Chapter 54: Returning Late

Chen Shiyi explained.

"Brother Xue, you can't just look at my calculations. I only calculated part of it. There are two cloth sellers in the town, and three ready-made clothing stores. In total, there are five stores, all of which are our buyers. They share ten pieces of cloth, and each store only gets two pieces. Sometimes they sell more than this number in a day. If they can consume fifty or a hundred pieces, just think about it, how much money this will cost. There are so many towns in Fangling County. This is a big deal."

"Besides, we are not just in the cloth business. Remember when you bought medicine for Hao'er before, you found that the medicine in the county city was a few cents cheaper than the medicine in Ping'an Town, and the more expensive the medicine, the cheaper it was in the county city. If anyone wants to buy medicine, we can bring it back for them and make a few cents difference, which will save the buyer money. We can also be considered to have done a good deed."

"But the fare to the county town is not cheap. It takes us half a day to walk there, and a day to go there and back. If we rent a car, it will cost 30 cents a day, which is a loss-making business."

Chen Shiyi found it very funny.

"Brother Xue, you are too cautious."

"What do you mean?"

"When doing business, there are risks and benefits. If you only think about failure and don't try, how can you succeed? Since there is such an opportunity, we should do it first, solve problems when we encounter them, and slowly explore. There will always be a time when we will make a lot of money."

Xue Lianxing shook his head and smiled shyly.

"I am a man, but I am not as brave as you, a little girl."

"That…"

"Okay, let's do it!"

Butler Qian was very polite to Chen Shiyi and always felt that this little girl was the lucky star of the Qian family.

The Qian family's two most recent happy events were both brought about by this little girl.

So, when Chen Shiyi wanted to buy a large amount of cloth from their cloth shop, Qian agreed without thinking twice.

The Qian family had a large textile workshop, and they cooperated with the super large cloth shops and embroidery workshops in the surrounding counties. They did not spend any manpower or resources on those small shops.

Small shops that needed scattered supplies would go to cloth shops in the provincial capital to restock their stocks.

In fact, what Chen Shiyi did was to save the middleman’s transaction and earn the profit that the cloth dealer should have earned.

The first transaction went more smoothly than expected.

They transported a total of 20 rolls of cloth, which just filled one truck. When they arrived at Xue Lianxing's home in Ping'an Town, several shopkeepers who had smelled the cloth bought them all and even left some for the next day.

"Brother Xue, look, we only need half a day to drive and earn 170 coins. In addition, we carry about 10 copper plates for other people. In a month, we can earn about 6 taels of silver. In a year, we can earn more than 70 taels. And this is just what we earn in Pingan Town..."

Xue Lianxing kept counting on his fingers, but always felt it was not enough.

He asked doubtfully.

"How do you calculate so quickly?"

Chen Shiyi said with a smile.

"Just count it like this, and it will come out."

Xue Lianxing rolled his eyes at Chen Shiyi, then turned his face to look happy.

"If we keep doing this, Hao'er won't have to worry about the money to go to the capital for medical treatment."

After three days of smooth business, setbacks came unexpectedly.

The driver was unwilling to do it.

The donkey could not bear the burden of transporting twenty pieces of cloth every day.

The driver said that if you want to continue using it, you have to pay more!

It has to be increased to 40 cents a day, and the car can be used once every two days.

Chen Shiyi did not agree and ended his cooperation with the driver.

"Why?"

Xue Lianxing was very puzzled.

Chen Shiyi said in a deep voice.

"We had agreed with the driver to rent his cart at this price every day. He agreed because he thought it was a long-term business. Besides, his donkey cart is used everywhere every day and has carried heavier goods. It doesn't make sense for his donkey cart to be expensive when it comes to us. He just wants to show off and make more money. The driver has no sense of contract. If we agree to it now, he might abandon us in the middle of the journey in the future."

Xue Lianxing nodded in agreement.

