Chapter 367 Extra Four
When Sui Yu came out of the mansion, the envoys from Dayuan and Parthia were standing in the teahouse watching the maids crushing cotton seeds. Some of them asked whether cotton could be grown by sowing it in the ground like wheat. In response, the postman standing by was vague and unclear.
"It was Madam Xihua who introduced cotton, and she also figured out the method of growing it."
"Where is Madam Yuhua?"
Sui Yu handed the flower to the boy and said bluntly, "I am, but I cannot tell you how to grow cotton. This is a unique skill of our Han people, comparable to a map of border defenses. If you want to know more, you must go to Chang'an and ask our emperor."
The Dayuan envoy turned around and said with a smile, "I heard that Madam has been to Dayuan?"
"Yes, I went there a few years ago and accidentally got cotton seeds from a monk from Shentu." Sui Yu explained frankly, "Dayuan is my blessed land."
The smile on the face of the Dayuan envoy disappeared, and the frustration in her heart almost burst out from her five orifices. Dayuan did make her successful, but they had to pay a high price to get cotton seeds and planting methods from the Han Dynasty.
"Will your caravan go to Dayuan someday? When you do, please contact me and I will welcome you." Another messenger with deep facial features spoke.
Sui Yu glanced at the postman and smiled, declining the offer. "We're already familiar with the route to Dayuan. The envoy is busy with official duties, so we won't bother you. Also, my caravan hasn't planned to go to Dayuan in recent years. The mountains are high and the roads are long, so a trip there would be too time-consuming."
The postman nodded in satisfaction. He promptly stopped the foreigners' probing words and said, "My envoys, don't you still want to see how quilts are woven? I'll take you to the weaving workshop. But hurry, it's almost noon, and we need to return to the post station for lunch."
The envoys from both countries looked at Sui Yu, but they saw that she was as stubborn as a rock and her words were tight-lipped. They could not get any information and had to give up temporarily.
Song Congzu was still waiting outside. He continued to ask the envoys if they wanted to buy camels. "I'll have my servants go back and drive the camels over. We'll bring them to the post station later so the envoys can choose. Is that okay?"
The messenger walking on the periphery nodded.
A smile appeared on Song Congzu's face.
Sui Yu walked out and saw a group of people walking north. She stood at the door and asked, "Are the camels they brought not enough?"
"I received a letter the day before yesterday saying that the two delegations encountered will-o'-the-wisp fire in the desert. Some of their camels were injured, while others fled. After entering the customs, only half of the camels were left, and all of them were used to carry tribute. They had walked all the way here," Song Congzu explained. "I've been trying to get close to them for the past two days, but I never had the chance. Today, I ran into them on my way back from school."
"Opportunities come to those who are prepared." When Sui Yu saw someone from the advancing delegation turn around, her expression immediately changed. She pretended to be unfamiliar with Song Congzu. When the person turned around, she turned her back and said, "Be careful when discussing business with them. Don't talk to them about anything related to cotton. Remember, don't reveal that you know how cotton seedlings are grown and planted."
Song Congzu suppressed his laxity and nodded in agreement, but then asked, "Many people in Dunhuang know how cotton is bred and managed. Can this be kept secret?"
"They are accompanied by others. Moreover, no matter whether we can conceal it or not, we cannot let this information out." Sui Yu warned, "Once they go to Chang'an, everything will be fine. If we want to obtain a complete
They could only obtain planting methods and large quantities of cotton seeds from the imperial court."
Song Congzu understood and said, "Okay, I will be careful."
Sui Yu saw Boss Hua coming out of the Fire Cocoon Shop. She waved and said, "Boss, I'm free now. Let's go check out the goods."
"OK."
The Hua family's seafood filled six warehouses. In addition to dry goods such as dried kelp, dried sea fish, dried shrimp, dried abalone and shellfish, there were also decorative goods such as turtle shells, corals, pearls, shells, conchs, etc.
"I asked the second manager, and he said, kelp is not famous in the local area?" asked the boss Hua, puzzled.
"People who suffer from goiter are mostly from poor families. They eat meat only a few times a year. They cannot afford kelp if it is sold at a high price. Rich people do not need food, so kelp cannot be sold at a high price in Dunhuang. Moreover, I have little stock, and the kelp is sold out before I become famous." Sui Yu explained that it is impossible to expect people who cannot even afford salt to spend all their wealth to buy kelp. They would rather lock their sick children at home and feel that they have done their duty by feeding and clothing them. When the children die of illness, after they have gotten over the sadness, they can still say that their children have enjoyed a good life in this world and have never suffered from the hardships of wind and sun.
