "Master, of course I will live in the same room with you."
Of course the husband and wife live together.
Shang Wan: How could Lu Chengjing, an innocent boy who could make people blush with just one sentence, be willing to sleep on the same bed with her?
Thinking of someone's really good-looking face, Shang Wan scratched the right side of his face and said, "Based on what I just said, how much does it cost?"
Xiaohuan calculated for a long time before saying: "It's about a hundred taels."
"How much money do you and Shitou have left?"
"You gave us a total of twenty taels of silver. It cost us seven taels and three cents to repair the house, one tael and four cents to buy wine, fifty cents to enter the city, and five taels of silver to buy medicine. There is still some money left. "Four or two or three dollars."
Shang Wan had twenty-five taels of silver given by the government and the remaining three taels from selling wild boars. The total of the two together was less than forty taels of silver.
Although the Chen family still owed her fifty taels, the total was not enough for one hundred taels.
Even if you have enough, you can't use all the money to build a new house. The family still has expenses.
If we live like now, we can only need two bedrooms, which will indeed save the cost of building a new house. However, since we have built a new house, Shang Wan still wants everyone to live more comfortably.
Hunting makes money quickly, but she just sold a wild boar a few days ago, so she can't carry two more to sell, right? What an eye-opener.
The small animals couldn't be sold at high prices, and she couldn't go into the mountains every day.
Shang Wan scratched his head and had to quickly find a sustainable source of income for his family, a legitimate one.
The little turtle leisurely crawled past her.
Shang Wan knelt down and poked it, "Aren't you a magical turtle? Come on, turn it into two pieces of gold and come out and have a look."
The little turtle retracted its head into its shell and ignored this strange human being.
Shang Wan raised his hand and threw it back to where it had crawled, clapped his hands, and shouted toward the kitchen: "Xiaohuan, Shitou, go to the side room for a meeting right away."
If the three cobblers act like Zhuge Liang and brainstorm together, they can always come up with reliable ways to make money, right?
Four family members gathered in the side room and sat on both sides of the Kang table.
Shang Wan looked serious: "We need one hundred taels of silver to build a new house. Our family doesn't have enough money. Let's think about ways to make money together."
Shitou raised his hand, "Go to the city to carry a big bag, twenty coins a day."
Shang Wan: "Too few, next one."
Xiaohuan suggested: "Selling embroidery work, I can embroider ten handkerchiefs a day, and each embroidered handkerchief costs fifteen cents. Excluding the money spent on buying handkerchiefs, I can earn a hundred cents a day."
Shang Wan: "You embroider so many handkerchiefs every day, and you don't need your eyes and hands anymore? Next one."
Shitou and Xiaohuan lowered their heads and thought hard.
Shang Wan poked at the absent-minded person next to him, "What talents... uh, abilities do you have?"
Lu Chengjing thought for a moment, "Calligraphy and painting."
Shang Wan was surprised: "Can you write and draw with your left hand?"
Lu Chengjing: "I can start practicing from today." Shang Wan's mouth twitched, "You'd better rest."
When can you go after you finish practicing?
"Sister, the young master's calligraphy and paintings are very popular in the county school." Shitou couldn't help but interject, "One painting can sell for dozens of taels of silver."
Shang Wan's eyes lit up, "Seriously?"
"Seriously. The young master studies quickly and buys books. When the wife doesn't pay for them, the young master trades calligraphy and painting with the owner of the study. It can save a lot of money." Shitou revealed his young master's old age, "I was fined and deducted by the madam. When the moon is shining, the young master will sell calligraphy and paintings, and people in the county school rush to buy them. "
Shang Wan thought of the pile of paintings in his space and turned to look at Lu Chengjing, "Can those calligraphy and paintings in your study be sold for money?"
"Of course." Shitou replied, "The calligraphy and paintings in the study are those that the young master is reluctant to sell. The paintings are so good!"
"Wait for me for a while." Shang Wan rushed out of the door, ran to the bedroom, took out all the scrolls in the space, and ran back to the wing with them.
"There are eight paintings in total." Shang Wan put the scroll on the Kang table and smiled at the three of them, "Tomorrow we will go into the city to sell paintings at the gate of the county school."
Even if a painting is sold for twenty taels, the eight paintings will still cost one hundred and sixty taels, which is enough to build a new house.
Lu Chengjing glanced at the scroll on the kang table, his eyes twitching slightly, "You haven't opened it and looked at it?"
What’s so interesting about the painting?
Shang Wan glanced at him suspiciously, then took one and opened it.
Xiaohuan and Shitou both came over to take a look.
"Where's the painting?"
The three of them were dumbfounded at the same time.
All I saw was that the scroll was blank, not even a dot of ink.
The three people quickly opened the other seven scrolls, but they were all blank.
Lu Chengjing was helpless, "Those paintings have been taken away by my father... Master Lu. All these scrolls in the study were newly bought by me."
The three people were overjoyed: "..."
Seeing that the three people who were in high spirits just now were like eggplants beaten by frost, Lu Chengjing coughed lightly: "Actually, I have a way to make money."
Shang Wan threw away the blank scroll and walked back to sit down.
Xiaohuan and Shitou also sat back down, pricking up their ears to listen to what was going on.
"I know a little bit about how to prepare medicinal herbs." Lu Chengjing said, "We can go to the mountains to collect herbs, process them and sell them to drug stores. As long as we don't dig them all up, the herbs will grow every year, which can be regarded as a way to continue to make money."
"Besides, there are many medicinal herbs in this mountain, including rare medicinal herbs such as ginseng. If we can find them, the money to build a new house should not be a problem."
"I can find it." Shang Wan spread his hands, "But there is no difference between herbs and wild grasses in my eyes. Who knows the two of you?"
She directly ruled out Lu Chengjing. As Lu Chengjing was like this, with a broken hand and a lame leg, how could he go into the mountains with her to find herbs?
Xiaohuan shook her head and asked her to identify wild vegetables and mushrooms, but how about herbs? No, no.
Shi Shi opened his mouth, thought of something and then swallowed his words.
Lu Chengjing glanced at him and said to Shang Wan: "Shitou often makes medicines for me, and he knows all the commonly used herbs."
Shang Wan was a little surprised. Does the young man still have such ability?
"Master, I can't do it." Shitou waved his hands repeatedly, "The processed medicinal materials look different from the fresh ones, and I always make mistakes. If I find the wrong one, won't it be in vain?"
"Experience comes from actual combat. Can you be more careful and recognize it more?" Shang Wan encouraged him and nuzzled in Lu Chengjing's direction, "The injury on his leg hasn't healed yet. Could it be that you want him to Follow me into the mountains?"
(End of chapter)