Gu Ye saw that Li Xiuhong was hesitating to say anything, but saw what she was thinking, and said with a smile, "If Sister Xiuhong is willing to help, she is naturally welcome. The salary is compared to Aunt Li's. What do you think?"
Widow Li hurriedly said: "The child's family, I can't help you much, how can I make you spend another salary?"
"Sister Xiuhong can do it. She used to go up the mountain to pick up more goods than adults! As long as she reaches the prescribed workload, she will definitely be paid for!" Gu Ye's words made Li Xiuhong's darkened eyes instantly brighten. She believes that she can definitely do better than her mother! She will cherish this hard-won opportunity to make money!
"Sister Ye, I can also help. You don't need your wages, you just need to teach me to recognize herbs." Li Xiaohai came over and looked at Gu Ye timidly with a nervous smile.
"Xiao Hai!" Widow Li interrupted her son eagerly, for fear that he would annoy Gu Ye and cause them to lose the opportunity they just got, "Miss Ye'er, the child is ignorant, don't take his words seriously. "
Unexpectedly, Gu Ye agreed: "Okay! Come on, help me pick up the herbs. See, the herb that Aunt Li is cutting now is called Gastrodia elata, an oval tuber. We can pick it up on the mountain. Its stems Upright, up to two meters high, without leaves"
Li Xiaohai listened very seriously. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he exclaimed cheerfully: "I think I have seen this plant, just in a valley in the back mountain. Unfortunately, I didn't know it was a medicinal herb at that time, Sister Ye, Tianma. Is it worth it?"
Gu Ye nodded and said, "Gastrodia is a precious medicinal material, and a pound of raw Gastrodia is worth about two taels of silver."
Li Xiaohai was stunned: "It turns out that herbal medicine is so valuable! Hundreds of dollars are in front of me, but I don't even know it. Sigh"
"It doesn't matter, Gastrodia is suitable for digging in winter and spring. When the snow on the mountain melts, let my brother take you to dig it! The quality of Gastrodia dug in winter is better than that in spring, and the price is higher. If you dig it back, I will follow the market. the price!"
Widow Li hurriedly said: "No, no! Just follow the money shopkeeper's rules, which is 20% lower than the price in the town. Miss Ye'er taught him the ability to make money, and we can't take advantage of the girl with our conscience."
Gu Ye looked at Li Xiaohai, who couldn't help nodding his head, and smiled slightly: "I purchased medicinal materials from outside the mountains at this price, and I have to work hard to get them back. Who earns the money or not? Aunt Li, the shopkeeper's rules are set by him. Yes, of course you have to follow my rules when you sell it to me."
Heaven, as if someone had stabbed a hole in it, the snow continued to descend, for another ten days. Fortunately, most people have enough food and vegetables for the winter when winter begins. However, I don't know when the snow will fall, and we can't supply supplies from outside the mountains. In order to prevent their own food from running out of food, many people in the village have two thin meals a day. Even so, there are still insufficient reserves, facing the situation of running out of cooking.
The food that Widow Li brought over was saved and saved, and it was still eaten up on the tenth day of the first lunar month. She originally had a hundred and ten dollars in her hand, and after working for five days at Gu's family, she earned nearly one hundred more. But the mountains were covered by heavy snow, and there was nowhere to buy food with money.
Gu's family has no land to farm, and all food is bought. She didn't know how much food the Gu family had in storage, and she felt that it was enough trouble for her family to pick up and live in the Gu family's house, so how could she be so embarrassed to buy food from others? If there is not much food in the family, she speaks, wouldn't it make people embarrassed
It was Aunt Yan. While cooking, she found that in the porridge cooked by Widow Li, there were hardly any grains except for some dried wild vegetables. Originally, one steamed bun was warmed a day, and the family shared it, but the only steamed bun disappeared.
During the meal, Aunt Yan brought up the predicament of the Li family. Gu Xiao put down his chopsticks, thought for a while and said, "How many days can we eat our food?"
Aunt Yan didn't even think about it, she opened her mouth and said, "Steamed steamed buns and bean buns can be eaten until the sixteenth day of the first month. As for refined grains, they can last for ten days at most. By the way, there are still coarse grains left at home, there are two Thirty pounds."
"If the snow continues to fall, we must organize people to buy food outside the mountains!" It is estimated that, like Widow Li, there are more than two households in the family who are in short supply of food. Gu Xiao tapped his index finger on the kang table and made up his mind, "Well, our family's coarse grains, which the children don't like to eat, sell them to Widow Li and the others. In a few days, the wind and snow will ease, and I will go out to buy grains! "
"Grandpa, I'll go too!" Gu Ye's big eyes shone with anticipation and pleading, making people unable to refuse. She was trapped at home by the wind and snow, and every day except for pharmaceuticals, she was almost a pharmaceutical machine. Skiing to town is much more fun than staying at home.
Before Gu Xiao spoke, Gu Ming did not hesitate to put out the little flame she hoped for: "Don't even think about it! After a day of freezing in the wind and snow, don't you want your little body?"
