Chapter 41 Chapter Forty

As soon as she came back from her son's grave, Yingwa was about to carry water on a shoulder pole. She knew who she was and had no right to be coquettish.The stone monkey hurriedly stopped him, saying that your illness is not recovering quickly, and you will have to rest for a while.Yinwa said, it doesn't matter, it's just a piece of meat that fell off her body, and eating dog meat made up for it.The stone monkey didn't believe it, so Yinwa made a show to show him. She put the pole on her shoulders, stretched her arms and pressed down. If it was usual, the pole would have been bent into a bow, but now it just flickered slightly. .The stone monkey was frightened and said, aunt, don't try to be brave, it hurts your body!Yinwa said, I have to practice, if I lie on the kang again, I will starve to death.The stone monkey said, if you can't die of hunger, there is me.

What the stone monkey said warmed Yingwa's heart, she believed it was true.Thanks to this man for being sick this time, he was the one who snatched her back from Lord Yan.This is a good man!Yinwa always complains about her bad luck, but she is also glad that sometimes she has a good luck and always meets good people.There is Zhou Ligong in Zhoujiazhai. A while ago, it was Mr. Kong, and now it is Stone Monkey.These good people appeared one by one, and left one by one, shouldn't she quickly grab this person in front of her and entrust herself to him? Yinwa can't make up her mind.She knew that Stone Monkey liked her and wanted to marry her, although he didn't say it directly, but the meaning was clear.She also has a good impression of the stone monkey, and now that she no longer has a doll, and the last trace of concern for that man has been cut off, she should be able to accept the stone monkey.But for some reason, Yinwa always felt that she was not energetic when facing the stone monkey, unlike Li Gong, who saw her heart beating, his face was burning, and even talking incongruously, his whole person immediately changed.The stone monkey is only a little bit short of where it is.As for what this little bit is, Yin Wa can't tell.It's no problem that the stone monkey is a good person, but a good person doesn't necessarily have to become her man. Besides, she has just experienced a big change, and her heart is so distressed that she is not in the mood to think about it for a while.

Let's just let nature take its course, Yinwa thought, if there is a destiny, they will always come together.Now that she can't agree to Stone Monkey, Yingwa can no longer enjoy his care with peace of mind, not to mention that he has taken care of her for so long. Yinwa insisted on fetching water, but the stone monkey couldn't stop her, so he had to obey her. He told her to take her time and recover gradually.At the beginning, the baby only picked up half a bucket of water each time, walked around and rested, and the stone monkey got up early and was greedy for the night, and then came to help the baby deliver it after delivering his own water.A month later, Yinwa had fully recovered, and she was able to walk like flying despite the burden. After all, she had been working hard since she was a child, and she was in good health.

In June, the sun is hot, there is no wind, and the air is so dry that sparks can be wiped out.At noon that day, Yinwa finished delivering water and was walking back with an empty load. Suddenly someone called her on the way. The voice sounded like a stone monkey. She stopped and looked around, but there was no one in sight.Yinwa felt strange, it was the hottest time of the day, everyone else had gone to rest, the road was already empty, where could the stone monkey hide?Just wondering, laughter came from the big tree by the side of the road, causing the baby to look up, and saw the stone monkey pushing aside the leaves, looking out and laughing at her.No wonder I can't find it, Yinwa asked, what are you doing climbing the tree?

The stone monkey said, let's play!Then swish swish slipped down.Seeing his bulging cheeks, Yingwa asked him what's wrong, did he get stung by a wasp?With a whimper in his throat, he spread out his hands and spat out three bird eggs that looked like apricots.Magpie eggs, said the stone monkey.Citing the baby to say him, you are not a doll, you still play this?The stone monkey chuckled.Yinwa said, you hold a bird's egg in your mouth, don't you think it's dirty?The stone monkey said, how can you get down the tree if you don't hold it in your mouth?Hug the tree with both hands.As he spoke, he walked out of the shade of the tree, came to the side of the road, buried the magpie eggs in the dust, and then said to Yinwa, let's rest under the tree.

