Chapter 273 The Boss
After walking in the desert for four days, a city appeared in sight as the sun set.
"This is Yumen Pass," said Song Xian.
Lu Yaer sighed heavily and looked back. At the end of the winding caravan was endless yellow sand. The desert was about to be swallowed by the night. The traces of the camel caravan were quickly covered by the wind and sand, and there was no trace of the city she was familiar with.
Before dark, the caravan entered the city gate. Sui Yu, wearing a bulky wolfskin robe, got off the camel. After landing, she stood there for ten breaths. When the stiffness in her legs gradually faded away, she took out the "pass" document and household registration contract to check with the slave carrying the money box.
"The caravan is leaving the border?" the city guard asked. "So early?"
Sui Yu sighed, "I plan to go to Dayuan, and I want to come back before winter, so I have to leave early."
"The trip is quite tight." The city guard handed over the "pass" document, and took the household registration and slave contract to count the number of people. Another person took the commercial goods registration document to check the commercial goods to be taken out of the customs.
Song Xian came over with Lu Yaer. She handed over various documents and slave contracts and said, "The customs inspections are very strict this year."
The city guard nodded without explaining.
After the caravan's heads, camels, and merchandise were counted one by one, Sui Yu and Song Xian settled the fees for entering the city and exiting the customs, and then they led the caravan into the city first.
It was already dark at this time, and only a few people were walking on the streets in the city. Wild dogs were looking for food in the streets and alleys with their tails between their legs, and wild cats were standing on the wall, calling out for mating again and again.
The sound of camel bells echoed in the alleys. Wild cats and dogs heard the sound and ran away without waiting for anyone to get close.
"Boss, would you like to stay overnight? How many people? We have a room available." An old man holding an oil lamp opened the door and came out.
"Thank you, but we have a familiar place to stay." Sui Yu refused, "You should rest."
"It's late, everyone should go to sleep. You can stay here with me to avoid trouble." The old man came out.
Sui Yu ignored them and walked to the end of the alley, turned a corner, and arrived at the place where they had lived in previous years.
The owner hurriedly opened the door and recognized Sui Yu as soon as he heard her voice. "It's you! It's been two years. Come in quickly. The house is clean. We changed the straw mat after the New Year and no one has slept in it yet."
Lu Yaer followed behind and walked into the house. She looked around and didn't think there was anything special about the yard.
"There's water in the vats. It's clean water from the snow that piled up before the New Year," said the aunt, rubbing her hands. "There's also firewood in the kitchen. You can use it first. I'll pay you tomorrow morning. It's too cold tonight. I'm going home now."
Sui Yuying is good.
After everyone left, Lu Yaer asked, "Mother, why do we have to live here?"
"This woman has a widowed mother-in-law and a sick man to take care of, and her life is very difficult. If we live in her house, she can earn more money," Song Xian explained.
A small courtyard with three rooms could not accommodate the camel caravan, so Zhang Shun led his men to unload the cloth and food first. The cloth was piled in the yard and covered with oilcloth. They drove the camels carrying tents away, planning to spend the night by the river in the south of the city.
Xiao Chunhong brought people into the house to prepare the sleeping area for the night, while Sui Yu and Song Xian took over cooking.
"Buy a few chickens and stew two pots tomorrow. You can eat more then." Sui Yu said to Lu Ya, "How are you feeling? Can you still hold on?"
"So what if I can't hold on?" Lu Yaer said sullenly.
"If you can't hold on, ask your mother to buy some live chickens to take with you on the road. She will stew one for you every two days to nourish your body." Sui Yu said.
Song Xian nodded and said, "I'll arrange for someone to buy it when we leave."
Xiao Chunhong came out of the house and said, "Master, the house is ready. I'll light the fire."
"The water has boiled. Wash your hands and put a box of dried noodles into the water to cook." Sui Yu didn't want to move. It would be so comfortable to warm himself by the fire.
It was late at night, and the dinner was simple. Sixty-three people shared two pots of soup noodles, and the side dish was the meat sauce brought by Song Xian. After mixing the meat sauce with the soup noodles and eating a bowl of noodles, half of their bodies were warmed up. Then they grabbed two handfuls of fried noodles and washed them down with a bowl of oil tea. With the oil tea, their stomachs were full and their bodies were warm. Except for the people who were keeping watch and guarding the camels, everyone else went back to the house to sleep.
