All-class Gu Immortal

Chapter 3 Those adorned in silk robes are not silkworm farmers.

The rain came quickly and went quickly.

The rain had just stopped when the sun came out.

"We need to get the mulberry leaves back first!"

Zhou Qing quickly locked the door and left home.

When he arrived at the tofu stall in the market, Old Li dragged out a basket from behind the shed.

"Aqing, how are you? You didn't get wet at all!"

"Uncle Jun, you are truly the best person in our surrounding area!" Zhou Qing gave a thumbs up.

If you wet the mulberry leaves, you can't feed them to the silkworms. They need to be dried first, which will take a while. During this time, some of the more vulnerable silkworms may starve to death.

"Hey~ Everyone knows this, no need to emphasize it. How about a bowl of tofu pudding?" Old Li's smile was as bright as a chrysanthemum.

"No, no, I don't have any money on me. Maybe next time, maybe next time."

Zhou Qing waved his hand. He only had five copper coins on him, one of which was given to him by Uncle Liang from next door.

Five copper coins could buy two liters of rice, which is two jin (a unit of weight).

One shi (石) in the Jin Dynasty was approximately one hundred jin (斤).

One shi equals ten dou, which equals one hundred sheng.

One tael of silver could buy four shi of rice, or four hundred jin. On average, two and a half copper coins could buy one jin of rice.

With these two pounds of rice, there will be a few more grains in the bitter wild vegetable soup, enough to keep him going for a few more days.

The silkworms at home are currently at a crucial stage of their fourth instar; they will soon molt for the fourth time and enter the fifth instar.

The supply of mulberry leaves must be absolutely guaranteed to be in perfect order.

Silkworms typically need 25 to 35 days to grow from hatching.

After one molt, it becomes a second-instar larva. Each subsequent molt increases its instar by one, and it needs to molt four times in total to become a fifth-instar larva before it begins to spin a cocoon.

Silkworms are a treasure trove of resources. Their cocoons can be used to make silk. Silkworm pupae are edible and high in protein. Even the excrement produced by silkworms can be used as a medicinal ingredient to treat lung heat.

With Zhou Qing's current abilities, the limit is raising one silkworm.

The term "one silkworm" refers to placing 20,000 to 30,000 silkworm eggs on a single sheet of cloth or paper, then waiting for the eggs to grow into dark, ant-like silkworms, which are then divided into smaller portions using twenty one-meter-long winnowing baskets.

From April to September, a total of three to four harvests can be raised. The yield of mulberry leaves from one acre of mulberry trees is roughly enough to raise one batch of silkworms.

On average, each batch is harvested every thirty days. The income from selling silkworm silk, silkworm pupae, and silkworm excrement is roughly between one and four taels of silver.

The reason for such large fluctuations is that environmental factors have a significant impact on the growth of silkworms and the quality of their silk production.

It's too cold, that won't do.

It's too hot, no way.

We also need to protect ourselves from insects and rats.

Therefore, when raising silkworms, Zhou Qing would basically live in the silkworm room to take care of them and add silkworm leaves as needed.

Even when I was taking college entrance exams, postgraduate entrance exams, or civil service exams in my previous life, I never took such good care of silkworms.

From larvae to mature silkworms, and then to silkworms spinning cocoons, each silkworm consumes 400 to 800 jin of mulberry leaves every day.

He's the only one doing it now, so his daily limit is carrying 300 jin (150 kg) of mulberry leaves.

There was no other way but to reduce the number of silkworms raised.

Zhou Qing can earn about one or two taels of silver per batch. If he is lucky, the silkworms in that batch will be quite productive and produce high-quality silk, then he has a chance to earn two taels of silver.

When his parents were both alive, the three of them worked together and could earn about two taels of silver per batch, sometimes even four taels.

Otherwise, Zhou Xian wouldn't have had the money to drink heavily and gamble.

"If things go well, I can earn enough to go to the martial arts school in about three months," Zhou Qing thought to himself.

A typical martial arts school might charge less tuition for students with good aptitude, but it would still cost at least five taels of silver.

The normal tuition fee is eight to ten taels.

However, the tuition at Baiyun Martial Arts School is the lowest, only three taels of silver. After paying the tuition, you can soak your hands in the poison water prepared by the martial arts school. If you can endure it for half a quarter of an hour, you can become an apprentice.

If you don't endure the poisoning long enough, return one tael of silver and go to the clinic for treatment.

If someone dies directly from poisoning, two taels of silver will be refunded to their family. If they have no family, the martial arts school will buy a coffin and send it up the mountain.

Of course, you can also pay five taels of silver directly to avoid the process of soaking your hands in poisonous water and practice step by step.

Three taels of silver may not seem like much, but when converted into rice, it can buy a full 1,200 catties.

It's enough to feed a family of three for a year, with two meals a day, each consisting of rice and plenty of salt and oil in the dishes.

Back when his mother was still alive, she was very kind to the neighbors. Sometimes she would even give him some cured meat from her home. Otherwise, the neighbors wouldn't have taken such good care of him.

In this world, poor families are lucky if they can have two meals of thin porridge with wild vegetables a day, let alone enough to eat.

"If we aim for the Baiyun Martial Arts School, theoretically we can save up three taels of silver in as little as a month," Zhou Qing thought to himself.

Zhou Qing carried dozens of kilograms of mulberry leaves on his back and hurried towards the rice shop, clutching five copper coins tightly in his hand.

"It's Ah Qing. Do you want to buy some steamed buns? We're about to close up shop, so I'll sell you five white flour buns for only three coins."

Zhou Qing passed by a steamed bun stall, and the owner called out.

"Next time, next time." Zhou Qing swallowed hard, but still shook his head.