"I'm already healed! I've been made up by you to be as strong as an ox. If you don't believe me, we are stronger than anyone else!" Gu Ye glared at his brother angrily, like an angry toad croaking.
Gu Ming gave her a sideways look with a contemptuous look, and said, "If someone's cow is as thin as yours, let alone ploughing the land, even walking would have to shake. Don't make trouble, grandpa and I? Maybe let you go. I'm not going either, I'll watch you at home!"
"Smelly brother, bad brother! I'll ignore you!" Gu Ye turned anger into appetite, took the rabbit legs in the spicy fried rabbit meat as Gu Ming, and gnawed his teeth.
After the family had a lively meal, Aunt Yan went to the kitchen to wash the dishes. Gu Ye went back to her room, picked up the medical handbook given to her by her uncle, and looked at it leisurely while peeling off the pine nuts.
At this time, the door curtain was lifted, and a biting cold wind took the opportunity to get into this warm room. Gu Ye didn't lift his head and said, "Aunt Yan, isn't the dishwashing liquid I made easy to use? It's pure plant essence, easy to clean oily stains, and doesn't hurt your hands!"
"Ye'er is me" Li Xiuhong clenched her hand and stood behind the curtain, her eyes turned to one side, not daring to meet Gu Ye's eyes.
Gu Ye put down the handwritten note in his hand, patted the kang, and said with a smile, "Sister Xiuhong, I was just going to talk to you and Aunt Li about your wages."
Li Xiuhong sat on the edge of the kang with a handful of pine nuts stuffed into her hand by Gu Ye. She asked nervously: "Is there something we can't do well? My mother and I are just getting started, and we are not skilled enough. We will get better and better in the future. We will be given less wages these days. It doesn't matter!"
Gu Ye put his hand on the back of her hand, patted it lightly, and reassured: "Don't be nervous! It's not that you are not doing well, but that you are doing too well! You and Aunt Li are quick to get started, and work carefully and carefully. During the half-month probation period, I am going to increase your wages to fifteen days!"
"Ah? Still giving you a salary increase? No need, ten is enough!" Li Xiuhong's uneasy heart gradually calmed down, and a surprise flashed in her eyes.
"You have helped me a lot, and I can afford the wages." Gu Ye looked at her thin face, was silent for a moment, and asked, "You and Aunt Li already have one hundred wages. If you need it urgently, you can pay in advance.”
"No, no! I'm not here to pay the wages, and I'm just here to ask if your family has much food." Li Xiuhong gathered up her courage and said, "If there is, can I use the food as wages." For my mother and I's five-day wages, just give us ten catties of coarse grains."
At the end, her voice was almost inaudible. She also knows that the blizzard has blocked the road to the town for several days, and every household has not much food reserves. Gu Wuye's family does not farm, and the food he eats is bought from the town. After almost twenty days of eating, there should be not much left. But her family really can't open the pot. If they don't speak again, they will be out of cooking tomorrow.
Gu Ye was thinking about how it was not too deliberate to lend the food to Aunt Li's family, but Li Xiuhong didn't expect to speak first.
"Wait a minute." Gu Ye got off the kang, put on his cloak and went to the kitchen. After a while, he came in with a small bag of grain, "This is 20 catties of coarse grains. There are 51 catties of coarse grains on the market, and you and Aunt Li's wages can buy exactly 20 catties."
"No, the price you're talking about is the price of food when the weather is good. It's been snowing for more than ten days, and the price of food will definitely rise. In a disaster year, one hundred pounds may not be able to buy ten pounds. !" Li Xiuhong blushed and waved her hands quickly, refusing to accept the grain bag.
Gu Ye shoved the grain bag into her hand and said, "These grains, when we bought them, were 51 catties. The folks in the big hometown can still earn your money."
"Xiuhong!" Widow Li rushed in from outside, snatched the grain bag from her daughter's hand, and yelled loudly, "Why are you so ignorant, child? At this time, no one has much food, you borrowed Gu Ye family's food, have you ever thought that they will starve?"
Widow Li has a cowardly personality, good face, but a kind heart. Doesn't she feel sorry for her two children? She knew that if she opened her mouth, the Gu family would definitely save some food from her mouth to lend her. But living in someone's house already owes a lot of favor. If they let people starve, how could she feel sorry for her
"Mother, now is not the time to talk about face! Our family's food has been exhausted, and the vegetable cellar is overwhelmed by the beams. What will we eat tomorrow without food? Do you have the heart to watch your brother starve?" Li Xiuhong's eyes were filled with tears Tears, pleadingly looked at the mother.
Widow Li's skinny face was wrinkled, showing a bit of sadness. She thought about it and said, "Tomorrow, I will go to the village chief's house to ask. He has a lot of land, so he should be able to give us some."
"However, the village chief's grandfather's family doesn't know when the snowstorm will stop, and his family may not lend it to us." Li Xiuhong glanced at the grain bag on the ground reluctantly and lowered her head.