Chapter 369 Extra 6
"uncle--"
When Xiaohua saw someone coming, she shouted loudly.
Sui Yu sat on the carpet, sorting toys and putting away the cub's toys. When she heard this, she looked up and saw Sui Liang's face full of uncontrollable excitement. She asked curiously, "What's so exciting?"
Sui Liang took off his shoes and walked in. He supported the staggering little girl with one hand and said excitedly, "Last night, Black Hawk caught some rabbits and field mice and brought them to me. He even knocked on the door to wake me up."
Sui Yu perked up, "Are you sure it's Black Hawk? Is it willing to get close to you?"
"It's it. I opened the door because I heard the cry." Sui Liang confirmed.
Seeing that her mother and uncle were busy talking and no one paid any attention to her, Xiaohua held onto her uncle's legs and walked around in circles, using her uncle as a crutch.
"It's good if you can tame it. It's willing to get close to you, survives in the wild, keeps in contact with humans but keeps its distance. It doesn't hurt people, and people don't hurt it. This state is the best." Sui Yu said, "When we leave the quarantine, see if you can take it with you. If it's interested, let it stay in its hometown. If it misses you, it can come back with us."
Sui Liang nodded, "I thought so too. By the way, sister, why did you put all these things into the wooden box? Xiaohua doesn't want to play anymore?"
"These belong to her brother. I'll give them back to Xiaozai later. Xiaohua likes fancy things these days." Sui Yu said as he stood up holding the wooden box. "You look after her while I go find Xiaozai."
Xiaohua screamed "Ah" and stretched out her hand to call her mother, "Yes, yes, uncle, let's go..."
Sui Liang put on his shoes and carried her out.
The cub had woken up long ago. He was lifting wood in his own yard. When he heard footsteps coming in, he dropped a piece of wood and went to ask, "Mother, what are you holding?"
"Your childhood toys."
"Xiaohua doesn't want to play anymore?" The kid asked subconsciously, "I gave it to her, so let her play with it. I don't want to play with it anymore."
"She's been into fancy things lately. She's tired of playing with your things and likes to throw them around. Now she can walk again, and if you throw them away one day, you won't be able to find them." Sui Yu handed him the box, ignoring Xiaohua's shouting behind him, and said, "These are your childhood treasures. Keep them well even when you're done playing with them. It'll be a memory for you when you look back on them. You don't have to give them to your sister. She deserves them. Your father, your uncle, and I will give them to her."
"Yes, yes, yes—" Xiaohua thought these things belonged to her, and she wanted to take them back.
"This is mine." The kid snorted and quickly returned to the house with the wooden box in his arms.
Xiaohua was stunned. She held it in for a long time, then mustered up the strength to say, "My——"
"What's yours? That's what your brother lent you to play with." Sui Yu walked over and took it from her, saying, "But you will have some too. Next year when we leave the customs and you and your father are at home, we will write to you and ask the caravan to send you gifts."
The little boy caught up with her and said excitedly, "Mom, I kept all the letters you wrote to me. I just took a look and the marks on the wood are much lighter."
"It's been seven or eight years, so the writing will definitely fade. Bring the wooden box to me later, and I'll copy it with a brush. Keep it well and take it out to read when you're old." Sui Yu said, "In exchange, you also have to copy the letters you wrote to me, so I can take it out to reminisce when I'm old."
"Mom, you also kept the letter I wrote?" The little girl happily lay on her mother's shoulder.
"I'm keeping it. How can I bear to throw it away?"
When the two wooden boxes of different sizes were brought out for exchange, the handwriting belonging to Xiaozai and Sui Liang only filled half of the box, while Sui Yu's letters filled the entire box. They were engraved with her footprints as a businessman, and also carried her guilt and longing for her children.
"This is a treasure that belongs exclusively to me." The little boy was very satisfied. He hugged his sister and rubbed her chubby cheeks, saying, "Brother has taken back the toys I lent you before. I can't give them to you anymore. Those things are treasures that I have been looking forward to for a long time. They are given to me by my mother."
"Xiaohua will have it too." Sui Yu looked at the words on the wooden board with relish, "I will come back after the wheat harvest." She remembered how her little boy would wait for her to come home when the wheat was ripe when he was planting wheat at home. Then she looked at her son who had lost his childishness in front of her, and thought that raising a child is an endless journey, and there are always surprises in the process of exploration.
