Chapter 129: Chatterbox
After buying the land, Sui Yu took time to visit twice. She used a wooden board the size of a basin to outline the layout of the eight acres. The eight acres were a mile from the river, and for easy access to water, the gate should face west. However, considering the dry, cold northwest winds of winter, she marked the gate on the board, pointing south, toward the city.
He worked in the shop during the day and went home at night to light a lamp and paint the layout. He scrapped one piece of wood after another, but Sui Yu was still not satisfied.
That night, she woke from a dream, and recalling the scenes in her dream, she suddenly remembered the inn she had built. She had made some changes and painted over it to accommodate more people, and building according to the school's layout would achieve her goal. Since she couldn't build a tall building, she would turn it down, changing the first, second, and third floors into a single, second, and third floor, with corridors on the east and west sides serving as staircases for people to move around.
Sui Yu couldn't sleep, so she sat up and put on her clothes. Zhao Xiping was startled by her movement. He leaned over to look outside and asked, "Is it almost dawn?"
"I don't know. I can't sleep. I have something to do when I get up. You continue to sleep." Sui Yu put on her shoes and got out of bed. She held the oil lamp, opened the door and went out.
Zhao Xiping was puzzled. He yawned and just sat up when he heard Mrs. Yin's voice. Seeing that there was someone outside, he lay back down.
After a while, Sui Yu came into the room carrying an oil lamp.
"You continue sleeping. If you are afraid of the light, turn around." Sui Yu picked up the wooden board against the wall.
Zhao Xiping understood everything when he saw this. He didn't understand the matter and couldn't help, so he pulled up the mattress to cover his eyes and told him to go back to sleep.
The oil lamp was dim. Sui Yu leaned over the table, holding a wooden ruler she made in one hand and charcoal in the other. She marked the dimensions first, and then calculated that the area from north to south was thirty zhang. The house plus the small courtyard took up about six steps, or about two zhang. Thirty zhang from north to south could be used to build a fifteen-entry courtyard?
Sui Yu recounted the money again, and then calculated her current balance. After deducting the 1,500 coins she had spent on the land, she still had a little over 2,700 coins (270 taels). Business had been slow for nearly six months due to the war last year. Even with the salary Zhao Xiping brought in, it still wouldn't be enough to build fifteen houses, let alone warehouses for merchants to store their goods and a stable for the camels.
Sui Yu buried his head in drawing the blueprints, planning to use the remaining money he had to build three houses first, and build houses while earning money.
The wick burned black, and the night outside slowly faded away. The roosters in the backyard crowed, and the sound of chickens could be heard in the distance. Sui Yu heard Mrs. Yin open the door and come out to cook.
She rubbed her neck and looked at the layout that had already taken shape on the wooden board, feeling quite accomplished.
"You haven't slept yet?" Zhao Xiping woke up, got out of bed, and said, "The busy farming season is coming soon. We're busy with spring planting, and we can't find anyone to build a house. What are you doing in such a hurry? You can paint during the day."
"You'll be more alert at night." Sui Yu held up the wooden board and showed it to him. "The townhouse on the east side is a warehouse, where merchants store their goods. The small courtyard on the west side is the western kitchen, where guests eat. It's close to the river, so it's convenient for getting water. The middle one is the guest room. There are fifteen courtyards, the front ten for people, and the back five for livestock. What do you think?"
Zhao Xiping's eyes sifted through the scattered words, memorizing them after a few more glances. He pointed to the location of the warehouse and said, "Building the warehouse outside the guest house requires you to arrange for reliable people to guard it and patrol it day and night. It's a bit troublesome. If anything goes wrong, we'll have to pay for it. Why not convert the warehouse into a livestock pen? Change the fifteen-story courtyard to eight, widen the courtyard, and add another row of rooms inside. The merchants can store their goods in the courtyard where they stay, and guard their own goods themselves."
Sui Yu made a mark on the map, adding an extra line in the middle of the left and right corridors, disconnecting them in the middle. The front four entrances shared two sets of corridors, and the back four entrances shared two sets... No, no, no, since it was for safety reasons, there would be a door on the east and west sides of each entrance to the courtyard, and only the guests staying there would have the keys.
"Okay, it's settled. I'll just copy it again when I have time." Sui Yu put down the wooden board, and only the charcoal ends were left. She threw it on the table, stood up and stretched, then she stepped on the chair and lay on the man's back.