Lu Yaer didn't expect that she still had no bed to sleep on after entering the city. She still had to sleep on the ground with a straw mat. Except that the place was more spacious, it was almost the same as sleeping in a tent in the wild. She held her breath and sighed.
The caravan would stay in Yumen for a day and was not in a hurry to continue their journey. After dawn, Sui Yu was not in a hurry to get up. She called Xiao Chunhong to bring her a bowl of oil tea and a boiled egg. After eating, she lay down again.
"Take your money and go to the street to buy 40 kilograms of pork, with both fat and lean meat. Then see if there are any leeks for sale. If there are no leeks, buy radishes. Bring them back to make dumplings and flatbreads, steam them, and take them with you to eat on the road." Sui Yu ordered.
Xiaochunhong should be good.
Sui Yu yawned, lifted the mattress to cover her face, and went back to sleep.
When he woke up again, Sui Yu heard the sound of water. It was Song Xian and Lu Yaer, mother and daughter, washing themselves with the door closed.
"What time is it?" she asked.
Lu Yaer screamed and hurriedly pulled up her pants.
Sui Yu smiled and huddled back into the mattress, saying, "I won't watch. You take your time washing."
"You're shy, little girl." Song Xian explained with a smile, "Hurry up and wash. Your aunt won't watch. You're only being particular now. When you come back from Dayuan, I think you can stand in the yard and take a bath with us."
Green Bud curled her lips and muttered softly, "No way."
"We'll see." Song Xian wiped her body with a handkerchief and said, "When I first came out of seclusion, I was just like you. Later, the journey became too hard and I couldn't afford to be so particular. I naturally accepted the idea of bathing and back scrubbing in the yard with the maids, naked."
"Why aren't you in the house?" Lu Yaer frowned, not hiding her disgust and rejection.
"How can I sleep if the floor inside is wet?"
"Sister Song, please stop talking. If you say a few more words, Lu Yaer will run away overnight." Sui Yu teased.
Lu Yaer sighed heavily and then fell silent.
After the mother and daughter finished washing, Sui Yu lifted the wolfskin mattress and stood up. She wore a coat and trousers filled with wool and camel hair when she slept. The wool and camel hair were stuffed thickly, but she was still cold after suddenly lifting the mattress. She hurriedly put on the sheepskin coat and trousers again.
The sun came out outside, and the servants took out the mattresses they used to sleep on to dry in the sun. Sui Yu also took out the wolfskin mattress and hung it on the pile of cloth to dry.
"Sister Yu." Song Xian called out and nodded at the hot water in her hand.
Sui Yu followed him into the house. She washed her face and neck carefully, then took off her pants to wash her lower body. She scrubbed her crotch pants clean with hot water, rinsed them again, and hung them outside to dry without any hesitation.
Lu Yaer hesitated again and again, but still did not take out the crotch pants that were hanging in the house.
In the open space in the yard, Gan Da and Gan Er were kneading dough, Xiaoxi and Sancao were taking turns chopping meat, and Liu Yaer and another maid were dicing radishes. Sui Yu looked around and asked, "Did Xiao Chunhong go buy a hen?"
"Yes." Liu Yaer nodded. "In the morning, the aunt next door came over, and Xiao Chunhong paid the rent and the money for firewood and water, and also recorded the bill."
Xiao Chunhong and Liu Yaer studied in the school for three months and learned most of the commonly used numbers. Although they had some problems writing them down, they had no problem keeping accounts. Sui Yu could understand them, so she let them use their own money to keep their own accounts.
As they were talking, Xiao Chunhong came back with two servants of the Song family. Each of the servants carried two baskets filled with live chickens.
"We bought forty chickens, Master Song. I bought thirty for you, but we only bought ten. When we left home, we took one hundred dried chickens with us, which is enough for us to eat for one or two months." Xiao Chunhong reported the bill eloquently.
Song Xian looked at Sui Yu and said, "Your little housekeeper has been trained. Having her here will save you a lot of worry."
Sui Yu nodded, "Xiao Chunhong is capable."