The baby was puzzled, and asked the stone monkey, what are you doing?The stone monkey said, roasting a bird's egg will cook it right away.Yinwa asked the stone monkey in surprise, can this work?The stone monkey said, you just came down from the official road, don't you know how bad the dust is?Of course Yingwa knew that she couldn't help admiring the stone monkey, this guy's brain is a flash of light. The weather was dry, and people stepped on the official road to dust half a foot thick. The sun scorched it, as if it had been fried in an iron pan.When a person walks on the road, his feet sink into the dust immediately, and the tops of the shoe shells are buried all at once, as if his feet were stuffed into burning coals, which makes people want to jump up immediately.But one foot jumps up and the other foot sinks in. People who walk really suffer.

While they were talking, they heard a slight rattling sound from the dust, and the stone monkey ran over to dig out the bird's eggs, the shells of which had already been cracked.The stone monkey said happily that it was cooked and cooked faster than cooking it in a pot.He peeled the bird's eggs, handed them to Yinwa, and said, "There are no eggs, I'm sorry for you."Attracting the baby to push back, the stone monkey said, don't mind it, bird's eggs might be better than eggs.Yinwa said, you can eat the delicious food, you bought it.The stone monkey said, "This is for you to eat. You are a sick person. If I eat it, it will be ruined."Yinwa said, my illness has long been cured.The stone monkey said, why do you still take medicine when you are well?Yinwa was taken aback, and asked, how do you know?She is a woman's disease, and she only consulted Cui Ma, the midwife, and no one else knew about it.After Yinwa's miscarriage, her lower body was dripping all the time. Cui's mother said that it hurt the delivery room and she had to take care of it slowly.Did Mama Cui tell him?Stone Monkey knew Mama Cui well, so it was Stone Monkey who found Mama Cui to deliver her.The stone monkey said, I not only know that you take the medicine, but also where the herb grows.After hearing this, Yingwa understands better. No wonder she finds Cui’s mother every time. Cui’s mother never charges her for the medicine. She also said that the thing itself is grass, and if you ask for money, it will be divided. It turns out that this herb is a stone monkey. Picked!

Yinwa felt hot, and she said, okay, I will eat, but there are three bird eggs in total, I will eat two, and you will eat one.The stone monkey said that men cannot eat bird eggs.Yinwa asked, why?The stone monkey laughed and said, "Bird eggs...men also have bird eggs, so don't they eat themselves?"Yinwa blushed, twisted the stone monkey and said, telling you to talk nonsense. The stone monkey was so excited that he said quickly, my mouth stinks, my mouth stinks.Yinwa said, what happened?Open your mouth and let me see.The stone monkey didn't know what it meant, and opened its mouth foolishly, and Yinwa stuffed a bird's egg into it.The stone monkey knew he had been fooled, so he vomited it out and gave it to Yinwa.Yinwa said, go, go, it's saliva, I think it's dirty.The stone monkey had no choice but to happily swallow the egg.

After eating the eggs, the stone monkey said to Yinwa, close your eyes and I will play a trick for you.Yinwa said, you are getting better and better, and you can still play tricks?The stone monkey said, I have a lot of skills, and you will know it gradually in the future.Yinwa said, I don't believe it, so just brag.The stone monkey said with a smile, just close your eyes once, I can blow the bull into the sky.Yinwa said, well, anyway, you are bragging, not me, I am not afraid. Yingwa closed her eyes, only to hear a rustling sound, the stone monkey said, open your eyes.She opened her eyes and saw a pair of black rubber high rain boots hanging in front of her.Yinwa was pleasantly surprised and asked, where did it come from?The stone monkey said, I bought it.Yinwa said, why didn't I see it just now?The stone monkey said, I put them under the bucket.Yinwa said, why hide it?You put it on.The stone monkey said, "I bought it for you. I was waiting for you on the way because I was afraid that people would see me laughing at me."

Yinwa knew that these rain boots were very expensive, she had asked a while ago, but she couldn't afford them at all.Quickly said, I don't wear it, I don't wear it, you buy it and wear it yourself!The stone monkey put the rain boots on his feet and made a gesture, then said with a smile that he had to chop off his toes to put them in.Yinwa said, then you return the goods.The stone monkey said, people will not retreat.Yinwa said, then you can change it to a bigger one. The stone monkey took off the straw sandals and showed Yingwa his feet.He said, my feet are full of dead skin, not to mention the dust is hot, even if I burn it with fire, I don't know it hurts. It's not like your feet, so tender.Yinwa smiled and said, my feet are still tender?She was wearing cloth shoes, and she planned to take off her shoes for the stone monkey to see, but when she thought that the stone monkey was a man, she felt embarrassed again, so she stretched out her feet in front of the stone monkey and said, squeeze it, it looks as hard as a stone No?She didn't expect the stone monkey to take off her shoes without pinching them, and put the rain boots on her quickly.