From the time the silkworm spins its cocoon to the time it finishes reeling silk, it takes at least ten days. During these days, we need to carry more mulberry leaves, so the main priority is to fill our stomachs. As long as we can eat our fill, it doesn't matter how bad the food is.

Despite the nagging cravings, Zhou Qing arrived at the 'Dafeng Rice Shop' at the end of the street.

Outside the rice shop, the shop assistants were working.

Zhou Qing entered the rice shop. Behind the counter, a middle-aged man wearing a small black cap, with a goatee and a greasy face, was fiddling with an abacus.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up and saw Zhou Qing dressed in coarse linen clothes, looking pale and sickly. He then lowered his head again and waved to the wooden rice container on his right.

"A liter of aged rice costs three copper coins."

Zhou Qing paused, "Isn't it two and a half copper coins a liter?"

He checked the price when he came to buy rice two weeks ago.

"The price has gone up." The middle-aged man didn't look up, his tone nonchalant.

Bah, bah, bah.

The sound of the abacus beads struck Zhou Qing's heart like a heavy hammer.

Five coins couldn't even buy two liters of old rice.

If they didn't buy rice by the liter, the rice shop would definitely find a way to shortchange them. For poor families like theirs, they could only suffer in silence.

"I can only buy some brown rice now," Zhou Qing sighed softly.

Brown rice is the lowest quality old rice, and it contains bran and chaff, which is what was used to feed pigs in the countryside in my previous life.

"Shopkeeper, I'd like to buy one liter of old rice and two liters of unpolished rice." Zhou Qing loosened his tightly clenched hands and placed five copper coins on the counter.

"Five coins for one liter of old rice and two liters of unpolished rice."

Upon hearing the middle-aged man's voice, the workers outside came over to shovel rice for Zhou Qing.

After shoveling a liter of old rice, it's time for brown rice.

The waiter shook the wooden shovel in his hand a few times, and there was less brown rice in the shovel. With the next scoop, there was more bran.

Zhou Qing's eyelids twitched, but he didn't say anything; he just silently clenched his fist.

There was only one rice shop in town, Dafeng Rice Shop.

"Take it." The shop assistant pushed the rice bag forward.

Zhou Qing tied the rice bag tightly and carefully tucked it into his bosom.

Three catties is enough for him to drink wild vegetable rice soup for ten to fifteen days. Although it tastes bad and is not easy to digest, it can fill his stomach, so he will have the strength to do things.

As soon as Zhou Qing stepped out of Dafeng Rice Shop, he saw someone galloping towards him on horseback.

The three men and one woman, all dressed smartly and with striking good looks, dismounted before they had even come to a complete stop at the rice shop entrance and shouted into the shop:

"Shopkeeper! Quickly pack up all the glutinous rice in your shop! We want it all!"

The young man at the head of the group, with a sword at his waist and an arrogant expression, slammed a silver ingot onto the counter.

The shopkeeper and his assistant, who had just ignored Zhou Qing, now trotted up to the four of them, bowing and scraping, their faces beaming with smiles.

"Third brother! Go buy a few big black dogs!"

The arrogant young man gave an order to another young man.

Seeing another young man leave the rice shop, Zhou Qing dared not watch any longer and walked home with his head down.

Looking at the well-dressed young men and women on the street, Zhou Qing sighed inwardly.

"Those who are covered with silkworms are not silkworm farmers."

Once the silkworms at home spin their cocoons, life will get a little easier.

Zhou Qing had just returned to his doorstep when he saw that the wooden gate of the outer courtyard wall had been kicked open and was lying askew to one side.

Even more terrifying, the door to the silkworm rearing room was also kicked open.

A burly man was rummaging through his house, seemingly looking for something.

"What are you doing?!" Zhou Qing rushed into the yard.

"Oh, the main character is back."

A fierce-looking man with a face full of scars walked out of the mud-brick house. He was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt, and his exposed arms were thick and strong, full of bulging muscles.

The man who came was Zhang Dahai, a notorious hoodlum in town. Because he farted a lot, he was nicknamed Old Zhang Fart.

However, these poor folks dared not call him that to his face; they could only curse him behind his back.

He was the one who discovered Zhou Xian's body; he practically stripped him of his underwear.

Now they're ransacking his house; this is just too much.

“Your father gambled away money at our Datong Casino. Even though he’s dead, the money still has to be paid back. The son pays for the father’s debts, right?” Zhang Dahai looked at Zhou Qing with a mocking expression.

"Look, this is an IOU, it's written in black and white!"

As he spoke, Zhang Dahai took out an IOU from his pocket, but didn't show it to Zhou Qing. He just waved it briefly and then put it away.

This is outrageous!
Zhou Qing took a breath and said in a deep voice, "Brother Zhang, no matter how much money my father owes, I will pay it back, but you have to give me time."

The silkworms at home are about to spin their silk; if you do this, how am I going to pay you back?

“That’s easy. If you don’t have the money to pay back, your dilapidated house and silkworm house can be used to pay off the debt.” Zhang Dahai said in a matter-of-fact manner.

"The silkworms are doing well this time. Could you give me a month's grace? I'll pay you back as soon as I sell all the silk." Zhou Qing paused for a moment.

"What if we can't pay it back then?" Zhang Dahai laughed.

"If you can't pay back the money, everything here is yours." Zhou Qing's tone was very calm.

“It’s a deal,” Zhang Dahai said loudly, glancing at the neighbors around the house.

His initial goal was the house, but he couldn't just rob it openly. Now that he could make more money, he was willing to wait.

"You understand much better than your father." Zhang Dahai walked outside with satisfaction.

(End of this chapter)