Chapter 213 Zhao Ergou Trips Down

The sun sets.

Orange light spills across the fields, casting a warm glow over the ridges and hills, like an oil painting.

Before the last rays of sunlight had faded, Zhao Ergou returned in his carriage.

Cheng Wanwan was sitting in the yard playing with the wolf cub and the puppy when she looked up and saw the second son jump down from the carriage and lead the horse in.

Her gaze lingered on the carriage for a moment. Although the curtains blocked the view, she could still sense that there were still quite a few bolts of cloth left in the carriage.

She didn't ask about these things, but stood up and said, "Hurry up and wash your hands when you get back. Everyone's waiting for you to eat."

Zhao Ergou silently led his horse to the stable at the back, silently sat down at the table, and silently ate his meal, without uttering a sound from beginning to end.

Shen Zheng sensed something was wrong and nudged him on the shoulder: "Hey, Er Gou, why aren't you saying a word?"

"I'm a little tired." Zhao Ergou put down his chopsticks. "There's still firewood to chop in the yard. I'll go chop some."

Zhao Sanniu immediately stood up: "Second brother, this is my job, don't try to take it from me."

Zhao Ergou finally came to his senses: "Shouldn't you be at the martial arts troupe? Why are you back?"

"Well..." Zhao Sanniu scratched his head, "Anyway, I'm back. The wood-chopping job used to be mine, and it's still mine now!"

He quickly ran out, grabbed the axe, and was afraid that the job would be taken away from him.

Cheng Wanwan said, "The ratooning rice will be harvested in a few days, and we'll be busy for another half a month. Take advantage of this time to gather and chop firewood. Er Gou, put your business on hold for now and help out at home."

Zhao Ergou's lips parted slightly.

He suddenly realized that his mother actually knew everything, but she just didn't want to expose the face he was deliberately trying to save.

Since he started his business, everything has gone smoothly for him, and he has basically never encountered any problems.

He thought the matter would be resolved quickly, but two days passed and he still had no clue whatsoever.

He poured in nearly ninety taels of silver, enough to build another house as big as theirs... This was a fortune that no one in Dahe Village could earn in their entire lives.

He made so much money that he became arrogant. His mother had warned him, and Yingying had reminded him, but he didn't take it seriously.

And so, he fell hard.

"Mother, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kept it a secret..."

Zhao Ergou lowered his head, his face full of guilt.

"This is your own business, there's no need to apologize to me," Cheng Wanwan said gently. "Besides, this is only the second day. You can't handle two consecutive failures?"

Zhao Ergou said, "I went to every village in Baiyun Town today. The cloth market is saturated. Not a single piece of cloth can be sold."

Because he sold cloth twice in a row, the people in Baiyun Town saw a business opportunity. Four or five bold people were the first to pool their money to enter the market and made half a profit with each transaction. As a result, more and more people started to get involved. In just one or two days, most of the market in Baiyun Town was saturated. He was not the only one who was stuck with unsold cloth; many local villagers in Baiyun Town were also left with their own unsold cloth.

These villagers went to the cloth shop in Ping'an County to return the cloth, but the shopkeeper had bought it for less than two coins. How could he possibly buy it back for two coins? As a result, those villagers suffered a loss of half of their costs.

Those people invested less money, and if they lost half, it would only be one or two taels of silver at most. But for him, losing half meant more than forty taels of silver.

He couldn't afford to lose that money.

So he brought back the entire cargo from the truck.

“I’ve inquired, and it’s not suitable for growing ramie and castor beans in Nanyang. The price of coarse linen there is higher, reaching six or seven copper coins per foot,” Zhao Ergou said. “Mother, I want to go to Nanyang.”

Cheng Zhao began, “When I was at Nanfu Academy, I went with my teacher to Nanyang to buy books. It took three days by carriage, and the journey was far from peaceful.”

Nanyang is not part of Huzhou; it's in another province. Leaving the province is a big deal, requiring various paperwork from government offices.

Cao Yingying, who was usually quiet, couldn't help but interject: "Nanyang is a bit far. Even by water, it would take a day and a night."

Cheng Wanwan pointed with her finger: "Ergou, are you sure you want to go to Nanyang?"

Zhao Ergou nodded: "A merchant ship will be leaving from Hekou Town Wharf the day after tomorrow. It will pass through Nanyang. I want to take some goods with me. Mother, do you think it's feasible?"

The farthest place he had ever been was Hekou Town; he had never even been to Huzhou, let alone Nanyang.

When this idea first came to him, he was actually resistant to it, but after returning home and looking at his mother's gentle face, he became even more determined—he couldn't always let his mother worry about him.

Cheng Wanwan hadn't spoken yet.

Cao Yingying then said, "Most of the merchant ships at the Hekou Town dock belong to the Cao family. The Cao family's merchant ships do take people with them when they go out, but these people need to register their information with the Cao family's business at least a month in advance, otherwise they are not allowed to board the ship."

In other words, we have to wait another month to go to Nanyang.

“But my father should be back soon.” Cao Yingying smiled. “Once he gets back, I’ll tell him that you can board the ship anytime.”

Cheng Wanwan spoke up at the right moment: "Ergou, you should go to Cao's to register your information tomorrow. Anyway, coarse cloth and linen won't spoil in a short time, so don't worry about the cloth for a while. Our family isn't short of money for this kind of business."

Zhao Ergou agreed and turned to go out to stack the firewood.

Cheng Wanwan wasn't worried about the cloth getting stuck in her hands; instead, she started to worry about her second son's long trip.

She didn't have a map and didn't know how far Nanyang was. Yingying said it would take a day and a night to get there by boat, and the thought made her a little anxious.

But her child is sixteen years old now, and it's time for him to go out and make his way in the world. As his mother, all she can do is support him.

Cheng Wanwan boiled water and started taking a bath and washing her hair.

The bath tub was very large; it required two buckets of hot water and three or four buckets of cold water to fill it.

It's such a waste of water. She doesn't use the wooden tub to bathe every day; she only uses it about once every seven or eight days. Sitting in the tub, she feels comfortable both physically and mentally.

She used soap bought from the mall to take a bath, but the other children weren't so comfortable. They had to be rinsed with plain water and scrubbed hard. Washing their hair was a little better, with rice water, and washing their clothes was done with wood ash... As for bath beans, those were things that only the upper class could afford; ordinary people couldn't even buy them anywhere.

While taking a bath, Cheng Wanwan pondered that now that the standards of clothing, food, housing, and transportation have improved, daily cleaning should also be upgraded to a higher level.

It might be okay to buy it from the mall to fool a few sons, but with Shen Zheng and Cao Yingying around, many things are hard to explain. Perhaps she could try making some soap.

It's okay if you don't know how to do it; you can learn by reading books.

At night, Cheng Wanwan closed her bedroom door, lit a lamp by her bedside, and read a book by its light.

You won't believe it until you see it; once you do, you'll discover that soap making is surprisingly simple, and the entire process can be completed using readily available materials.

As soon as she got up in the morning, Cheng Wanwan decided to try it out to see if she could succeed. She deeply understood the principle that knowledge gained from books is ultimately superficial and requires practice to truly understand. Therefore, she needed to put any knowledge she learned from books into practice before drawing any conclusions.

As she was retrieving raw materials from the stove, Aunt Wang's voice rang out: "Big Mountain Mother, that person has woken up!"