Get up and walk, said the stone monkey, pulling Yingwa up by force.Yingwa took two steps. These rain boots are really suitable for feet, and the size is just right.The stone monkey said happily, "You look so good in this dress, you look very foreign!"Yinwa knows that these are not only good-looking, but also practical. In summer, the rain boots prevent dust from pouring into the shell and scald the feet. This thing is definitely a good thing, but its price is scary enough.Yinwa knows that Stone Monkey is not rich, even poorer than herself, she is naked, and Stone Monkey has to support her parents.Yinwa was determined not to, she sat down on the ground and wanted to take off her rain boots.The stone monkey said, why are you so stubborn?People often say that a man's head and a woman's feet can only be seen but not touched. They are all treasures. If women's feet are not good, no one will want them.Yinwa said while patting, no one wants to be an old girl.The stone monkey asked, are you really not wearing it?Yinwa said, don't wear it! I tell you not to wear it!The stone monkey suddenly picked up Yinwa's cloth shoes, picked up the burden and ran away.He said while running, you can put it on, if you don't wear it, you will hit me in the face. Yinwa had no choice but to stand up wearing rain boots.When she walked to the official road with a burden, her feet no longer hurt, and the feeling of walking on burning coals disappeared all of a sudden.Yinwa's eyes were moist.This man is really a caring person. He pays attention to her every move, what medicine she takes, and how big her feet are. He knows everything by heart.He has always helped her quietly, and he has never asked her anything.There are too few men who are so considerate and caring, so what is she waiting for?How can there be a perfect person in the world?As long as he really treats her well, she should be content. You wait, I have something to tell you!Yinwa greets the stone monkey from behind.I won't listen, the stone monkey said, don't try to trick me again.Yinwa shouted, I really have something to tell you, she chased after her while shouting.Seeing her chasing after him, the stone monkey ran even faster.He shouted while running, I gave you the rain boots, don't give them back to me! Yingwa couldn't catch up, so she laughed behind her, there are still people in this world who are chasing others to be their daughter-in-laws!Seeing that the stone monkey ran away, she had no choice but to give up.Let's talk about it after work at night. It's too casual to talk about such a big matter on the way.In the evening, go out and spend a little money, cook two dishes, and boil a pot of wine. The two of them sat down solemnly to think about it. At the thought of remarrying, Yinwa has mixed feelings.She has been with two men before, and both of them put her on the way, will it be like this again this time?No, no!This time is different from the past, the first man can’t say whether he loves him or not, the second man is her lover, and he may not love her, this man is after her, as long as she doesn’t hate them, they will be together forever old! With this confidence, a warm current of happiness welled up in Yingwa's heart, and she said to the disappeared stone monkey, Guawa, just wait! But the stone monkey didn't wait until that moment, and the development of the matter was beyond Yinwa's expectation. After Yinwa put on her rain boots, she became more motivated. She ran back and forth three times that afternoon, but was stopped by someone on the way to deliver water on the fourth trip.Yingwa looked up and saw several people surrounded by the wall by the roadside, one of them greeted her, big sister, give her a sip of water.Yinwa stopped and put the load on the ground, the man came to him, Yinwa pulled out the straw stuck in the gap of the bucket hoop, and handed it to the man.The man plunged the straw into the water and took a sip, then gave it back to Yinwa, and exclaimed that the water was so sweet.The water deliverers have a rule that they will give alms to anyone who asks for water on the road, but they can't drink too much, at most it can moisten their throats.In order to prevent those who beg for water from drinking too much, those who deliver water will use a straw as a straw and pin it to the bucket hoop.The man wiped his mouth after drinking and was about to leave, Yinwa asked by the way, what are you doing around there?The man said, look at the notice.The baby was curious, so he asked, what announcement?Shoot people?The man said, no, they were recruiting workers.What job do you want to hire?Yinwa asked.The man said to recruit female workers. Oh, it aroused the baby's interest, she brought the burden to her, and also read the notice.Yinwa recognized and guessed, and figured out the content of the notice, which said that Qinchuan Textile Factory recruited female textile workers, aged between sixteen and thirty.Judging from the time