Rows of small holes are drilled on a smooth and thick wooden board, and pig hairs are inserted one by one. After clusters of pig hairs are inserted one by one, a small brush head is formed on the bare wood board. Zhang Fangyuan tried brushing on his finger, the pig hair was hard, and the slightly pricked finger hurt a little.

After rubbing it back and forth several times to ensure that the hair would not fall out, he used another piece of wood with a small hole to pin the horse's tail hair.

Pig hair is easy to get. When you go to slaughter pigs, you can collect it and bring it back, but there are not many horse hairs that are easy to find. Horses are more expensive and rare than pigs, and you have to go to a horse shop to get horse hair. Fortunately, their family has a horse, and this tuft of hair was cut from Xiao Hei.

Horsetail hair is harder than pig hair, and the hair grows vigorously and long. A horsetail hair can be cut into a handful of hairpins with half a hole.

The horse's mane is softer, softer than the pig's mane, so the holes on the wood board must be denser, otherwise the too soft and too sparse will not clean the teeth.

Most people from farming households have some craftsmanship. Zhang Fangyuan made five toothbrushes in an hour of hard work. For the sake of beauty, the end of the handle of the toothbrush is smoothed so that it does not look like a crude product.

"How do you look?"

When the toothbrush was ready, he was the first to show it to Xu He.

"It looks really good, much better than willow branches." Xu He saw people gargling with willow branches, and he bit his head with a willow branch as thick as a little finger and dipped in salt to scrub his teeth. . He had tried it, and it was also able to remove the dirt on his teeth after meals.

But the willow branch is still inferior to the brush made by Zhang Fangyuan. It is dabbed with soap locust powder to scrub the teeth. It is softer and not as easy to scratch the gums as the willow branch. It can also take care of the gaps. It is really good to use So, Xu He fell in love with her right away.

Zhang Fangyuan urged him to try the ponytail one again. Xu He was a little reluctant. It was a pity to use all three. It would be best to use the other after one was broken. It is suitable for people other than yourself to use again, and it is a very private item. But in order to distinguish the difference, Zhang Fangyuan was still accepted.

"Three are not bad, the horse's mane is the softest and most comfortable, and the horse's tail has better toughness."

Zhang Fangyuan said: "Your teeth are fine, you use three for this, but the comfort is different. If the piece of meat at the root of the tooth is often red and swollen, a mouthful of blood foam must be brushed with horsetail hair and pig hair, and horse mane hair It will be fine.”

"That's how I take care of all the teeth."

Zhang Fangyuan said: "More choices, so there will be more guests."

Xu He put away the two toothbrushes he used like a treasure, and asked Zhang Fangyuan suspiciously: "Didn't you go to the carpenter's shop? I thought you would ask the carpenter to help make it."

"That's what I planned at first. I asked about it. Either I didn't want to do it because of such a small effort, or it would cost ten yuan for the work. I thought I couldn't do it, and I wasn't in a hurry to go to the shop. Just save the money and do it yourself. Look at what I made by myself is not bad, but the tools are not as complete as the carpentry shop, and the finished products are not as good-looking."

Xu He chuckled: "You know how to be frugal."

"How can I not know, not to mention that Master Xu reminds me every day, and now I have to worry about saving more money for my children."

Zhang Fangyuan also handed over the remaining toothbrushes to Xu He. They were all made of pig hair. The horse hair did not get much on Xiao Hei. Its tail hair is quite cooperative, but when it saw a pinch of hair missing from its tail, its eyes immediately puffed up, and its horse's hooves kicked and kicked.

"I also went to the herb shop. The herbs used to make tooth powder are expensive and cheap, but the herb shop sells everything expensive. Dried Sophora flavescens costs ten yuan a tael. He only accepts money from ordinary people. Giving ten cents a catty is really black-hearted, so I won’t go into details about the others, such as clams and borneols, which are expensive and can eat people.”

Xu He sighed: "The things in the shops in the city are not cheap. Let's buy them ourselves, and if we can't get them, we can go to the shops in the city to buy them. This toothbrush job itself is not difficult, all you need is to do it. It looks good, I think the old carpenters in our village are also good at it, and the price is not as good as the labor price of carpentry shops in the city."

