Chapter 113 Lease Renewal
Zhao Xiaomi chased after him, but she only had time to catch a glimpse of his hurried back. She stamped her feet in anger and turned back to Sui Yu, saying, "My third brother is a fool. Others couldn't hide, but he still insisted on rushing forward."
Sui Yu looked at the dust dancing in the sunlight. She held her hands and slowly sat down, saying in a daze, "This is his own choice."
"That's why I said he was stupid. He can't live a good life." Zhao Xiaomi sighed sadly.
Sui Liang walked out of the house. He looked out the empty door, then squatted down with his hands on his face, stubbornly retorting, "My brother-in-law is not stupid. He, he is..." He couldn't find the words to describe his feelings, so he could only say with admiration, "My brother-in-law is very powerful. He went to the battlefield to kill the enemy."
"Go away, kid, you don't know shit." Zhao Xiaomi waved her hands in disdain. "Don't interrupt when adults are talking."
Sui Liang glared at her, then stood up and walked out the door.
The yard fell silent, and the gurgling sound of boiling water in the steamer could be heard. Zhao Xiaomi rubbed her hands, walked over to Sui Yu and comforted her, "Don't worry too much, sister-in-law. My third brother went to the battlefield when he was fifteen. He's a veteran, so he'll be fine."
Sui Yu pulled the corner of his mouth and said slowly: "I underestimated him. It's okay. He has his own choice. We will wait for him to come back home."
Later, Sui Yu went to the post station to deliver a message to her parents-in-law. However, due to the war, the number of official documents was so high that the postmen were unable to deliver the soldiers' letters home. She had no choice but to go back again. She happened to meet a group of merchants returning to Chang'an. Sui Yu gave them the wooden board with the message on it and asked them to take it to the Jiuquan post station.
In mid-February, another massive army passed through Dunhuang, bound for the battlefield. The people of Dunhuang watched with numb eyes as the troops departed. In less than a month, this northwestern border town was swamped by the mighty army, and the dust along the roads was an inch thinner. Having seen so much, the initial panic had become numb, and their reactions had slowed. Ordinary people turned back to their own fields, preparing for the upcoming spring planting.
As the weather grew warmer, merchants from Guanzhong flocked to the northwest with camels, bringing brightly colored fabrics, exquisite lacquerware and jade, as well as tea unique to the south. With their arrival, the market became bustling again, and Sui Yu's business also picked up.
Merchants and travelers who stayed in Minxiang found that there was a new food store in the alley that could deliver meals to their homes. When the merchants were tired from the journey and didn't want to go out, they would ask the children in the alley to run errands and order meals.
In order to earn money by running errands, Sui Liang often hung out with the kids in the alleys. When a merchant opened his door, he would run over to catch a handful of copper coins, then run back to get a wooden sign with a mark on it and hand it to the merchant.
Sui Yu and Zhao Xiaomi sat under the eaves and made dumplings. Now the cooking was done by the two of them, the aunt and the sister-in-law. As for the delivery business, they found some honest and quick-handed aunts and sisters-in-law in the alley. They would come at mealtime and leave after mealtime so as not to delay the work in the fields.
"Third sister-in-law, we have to plant 40 acres of land this year. How can we handle it?" Zhao Xiaomi asked.
"The government should have made arrangements, either sending the garrison troops or recruiting volunteers from nearby villages. They'll definitely send people to help with the farming." Sui Yu remained calm. Most of the men in the military settlement had left, and if the government didn't arrange for help with the farming, the soldiers' fields would likely be left to grow weeds. Whether they planted or not didn't affect their salaries, anyway. The women who stayed behind would definitely focus on their own fields, which would receive their share of the grain.
Zhao Xiaomi raised her hand and rubbed her hair with her sleeve. She said, "Then we don't have to close the shop during the spring planting season?"
"By then, the lease on the shop will have expired." Sui Yu turned his head to look at the shop next door and thought, "Should I renew the lease?"
Zhao Xiaomi was delighted and urged, "Renew the lease. Opening a shop is more profitable than setting up a stall."
Someone came in, and Sui Yu stood up and asked, "Are you ready to eat?"
"Yes, can we open fire now? Our caravan is about to leave the city, and I'd like to fill my stomach." The merchant with the fur hat looked at the dumplings laid out on the curtain and said, "Boil some water and make me two bowls. Do you have any braised eggs?"
"Yes, come in and sit down, I'll cook for you right away." Sui Yu brought the curtain and went in.
The merchant walked out and said, "I'll go call a few more people and you can cook a few more bowls."
After a while, seven or eight merchants came into the yard. There was no wind and the sun was shining in the yard. They went in and carried out two benches directly, sat in the sun and talked about what happened on the road.
Zhao Xiaomi brought in another bowl of flatbread covered with a curtain and came out asking, "We have some buns too. Do you want some?"
"What kind of filling?"
"Shepherd's purse and egg filling and lard and radish filling."
"Let's not eat it yet. Let's buy two baskets when we leave." With that, the merchant strode out. After a while, he came back with a cloth bag.
Zhao Xiaomi took the cloth bag and went in to fill it with buns for him, reminding him, "Two baskets of buns, sixty buns. Both kinds of fillings are the same price, three cents each."