of signing, this notice has been posted for a while, but Yinwa is in a hurry every time she passes by, and she never pays attention to it. If there is no one begging for water today, she will miss it. Yinwa's age was just right, and she couldn't help being moved.It is impossible to carry on the work of delivering water for a long time. It is not because she cannot bear the hardship, but because the well water is getting shallower and shallower. If the drought continues, the well will have to bottom out, and it will be useless to search for it. What will she do then? ?It's better to plan ahead and switch careers if you can find a suitable job. According to the address on the notice, Yinwa found a job recruitment place.This is a private house on East Street. There is a table in the yard, and there are already people waiting in line to register, and she follows behind.When it was Yinwa's turn, the person who registered asked her name, she answered, the person was startled, looked at her for a while, and asked Yinwa suspiciously, what is your name?The baby asked, what's the matter?He said, you don't have gall melons!Yinggua has a big neck, a bag of meat hangs under her throat, this person mispronounced her name.Yinwa said, it's not Yinggua but Yinwa.The man said, Ying baby or Ying melon, should the cat be called Mimi?Yinwa said, my Yin is not that gall.The man asked, which gall are you?Yinwa said, it is Yinwa's introduction.The man smiled and said, aren't you pushing the millstone? Which one is the one who leads the baby?Yinwa saw that she couldn't understand him, so she dragged the man's pen over and wrote her name on the registration form.The man looked at her in surprise, then stood up and shouted towards the house behind him, Manager Zhou, come here, there is a literate woman here! With the cry, a person came out of the room.When Yinwa saw this person, her eyes straightened.Merit brother!Yinwa let out a cry of surprise.The man froze for a moment and asked, who are you?I'm Yinwa, Brother Ligong!Yinwa couldn't hold back her excitement, she pushed the table away and rushed to the man. This person is Zhou Ligong.He identified it carefully, and asked in surprise, are you still in Xi'an? Yinwa hurriedly grabbed Zhou Ligong's hand and shook it vigorously, Second Brother, Brother Ligong, you are finally back!Yinwa's tears flowed out in a flash. The person who registered was stunned. He asked, Manager Zhou, is she... Zhou Ligong said happily, she is my cousin, let her be the foreman. The man said, it's really hard to find. There are more than 200 people who signed up, and this is the only one who is educated. Yinwa didn't hear the man's compliment.She had thousands of words hidden in her heart to say to her elder brother Li Gong, but the thousands of words were choked in her throat, and she didn't know where to start all of a sudden, she just stared at Zhou Li Gong blankly.Zhou Ligong was afraid of leading the baby to do something stupid, so he quickly dragged her and said, Yin baby, let's go to the house. After entering the room, Yinwa hadn't woken up from the daze.She felt like she was dreaming that she could see her brother meritorious service again in this life!Zhou Ligong poured Yinwa a cup of boiling water. The cup was enamel. Zhou Ligong wanted to put it on the table, but Yinwa took it with his hands. The scorching hot cup scalded her, and she woke up.Yinwa looked at the man in her dream standing in front of her, and asked eagerly, Brother Li Gong, how did you get here in the past six months? Zhou Ligong was not as excited as Yingwa, he calmly narrated his experience. At the end of last year, Zhou Ligong left Xi'an and moved to Shanghai.Zhao Danna and Zhao Ziang warmly received him and let him rest here with peace of mind. They said that Shanghai is the most prosperous and law-abiding place in China, and the Northwest warlord's hand cannot reach here.Zhou Ligong is a person who can't stay idle. After resting for a few days, he asked Zhao Danna to accompany him to visit around Shanghai.The prosperity here stunned him.As a farm boy, he never dreamed that other people's lives would be like this.His father asked him to recite since he was a child. The reason why he returned to his hometown to engage in rural reconstruction after graduation was to rebuild the Peach Blossom Spring, but how could Tao Yuanming’s Peach Blossom Spring compare with Shili Yangchang! Zhou Ligong didn't know why Shanghai was so rich.Also on the land of China, why is his hometown so poor?After being shocked, Zhou Ligong began to think about these issues.Zhou Ligong is not a person who is greedy for material comforts, he has his own lofty ambitions.He wanted to find out the reason, so he discussed it with Zhao Danna, but Zhao Danna couldn't explain it clearly, so he had to ask Zhao Ziang for advice.Zhao Ziang didn't answer him directly, but took him to visit his factory. Zhao Ziang's Dongfang Industrial Corporation