"I think so too." Zhang Fangyuan said: "Then I will be in charge of purchasing herbs and toothbrush bristles for making tooth powder, and you can talk to the old carpenter about the price."

Xu He responded.

Carpentry is easy to find. Where there is an average carpenter in the village, the carpenters who can become carpenters to take over the work of the villagers are all outstanding. When she was in the Xu family, her second sister loved beauty and had a lot of clothes and jewelry. Liu Xianglan chopped wood in her own mountain I went to the carpenter in the village to order a cabinet, and the carpenter charged some manual fees, which was very affordable, but only sixty to eighty yuan.

If you change to a carpentry shop in the city, even if you produce the wood yourself, it will cost at least 30 to 50 yuan more. It is even more expensive to buy the finished product completely in the carpentry shop. Xu He bought the finished product directly when he married Zhang Fangyuan, and it cost 300 yuan. The wedding gift given was so cheap.

He went to the He family in the village, and the carpenter called him Grandpa He. He was not a close relative, and he didn't even know if he had any relatives. It's just that the younger generation respectfully called him Grandpa.

Xu He showed the toothbrush made by Zhang Fangyuan to the old carpenter: "I want to make this, and I will make a lot of it for a long time. The handle should be polished smooth and look better."

"It's simple, it won't take much trouble." The old carpenter He promised confidently after a glance. The trouble is actually the hairpin, but the carpenter's manual work is fast. Others may do it in a quarter of an hour. He only used half of it. It takes more time to make better ones: "There is no problem with engraving or engraving on the handle."

"Then how do you collect money here?"

Old carpenter He laughed when he heard the words: "Brother He, what you are asking is a layman. Whether the material is from my end or from you, and the price of different wood is also different. I am not good at asking the price from this mouth. Pricing."

Xu He said: "We get the wood at home, which is ordinary wood. In addition, we also get the pig hair and horse hair ourselves. I just came to see how grandpa collects money, and I know what I know."

"I came here because I wanted to shop around. Are you and your butcher going to do big business again?"

Xu He didn't reveal much, just nodded.

"It's also been a long time since I received a job. You said that you are doing business, but you really have a long-term quantity, and you provide the materials yourself. I will charge you a couple of pennies, and I will also do long-term business with your family, at a slightly high price. Confiscate yours, what do you say?"

A smile appeared on Xu He's face, which was naturally the best.

"Okay, what if you want to do carving and lettering? You have to pick up something different."

"You know, you need more styles to sell at different prices. Carved ones charge an extra penny. They are all from the same village. You know that grandpa's carvings are exquisite, and they will never lose to those shops in the city. I charge You must not talk about your price in and out of the village, or you should come to me and talk about it."

Xu He nodded his head like a chicken pecking at rice: "Let's make a decision for now. If you want other styles, you need to change the wood later and then discuss with Grandpa He. It's okay to do business for a long time."

"Sure, since you've made a decision today, I'll give you two here first. You can take it home and show it to your butchers. If you're satisfied, I'll do it. I'll give you the money when the time comes."

"Okay, it's as good as that."

Xu He decided on a bargain. If the cost of everything can be reduced by one point, then they can earn one point more for themselves, and the pressure will not be so great. It is not easy for the carpenters in the village to get a long-term business. It is a good fit for both sides.

Zhang Fangyuan is not idle here either. He hangs a sign on the tea shed to collect herbs. Those who often go to the city to sell herbs can understand it. When someone comes to ask him, he will tell him which herbs to collect. Everyone will know what herbs are collected in their tea shed.

Not only that, but there is also a sign for collecting horse tail hair. This illiterate person may not be able to recognize it, but he hangs it with the signs for collecting herbs and livestock, and people who see it will ask if they don't recognize it.

In addition, when he and Chen Si slaughtered pigs, they would go around and tell the tea shed what was being collected now. Those who were too lazy to go to the tea shed would either send it to the pig seller's house by themselves, or Zhang Fangyuan would follow him home to collect it.

Soon the surrounding villages spread the word, and the Rongyi tea shed collected: "Herbal medicines include turpentine, Poria flavescens, rehmannia glutinosa, Eclipta, etc.; saponin, ginger, raw hemp, horse hair..."

From time to time in the tea shed, villagers would come to ask the price or sell herbal medicines. After selling the money, they bought some candles, drinks and sauces in the tea shed. A trip to town.

