Chapter 83 Selecting Goods

Two days later, Song Yushu brought his aunt to visit his uncle Yang again.

"Luckily, you brought medicine last time. Those few people in the village with fevers have all pulled through. In thirteen more days, we'll be able to go back," Uncle Yang said, his voice full of anticipation, showing some energy this time.

"It's good if you can help. We still have some medicine packets. Take as many as you can. This is money for bribing them. We didn't get any extra money last time. If you bring things in this time, it might upset them. So you can give them this money later."

Fearing that Uncle Yang would be targeted by the officials, Song Yushu slipped him some more silver. Fortunately, she had brought quite a bit of silver with her this time, otherwise she really wouldn't have been able to withstand such a ordeal.

"Okay, don't bring me anything else. Just bring as many medicine kits as you can. Three more people have died in the last two days, and others have asked me to bring them medicine too." Uncle Yang felt bad thinking about those injured people who had no medicine and died slowly.

Song Yushu knew that most of those who came to perform corvée labor were unable to afford the immunization fee, let alone spend more money to bribe the officials and give them gifts. He was afraid that these ten days would be even more difficult, so he took out all the medicine packets he had prepared in advance.

"That's enough. If we can bring these medicine packets in, they'll last for a while," Uncle Yang said excitedly, his hands full of medicine packets.

"Two packets of dried meat are mixed in with the medicine packets. Don't forget to pick them out later," Aunt Yang quietly reminded her.

"Oh! How are Father and Mother? You've had a hard time these past few days. I'll be back soon," Uncle Yang said as he turned and went back.

He carried too many medicine packets this time, making it hard for him not to attract the attention of the officials.

"Sirs, this silver is a gift for you," Uncle Yang said, putting down his medicine bag and handing over the silver before they could make trouble.

"Hmph! You're smart enough to know your place!" The head constable weighed the silver in his hand and was fairly satisfied.

"He's carrying so many medicine kits, are we really not going to do anything about it?" one of them asked hesitantly, seeing that Uncle Yang was really showing off this time.

"Everyone gets a headache or fever sometimes. As long as the money is there, why worry about so much? Do you think the higher-ups will give you more pay?" the leading officer said nonchalantly.

“That’s true,” the official replied, not wanting to meddle in other people’s business.

The people who were still busy clearing the silt were now filled with excitement and their eyes welled up with tears as they looked at the medicine package that Uncle Yang had brought back.

"Smack!"

"What are you doing! Get to work!"

The person who had been lost in thought was suddenly struck hard on the back by the whip. The barbs on the whip left a bloody welt, adding a new wound to the back that had not yet healed.

The person being whipped trembled in pain, gritting his teeth and not daring to stop. Everyone knew that here, the officials didn't care about human life at all.

"The people who originally evaded the corvée labor have been found, and their confessions have been released. They can be used as witnesses. The bodies of those who lost their lives during the corvée labor have also been found. However, by the time the memorial is presented to the Emperor, the corvée labor will probably be over, and the people simply cannot wait."

"Let's go and meet with that prefect first. At the very least, we need to treat the surviving people," Gu Cheng said, now that he had leverage over the situation, it was easy for him to make demands.

Seeing that he had made up his mind, Xue Huai'an didn't need to worry about the rest. He simply had someone take him to the Delicious Restaurant. But when they arrived, he realized that Song Yushu was still in the prefectural city and hadn't returned for five days.

"What would you like to eat, Master Xue?" When Wei's mother saw him coming, she warmly welcomed him in.

"Same as before. By the way, has Boss Wei not returned yet?" Xue Huai'an wanted to get some information from Wei's mother.

"Alas, this child is worried that something might happen to her uncle along the way, so she plans to stay in the prefectural city for a few more days. Does Master Xue have something to discuss with her?"

"I want to tell her about Zhou Chengyu's current situation. It's not too late to talk about it when she comes back," Xue Huai'an said, having found an excuse.

“Alright, when she comes back I’ll have her go to the academy,” Mother Wei said without a doubt, turning and going into the kitchen.

Song Yushu had been in the prefectural city for a few days. Seeing that Uncle Yang was doing well, he took Aunt Yang and Xiong Erni out for a stroll.

"Goodness, the prices here are more than double what they are in our county!" Aunt Yang only dared to look at the prices; she couldn't bring herself to buy anything.

Knowing that Song Yushu had already given her a considerable sum just for bribes, she was preoccupied with how to earn money to pay back the debt, and dared not spend any more money.

“There are more things here than in our county. We can buy some things that we don’t have here to take back,” Song Yushu noticed her restraint, but money still had to be spent. She didn’t want to go back empty-handed after coming all this way.

"It's too expensive, let's go," Aunt Yang said as she entered the rouge shop with Song Yushu, but immediately backed out upon hearing the price.

“This rouge shop doesn’t have any in our county. The colors we get here are all the same few. They’re nothing like the fresh ones here. If you trust me, pick some that we don’t have in the county and take them back. You’ll definitely make a fortune then,” Song Yushu said, thinking of her current financial difficulties.

Anyway, she planned to buy them, as well as some novel jewelry or toys, which she would then sell at the restaurant. Of course, if Aunt Yang was willing to set up a stall in town, she would definitely ask her to help sell them as well.

“But I only have five taels of silver now, which is not enough to buy much…” Aunt Yang was not a stubborn person, and naturally believed Song Yushu’s words. However, she had too little capital, so even if she bought some, she could not buy much.

"I'll lend it to you. I was worried something might happen this time, so I brought a lot with me. You can pay me back when you have some money from selling things," Song Yushu said, and then led Xiong Erni inside to pick out rouge and face powder.

With Song Yushu's guarantee, Aunt Yang felt more at ease and frequently asked Song Yushu which one looked better. The two of them picked and chose, selecting more than a dozen of each type that were not available in the county. Xiong Erni thought the rouge and face powder were too expensive, so she didn't buy any.

"Thank you for your patronage. The total is fifty-eight taels. Would you like our staff to help you take it back?" The shop owner smiled so hard his face almost stiffened, seeing that they were big customers.

"Okay, we'll stay here... I'll trouble you to deliver it to us later." Song Yushu didn't want to carry a bunch of things back, so she planned to ask the shop to help deliver them.

The three of them had just left the rouge shop when they headed towards the fabric shop.

“We don’t need to choose expensive fabrics. Just pick some with nice patterns and colors,” Song Yushu said before leading Aunt Yang to pick out fabrics again.

As expected of the prefectural city, even the colors and patterns of the fabrics are better than those in the county shops. Song Yushu picked out many of her favorites, intending to keep some to make clothes for her family.

Song Yushu selected twenty bolts of cloth, Aunt Yang selected forty bolts, and Xiong Erni also selected ten bolts, resulting in another large expense.

When it came time to choose toys, Aunt Yang didn't pick any, but Song Yushu and Xiong Erni did choose quite a few.