latelenovela Chapter 172 Buying Ironware
Chapter 172 Buying Ironware
"Okay, I will definitely not be polite to Brother Li."
Several people were chatting! The waiter who had just gone out to report the news came back and brought good news.
"Boss, the restaurants I visited have all booked banquets for lunch today. We're sure to have good business today." The waiter said excitedly.
When Lu Chuan saw this, he hurriedly offered to take his leave. Shopkeeper Li invited the two to stay for lunch, but Lu Chuan said he had other things to do, so he left first.
After Lu Chuan and Xu Han came out of Manxianglou, they went straight to the blacksmith shop. They didn't know whether the shop was closed or not.
When we arrived at the iron shop, the owner was sweating profusely while forging iron tools!
I have to say that blacksmithing is really a strenuous job. It is still okay in the warm winter, but it is really painful to work blacksmithing in such hot weather.
The iron shop owner saw someone coming in and stopped, wiped the sweat off his face with the towel around his neck, and asked, "What do you two need?"
"Boss, do you have any kitchen knives for sale?" Lu Chuan asked.
"Yes, yes, let me show you." After saying that, he walked into the room and took out several different kitchen knives in a short while.
After Lu Chuan picked two, he asked, "Do you have any sickles, hoes, or anything like that? The summer harvest is coming soon, and the tools at home are not very useful anymore. I want to get a new batch."
"Yes, it is almost the time for summer harvest. We have tools that have been made in advance. In previous years, we had to order them in advance. This year, the harvest is not good and few people come to buy farm tools."
After saying that, he took the two of them into the tool room and started to select.
Lu Chuan selected four sickles, two hoes, two shovels, two claws and some other small farm tools that would be used in daily life.
After choosing the farm tools, he also picked up two axes to pay for them.
The iron shop owner was very happy to see Lu Chuan bought so many things at once. These things were enough for a month in that year.
Ironware is still relatively expensive in today's society, and ordinary people are simply reluctant to buy so much ironware at once.
Fortunately, although the imperial court had controls over iron products, as long as the items purchased were farm tools and daily necessities and did not exceed a certain weight, they only needed to be registered.
When Lu Chuan bought these things, he selected them entirely according to the limit of what he could afford. Seeing that the two of them bought a lot, the boss took the initiative to lower the price a little.
"Little brother, the times are different now, so I can only reduce the price so much. When times are better, I will definitely give you a discount if you come back to buy from me."
"Okay, then let's follow the price you said!" Lu Chuan paid the bill very readily.
Before leaving, the iron shop owner gave Xu Han a small shovel, which was perfect for digging wild vegetables.
The two men came out of the blacksmith shop and went to the carpenter shop. After buying six large bathtubs, they went straight to the pharmacy.
There were no patients in the pharmacy, and the shop assistant was dozing off!
When he saw Lu Chuan and Xu Han coming in, he hurried to the backyard to call the shopkeeper.
"Uncle Zhang, how have you been lately?" Lu Chuan asked.
"We are fine, how are you two? Do you have enough food?" Uncle Zhang asked as he took the two men into the inner hall.
"That's enough, Uncle Zhang, don't worry about us."
"Oh, God! When will it rain? The summer harvest is coming soon, and many farmers are fighting over water. We just sent away a bunch of injured people from the fight before you came."
"Fighting, has the situation down the mountain become so serious now?" Xu Han asked in pretended surprise.
"Who says it's not true? The county magistrate has issued a new policy to prevent farmers from fighting over water sources, but there are still people who fight over water sources."
"Summer harvest is approaching, and everyone wants to irrigate their fields so that they can harvest more food," said Lu Chuan.
"I heard that some small rivers have run out of water. Irrigation is a hassle now. The summer harvest will definitely be much less. Whether there will be a harvest is another matter!"
"What about other places? Is the situation so serious?" Xu Han asked.
"Most places are fine. There is no problem of riverbed drying up yet. But if the situation continues like this, it will be difficult to survive the autumn harvest."
"Yes! The sun is so strong now. If there is no rain, the river will dry up soon. Even drinking water will become a problem." Lu Chuan also sighed.
"What can we do? We can only hope that it rains soon. If we don't get enough food during the autumn harvest, there will be chaos."
"Yes! By then even drinking water will be a problem. Even if we have food but no water it won't work!" Xu Han also sighed.
"Are you okay? There should be no shortage of water in the mountains!" Uncle Zhang asked.
"The situation in the mountains is better than outside, but the water level has dropped dramatically. However, there are relatively more water sources deep in the mountains, so we shouldn't be too troubled in the near future."
"That's good, that's good." Uncle Zhang said with a smile.
"Uncle Zhang, we came here today to buy some more saltpeter. How much do you think you can spare?" Lu Chuan asked, changing the subject.
"There is still a lot of saltpeter. I will take you to get it."
The two followed Uncle Zhang to the front hall, got the saltpeter, left the clinic and started walking home.
The drought has just begun, and people are already fighting over water. I don’t know what kind of hell the next few years will be like.
When Lu Chuan and Xu Han arrived home, it was already getting dark.
Because the water level in the river where they usually took a boat trip had decreased a lot, and they were afraid of being discovered, they walked upstream for a while before starting to take the boat home.
The trip back and forth wasted a lot of time, but fortunately I finally got home before dark.
After arriving home, having dinner and resting for a while, Lu Chuan and Xu Han started making ice in the newly bought bath tub.
There was no space in the bathroom for so many bathtubs, so we had to make them in the main room.
In this way, the room was not so hot anymore. With a few bathtubs placed there and saltpeter added, the room became much cooler in a short while.
Fortunately, saltpeter is non-toxic and odorless, otherwise it cannot be placed in the main room to make ice.
Now they don't need to go outside to enjoy the cool at night, they can just move the recliner into the main room. They don't have to go outside to feed mosquitoes, it's so happy.
Xu Han waved a palm-leaf fan and said, "The situation down the mountain is not too bad. The summer harvest is coming soon. I don't know how the yield will be."
"Look at the wheat we planted. We have been watering it all the time and have never lacked water. But there are still a lot of empty shells. I'm afraid the harvest down the mountain will be even worse than ours!"