Hua Da Dangjia understood. He pointed at the goods in the warehouse and asked, "Do you want them? Name your price."
"What do you want to trade with me? A cotton quilt, a cotton jacket, or cotton cloth?" Sui Yu peeled a shrimp and ate it. "I've never sold seafood before, so I can't give you a price. I have some goods in my warehouse that I can sell on consignment. If you're interested, take advantage of the many caravans coming and going during this period and let the merchants bid. The highest bidder wins."
"That's fine, but how much do you charge?"
Seafood has a strong fishy smell, and Sui Yu was reluctant to move these things into the warehouse. If the cloth and leather goods were stained with fishy smell, it would be a waste of effort.
"How about this, you set up a stall in the open space outside to sell goods, and I will provide the tables and chairs. I will charge a stall fee and an introduction fee, one hundred coins a day." Sui Yu pondered.
"That's too much. Eighty coins."
"Eighty is eighty," Sui Yu said cheerfully. "These corals, turtle shells, seashells, and conchs, if you can't sell them all, you can store them in the warehouse. If a caravan comes to buy them next year, I'll only take 10% of the proceeds. I'll have the caravan send you the proceeds."
"Okay, as you say," said the head of the Hua family without hesitation. "I trust your character. I'll bring seafood to Dunhuang to sell when I have the chance. I'm also planning to buy some camels this time so I can bring back more goods when I go to the coast next year."
"Tomorrow I will introduce you to the vendor Song, the son of the head of the Song family, and ask him to give you a good price." Sui Yu said.
Hua Da Dangjia is satisfied, that's what he meant.
"Come, I'll pack you some shrimp to take home. There's also a kind of fish that's delicious. It's rare, so I brought two of them just for you."
Sui Yu waited for him to open the box and recognized it as dried hairtail at a glance.
The head of the Hua family put two kilograms of various seafood into a cloth bag and said, "Remember to soak them before eating. It's best to stew them in chicken soup. I think this is the best way to eat them."
Sui Yu thanked him, took the things and left.
When she went out, she met a group of envoys leaving in disgrace. She asked the merchants who were watching the fun and found out that the owner Du did not give any face to these foreigners and did not allow them to enter the weaving workshop to visit. In his words, he did not expect foreigners to eat, nor did he need to look at their faces.
At noon, Zhao Xiping came back with a body full of sweat. He walked in the field.
After a long time, his shoes were so dirty that the original color could not be seen, and his trouser legs were half covered with dust. When he squatted by the river to wash his hands and face, from the back, he looked no different from an old farmer.
Sui Liang was holding Xiaohua and standing under the tree. He pointed and asked, "Who is this person?"
Xiaohua smacked her lips twice.
"Is he a stinky beggar? Can we go back and give him a couple of steamed buns as a reward?"
Zhao Xiping picked up a stick from the river and was about to hit him. Sui Liang ran with Xiaohua in his arms, and the little girl lay on his shoulder and laughed.
"Dad..." the kid called from the other side of the river, "The water in the house is ready, come back and take a bath and change your clothes."
Zhao Xiping threw away the stick and crossed the river.
Sui Liang immediately followed with Xiaohua in his arms.
While Zhao Xiping was taking a bath, Sui Liang held Xiaohua and Xiaozai and sat under the grape trellis in the yard to drink water.
"Uncle, have you fed your hawk?"
"Not yet. It won't eat. It just sits in the cage, ignoring everyone and looking very listless." Sui Liang pulled Xiaohua's hand away to stop her from chewing on her fingers, and continued, "I'm going to tie its paw with a rope and let it out of the cage to try."
The little cub let out an "Oh" and pulled his sister's hand to press the dimples on her hand. Seeing that she was staring at him, he tentatively held her fingers and fed them into his mouth.
"Your brother is going to bite you." Sui Liang said.
Xiaohua didn't move and watched her fingers being stuffed into her brother's mouth. Suddenly, a sly smile appeared on her face, and she hooked her fingers and grabbed her brother's lower teeth.
The cub cried out, "You're pulling my teeth..."
The cub paused in his cry and tasted blood. He looked at Xiaohua in surprise, seeing a bloody tooth in his hand.
The tooth in his mouth that had been tormenting him for several days was broken out.
Xiaohua was obviously shocked. She stared at the tooth in her hand, then turned to see her brother spitting out blood. She was so scared that she cried out "Ah".
Sui Liang laughed out loud.
