Recruiting
Within two days, the news that Chang'an made a lot of money by making clay figurines spread all over the village. Several aunts and grandchildren came with their children and grandchildren to watch how the little girl made clay figurines.
The little girl was sitting on a futon in the yard, rolling the clay with a small rolling pin.
There was also a pair of small scissors and a small bamboo stick next to her, which seemed to be tools for making clay figurines.
Goudan sat next to the little girl, hitting the mud hard, and he looked like a young apprentice who was doing hard labor.
"Oh, our Chang'an is really smart." The aunt praised while dragging her little son over: "Your brother Xiaochutou also wants to learn to make clay figurines from you, do you think it's feasible?"
Chang'an looked over and saw the eight-year-old little chutou with a long yellow nose, two braids on his head, and his head was shyly lowered and he dared not look at people.
Chang'an nodded to show his agreement.
The old lady clapped her hands happily and pushed her youngest son to stagger: "Why are you still standing there? Go and help your sister Chang'an to tumble mud."
When Goudan heard this, he immediately stared at Xiaochutou vigilantly and pointed to a pile of red mud next to him: "Go step on the mud." He was the
one who did the work of tumbling mud, and he didn't want others to take his place.
Xiaochutou pouted, not knowing how to tread mud.
So Goudan turned into a little master and demonstrated it to him.
In this way, the three children each had their own duties in the yard, one mixed the mud and treaded the mud, one tumbled the mud into a blank, and the other was responsible for making clay figures.
After the two boys finished their work, they came to watch Chang'an make clay statues. In just two days, they could make a decent clay figure.
Chang'an only made two Guanyin statues and stopped, and also made two statues of the God of Wealth and two statues of the God of Heaven.
After painting a few clay figures, the villagers who often came to watch were stunned.
"Oh my god! This is so beautiful!"
"Little Chang'an's craftsmanship is amazing, no wonder she can make money."
Goudan proudly pointed at the clay figurine he made and said, "I made this one!"
The villagers looked at Goudan's clay figurine. Although it was also very good, it always felt a little bit worse than Chang'an's.
Xiao Chutou also made a Guanyin statue, which was almost the same as Goudan's, but the color was not very good and it looked a bit sloppy.
It was the first day of April in a flash. Song Sanshun and Song Laoliu took the clay figurines made by the children to Tieniu Town to sell.
Song You, the father of Xiao Chutou, also went with the clay dolls made by his son.
As soon as they arrived at the old place of the market, several vendors surrounded them.
"Brother, give me all the Guanyin statues in your house. I will pay 200 coins for them." A vendor rushed to Song Sanshun and took him directly from his backpack.
"What do you want to do? Are you trying to steal my business?" Another vendor was not happy and stepped forward to snatch the money: "Brother Song is my old customer, you can go wherever you want!"
Song Sanshun immediately protected his backpack tightly and said, "Don't snatch! Don't snatch! I brought a lot, you must not damage it."
The two vendors had to let go.
Song Sanshun then said, "I have four Guanyins, two Gods of Wealth, and two gods, a total of eight. Two hundred coins each, that's one thousand six hundred coins, no credit."
"Give it to me! I'll give you cash." The vendor who had done business with Chang'an twice directly stuffed the money into Song Sanshun's pocket and said, "My name is Li Si'er, Brother Song, where do you live? I'll go to your house to pick up the goods later."
Song Sanshun was careful and didn't tell the other person his address in public. "Let's talk about it later. My family is slow at making clay statues. I can't make more than a few in ten days. I'll come back when the time comes."
The vendor didn't care. He picked up the clay statues one by one and put them into his basket. He grinned and said, "Okay, we are old friends. Next time, just give me whatever you bring. I promise you won't suffer any loss." Song Sanshun smiled and put the money in his pocket.
The vendor who didn't get the item was a little unhappy and glared at Li Si'er.
Seeing this, Song Sanshun pointed at Song Laoliu and Song You and said, "They also have Guanyin statues, which they made together."
The vendor's face lightened up when he heard it. He took the Guanyin statue handed over by Song Laoliu and looked at it, and said, "I can only offer 150 coins for this one."
Song Sanshun shook his head and said, "It's too little. Otherwise, we can sell it ourselves. Anyway, we are here."
The vendor said, "Then 180 coins. If you sell it, I will take it all. If you don't sell it, forget it."
Song Laoliu gritted his teeth and said, "Sell it!"
These things didn't cost much. 180 coins each is really good. His son made six of them. He can sell them for more than one coin. It's like getting it for nothing.
The vendor gave the money, took another look at Song You's, shook his head and left.
In addition, the vendor didn't dislike Song You's clay statues and bought them directly for 100 coins each.
Song You also brought five clay statues. In a blink of an eye, he got 500 coins. He felt like he was dreaming.
Although his family was not the poorest in the village, they had many children and their old father was always sick. They often had to see a doctor and get medicine, so they lived a very tight life.
Seeing his eight-year-old son earn five hundred coins after learning to make clay figurines from Chang'an, he couldn't help but tear up. He
worked as a helper during the slack season and earned less than five hundred coins a month. He didn't expect that his youngest son earned so much money after learning to make clay figurines from Chang'an for more than ten days.
Song You wiped his eyes and smiled at Song Sanshun: "Let's go buy some food and take it back." The family's food rations were all gone, and they were worried about how to make it until the summer harvest. Now they had five hundred coins, which was enough to buy half a stone of wheat.
"Okay, I was just going to buy some food too." Song Sanshun and Song Laoliu nodded at the same time.
It was already April, and it still didn't rain. Now everyone who had money in their hands went to buy some food to prepare.
The three of them bought food and hired a bullock cart to transport it back home.
On the next day, before Chang'an got up, she heard someone outside calling her aunt: "Xiuying, is Chang'an up?"
Wu came out of the kitchen and wiped her hands with her apron. She saw the mother of Little Chu coming in with a basket, followed by Little Chu.
"Sister Jin, what's the matter?" Wu asked.
Jin Guihua took something out of the basket and said, "I prepared some apprenticeship gifts. Today, Little Chu will formally become Chang'an's apprentice."
Wu was happy when she heard it, and quickly stuffed the things back into the basket: "How can you do this? How old is Chang'an? How can he accept an apprentice? Take these things back quickly."
Jin Guihua took out the things again and scolded: "These things are from our Little Chu to honor Chang'an. You can't stop her. When Chang'an comes out, our Little Chu will have to kowtow to her. As the old saying goes, once a teacher, a lifetime teacher. Anyway, our Little Chu is already Chang'an's apprentice, and the etiquette cannot be abolished."
Wu had to withdraw her hand and go into the house to dress Chang'an.
Jin Guihua led her youngest son into the house. Seeing Chang'an standing up with sleepy eyes and letting his aunt dress him, she pushed her son and said, "Hurry up and pay homage to the master."
The little hoe came over shyly, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed three times.
Chang'an looked confused and stared at the little hoe for a long time.
After the little hoe kowtowed, he got up and hid behind his mother. (End of this chapter)