When old carpenter He brought the finished toothbrush to Zhang Fangyuan and Xu He to inspect the goods, he saw a lot of people at the end of the tea shed, not only the familiar villagers, but also acquaintances who were drinking tea and playing here. , He stopped doing the work, and gave the things to the couple, let them see if there was any problem, and said, first ran to the mat outside the tea shed to have tea and eat sunflower seeds with old acquaintances.

"Grandpa He made much better toothbrushes than mine." Zhang Fangyuan took a look at the newly made toothbrushes. There were three toothbrushes in total, one with pig hair and two with horse hair.

Among them, the horse hair is carved, which is the common bamboo among the "Four Gentlemen". The master craftsman is good. Not only does the wooden board of the toothbrush be polished smooth and smooth, but the patterns on the wooden handle are also vivid. The paint is used to fill the bamboo.

Take out the toothbrush made by Zhang Fangyuan and compare it. The materials are exactly the same. No one complains about the toothbrush made by the old master and sold for 30 yuan in the shop, and his price of 15 yuan is probably too rough. .

Zhang Fangyuan couldn't be more satisfied, this is completely the style of toothbrushes in the future, and when the shop opens, he can reasonably bid a high price.

The couple saw that the toothbrush was ready, and collected another two catties of horse hair. It was really hard to collect horse hair, but he got it because he quoted a high price of 120 yuan a catty. After hearing the price, the villagers picked up the horse hair if they had horses.

Pig hairs are abundant, and when buying pigs, the hairs are taken away. A pig can weigh one to two catties, and a few catties can be accumulated quickly.

The existing hair can already make one or two hundred toothbrushes, so the two sent the rinsed and dried hair to Grandpa He, and paid a deposit of one hundred Wen.

After being busy with these things, the couple went to the city to set up a shop.

Zhang Fangyuan felt that since things were expensive, it was not appropriate to place a shop in a narrow alley, but on the main street of Xiangyang Avenue, where there are many people.

Now that we have a direction, there are only four main streets in the city, and the couple chose Tianjie very tacitly, which is the place where Xu He set up a stall to sell braised meat.

That end is one of the main streets, where there is a lot of food, drink and entertainment. According to Xu He's experience in setting up a stall, eating is the most, so it should be spread in the market with the most food.

But Xu He also knew that the shop over there was expensive, and he knew the market beforehand.

Zhang Fangyuan said: "Our shop can be smaller, and the left and right toothbrushes and toothpaste don't take up much space, as long as there is a place on Wang Street to sell things."

Xu He responded that there are quite a few shops in the city with the front shop and the back sleeping, but such shops are relatively large and the prices are high.

When he planned to open a restaurant before, he was very fond of such a shop, not only for selling food, but also for self-occupation, but unfortunately it was defeated by the price in the end.

Now if it is a toothbrush shop, there is no need to choose this kind of shop. After all, this business is not like a restaurant where you need to prepare ingredients from morning to night, and whether you live in a shop is not so important.

"Okay, but most of the shops on Tianjie Street are three or two storeys, or there are rows of shops, and there are not many small ones."

Zhang Fangyuan said: "I have visited a long time ago, there are three or two places, but it will save you a long time to choose."

Xu He then went to look at the shops. There were four small shops in total, but two of them were at the end of the street and there were not many pedestrians. The other two are in the same location, but one is old and sold haggis soup before, so it doesn't look so good.

In this way, only another one was set, with a restaurant on the left side and a cloth shop on the right side, both of which were places where money was spent, and Zhang Fangyuan was satisfied.

The monthly rent for the store is 8,000 Wen, paid quarterly.

When Xu He took out twenty-four taels of silver, although he could afford it, he still felt a severe pain in his flesh. One month's rent is what the couple can earn at the peak of their monthly income, and one quarter's rent is what the villagers have saved for most of their lives.

The problem is not once and for all, just three months of money. In addition, if you set up a shop, you have to hire someone to install it yourself, which is another expense.

His heart was bleeding, and he sighed with Zhang Fangyuan: "It's better to have this shop. You don't have to be busy with anything. You can get 8,000 yuan a month just by sitting. Isn't this better than many other families?"