"It's mainly because the master taught me well." Xiao Chunhong flattered, "I learned everything from the master."
"Stop talking nonsense, kill the chicken and pluck its feathers, then light the fire and start stewing it early." Sui Yu said.
After the dough was kneaded, Liu Yaer took over the task of rolling it out, while Xiaoxi was busy stir-frying the meat filling and radish.
Song Xian took Lu Yaer to see the scenery of Yumen Pass. Sui Yu went out for a walk, but there was nothing interesting to see, so she went to the aunt next door to borrow a rolling pin, then went into the house and sat down to roll out some bread and dumplings.
While the chicken is stewing, put the meat buns in the steamer and steam them together. Leave one person to light the fire, and the others wash their hands and come over to make the dumplings.
When Song Xian came back with the green sprouts, the two baskets of buns had already been steamed. Sui Yu asked Gan Da and Gan Er to eat first, and then they would go to guard the camel herd while the people who were on guard last night came back to eat.
It was past noon when the two pots of chicken were cooked. Gan Da and Gan Er each took a bowl of soup and meat and ate it, then drank a bag of hot water, and immediately went out to replace the night watchman.
Sui Yu scooped a bowl of chicken soup and a bowl of chicken and ate them in the sun. When she was at home, she ate meat for every meal. Now that she was out, she hadn't had any fresh meat for four days, so she was indeed a little greedy.
Lu Ya'er ate the chicken happily, and suddenly wiped away her tears. She choked up and said, "The chicken at Yumenguan is so delicious. It's the best chicken I've ever eaten."
No one believed that this was not crying out of happiness, but crying out of bitterness. This girl had never suffered any hardship since she was born, but this time she suffered a lot.
Song Xian was silent. After a moment, she turned her head away and refused to look, forcing herself not to soften her heart.
After finishing the meal, Lu Yaer calmed herself down and walked into the crowd to learn how to make dumplings.
"Once we leave Yumen Pass, it will be too late to regret." Sui Yu said in a low voice.
Song Xian shook her head. "I won't regret it. If I let her go back this time, she'll be even more reluctant to come out in the future."
Seeing that she had made up her mind, Sui Yu said, "Then shall we leave Yumen Pass early tomorrow morning?"
"Yeah." Song Xian nodded.
In the next half day, Xiao Chunhong and the female slaves steamed five boxes of flatbread, and used the remaining stuffing to make steamed buns. In the evening, they cooked two pots of millet porridge and gave each person a bun, and dinner was solved.
At dawn the next day, the servants drove the well-fed camels back loaded with cloth, food, and dry provisions and returned the lease and left.
At the appointed time, the three caravans met outside the city gate and walked into the desert against the bleak cold wind.
"Shopkeeper Yu, are you familiar with the conditions in the Gobi Desert?" The head of the Xu family caravan caught up with Sui Yu halfway and said, "We are the first to leave the border this year. There are no traces in the Gobi Desert. If we want to get out, we can only rely on our skills and luck."
"Isn't Master Xu familiar with this?" Sui Yu asked. "It's okay. We have so many people, escorts, and camels. We can get out. To be frank, even if we get lost, we have plenty of water and food. If we keep going in one direction, we'll always find our way out."
"That's true." Boss Xu didn't object. "I just wanted to ask about the situation. If you're good at identifying directions, we'll follow your lead once we enter the Gobi Desert. Otherwise, if there's no one in charge, and then the three of us have different opinions, it's easy to argue and damage the relationship."
Sui Yu and Song Xian exchanged a glance. This meant deciding who would be the leader and who would have the final say. She had agreed today. From now on, she would have the final say on when to stop and rest, and which trade route to take after leaving the Gobi Desert. Otherwise, if she couldn't handle the responsibility, their caravan would listen to the other two caravans' opinions.
Sui Yu thought for a while, then she said, "Okay, I'll be the leader. Once we enter the Gobi Desert, you all follow me. If I lead you in the wrong direction, you can blame me."
"That's serious." Boss Xu laughed. "But we trust Shopkeeper Yu. You're lucky and suitable to lead the way in the Gobi Desert."
"Is there such a saying?" Sui Yu was surprised.
Boss Xu nodded, "After entering that evil place, it's more reliable to rely on luck."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com