"So what should we do tomorrow?"

Chen Shiyi was silent for a while.

"I rented someone else's car from a car rental place in the county town to get by for the next two days."

The next day, they walked to the county town early, but were refused permission to rent a car.

Xue Lianxing started arguing with them.

Seeing this, Chen Shiyi pulled Xue Lianxing away.

"They are working together. It must be that driver who did it. In the carriage business, people keep to themselves. This is the rule. Even if others want to take over this job, they dare not take it. If anyone dares to do so, they will not be able to work in this business."

Xue Lianxing asked angrily.

"What should I do? Without a car, I can't make a living."

Chen Shiyi asked.

"Brother Xue, how much does it cost to buy an empty car?"

"It depends on whether it's an old car or a new one. For an old car, 400 wen is about right. A new car will be at least half as much."

Chen Shiyi said with determination.

"We'll buy a used car and tow it back ourselves first, and then we'll deal with it today."

Twenty pieces of cloth, plus a long uphill journey, the two of them were very tired on the way back.

When they were still halfway to Ping'an Town, a figure suddenly appeared and helped them push the cart from behind.

Chen Shiyi wiped the sweat from his forehead and turned around to see that it was Pei Luoshu.

He looked at Chen Shiyi's surprised expression and raised the corners of his mouth.

"Why are you here?"

Yeah, why is he here?

He just wanted to see her.

That's it!

He had already found out that Eleven and Brother Xue were doing business, and every noon they would return from the county town in a donkey cart.

At that time, he was waiting to see her from a distance at the intersection of Ping'an Town.

However, today, she had not returned for a long time, and I was so worried that something had happened to her that I couldn't help but go look for her.

"It just happened to happen."

Chen Shiyi glanced at him, pursed his lips, and his eyes were full of smiles.

With Pei Luoshu's help, both of them felt much more relaxed.

They didn't talk much along the way, but Chen Shiyi was filled with indescribable joy.

I looked at him and smiled foolishly all the way.

As we were about to enter Ping'an Town, the sky had already become extremely dark.

Suddenly I heard Pei Luoshu say.

"Eleven, I'm leaving."

After saying this, he disappeared into the night and soon his figure disappeared from sight.

Chen Shiyi didn't know why he left suddenly, and then he heard a voice coming from the front.

"eleven…"

Oh, it’s the eldest young master.

Chen Shiyi's heart suddenly sank.

Xue Lianxing stopped towing the truck. Wen Zhiheng took over the handlebars, carried the rope, and quickly towed the truck towards the town.

Wen Zhiheng didn't ask Chen Shiyi why she came home so late, he just looked at her and smiled.

"Are you tired?"

Chen Shiyi nodded.

"I'm exhausted."

"You guys can't do this, it's too hard. Let me see if I can get a horse out of the mine..."

Chen Shiyi quickly tried to dissuade him.

"No, using Ma Tai to stab the eyes will easily attract the attention of the bandits."

"But you can't tow the truck like this tomorrow. It will tire you out."

Chen Shiyi agreed.

"Let's see tomorrow. I'm really tired. After unloading the goods, I want to go home and rest."

Xue Lianxing was really tired.

"OK."

We had dinner at Xue Lianxing's house, and my sister-in-law had to reheat the dishes several times.

It was Wen Zhiheng's first time eating at someone else's home, so he didn't say much.

My sister-in-law loves Chen Shiyi very much.

"Don't go back tonight. You'll have to spend the whole night at your sister-in-law's house. Which girl would endure as much hardship as you?"

Wen Zhiheng felt very apologetic after hearing this.

My sister-in-law said this in a roundabout way.

Chen Shiyi shook his head.

"Eating here is already a disturbance."

My sister-in-law patted her on the shoulder and pretended to be angry.

"If you keep being so polite, don't come into my house again."

Chen Shiyi was amused by his sister-in-law.

"Sister-in-law, I don't dare anymore."