Gu Ye saw that Li Xiuhong wanted to speak and stopped, saw through what she was thinking, and said with a smile: "If Sister Xiuhong is willing to help, she is naturally welcome." The salary is compared with Aunt Li'er's, what do you think? ”

Widow Li hurriedly said: "The children's family, I can't help much, how can I let you break the bank again?" ”

"Sister Xiuhong can do it, she used to go up the mountain to pick up mountain goods, and she picked up more than adults! As long as the required workload is reached, the salary is absolutely indispensable to her! Gu Ye's words made Li Xiuhong's dimmed eyes instantly brighten. She believes that she will definitely be able to do better than her mother! She will cherish this hard-won opportunity to make money!

"Sister Yezi, I can also help. I don't want your salary, you just need to teach me to recognize herbs and become a ......" Li Xiaohai leaned over and looked at Gu Ye timidly with a worried smile.

"Xiaohai!" Widow Li eagerly interrupted her son's words, for fear that he would annoy Gu Ye and cause them to lose the opportunity they had just gotten, "Miss Ye'er, the child is not sensible, don't take his words seriously." ”

Unexpectedly, Gu Ye agreed: "Okay!" Come, help me pick up herbs. See, the medicinal herb that Aunt Li is cutting now is called gastrodia, which is an oval-shaped tuber. We can pick it up in the mountains. Its stems are erect, up to two meters high, and do not grow leaves......"

Li Xiaohai listened very carefully, and suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he shouted happily: "I seem to have seen this plant, in a valley in the back mountain." Unfortunately, I didn't know it was a medicinal herb at the time...... Sister Yezi, is gastrodia worth anything? ”

Gu Ye nodded and said, "Gastrodia is a precious medicinal material, and a pound of raw gastrodia is worth almost two taels of silver. ”

Li Xiaohai was stunned: "It turns out that herbs are so valuable!" A few hundred dollars are in front of me, and I don't even know them. Alas......"

"It doesn't matter, gastrodia is suitable for mining in winter and spring. When the snow on the mountain melts, let my brother take you to dig! Gastrodia dug in winter is of better quality than spring and more expensive. You dig it back, and I'll collect it at the market price! ”

Widow Li hurriedly said: "No, no! According to the rules of the money shopkeeper, the price is two percent 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 a clear conscience. ”

Gu Ye looked at Li Xiaohai, who couldn't help nodding, and said with a slight smile: "I purchased medicinal materials from outside the mountain, and it was also at this price, and I had to work hard to bring it back." To whom does the money earn or not? Aunt Li, the rules of the money shopkeeper are set by him, and of course you must sell it to me according to my rules. ”

The day, as if someone had poked a hole, the snow still fell unrelentingly, and it was more than ten days at once. Fortunately, most families have enough food and vegetables to survive the winter when it is winter. However, I don't know when the snow will fall, and I can't supply it from outside the mountain, so in order to prevent their own food from running out, many families in the village have two meals a day. Even so, there are still insufficient reserves and facing the situation of running out of cooking.

The food brought by Widow Li was saved and saved, but it was still eaten up on the tenth day of the new year. She originally had 100 yuan in her hand, plus she worked in the Gu family for five days, and earned nearly 100 yuan. But the snow closed the mountain, and there was no place to buy food if there was money in hand.

The Gu family didn't farm, and they all relied on buying food. She didn't know how much grain the Gu family had in stock, and she felt that it was enough trouble for their family to live in the Gu family, so why was she embarrassed to ask others to buy food again? If there is not much food at home, and she speaks, wouldn't it make the family embarrassed?

It was still Aunt Yan, when she was cooking, she found that in the porridge cooked by Widow Li, except for some dried wild vegetables, there were hardly a few grains of grain. Originally, one steamed bun was hot a day, and the family ate it separately, but I don't know when the only steamed bun was gone.

During the meal, Aunt Yan brought up the Li family's embarrassment. Gu Xiao put down his chopsticks, thought for a while, and said, "How many days can our family's food be eaten?" ”

Aunt Yan didn't think about it, she opened her mouth and came: "Steamed steamed buns and bean buns can be eaten until the sixteenth day of the first lunar month." Fine grains can be eaten for up to ten days. By the way, there are still coarse grains left over from the past at home, and there are twenty or thirty catties......"

"If the snow continues to fall, we must organize people to go outside the mountains to buy grain!" It is estimated that like Widow Li, there are more than one or two households in a family with food urgency. Gu Xiao's index finger knocked on the kang table and took the idea, "Let's do it, our family's coarse grain, the children don't like to eat it, sell some to Widow Li and them." After a few days, when the wind and snow are light, I will go out to the mountains to buy food! ”

"Grandpa, I'll go too!" Gu Ye's big eyes flashed with anticipation and pleading, making people unbearable to refuse. She was trapped at home by the wind and snow, and every day she was about to become a pharmaceutical machine except for medicine. Skiing to town is a lot more fun than staying at home.