Zhang Fangyuan couldn't help laughing: "If you really want to compare, then you will be **** off when you compare yourself to others."

Xu He let out a sigh of relief, no matter what, there is now a shop in the city, and it is still busy in Tianjie!

...

It was already September when Zhang Fangyuan's teeth brushing shop was ready, and the village was harvesting rice in full swing.

The cattle bought by Xun are very easy to sell these days, and a quarter of them can be sold if they are slaughtered and brought to the tea shed.

Chen Si has been working with Zhang Fangyuan for more than a month, and he has become more and more proficient at slaughtering pigs. Even without Zhang Fangyuan's help, he is now able to butcher and handle pigs, but his movements are not as fast as Zhang Fangyuan's.

The pork can be sold in the city, but it is not more relaxed at the tea shed. His husband Lang Lin also often comes to the tea shed to help Xu He with work.

During the busy farming season, the families were busy harvesting rice. Zhang Fangyuan felt that Chen Si was almost ready to become a teacher. If he continued to follow him, his progress would be slow, so he took advantage of this time to let Chen Si go home to help harvest the rice. After the busy farming season, he officially took over The pork stall just happened to be open for Zhang Fangyuan to be a toothbrush shop.

After working for more than a month with no harvest, Chen Si and Fu Lang were very happy to see that they finally had to run the stall to make money.

These days, I have often been complained by my family, especially my sister-in-law, who thinks that Chen Si has learned the craft by himself, and after earning money, the family can be separated logically.

But he was dissatisfied with people running outside with his master, not doing the work at home, and not bringing money to the house, and he was even more annoyed that the skill of making money like this was not learned by his own man.

For this reason, she went to her parents-in-law to talk about it, and Chen Si's mother knew that this kind of art learning matter was not something that the couple could call whoever they wanted. Who in the village didn't know that Zhang Fangyuan made money by slaughtering pigs? If you have money, how can they give you the money? My fourth child can earn this money because of the love he grew up with Zhang Fangyuan.

His sister-in-law couldn't be more angry, so she made some complaints against Lin Ge'er, but Lin Ge'er didn't say much, just did more work, he knew in his heart that this was the end of the day anyway, and he would live after his man earned money It won't be so hard anymore.

"Hey, you don't talk about Zhang Fangyuan, let Chen Si learn the good craftsmanship."

Chen Si and his wife went back, and Liu Xianglan arrived at the tea shed. The family needs to harvest millet, and the husband and wife must be too busy, so they figured it out somehow, and decided to hire someone this year.

I heard that Zhang Fangyuan had just slaughtered a pig, so he came to the tea shed to buy meat to serve as an entertainer.

When she arrived at the tea shed, Liu Xianglan couldn't help complaining.

Xu He was sweeping the floor in the house. He straightened up and glanced at Liu Xianglan, before pouring someone a bowl of tea.

Ever since he became pregnant, Liu Xianglan has been coming to the tea shed frequently, walking around every now and then, drinking a bowl of tea and eating melon seeds, talking about the family's fields, or talking about how her second brother-in-law's family is not human.

Xu He was busy with her own affairs, and she could tell her the time for a stick of incense if she didn't talk to her very much, and then went home when she finally cooled down.

Occasionally there are a lot of leftovers, so Xu He will give her two pieces of dried tofu, a bowl of tofu flower, or a small dish of stewed pork.

It seemed to be a favor, but on the eve of the change, no one was yelling at him anymore.

He was a little surprised today that Liu Xianglan didn't yell at her sons-in-law to help harvest the millet. Presumably, she knew that the elder son-in-law couldn't lift his shoulders and resist, and couldn't do farm work, while the younger son-in-law was vicious and busy with business, so he didn't dare Please.

"Cousin and our Xu family are also relatives, and the fat water didn't flow to outsiders, right?"

Liu Xianglan took a sip of tea, and tilted her mouth: "That's not someone from my own family, it's a pity."

Xu He said: "Based on this, the skill cannot be taught."

"Why can't you teach it to your father?"

"Father is so old that you still let him learn this kind of skill to kill animals?"

Liu Xianglan also knew that things were unreliable, but it was a pity that Chen Si learned the skill.

"I won't sit down much today, I have to rush back to cook after buying meat."

