jdhmnovel Chapter 356 Farewell
Chapter 356 Farewell
Zhou Dacang smiled and said, "Touch it if you want, and touch it enough."
When he got the gold bar, he held it in his hand and couldn't sleep in the middle of the night. He was excited for a long time.
Everyone picked up the gold bars happily. As soon as they got their hands on them, they exclaimed how heavy they were. They turned them over and over in their hands and said, "So this is what a gold bar looks like. This should be ten taels, right? How much silver can ten taels be exchanged for?"
Everyone looked at Zhou Dacang. This was the first time their family had gold.
Zhou Dacang said: "One ounce of gold is worth ten ounces of silver. This gold bar can be exchanged for one hundred ounces of silver."
Zhou Mi exclaimed, "Such a small gold bar can be exchanged for one hundred taels. Gold is really better and doesn't take up much space!"
Zhou Guo thought of the several gold bars in her hands, all of which were heavy, and also thought of the horse in the backyard that the Hei Shu and his men had picked for her, which was said to be the best horse. She felt that this battle was really worth it, as she had money and a horse. The Hu people were really money-giving boys!
Zhou Dacang took something out from underneath and asked Zhou Guo, "Did you make this?"
Everyone looked and saw that they were the two bows and crossbows.
Zhou Guo nodded, "Yes, I thought that if the Hu people came, my mother and elder brother would have to have some self-defense, so I made these two crossbows. It cost me a lot of money, a full twenty taels!"
At first, when people knew that the Hu people were coming, they didn't care much about the twenty taels. People might die tomorrow, so who would care about the twenty taels? But now the Hu people have been killed and the two gangs that were running around have been wiped out. The sky-high price of twenty taels is like a thorn, piercing everyone's heart.
Zhou Mi shook his head. "It's just a few things, not very big, but they want ten taels for one handful. They are simply robbers!"
Zhou Gu felt that he was cheated by the carpenter and said indignantly: "We didn't ask him for the blueprints, and we came up with the idea ourselves. We just asked him to provide the wood, and he charged so much. Why is he so expensive?"
Everyone nodded. They really couldn't imagine that such a thing would cost ten taels. Ten taels were enough to buy two acres of medium-sized land, which was the expenses of their family of more than a dozen people for two or three years in previous years.
Zhou Guo said, "The ten taels are not all for the wood. There are also arrows. A crossbow has twenty arrows. The arrowheads are made of good material. I also asked him to make a few thin hooks on them. These arrowheads plus the discarded ones cost more than four taels. Why are these two crossbows so expensive? It's because the material is good. The old carpenter has treasured them for many years. We used them, and he gave us a friendly price."
Although she also thought it was expensive, when she thought about the good materials she had wasted, she couldn't let the old carpenter bear it all alone, so she still had to share some of the burden.
Even so, everyone still felt it was too expensive. Twenty taels was enough to buy four or five acres of land. Their family bought so much grain in the fall, which was enough for their family to eat until the new grain came in next year, and they didn't use that much.
Zhou Dacang said, "I've already bought them, can I return them? I think the money is worth it. These two crossbows are more powerful than ordinary crossbows. Can I take one back to the camp?"
The last question was asked to Zhou Guo.
Zhou Guo nodded. The Hu people were gone, so there was no point in keeping the crossbow. "You can take them all."
Zhou Dacang waved his hand, "No, I'll just take one. After all, it's ten taels each. Oh, by the way, you asked an old carpenter to make it, so wouldn't the old carpenter also be able to make a crossbow like this?"
Zhou Guo shook his head. "It shouldn't be. We made these things separately. The carpenter made one part and the master made his part. I picked the cheapest one and made two. Although several of them were scrapped, they were still made in the end. And after they are made, they have to be assembled. I'm afraid the old carpenter doesn't know how to do it."
Otherwise, it would be difficult for him to accept so much money from her.
Zhou Dacang nodded, that was better.
Zhou Guo smiled and said, "After making this crossbow, none of my brothers were very good at it, but my sister was very steady and accurate in shooting. I think she killed several Hu people that night."
Zhou Xing's eyes sparkled and her face flushed with praise. "I don't know if I hit the target. It was too dark to see clearly. I could only look at a dark shadow and shoot. Sometimes I missed the target because I was in a hurry."
Zhou Dacang smiled and said, "You did a good job. When we were cleaning up the bodies, we found that three of the Hu people were shot by arrows. Although none of them hurt their vital parts, they still caused them severe wounds and suffered a lot."
"Really?" Zhou Xing was very excited. Although she had been holding the crossbow and shooting arrows from time to time, she didn't know whether she hit the target or not. She had always been thinking about it in her heart. Now she knew that she had actually hit three people. She was so excited that she couldn't express it in words.
Zhou Guo said with a smile: "Sister, I told you, you can definitely do it."
Zhou Xing nodded wildly.
Zhou Gu and the others were full of admiration and envy, "We should practice every day in the future. Even if we can't kill the enemy, it would be good to be able to go into the forest and hunt."
Otherwise, they would just have to eat and do nothing at home, unable to do anything, and unable to compare with their younger sister. Now they can't even compare with their older sister. They can't even compare with the toys that boys play with, so what else can they do?
The family sat on the kang and chatted until late at night. Finally, they could not bear it any longer and fell asleep one by one on the kang.
Early the next morning, Lao Hei and his friends came to say goodbye. After having breakfast with the Zhou family, they left with large and small bags of food, including various dried meats, bread, steamed buns, and eggs, just like at home.
Zhou Guo and his group sent them to the village entrance, where the villagers had already been waiting. Knowing that they were leaving today, they all came to see them off.
The basket was filled with things, a few eggs, steamed buns, pancakes, and even a roast chicken.
In addition to being grateful for them guarding the village in the snow and ice for so many days, there was also the silver and money distributed to them. Although it was all collected from the Hu people, they could have gotten it themselves even if these people had not come. But how could ordinary people like them confront the soldiers? Even if they didn't give them a penny, no one dared to say a word.
Now they have actually given it, and it’s not a small amount, which shows that they are kind-hearted.
Why would soldiers who care so much about the people be stingy with a chicken or a few eggs?
Baskets were passed to Zhou Dacang and others one by one, and it was as noisy as a market.
Zhou Dacang and the others didn't dare to take them, and waved their hands, "No, folks. We have a rule that we can't take the big guys' things, otherwise we will be punished with a stick when we return to the barracks. Please be kind and take these things back."
"This is not for you to take. We gave it to you. Besides, you are not an outsider, you are from our village. You are leaving soon. As an old lady, what's wrong with me giving you a homemade roast chicken? Who dares to say there is anything wrong with it? Take it, take it quickly. This roast chicken was made by your uncle. His roast chicken is very delicious. You can take it with you on the road."