"It's a pity that I don't know what my uncle looked like when he was a child." The kid sighed.
It’s better not to know. It’s not a memory worth cherishing, Sui Liang thought.
"You don't even know what your parents were like when they were little. Don't be too greedy." He snorted, then changed the subject: "Sister, in five days it will be February 17th, Xiaohua will be one year old. Do you want to hold a banquet?"
"Your brother-in-law doesn't want to do it. The people he invited are all from the officialdom and business world. There's no point in having a meal together, and it's not really a celebration for Xiaohua. What he meant was that we should set up two or three tables privately, invite her aunt's family, Sister Song's family, Uncle Lao Niu and A Shui, as well as the servants in the house, and have a meal together." Sui Yu said.
"That's fine." Sui Liang agreed. Their family did not advocate false excitement.
With the arrival of spring, the caravans gradually departed, and the cooks were kept busy preparing rations for their journey. However, in preparation for Xiaohua's first birthday, the food business for that day was handed over to the vendors setting up stalls outside, and the inn's kitchen was used only for preparing fine dishes and meats.
Zhao Xiping took a day off. He and Sui Yu took Sui Liang and Xiaozai to prepare things for Xiaohua's one-year-old celebration.
Sui Yu offered a palm-sized bronze knife and her seal, while Xiaozai provided a golden shovel, a gift from His Majesty. Sui Liang produced his horsewhip, an inkstone, and a brush. Zhao Xiping produced a small bow he had made himself and a cotton camel he had bought from a Hu merchant. It was made by poking cotton wool bit by bit, and its shape was about 80% similar, and it was also dyed.
During the one-year-old celebration, all the items were placed on the carpet, and the small flower was placed in the center.
"Catch one you like." Sui Yu said.
Xiaohua looked at the good things all over the floor, she was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling and her mouth was watering.
"Come and take this. When you grow up, ride on a camel and go business with your mother." Zhao Xiping shook the camel dyed golden yellow. He was very confident. Xiaohua liked bright things.
Hearing this, the kid quickly took off his hat to cover the golden shovel.
Xiaohua screamed "Ah" twice and stared at the hat for a long time. At Zhao Xiping's inducement, she turned around, crawled over and took the cotton camel with one hand.
"Here, take this too." The kid took the hat with a smile and said, "This is made of gold. I wish you will be rich enough to rival a country in the future."
Xiaohua quickly took it and held it in her arms.
Sui Yu laughed. She took the seal and handed the unsharpened bronze knife to Xiaohua, saying, "Inherit your father's skills and become a chivalrous woman in the future."
"He is good at both literature and martial arts." Sui Liang stuffed the horse whip, brush and inkstone into Xiaohua's hands.
Zhao Xiping was greedy and hung the small bow on Xiaohua's lapel.
"Is there something missing? An abacus. I forgot to prepare a small abacus." Sui Liang said, "No, there's no need to prepare this. Shopkeeper Yu's daughter can't be incapable of accounting."
Sui Yu: "...That's enough, don't be too greedy. Let's go eat."
Song Xian and Zhao Xiaomi both came. Zhao Xiaomi gave Xiaohua a pair of silver bowls and spoons, and Song Xian gave her a small hat inlaid with red agate and red jade. Each one was more generous than the other.
A Shui gave Xiao Hua a thin jacket and skirt trimmed with rabbit fur, which she could wear when the weather got warmer.
As for the others, Sui Yu had instructed them in advance not to send any gifts. As slaves, it was not easy for them to save money, and they also had to redeem themselves. It didn't make sense for them to work for their master and also give gifts to the master.
When Xiaohua was one year old, Zhao Xiping and Sui Liang left Dunhuang with their servants. The former went to Jiuquan, Zhangye and Wuwei counties to supervise the local people in digging river mud and making mud molds in preparation for growing cotton seedlings, while the latter took the 28 male servants and 10 female servants who had arrived last year to buy land and hire workers to build guesthouses in other places.
As the cotton growers were busy with their cotton planting, the caravans that stayed in Dunhuang left one after another. By March, the Changgui Guesthouse was empty.
In April, caravans from inside and outside the Great Wall passed through Dunhuang. The jingling sound of camel bells rang from dawn to dusk, and the city of Dunhuang became lively again.
The circulation of caravans also brought fresh news to the border.