After saying that, she stood up and wanted to go out. She glanced at Xu He who was still busy in the room, and said involuntarily, "Aren't you going out to choose meat for me?"

Xu He took two pieces of dried tofu from the kitchen and put them in Liu Xianglan's basket: "Ah Yuan is outside, he knows what kind of meat you want."

Liu Xianglan pursed her mouth in dissatisfaction, she was a little scared and let go, but Xu He refused, so she had no choice but to go on her own.

"The busy farm should be used to help cut the millet. The business is really busy. Take these two pages of pig liver and eat it, and you still have half of your heart and lungs."

What Zhang Fangyuan said was only pig offal, but there was still two catties of pork belly thrown into Liu Xianglan's basket.

"When I'm free, I'll have dinner with Brother He at home."

Zhang Fangyuan responded, and Liu Xianglan returned with a basket in her arms, smiling happily with the people in the same village.

After dealing with the villagers who bought the meat, it happened that the melon farmer came to deliver the cold melon. He called Xu He to pay for it, and he went with a small one and ate it with his fist.

Xu He paid the money and looked at the person squatting on one side and munching on melons, and said with a smile, "Are you so thirsty?"

Zhang Fangyuan took the middle piece and removed the seeds and gave it to Xu He: "People in the village like to ask questions about this and that, and they like to go around the price. I'm dry talking. It's not going to be too hot these days. It's autumn. It will cool down quickly when it rains."

After saying that, Zhang Fangyuan's eyes moved down from Xu He's face to his stomach, and he involuntarily put his hand on your flat belly.

The little brother's pregnancy reaction is not obvious, and his pregnancy is not very protruding. Before he knew it, his cub was already three months old.

"Watermelon is cold in nature, don't eat too much."

Xu He said: "I'll just eat a piece, you should be as gluttonous as you are."

"When I go back later, I will hold two for my uncle's house. It's also delicious for Ergu and Xiao'e to help harvest rice at my uncle's house."

"Um."

The hot days ended with the first autumn rain at the end of the busy farming season. The first reaction was that the tea shed suddenly became cold, and then the cicadas on the banyan tree were crying weakly, and the sound became less and less.

Zhang Fangyuan and Xu He didn't have time to pay attention to these things, their teeth brushing shop opened!

The almanac was turned over well, but the weather was neglected. The pattering autumn rain fell that day, and summer suddenly turned into autumn. People in the wet market shrank their necks and shook their sleeves, and leafy oil-paper umbrellas floated on the Qingshi Road in Tianjie.

"The day was chosen wrongly, and I didn't expect it to rain today."

Zhang Fangyuan bought a bunch of big firecrackers from the small street, but his body was wet within a quarter of an hour.

"I asked you to bring an umbrella." Xu He quickly took a handkerchief to wipe off the rainwater from his forehead.

"After a few steps, I wanted to come and go quickly. I never thought that the rain would get heavier and heavier." Although it was raining, it didn't change the high mood of the store opening. He took Xu He's hand: " Let's set off firecrackers, it's just right that there are few people on the street, so as not to blow up people."

Xu He laughed, turned to get the fire bag, the two opened the firecracker, lit the fuse, and Zhang Fangyuan hurriedly ran into the shop. Fearing that Xu He's heart would palpitate when he heard the crackling sound, he covered his ears with his big hands.

The firecrackers exploded one by one, white smoke rose immediately, and it rang for a while. This string of firecrackers was bought much larger than the ones opened in the previous tea shed, and they were kept for a longer time.

The rain was a bit unsatisfactory, but the crackling and festive sound of firecrackers made the two of them emotional. After the firecrackers were set off, the two looked at each other and smiled.

"Which shop is open this autumn rain, are you not afraid that the business will be as hot as this season and turn rainy?"

"Brother Fu, it's your turn to compose poetry. Don't interrupt with other talk."

"Poetry can be made at any time, how can Brother Fu make fun of me, the shop is just downstairs opposite, called Linglong Tooth Brushing Shop. The shop is really small and Linglong." It really can set up shop for anything.”

The young man dressed as a scholar sitting in front of the window turned sideways when he heard the words, and in the smog from the firecrackers, he really saw the shop under the slanting rain.

"It's really a teeth brushing shop. It's unheard of in the city. Why don't you go and have a look? It's a surprise."

"Right on my mind."

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