has three silk reeling factories and two textile factories in Shanghai. Zhou Ligong visited such a modern enterprise and witnessed the magic of industrial production.Although Zhou Ligong used foreign goods all over his body, he had never seen how khaki cloth and silk stockings were made.Of course, there was no machine in his hometown, and he had never seen a machine when he was studying in Xi'an and Beijing. Although those two places are big cities, they are ancient capitals left over from thousands of years ago, so ancient that they have no modern atmosphere.The machine production he sees now is like a magic trick. One end of the factory swallows cocoons and cotton, and the other end spits out silk and cloth. This process is incredible! What surprised Zhou Ligong even more was the set of figures that Zhao Ziang told him. This was the comparison between the price of raw materials and the price of the product. The profit was more than ten times that!This is not silk reeling and weaving, it is simply printing money directly.Seeing Zhou Ligong's surprised expression, Zhao Ziang told him that's how Shanghai got rich. Zhou Ligong understood.He has long known the saying that there is no work without riches, but the "work" he understood before was a handicraft workshop, and his father also thought so, so they all supported the third brother to open a burning workshop.It seems ridiculous now, how can that kind of workshop be compared with the production of large machines?If the handicraft industry cannot be compared with the modern industry, then the agriculture cannot be mentioned!Zhou Ligong felt bad when he thought of the fact that the cotton grown at home could not be sold at a price last year.Cotton is an economic crop, let alone other crops.In his hometown, the plows used by farmers for plowing the land were passed down by Emperor Qin Shihuang, and the lugs for milling fields were passed down by King Wen of Zhou. The farming methods have not changed for thousands of years. What future is there for such a livelihood?It can only decline day by day.Compared with the booming modern industry, the decline of agriculture is irreversible. The prosperity of Shanghai and the magic of industry completely overturned Zhou Ligong's belief, and he was amused by his previous persistence.What kind of rural transformation is he doing? Can he transform such a mess?It's just so impractical.Wasn't it funny that he felt like the cavalier Don Quixote in the Spanish novel Don Quixote de la Mancha, serious about fighting the windmills?Thinking of this, he suddenly felt that he had to thank the Shaanxi warlords. If they hadn't persecuted him, he would never have planned to come to Shanghai. If he didn't come to Shanghai, he would probably be immersed in the dream of rural reconstruction forever. Wouldn't it be a waste of his life? ?This is really a blessing in disguise, who knows it's not a blessing! Seeing that Zhou Ligong was enlightened, Zhao Ziang told the prospective son-in-law about his ideal of serving the country through industry. After hearing this, Zhou Ligong admired the prospective father-in-law.He used to only know that his girlfriend's father was a wealthy businessman, and he thought he was just a nouveau riche, but now he really understands his mind.Zhao Ziang has always valued Zhou Ligong. As soon as a college student graduated, he resolutely returned to his hometown to devote himself to the cause of rural reconstruction. No matter whether this job has a future or not, this young man undoubtedly has ideals and aspirations.Later, Zhou Ligong resolutely wrote a book in "Declaration" in Xi'an to expose the scandal of the Shaanxi warlords conniving at the smoke disaster, and let him see the courage and courage of this young man.Zhao Ziang only has one precious daughter, he must find a successor for his career, and he fell in love with this young man.He doesn't care about his origin or his previous interests, he only cares about his character and conduct.He knew that with such a big family like him, no young man would not be tempted, and any interest and aspiration could be reversed.He was just waiting for the right opportunity, and now the opportunity came. Zhao Ziang asked Zhou Ligong if he was interested in industry, Zhou Ligong immediately replied, yes!Zhao Ziang asked him if he would stay by his side and help him manage the factory.Zhou Ligong was overjoyed, this was something he could only wish for, and he fully agreed.Zhao Ziang said, actually, it does not mean that you completely abandon your rural reconstruction plan, but in my opinion, the development of the countryside must be driven by industry.You can see how many raw materials our factories need every day. These silkworm cocoons and cotton come from the countryside. Only when these agricultural products are used as industrial raw materials can they be cultivated in large quantities, and they can be sold at a good price, so that farmers