"Sleep a little longer?" Zhao Xiping asked.
"No need to sleep, it's dawn." Sui Yu jumped down and said, "It's late, hurry up and get dressed and go out for dinner. Don't forget your morning training."
After blowing out the oil lamp, Sui Yu opened the door and went out first. Although she hadn't slept in the middle of the night, she was still in good spirits.
Breakfast was served, and Mrs. Yin and her two sons ate in the kitchen. After the hosts left, she went to collect the dishes and scooped out the leftovers for Gan Da and Gan Er to eat.
"Eat more! You can't get such thick porridge back at the ranch," Granny Yin muttered. "After dinner, go work in the fields. Take the pigs, sheep, and camels out with you. Don't be lazy."
Gan Da and Gan Er nodded. They would not be lazy even without their mother's instructions. Since they came to the Zhao family, they have never been hungry and can even have some meat from time to time. The master never beats or scolds them and treats them like human beings. If they are still lazy and cunning in such a good life, they will be courting death.
As soon as the food store opened and caught fire, people living nearby came over. Three or five of them sat around a table and discussed this year's spring plowing.
Sui Yu scooped and kneaded the dough, busy preparing the noodles for soup dumplings and flatbreads, while Zhao Xiaomi was kneading and rolling the noodles at the other end, preparing to make dumplings.
"Nanshi, is breakfast ready?" Seven or eight big men rushed in.
Sui Yu looked over and said with a smile, "It's you guys. I haven't seen you for over a year. Where did you go to make a fortune?"
"I went south last year and didn't come back until winter." The group sat down, looked around, and commented, "Your shop is well-maintained. You've added a few stoves. It looks like business is booming."
Sui Yu smiled and said, "I can't compare to you guys in making money. If you are willing to take me with you to do business one day, that would be called making big money."
The merchants laughed and didn't take it seriously. The women following the caravan were not decent people.
The dough was rolled out, and the earthenware pot of braised meat was boiling. Sui Yu uncovered it and saw that it was a piece of pork and half a rabbit left over from yesterday's sale. She signaled Sui Liang to remove the firewood from the stove and just let the meat cook.
"Uncle Erniu, does your table want wide noodles or thin noodles?" Sui Yu asked the first table of guests who came in.
“Wide noodles, wide noodles and chewy.”
"Are all five bowls wide noodles?" Sui Yu asked again.
"Yes, yes, five bowls of wide noodles, one with braised pork." Uncle Erniu couldn't stand the aroma of the braised pork, so he reluctantly added the meat and muttered, "After eating this bowl, I won't come for the next few days."
Sui Yu laughed and snorted, cutting noodles with her hands. She turned her head and said, "Why are you digging into your hands for money? Didn't we just collect the rent the day before yesterday?"
"I can't collect rent and use it all to fill my mouth." Uncle Erniu smiled and shook his head.
The wide noodles were two finger-wide sheets. Before putting them into the pot, Sui Yu stretched them, lengthening and widening them before throwing them into the boiling water. She took the plate to scoop out the braised meat, cutting the meat into two horizontal and vertical slices, each one a finger thick. A rich aroma quickly burst out.
The merchants at another table turned their heads to look over, and Chen Wu asked, "Nanshi, how much is a bowl of soup noodles with braised pork?"
"One penny." Sui Yu replied.
The wide noodles were cooked. She quickly scooped out a bowl, added a spoonful of noodle soup, a spoonful of braising liquid, a spoonful of braised vegetables and a braised egg, and finally spread the braised meat on the top of the bowl and poured half a spoonful of braised meat sauce on it.
Sui Yu gestured for them to look at the bowl, explaining, "The price is on the meat. If you don't want the braised meat, a bowl of braised soup noodles costs twelve cents."
The eight men looked at each other and said in unison, "Eight bowls of braised pork soup noodles."
Sui Yu praised: "People who travel on the trade route are richer. Wide noodles or thin noodles?"
"Let's have the wide noodles. We'll come back tomorrow morning for the thin noodles."
Sui Yu brought another four bowls of braised soup noodles to the table and continued to busy himself with cutting noodles.
After the two tables of guests left, Sui Yu poured out the water in the pot, brought out the stuffing that Mrs. Yin had cut last night, and fried it directly in oil.
This is the last bit of radish that has not yet become rotten. The winter radish is gone, and fresh shepherd's purse, leek and bitter herbs have made up for it.