Before Gu Xiao could speak, Gu Ming did not hesitate to extinguish the small flame of her hope: "Don't even think about it!" Freezing in the snow for a day, you don't want your little body anymore? ”

"I'm all right! I'm now as strong as an ox by you, and I don't believe we're more powerful! Gu Ye glared at his brother angrily, like a croaking toad.

Gu Ming glanced at her with a contemptuous look and said, "If someone's cow is as thin as you, let alone ploughing the land, even if you walk, you have to shake." Don't make a fuss, grandpa and I can't let you go. I'm not going either, I'm watching you at home! ”

"Stinky brother, bad brother! Ignore you! Gu Ye turned his anger into food, and took the rabbit leg in the spicy fried rabbit meat as Gu Ming, and gnawed on it through gritted teeth.

After the family finished eating, Aunt Yan went to the kitchen to wash the dishes. Gu Ye went back to her room, picked up the medical codex given to her by her uncle, and looked at it leisurely while peeling pine nuts.

At this time, the curtain of the door was lifted, and a biting cold wind took the opportunity to burrow into the warm room. Gu Ye didn't raise his head and said, "Aunt Yan, the dishwashing liquid I made is easy to use, right?" Pure plant essence, easy to clean oil stains, and it doesn't hurt your hands! ”

"Ye'er...... It's me ......" Li Xiuhong clenched her hand and stood inside the curtain, her eyes looking to the side, not daring to look at Gu Ye.

Gu Ye put down the codex in his hand, patted the kang, and said with a smile: "Sister Xiuhong, I was just looking for you and Aunt Li to tell you about your salary." ”

Li Xiuhong sat on the edge of the kang, and Gu Ye stuffed a handful of pine nuts in her hand. She looked a little nervous and asked, "Is there something we didn't do well?" My mother and I are just getting started now, and we are not skilled enough, and we will get better and better in the future. It's okay to give us less of our wages these days! ”

Gu Ye put his hand on the back of her hand, patted it gently, and said comfortingly: "Don't be nervous! It's not that you guys are not doing well, but you are too good! You and Aunt Li got started quickly, and you did your work carefully and meticulously. After half a month of probationary period, I am ready to increase your salary to 15 yuan a day! ”

"Huh? Still...... Pay for the salary increase? No...... No need, ten is enough! Li Xiuhong's worried heart gradually calmed down, and a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes.

"You've done me a great favor and deserve the wages." Gu Ye looked at her thin face, was silent for a moment, and asked, "You and Aunt Li'er's salary is already a hundred wen." If you need it urgently, you can withdraw it in advance......"

"No...... No! I'm not here to pay for my work...... Nor ......, I ...... I'm just here to ask...... Do you have much food in your family," Li Xiuhong plucked up her courage and said with Ai Ai, "If so, can you use food as wages?" My mother and I have paid for these five days, just give us ten catties of coarse grain......"

By the end, her voice was so low that it was almost inaudible. She also knew that the road to the town had been blocked by a snowstorm for several days, and every household did not have much food to stockpile. Gu Wuye's family did not farm, and the food they ate was bought from the town. After eating for almost twenty days, there should not be much left. Can...... Her family really can't open the pot, and if they don't open their mouths, they will run out of cooking tomorrow.

Gu Ye was thinking about how to lend the food to Aunt Li'er's family without being too deliberate, but he didn't expect Li Xiuhong to speak first.

"You wait a minute." Gu Ye got down from 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 twenty catties of coarse grain." There are five pounds of coarse grain on the market, and you and Aunt Li'er's wages are just enough to buy twenty catties. ”

"No, the price you are talking about is the price of grain in good weather. It has been snowing for more than ten days, and the price of food will definitely rise. In a disaster year, you may not be able to buy ten catties for 100 yuan! Li Xiuhong blushed, waved her hands quickly, and refused to accept the grain bag.

Gu Ye stuffed the grain bag into her hand and said, "These grains, when we bought them, they were five cents a catty, and the villagers in the big hometown can still earn your silver......

"Xiuhong!" Widow Li rushed in from outside, snatched the grain bag from her daughter's hand, and scolded loudly, "You kid, why are you so ignorant? At this time, no one has much food, you borrowed the food from the Gu Ye family, did you ever think that they would be hungry? ”

Widow Li has a cowardly personality and a good face, but her heart is kind. 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 and lend it to her. But by living in other people's homes, she already owes a lot of favors, if she makes people starve because of them, how can she go happily?

"Mother, now is not the time to save face! Our family's grain has been eaten, and the vegetable cellar is pressed by the beams, what will we eat tomorrow if there is no food? Can you bear to see your brother starving? Li Xiuhong looked at her mother pleading with tears in her eyes.

Widow Li's thin face was wrinkled, and she showed a little sadness. She thought for a while and said, "Tomorrow, I will go to the village chief's house and ask, he has a lot of land, so he should be able to give us some ......."

"However, there are many family members of the village chief's grandfather...... I don't know when the wind and snow will stop, and his family may not lend it to us. Li Xiuhong reluctantly glanced at the grain bag on the ground and lowered her head.