can get benefits.Zhou Ligong repeatedly said yes, he felt that the old man was not only an entrepreneur, but also a sociologist and economist, much more thoughtful and far-reaching than he thought. From then on, Zhao Ziang took Zhou Ligong by his side and made him familiar with every aspect of production and management.Zhou Ligong was talented and intelligent, coupled with being diligent and studious, he soon became Zhao Ziang's right-hand man.Zhao Ziang has always had a plan to open a textile factory in the northwest, but this plan has never been realized due to the war.Now that the Northern Expedition is over, the national military orders and government orders have been unified, and the ban on smoking is imperative, cotton will definitely become the most valuable cash crop, and the conditions for opening a factory in Xi'an are ripe.He felt that it was most appropriate to entrust this matter to Zhou Ligong, since it was his hometown and he was familiar with it.In addition, this is also a training and inspection for him, which can test his ability to handle things independently. In this way, Zhou Ligong returned to Xi'an in April this year. Great!Yinwa said, I'll do it with you. Zhou Ligong said that preparations are still under way, and it will take some time to start construction. Then I will prepare together with you, Yinwa said. Zhou Ligong smiled and said, what can you do? Yinwa thought for a while and said, I can cook. Zhou Ligong said, we all eat out in restaurants. Yinwa said, the restaurant is not as fragrant as my cooking, but my cooking is delicious and saves money. Zhou Ligong is not short of money now, but he really likes to eat food from his hometown.In the past six months in Shanghai, I got tired of Huaiyang cuisine, and I especially wanted to eat Xifu’s simmered noodles and deer cakes, so I agreed. Yinwa was so happy that she jumped up like a doll.She's going to stay here anyway, and if her brother Ligong doesn't agree to be her chef, she'll find other excuses. To stay with her brother Li Gong, Ying Wa realized that there was another troublesome thing: what to do with the stone monkey?To be honest, the moment she saw her brother Li Gong, this man immediately filled her heart, and the stone monkey had already been squeezed out of sight.It requires little thought and is completely natural.How can the stone monkey be compared with her meritorious brother?One is Mount Hua, which she can look up to, and the other is Jiangshi, which she can step on.Even though Yingwa was a little disappointed in her situation after her meritorious brother didn't ask her to leave, after all, she might be pregnant with his doll.But she doesn't care, men are always mean-spirited, as long as he is willing to keep her, she will be satisfied. But how could she speak to the stone monkey?It's hard to attract a baby.Although she didn't promise anything to the stone monkey, she knew that the stone monkey had expectations of her.She already owed him so much, and this walk of the stone monkey must have broken her heart. How could she have the face to say such unfeeling words to others? It was getting dark when I brought my baby home that day.She went to Shuitou to quit her job, refunded the deposit, and then went to a department store on the street that was still closed, and bought a pair of men's high rain boots.Men's rain boots are bigger than women's, and the price is also more expensive. The asking price of this store is even more expensive. The boss knows that other stores are closed now, and customers have no way to compare goods.Yingwa knew that they were killing people, so she gritted her teeth and bought it.When she came back, Yinwa wrapped her rain boots in furoshiki, carried them out, and came to the stone monkey's door.She wandered around there a few times, but didn't have the courage to go in, and finally she came to Cui's mother.Yingwa told Mama Cui that she was going back to her hometown tomorrow morning, and her man came to find her. She borrowed the stone monkey from this bag, and Mama Cui asked her to return it on her behalf.Cui's mother asked her why she didn't return it herself, and she reasoned that Shi Hou was not at home and could not find him.Cui's mother said that he might have gone to the river beach to dig medicine. She took out a paper bag and handed it to Yinwa, and told her to continue eating, saying that it was accumulated by the stone monkey for more than ten days. Take it. Yinwa's eyes were sour, and she hurriedly bid farewell to Cui's mother. Yinwa left overnight that night.The moon was very bright when she walked out, and the stagnant water scattered on the well platform shone like silver foil. Yinwa squatted by a puddle, dipped her hands in water and wiped her rain shoes on her feet, letting them It also shone brightly.She will treasure this pair of rain boots as her own thoughts.I think about my unforgettable years, and I also think about a good man who helped