Chapter 148 Buying Goods

Chaozhou.

Young women dressed in winter clothes walked through the market.

Although it's cold today, there are still quite a few people at the market. The vendors' calls and the buyers' haggling fill the air, and the sweetness of candy and the aroma of meat broth linger in the air.

Girl A turned her head to look at the hawthorns coated with rock sugar, and subconsciously swallowed.

Girl B reached out and grabbed her arm, firmly shaking her head.

Girl A looked resentful.

Girl C smiled and said, "We'll be at that store soon. Let's come back and buy it after we're done shopping."

The girl, Ding, breathed warm air onto her hands and said, "I also want to have a bowl of shrimp and mushroom noodles!"

They continued walking, and after walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, they finally saw the shop that girl Bing had recommended.

There weren't many customers in the shop, but at a glance, they were all women.

The girls became interested and walked in with light steps.

Girl C pointed to the artwork hanging on the wall and showed it to her companions, "That's the most classic cross-stitch piece: 'Harmony Brings Prosperity'! Isn't it beautiful?"

"It's not that difficult, right, boss?" she said as she asked the female boss.

The female shop owner replied with a smile, "Yes, this piece is not very difficult."

The beautiful regular script characters "家和万事兴" (Harmony in the family brings prosperity in all things), paired with pink peonies, dark green leaves, and colorful butterflies, resemble a traditional Chinese painting.

The girls looked surprised and delighted.

"Was this embroidered?"

"It really looks great!"

"Is it really not difficult? My embroidery skills are just average."

"It's not difficult, not difficult at all." It just takes time...

"My sister is getting married next year, if I embroidered one like this for her..."

"Don't rush, don't rush, there are other works here, take a look and then decide."

Girl C was a little proud and showed her friends other cross-stitch works.

The extraordinary "A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains" and "Along the River During the Qingming Festival," the magnificent "Great Ambitions" depicting eagles soaring over mountains and the Great Wall, the "Success Upon Arrival" with eight galloping horses across the plains, the "Wealth and Prosperity" with peonies in full bloom, and the "Twelve Beauties of Jinling" featuring twelve young women playing chess, admiring flowers, or discussing poetry and literature...

The young woman, A, had completely forgotten about the candied hawthorns. She was mesmerized by the painting "A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains," then glanced at "Along the River During the Qingming Festival." "This must be the work of a master!" she exclaimed the shopkeeper. "Who is the artist?"

The female boss had been asked this question many times, and she blurted out, "Look, doesn't the painting say it's by the original artist?"

Upon closer inspection, the young woman noticed the artist's name on the painting—two completely unfamiliar names. She was utterly bewildered: Could there really be great painters throughout history whom I didn't know? Such skill shouldn't remain unknown.

The second girl nodded with a smile, "Isn't your grandfather obsessed with paintings? If you embroider two paintings like these for him, he will be very happy!"

Girl Ding looked up at "The Twelve Beauties of Jinling" with delight, then turned to Girl Wu and asked, "Look, look, aren't these 'The Twelve Beauties of Jinling' the twelve beauties from 'Dream of the Red Chamber'?"

The young woman's eyes shone brightly. "It must be!"

The girl, Wu, who was fascinated by "Dream of the Red Chamber," immediately beckoned the shopkeeper over, "I want a copy of 'The Twelve Beauties of Jinling'!"

The girl, Ding, was surprised. "Aren't you not good at embroidery?"

The girl, Wu, said firmly, "I can learn!"

Maozhou.

At Sun Yannan's residence, the hostess, Yang Wenyu, was entertaining the guests who had come to enjoy the plum blossoms: ladies and young women from various families in Maozhou.

The guests took their seats in turn.

The maids served various fresh fruits, dried fruits, pastries, and tea.

Mrs. Chen, who has developed a fondness for Jinzhou tea in the past two years, was taken aback when she smelled the aroma of the tea and looked at the gaiwan teacup.

She picked up the teacup and saw white gardenias on the lid, bowl, and saucer. The flowers and leaves were lifelike, and the porcelain made them even more exquisite.

Mrs. Chen was delighted with it, holding the teacup and looking at it from left to right, even touching the porcelain flowers with her hand.

Other guests also discovered this little surprise.

The flowers on everyone's teacup are different: pink peach blossoms, white pear blossoms, green lotus flowers, yellow osmanthus flowers, red peach blossoms...

It allowed everyone to see a hundred flowers blooming in this winter.

Absolutely exquisite!

For a time, the plum garden was filled with exclamations of amazement and praise.

Well, we've all seen plenty of exquisite porcelain, but combining teacups with flowers to create works of art is still quite a pleasant surprise.

They touched the raised porcelain flowers on the cup, wondering whether they were carved or glued on.

Seeing that the guests really liked the tea set, Yang Wenyu smiled with delight.

A ceramics merchant from Jinzhou opened a shop in Maozhou. This spring, through a servant in her household, they presented her with a set of red peony teaware.

Yang Wenyu took a great liking to them at first sight and summoned the merchants to his door to inquire about their needs. He then ordered fifty cups of different colors from them, saying that they were to be used to entertain female guests.

The porcelain merchant accepted the order, and after winter arrived, he finally delivered all the teacups to his door.

But it wasn't a wasted trip.

A middle-aged woman who loves plum blossoms admires the red plum blossom teacup in her hand. I feel as if I have obtained a plum blossom that will never fade.

After the plum blossom viewing banquet, orders poured in from the porcelain merchants like snowflakes.

The man said, "I want a set of flower cups ordered by Madam Yang."

The man said, "Give me a complete set of all the flower cups that Madam Yang ordered, exactly as they were."

