"Brother...... Brother, what are you doing? ”

She squatted beside Li Xin, watching the big brother use the firewood knife used to chop wood at home, cutting the charcoal that she and her grandfather had so easily.

Although she is young, she knows that these charcoal burned by her grandfather can be sold for some copper money to buy food, and their work can only be done in winter, and when the spring comes, it will not be able to burn charcoal, and grandpa can only go up the mountain to chop firewood and go into the city to sell some firewood.

The price of firewood is much cheaper than charcoal.

Therefore, only in winter, the little girl can occasionally see some meat, and in other seasons, even a full stomach is a luxury, so she can't help but feel a little distressed when she sees Li Xin wasting charcoal so much.

Li Xin stopped what he was doing, looked up at the little girl and grinned: "Girl, you can't make money simply selling charcoal, my brother wants to earn some money and buy you a pair of cotton shoes to wear." ”

After he said this, he began to concentrate on continuing to cut the charcoal, and the charcoal chips on the ground were scattered.

The old man stopped the bellows, bowed and walked to Li Xin's side, only to see that the young man was cutting the charcoal on the ground into the shape of animals, among these animals are tigers, pixiu and so on, although they are not vivid, but they have finally become shapes, and they look quite shaped.

The old man squatted down and looked at it, then picked up a piece of tiger-shaped charcoal, took it in his hand and looked at it, then shook his head slightly, and said in a hoarse voice: "You kid is very active, it seems that you want to sell these ordinary pine charcoal and bamboo charcoal as animal charcoal?" ”

Li Xin was slightly surprised, raised his head to look at this ordinary-looking old man who sold carbon, he stopped the firewood knife in his hand, and coughed a little embarrassedly: "Does the old man know about beast charcoal?" ”

The charcoal seller said in a low voice: "The old man has been burning charcoal for more than ten years, and naturally I have heard from those people in the city that the rich and noble families in the city will not use ordinary charcoal, but use animal-shaped charcoal, and the price of these charcoal is hundreds or thousands of times more expensive than the price of ordinary bamboo charcoal, and some are even equivalent to gold......

Speaking of this, the charcoal seller shook his head and said: "Although I don't know why this beast charcoal is sold so expensive, the old man once inquired that a piece of animal charcoal can be at least one day and one night, or even longer, so the burning of animal charcoal must at least use iron and wood, and ordinary pine and bamboo are not enough." ”

Beast charcoal is a special charcoal for nobles, this charcoal is not burned directly, but first burned into charcoal, and then ground into carbon powder by people, and then mixed with incense powder such as spices to enter, and then used molds to make the appearance of beasts, such charcoal, can even burn for a few days and nights, not only has no smoke smell, but also will have a peculiar fragrance.

However, as the charcoal seller said, this kind of animal charcoal can only be fired with very dense wood, and it is definitely not possible to do it if they only have pine charcoal and bamboo charcoal here.

Li Xin also saw a miscellaneous book in his previous life, which detailed all kinds of charcoal in ancient times, and he had a whim.

However, after listening to the charcoal seller's words, he was not depressed, but smiled mysteriously: "Uncle, although we can't make real beast charcoal, as long as we make a similar appearance, the kid naturally has a way to sell these things." ”

The charcoal seller glanced at Li Xin with some hesitation, and finally shook his head, and sighed softly: "That's it, young people have a lot of eyes, so you can let you go, but you are not allowed to spoil too many things, at most fifty catties, it doesn't matter if you can sell it or not." ”

The price of bamboo charcoal and charcoal is generally not very expensive, about five or six cents a catty, this year's cold weather, charcoal is a little more expensive, but it will not exceed ten cents a catty, and the charcoal seller can burn hundreds of catties of charcoal in a day, so it is not a big deal for him to take out half a day's output.

Li Xinxin secretly complained that he was not a professional carving, at most he was an amateur woodcarving enthusiast, and it would take a lot of time to carve out a copycat version of animal charcoal, and it would be difficult for him to carve out fifty catties of charcoal.

In this way, Li Xin worked in this wooden house for a whole day, because there was no light in the house, after the sky was completely dark, there was no way to continue carving charcoal, before finishing work, Li Xin probably counted, a total of twenty or thirty copycat version of animal charcoal, adding up to ten catties.

However, after a day of carving, his craft was somewhat proficient, and the charcoal carved out in the second half of the day was much finer than that in the morning.

It was still very cold at night, there were only two beds in this room, the charcoal seller slept with his granddaughter, and Li Xin slept alone on a relatively low bed, holding a bunch of straw covers, shivering from the cold.

This is the first day he came to this world, and he felt the coldness of this world, after all, he was in a coma for the first two days, and the whole person was unconscious.

For a whole night, Li Xin didn't fall asleep much, at most he slept half-awake for an hour or two, and when the sky just dawned, Li Xin, who couldn't stand it, got up from the bed, and didn't eat breakfast.

The way into the city, he has seen it from the memory of the unlucky child, so he can also feel where the capital is, after walking seven or eight miles, the heat brought by the exercise gradually dissipates the chill on his body, Li Xin raised his head, and saw a majestic city, standing in front of him.

This is the capital, the capital of the Great Jin Dynasty.

Thirty years ago, after the Great Jin Dynasty unified the world, the capital of the Great Jin Dynasty became the center of the world, and also became the largest male city in the world.

Li Xin looked up for a moment, and then sighed slightly in his heart.

In the future, I guess I will have to eat in this big city.

In his previous life, he was a rural baby, and he was able to mix like a fish in water in a first-tier city, and now, he can live like a person in this city!

Thinking of this, Li Xin secretly clenched his fists, carried the charcoal basket behind his back, and strode towards the east gate of the capital.

Today's goal is to buy a pair of thick cotton shoes for the little girl, and by the way, get yourself a decent quilt!

Li Xin secretly cheered himself up.

A rough voice interrupted Li Xin's ambition.

"Boy, where did you come from? Is it a local? Is there a way? ”

Li Xin looked up and saw a sturdy man, dressed in a soldier's shirt, standing in front of him.

The young man swallowed his saliva, obediently took out the guide from his arms, and handed it over.

"Those who come from Yongzhou come to the capital...... Searching for relatives. ”

Through the memory of the unlucky child, he knew that in this unknown era, he couldn't go out without a guide, and he and his uncle naturally had a guide, otherwise they wouldn't even be able to get out of Yongzhou, let alone come to the capital.

The so-called road guide is the proof issued by the local yamen, which proves who this person is, where he came from, where he is going, and what he is doing.

And Li Xin's road guide was opened by the government of Qiyang County, Yongzhou Prefecture, and the reason written on it was to find relatives.

The soldier guarding the door glanced at the worn cloth shoes on Li Xin's feet, looked down at Lu Yin, and then stared at the wooden basket behind Li Xin.

"What's in there?"

Li Xin reluctantly squeezed out a smiling face: "The bamboo charcoal made at home, when it's cold, give it to relatives in the city." ”

The soldier glanced at Li Xin, and then waved his hand: "Go in." ”

Li Xin nodded and walked in through the city gate.

After Li Xin walked away, the soldier found a blank piece of paper, secretly wrote down Li Xin's name, and then hid the white paper in his arms.