me in times of crisis. Yinwa bowed deeply towards the door of the stone monkey's house, made a big bow, turned and left. In the next month, Zhou Ligong took his assistant to investigate the factory site, leased the factory building, and solved the distribution of electricity and water.Yingwa cooks delicious food for them every day, and she is also very happy to see them in high spirits.At that time, Zhou Ligong was very excited. Every time he came to the dinner table, he talked about his lofty ideals: start with one factory, then open branch factories in other cities in Shaanxi, then develop to the entire Northwest region, then establish the Northwest Textile Trust, and finally integrate Textile enterprises across the country, set up China Textile Trust! Zhou Ligong was fascinated by the talk, and Yinwa was also fascinated by listening.She admired her meritorious brother as a bodhisattva, even more divine than a bodhisattva!She has long seen that her meritorious brother is doing great things, and now he has indeed done great things. But no one thought that a thunderbolt from the blue would knock everyone down.Zhou Ligong finished all the preparatory work, and only waited for Shanghai to ship the machine for installation, and Qinchuan Textile Factory could start work smoothly, but they didn't wait for the machine, but they waited for a letter from Zhao Zi'ang.The letter said that the worldwide economic crisis broke out, Chinese enterprises were in a wave of bankruptcy, the head office's factory in Shanghai was overwhelmed, and it was currently unable to expand its business, and all plans to open branch factories in other places were temporarily suspended. Zhou Ligong was dumbfounded.He immediately ran to the telephone bureau to call Shanghai, hoping that Zhao Ziang could keep the Xi'an branch.Zhao Zi'ang has been overwhelmed by the things in Shanghai, he said that there is nothing he can do now.Zhou Ligong asked again and again, and Zhao Ziang finally said that if Zhou Ligong found the funds by himself, he could consider continuing the plan. Of course, this cannot satisfy Zhou Ligong, but it is the only feasible solution under the current circumstances.Zhou Ligong didn't dare to force too much, after a little thought, he agreed. Zhou Ligong thought of a solution to the problem: let his father sell grain for money.He knew that his family had accumulated a lot of grain, which could be sold at a high price in famine years.Coming out of the telegraph office, Zhou Ligong immediately went to investigate the grain market in Xi'an.Zhou Ligong first ran to the forest of steles, where he heard that there was a stele of Huang Sui, which recorded the severe drought in Shaanxi in the third year of Guangxu. He wanted to know the grain price at that time, so as to infer the current grain price trend.When he arrived at the forest of steles and looked at the inscriptions, Zhou Ligong's scalp felt numb.The inscription describes the famine in this way: After reading this passage, Zhou Ligong was both surprised and delighted.What surprised me was that the famine in Guangxu's three years had reached that level. I was lucky to be born late. If I caught up with such a famine, I would have to starve to death.The good news is that the current famine far exceeds that of Guangxu's three years, so the increase in food prices must also exceed that.How did this conclusion come about?Zhou Ligong compared the present with the three years of Guangxu, and found that what was in the three years of Guangxu is now available, and what was not in the three years of Guangxu is now available.The three years of Guangxu were just natural disasters, but today, man-made disasters are superimposed: before the disaster, farmers were forced to plant a large amount of opium, resulting in a serious shortage of food reserves; The Northern Expedition had just ended, and the people hadn't caught their breath yet. Feng Yuxiang had turned against Chiang Kai-shek again, and the Northwest Army was secretly preparing for war again, preparing to fight the Central Army.If there is a war, food and wages are needed. The government uses all the food reserves as military rations, and is unwilling to use them to relieve the victims, even the relief food raised by charities.Just because the rebellion has been revealed, the central government regards Shaanxi as a bandit land, and would rather starve to death than help.The Northwest Army went even further. In order to prevent the Central Army from going north, it simply blew up the Wushengguan Tunnel in Henan and paralyzed the Pinghan and Longhai railways.This bombing may not be able to stop the Central Army, but it cut off the channels for foreign aid to Shaanxi, making it extremely difficult to transport food.This series of man-made disasters intensified the disaster, and the disaster far exceeded the three years of Guangxu.Now that the disaster has doubled, Zhou Ligong believes that the corresponding