The question is, "If it can be made into a teacup, can it also be made into a teapot?"

The person asked, "Can it be made into bowls and plates?"

The shop assistants were delighted, exclaiming, "This product is indeed selling very well!"

Pingzhou.

A heavy snow fell, covering the entire city.

The middle-aged man in charge of purchasing the goods sighed with relief that he had bought charcoal and honeycomb briquettes in advance, and also bought dozens of cotton quilts thanks to the strong self-recommendation of the out-of-town merchant who had taken the initiative to come to his door.

The lady of the house liked him very much and even rewarded him.

"Brother De, are those cotton quilts really that good?" asked the servant accompanying them.

The middle-aged man didn't hold back, saying, "They're really good, very soft to the touch, and warm to cover up! Didn't your wife just have a baby? Buy them two, one for the mattress and one for the blanket."

Another servant thought of his elderly parents and put on a fawning smile, "Brother De, I also want to buy two beds. Could you talk to the shopkeeper for me and see if you can give me a discount?"

They walked to the store that sold quilts, and the middle-aged man was surprised to find that the store had added another storefront.

The servant said, "There are so many people buying things."

"Hey, aren't they selling blankets? Why are they selling clothes too?"

"That's not clothing either..."

"This is a top, knitted from wool yarn. You can wear a jacket over it!"

With a broad smile, the shop owner introduced the items to the middle-aged man, picking up a pair of red wool pants. "These are thermal underwear, to keep your legs and knees warm."

Then he introduced them to the knitted hats, scarves, and gloves one by one, saying, "These are all essential winter warmers!"

The middle-aged man touched it, his face showing surprise, and said to the shop owner, "Your Jinzhou has so many good things!"

The boss smiled without saying a word: "We have many good things in Jinzhou, but many goods are given priority to the people of Yun Kingdom."

The middle-aged man said, "I'll buy one first, and if it's really warm, I'll recommend it to my family."

The shop owner's face lit up with joy. "Thank you so much! I'll give you a set as a gift, brother, as a thank you for introducing me to the quilt business."

The middle-aged man quickly declined, but the boss was adamant, so the man accepted.

Chuzhou.

A wealthy businessman acquired several beautiful crystal ornaments: a Guanyin statue carved from white crystal, a cluster of irises carved from amethyst, a phoenix carved from citrine, a whale carved from blue crystal, and a swan carved from pink crystal.

This set of ornaments is very beautiful, and the wealthy businessman is already thinking about which people to give it to to maximize his profits.

At the same time, a batch of exquisite jade carvings appeared in the market in Xingzhou.

The lifelike "Wu Song Fights the Tiger", the exquisite and beautiful "Begonia Poetry Society", the gentle and pure "Plum Wine", and the delicate and smooth "The True and False Monkey King".

It quickly fetched extremely high prices and was snapped up by the upper class.

On the remote grasslands, the best-selling items are tea, sugar, salt, porcelain, silk, and glassware.

Cotton and wool products also opened up markets, earning the Yun Kingdom's Ministry of Finance a fortune.

The Khan of the foreign tribe held a delicate pink lotus petal-shaped cup, its pastel glaze soft and elegant, the lotus petals graceful and refined.

A hint of sarcasm crept into the tall man's eyes. "The Central Plains are truly wonderful; even their teacups are made to look so beautiful."

But on what grounds?

Why are some people born to live in places with abundant resources?

The man suddenly tightened his grip and crushed the beautiful cup.

The shards of porcelain fell from his fingers and landed on the ground.

Then, bright red blood dripped from his finger and onto the pink porcelain shard.

He ignored the cut on his finger from the broken porcelain shards and gave a cold laugh, "Song Gui, Song Zhiyun!"

The situation is about to reverse.

Yan Hui Pass.

When Mei Leshu, Zhu Yu, Su Maoyin and others arrived, the soldiers and civilians of the border town had just suffered a defeat.

Some soldiers fell ill with some unknown disease; they had high fevers, vomited, and were very weak.

The military doctors did their best to treat him, but to no avail.

So when the foreign tribes invaded, the people volunteered to take the place of the soldiers, took up arms and went to the battlefield. Under the command of the Song family father and daughter, they withstood the attack and defended the border city!

However, the cost was also heavy; many people were injured, and some contracted the disease as a result.

Among them was General Song Gui, who was seriously wounded on the battlefield. Enemy arrows hit both of his legs, putting him in danger of amputation!

Song Zhiyun was furious. She led her confidants to thoroughly investigate the army and found all those who had been bribed, beheading them as a warning to others.

She then decisively separated the infected soldiers and civilians from those who were not infected, and recruited skilled doctors from the general public.

They also collected and burned the bodies of soldiers and civilians who had died of illness.

Mei Leshu and her apprentice arrived just in time. The doctors stayed up all night, examining the patients, studying medications, and developing preliminary treatment plans.

They all had extensive experience in treating epidemics, and within a few days of getting started, the patients' conditions were effectively brought under control.

The doctors breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, it's not too serious."

"Yes, yes, it would be troublesome if it were something we've never encountered before."

"The source was a sick horse, equine plague."

Mei Leshu angrily said, "These barbarians only know how to use these underhanded tricks!"

Zhu Yu went to treat Song Gui's injuries and saved his legs.

“However, from now on, General, I’m afraid you will not be able to go to the battlefield,” Zhu Yu said in a deep voice.

Song Zhiyun's expression changed.

Song Gui didn't care. "I was willing to think that I would never be able to stand up again. I'm already doing very well now."

He looked at Song Zhiyun, "Yun'er, from now on, Yan Hui Pass is in your hands!"