Sui Yu came out of the house, and Zhao Xiping also wiped his hair and opened the door of the bathroom next door. In the yard, some people were crying, some were laughing, and there was even one person squatting on the ground spitting blood, which was very confusing.
"What's going on?" Sui Yu asked.
"Xiaohua pulled out a tooth for me." The kid grinned, "She was so scared that she started crying."
"She didn't even cry. She was just pretending to cry because she was afraid of getting scolded." Sui Liang exposed Xiaohua's disguise. He pulled his niece out of his arms and said, "Look."
That’s right, there’s not a single tear on her face, and her eyes aren’t even red.
Zhao Xiping walked over and took her, wondering, "She may not be that old, but she has a lot of ideas."
Sui Yu went to check the cub's teeth. "How did she pull out the teeth while they were in your mouth? Open your mouth so I can see. It's torn the flesh. Stop licking it."
"Mom, it keeps bleeding." The cub groaned.
"Rinse your mouth with some water. Don't drink soup at noon. Chew vegetables with your back teeth. Get some sleep at night, and the flesh will grow back tomorrow. The flesh in your mouth grows fast." Sui Yu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, turned around and glared at Xiaohua, "You've done something bad again."
Xiaohua lowered her head and looked submissive, and obediently handed over the tooth in her hand.
"The kid must have been trying to pry his tooth apart these past few days, and Xiaohua saw it. Now, she finally got the chance, reached into her brother's mouth, and yanked it out." Sui Liang smiled, "It's a good thing. The tooth is out, and the kid isn't upset anymore."
Sui Yu glared at him and whispered, "She knows how to read people's faces now. If you keep laughing, she might reach out and pick your mouth and pry your teeth when you fall asleep."
"It's broken, it's not broken by an outsider. If you don't keep it cheap, it will fall off when you get old." Zhao Xiping said in a sarcastic and annoying tone.
"Yes, I would be happy even if we break up." Sui Liang nodded reluctantly.
"Then I'll break one off too. I'm not an outsider." The kid grinned.
"Okay, okay, I'll leave the top row of teeth for you to crack, and the bottom row of teeth will be for Xiaohua to practice with." Sui Liang said angrily, "Do you want to have another child? I still have a tongue that I can pull out and use as a slingshot to shoot birds."
Sui Yu laughed, "Forget it, I'll leave you some tongue to speak."
Zhao Xiping also laughed.
The little boy was so happy that he happily clung to his uncle and walked out. Thinking about the scene of shooting birds with his tongue, he laughed so hard that he couldn't stand up.
Xiaohua looked left and right. She didn't understand why everyone was laughing, but she laughed along too.
Zhao Xiping took the tooth from her hand, swung his arm, and threw the tooth onto the roof.
"Ah——" Xiaohua screamed.
Zhao Xiping pointed at her little Xiaomiya and said, "When it grows up, throw it on the roof too."
Xiaohua seemed to understand. She closed her mouth nervously and dared not to pick it again.
"I won't be on duty at the government office these days. I'll stay home to prevent foreign envoys from coming into contact with our servants." While crossing the river, Zhao Xiping explained his next move to Sui Yu. "I'll go back on duty after the delegation leaves Dunhuang."
"Is the cotton harvest almost over?" Sui Yu asked.
"Well, this is the last crop. After picking this crop, we will start to pull out the cotton firewood." Zhao Xiping said.
The cotton harvest was coming to an end. The last group of caravans left in a hurry at the end of autumn, carrying their cotton fabrics with them. The remaining caravans stayed in Dunhuang City for the winter, waiting for the weaving workshops to make quilts and vests suitable for spring and autumn, as well as menstrual belts and more exquisite embroidery.
The crops in the fields were stored in the warehouses, a cold winter rain fell, and a northwest cold wind with a smell of sand swept across the Hexi region, and winter arrived.
The last caravan entered the city and headed straight to the north of the city.
"General Zhao, your father has sent us a message. He and your mother won't be coming to Dunhuang for the winter this year. Here, this is the letter he sent someone to write." The merchant handed over a piece of rag and asked, "Are there any rooms available in the guesthouse?"
"The guest rooms are full, but there are some vacancies in the warehouse. I'll get a few beds and move them in. You can just live here for a few months. There are no empty houses in the city." Zhao Xiping said.
"Okay, as long as we have a place to stay, there are so many caravans coming this year?"
"A lot, even more than last year. Caravans have come from Bashu and Qianzhong, and even merchants from Parthia have come. There are more foreigners in the city this year than in the previous two years combined."
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