increase in food prices will inevitably be higher than that in the third year of Guangxu.In the third year of Guangxu's reign, "five strings of money for fighting rice, and four strings of wheat for two", which is more than ten times that of the usual years, so the price of grain in Shaanxi should be at least ten times higher now! Zhou Ligong gained confidence.He walked out of the Forest of Steles and came to the South Gate Market, planning to go to the grain store to inquire about grain prices.The weather was hot, and there were few pedestrians on the street, but many people gathered in front of every food store.Some of these people were lying down, some were sitting around the shop in a semicircle, all of them were sallow and emaciated, and looked like refugees.Almost all of them were bare-chested, their stomachs had collapsed into their chests, their ribs were protruding one by one, and they were too hungry to move.But their eyes were staring straight at the grain stores in the grain store, as if they could stick out their tongues to lick the grain from their eye sockets.Zhou Ligong leaned over them, the sour smell could push him back.He had just walked into a grain store and was about to ask the price of grain when he saw a clerk pointing in his direction and yelling: Get out, get out, watch me beat you!Zhou Ligong was so angry, did he treat customers like this?He was about to have a seizure when the guy walked towards him, pointing his finger behind him.He turned his head and saw that a beggar followed him into the store.Zhou Ligong understood that the man was scolding a beggar.But the beggar didn't leave, he stretched out a pair of black and thin hands and said, good man, please give me some.Give your fucking cunt!The guy pushed the beggar out of the door while cursing and pushing.Unexpectedly, with a bang, the beggar bumped his head against the door frame, blood gushed from his forehead immediately, and the man was startled.Not only did the beggar ignore the blood on his face, on the contrary, he swung his hands and slapped his forehead, causing the blood to splatter everywhere.Zhou Ligong quickly hid aside, and other customers in the store ran out in fright.The man panicked and shouted, don't bet your life on me, I didn't touch you! The beggar slapped and yelled, good man, give me some. Grab him!At this time, the shopkeeper in the back room was alarmed, and he came out to tell the waiter.The man grabbed a handful of grains and slipped them onto the beggar's bloody palm.The beggar raised his hand and poured it all into his mouth, started chewing, and walked outside while chewing.Zhou Ligong saw him sticking out his tongue and licking the wheat grains stuck to his palms together with the plasma into his mouth. The beggar left, the guy pressed his chest and said, I was scared to death.The shopkeeper said, this is called the street, and if you encounter it in the future, send it away immediately.The guy asked, what is called a street?The shopkeeper said, the singer knows that, right?You know, the man said, the blackheads are showing their power.By the way, the shopkeeper said that calling the street is a beggar showing off his power, and it is evil.But he's not betting on our lives, he's messing with our business by self-mutilation, making our place bloody and scoffing, who dares to come in and buy things?The man said, this man is really desperate.The shopkeeper said that it was all because of the famine. People are all fleshy, so no one is afraid of pain. Zhou Ligong has gained a lot of knowledge, but he is happy, which shows that food is precious.The clerk began to clean up the blood on the ground, and Zhou Ligong asked the shopkeeper about the price of grain.The shopkeeper told him that a bucket of flour costs twenty silver dollars, and a bucket of wheat costs sixteen silver dollars.This is already more than ten somersaults before the Nian Famine, and Zhou Ligong feels that it will continue to rise.Zhou Ligong only asked if he would buy it, but the owner of the food store said, if you want to buy it, hurry up, and the price is one day.Zhou Ligong said, it's so expensive and you still go up?The boss said, is life expensive?You just saw that some people even sacrificed their lives for a morsel of food. Do you think the price of food will continue to rise?Zhou Ligong said, what if it rains tomorrow?What if it rains?The shopkeeper said that if the rain misses the season, it will fall in vain.Even if you don't miss it, it will take several months for the crops to be planted in the ground. What do people eat in these few months?Zhou Ligong said, you are going up anyway?The shopkeeper said, of course!Zhou Ligong laughed, the shopkeeper's words reached his heart. After returning to the residence, Zhou Ligong immediately wrote a letter to his father, stating the difficulties he encountered in Xi'an, and finally told his father: I want to use money to sell grain at the right time.