"The imperial court will establish a Protectorate outside the Great Wall. From now on, the small states in the Western Regions will be under the jurisdiction of our court. Our Han generals will be stationed there, and our Han laws will govern. Our caravans will no longer have to worry about encountering bandits and having nowhere to report to the authorities when they leave the Great Wall."
"The delegation is right behind our caravan and will probably pass through Dunhuang in three to five days."
"I heard that cotton won't be introduced this year. The envoys from the small countries in the Western Regions will have to send tribute back this time, and cotton seeds won't be introduced outside the Great Wall until next year."
Sui Yu listened to the merchants gathered together and talked. Hearing this, she said, "Even if the cotton seeds are spread, it will take two or three years for the countries in the Western Regions to be able to plant them on a large scale. We can only make money from cotton for another two or three years."
"Shopkeeper Yu is right. The caravans that leave the border this year and next are sure to make a fortune. The trade route from Chang'an to Dunhuang will see a lot more caravans."
"I don't know if Master Du has enough cotton in his hands."
"Enough." Sui Yu reassured them, "Last year, I sold nearly 180,000 kilograms of cotton wool to Master Du. He couldn't store it all, so he sold more than 20,000 kilograms to others."
As these merchants said, in the following days, caravans poured into Dunhuang City every day. Along with the caravans came envoys from various countries in the Western Regions, including a delegation from the Han Dynasty. This delegation was ordered by the emperor to go out of the country and establish the Protectorate of the Western Regions.
That day, Sui Yu was settling in the newly arrived caravan when Ah Shui came calling, "Sister-in-law, a messenger is coming. My eldest brother and Ma Nongjian are here too. My eldest brother asked me to call you."
When Sui Yu went out, she originally thought that it was another envoy from a small country in the Western Regions. But when she saw that he looked like a Han Chinese, and the guards following him were driving camels, which were loaded with wooden boxes and silk, she had some guesses in her mind.
"Madam Xianhua, this is Protector Zheng, who is in charge of the affairs of the Western Regions. He is here today to give you the money for the cotton seedlings. Please don't say that the court is refusing to pay." Ma Nongjian secretly put on an eye drop.
"I'm not worried about the court shirking its responsibilities, and I've never said that. I trust your majesty's wisdom more than the Ma Nongjian." Sui Yu refused to be silenced. She bowed and saluted, "I hope you are well, Lord Protector."
"Madam, are you well?" Zheng Duhu said in a clear voice. "I am on my way to the Western Regions and will be passing through Dunhuang. His Majesty instructed me to visit Madam while I'm there. The Han Dynasty's current prosperity is due to Madam's contribution."
"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. You must have traveled a long way. Please come in and sit down," said Sui Yu.
Protector Zheng nodded, but before entering the house, he handed the things he had brought to Sui Yu. "Chang'an is a long way from Dunhuang, and the coins are heavy and difficult to carry, which would also hinder the embassy's progress. Therefore, we are only bringing 800,000 coins this time, along with 500 bolts of silk given by the emperor."
"All this adds up to about two million coins. The remaining amount will be paid to Madam with cotton from the cotton tax this year," Ma Nongjian said promptly. "Cotton lint is twenty coins per pound, and I'll give Madam another 320,000 pounds. If Madam can't sell it, I can give it to you over two or three years."
Sui Yu gritted her teeth secretly. This year's cotton wool could be sold for twenty coins per pound. She had the same surname as him. This was purely a rogue act, and she had to accept it with gratitude.
"Master Zhou and Master Du, come and greet my lady," Zheng Duhu suddenly said. "My lady, these two are Master Zhou and Master Du. Your Majesty has learned that Master Chen in your household is old and frail, and may not be able to handle the situation, so he has specially sent them to take over the responsibility of teaching the children. They will set up a private school in Dunhuang to provide an education for the children."
"Greetings, Madam Xihua." The two masters bowed.
Sui Yu was surprised and hurriedly asked them to leave without formalities.
"On behalf of the children of Dunhuang, I thank Your Majesty." Zhao Xiping bowed to the east. He secretly reminded Sui Yu not to dwell on it, as the debtor was not an ordinary person. He said to Sui Yu happily, "Your Majesty also asked the two teachers to bring six boxes of scrolls. Your Majesty still thought of us despite your busy schedule."
Sui Yu immediately stopped caring about the money she had lost. She turned aside and said, "Sir, please come in and have some tea."
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