The dumplings were cooked. Sui Yu took a bowl and filled it with soup. One spoonful of soup was enough for twelve dumplings to make a bowl. She also added a braised egg to each bowl. She peeked out and asked, "Would you like some chopped green onions?"
"Okay, add more."
"Do you want chopped green onions for all eight bowls?" Sui Yu asked again.
"Yes, all of them." Eight merchants came in and served the food.
"The boss lady is quite quick, so there's no delay." The first customer arrived with a bowl. He smelled vinegar and said, "Give me a spoonful of vinegar. I have a strong taste."
Sui Yu asked him to scoop it himself, and at the same time said: "There is also braising soup, which can also be poured into the braising soup."
"Give me a spoonful of braised soup. It smells delicious." After handing the bowl over, the merchant looked up at her for a second and asked, "Would you like some money for the braised soup?"
Sui Yu shook her head, "If you buy braised eggs, the braised soup is free."
"It's quite affordable. When our caravan comes back, we will come to take care of your business."
Zhao Xiaomi looked over when she heard that, and saw Sui Yu nodded. She felt happy in her heart, haha, it seems that her third sister-in-law is planning to renew the lease.
Eight merchants each had two bowls of flatbread, a braised egg, and two baskets of steamed buns, totaling 360 wen. Sui Yu collected the money, washed her hands, and went back to making flatbread. Opening a shop here was more profitable than setting up a stall back in Nanshui Street. There were many merchants here, as few as seven or eight people, and as many as ten or twenty. One order was equivalent to her waiting in Nanshui Street for half a day.
"Sister, a big customer asked you to prepare 400 braised eggs. He will come to pick them up the day after tomorrow, including the jars and the braising liquid. Two strings of cash. Do you want to sell them to me?" Sui Liang ran in excitedly.
Seven wen for two braised eggs, four hundred braised eggs for one thousand four hundred wen, which means the jar with the brine is six hundred wen, so she's making a profit no matter how you calculate it. But Sui Yu didn't make a decision yet. She went next door to discuss renewing the lease with the old bald man.
The bald old man refused. He held up two fingers and gestured, "A small courtyard plus two rooms. I can make a large bunk bed that can sleep thirty or forty people. Even if I only charge three cents per person, I can collect at least one guan of rent a month. To be honest, at the most, my small courtyard has earned me twenty-two cents a month."
Sui Yu thought for a moment and said, "You can rent out the other room."
The old bald man shook his head. He was at home when Zhao Xiping came wearing armor. He heard Zhao Xiping's words clearly and they really shocked him. Thinking of the soldiers fighting the enemy outside, he couldn't help but take better care of their families.
He explained, "Many merchants are not particular and some even come in and out naked. You are good-looking, and your sister-in-law is unmarried. I'm afraid it will offend you. I don't plan to rent out the other room until you move out. There's still a month left, at the end of March, you can move the boiler out. If you want to rent my house, come back when winter comes, and I'll still rent it to you at the same price."
Sui Yu was silent for a moment. After thinking for a moment, she told him about the big merchant buying braised eggs. "If you renew your lease with me, I'll still give you the braised egg business. Last year, I sold it to you for four cents each, but this year I'll sell it to you for seven cents each for two. As for how much you sell it to the caravan, I don't care. I only sell to individual customers, not to caravans."
The bald old man started to think about it.
"As for the brine, if someone buys it with the jar, I'll only charge you 100 coins per jar. Based on this order, you'll make 400 coins just from the brine and the jar." Sui Yu calculated the price for him. Seeing his wavering expression, she continued, "I'll rent the other room for an additional two coins. If I come up with other food in the future, I'll give you priority."
The old baldy had an idea in mind. He only sold the braised eggs but not the braising liquid. He would charge four cents for each of the four hundred braised eggs, which would give him a net profit of two hundred cents. If he completed ten orders a month, he would have enough money to pay for the rent.
"Okay." He agreed. "Starting from April, I'll rent the yard next door to you for seven cents a month."
He went into the house and took out another key for her. It was the key to the other room, and he gave her one month's rent.
Sui Yu thanked him.
When Sui Yu returned home in the evening, she knocked on the door of her sister-in-law Lamei's house. She asked her to dry more vegetables this year and she would buy whatever they were.
I couldn't think of a use for the other room for the time being, so I used it to store dried vegetables and sell them to passing caravans. It would be no problem to earn back the two cents in rent.
In March, more and more caravans entered the city. The battlefield was to the west of Wusun, and only large caravans would travel that far, which had little impact on small caravans. The caravans stopped in Dunhuang to rest for two nights, replenished their food supplies, and then set off west again.
There were also travelers who followed the caravans westward, or they formed groups on their own, following the army's trail westward, intending to make a fortune from the war, and headed straight for Wusun.
Sui Yu's shop was booming again. Eight out of ten orders were large. Merchants and travelers who came to the shop would take away their buns after eating, sometimes buying one basket, sometimes five or six. Lao Tu's braised egg business was also booming. Sui Yu had to stew the braised egg soup every night before returning home. When she was exhausted, she would sleep in the shop. Lao Tu lived next door, so she didn't have to worry about his safety.
The days passed too quickly. Sui Yu was so busy that she fell asleep as soon as she lay down. She was so tired that she couldn't even dream of Zhao Xiping.
It wasn't until early April that passing caravans brought news that a war had begun in the west.
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