Mid-morning, Sister Lamei brought over two baskets of cleaned shepherd's purse and leeks, saying, "Work in the fields is getting busy, so I'll bring it over in the mornings from now on. Do you want more dried vegetables this year? Like last year, how much do you need?"
"Yes, I don't mind having too little dried vegetables. I'll take as many as you can. If you're too busy, you can find a few people to help." Sui Yu said.
Sister Lamei smiled and said, "My sister and my mother are helping me, and I have a mother-in-law who is always busy at home, so I am busy."
"It's still more convenient to have relatives to help." Sui Yu looked at Zhao Xiaomi and said, "Thank goodness I have my sister-in-law to help me, otherwise I would be too busy."
This was her first experience with the power of clans. In ancient times, employment relationships were not as strong as kinship. Thinking of her soon-to-be-built inn, she worried about who would oversee it. Sui Yu thought of Sui Hu, an extremely reliable man, but sadly, he was gone, buried in the grasslands between the foothills.
Sui Liang saw her stop making the dumplings, so he shook his hand and asked, "Sister, are you sleepy?"
"No." Sui Yu came back to her senses, pinched the edge of the dumpling in her hand, and rolled another piece of dough to wrap the stuffing. Looking at Sui Liang who was working hard, she thought that this was a little helper left for her by Sui Hu and her aunt.
"Are the buns steamed?" A woman carrying a shovel leaned in.
"It's steaming in the pot now. It should be ready in another cup of tea." Zhao Xiaomi said, "Auntie, how many buns do you want? The ones they're steaming are stuffed with lard and radish."
"No matter what the filling is, I want both baskets. Keep them for me. I'll come back and get them. I need them delivered to the fields." The woman spoke quickly, showing how busy she was working in the fields. She walked a few steps, then turned back and asked, "Can't you do delivery? Can you deliver to the fields?"
Zhao Xiaomi looked at Sui Yu, who waved her hand and said, "It's too far. I won't see you off."
"Then forget it."
The woman walked away quickly. In less than a cup of tea, she came back with a basket with a lid, threw down 180 copper coins, and took away two baskets of buns.
Zhao Xiaomi quickly filled two baskets of shepherd's purse and egg-filled buns and put them on the steamer. She came out and said, "Third sister-in-law, it's the busy farming season. I guess a lot of people will be buying buns in the next month or so."
Sui Yu nodded and said, "Before closing tonight, let's steam four baskets of buns. We can heat them up and sell them tomorrow morning. We also have flatbreads, which can be steamed and sold. I'll think about steaming some noodles without the soup, which will be more convenient for sending to the fields. It's a pity that we don't have any radishes. How about dried radish and shepherd's purse? Adding some eggs would be fine too."
It happened that Mrs. Yin came over after finishing her chores at home. Sui Yu asked her to wash her hands before making dumplings. She went into the room where dried vegetables were stored and grabbed half a basin of dried radish and soaked it in hot water.
The steamed buns were steamed in pots and sold out one by one, and the steamed dumplings were also sold out.
The sun rose to the top of the head and it was time for dinner, but the shop became quiet and no one came to the shop.
Sui Yu washed the iron pot and boiled the water dry. She scooped a spoonful of lard into it, melted it, and scrambled the eggs first, then poured in the soaked and wrung-out radish. When the pot was fragrant, she shook the long noodles and threw them into the pot, scooped three spoonfuls of the braised meat broth on top, and then covered the pot and simmered it.
"Boss Sui, is the meal ready?" Zhao Xiping strode in carrying a bunch of birds and three field mice.
"We've got quite a harvest today." Sui Yu leaned against the wall and asked, "Has spring planting started?"
"Well, the government is distributing grain for planting. I'll go get it after dinner." Zhao Xiping threw the field mouse and bird on the ground and asked, "What's for lunch?"
"Steamed noodles, or fried noodles will also work." Sui Yu entered the room, opened the lid of the pot, tossed the noodles and the vegetables underneath, sprinkled some tender shepherd's purse and chopped green onions, and said, "It's time to eat, don't be busy anymore."
The reddish-brown soup stained the noodles, and although not much oil was used, the noodles looked greasy. The tender green shepherd's purse and the browned eggs made the pot of noodles look very appetizing.
Sui Yu picked up a lump of broken eggs and said, "Next time, throw the eggs and shepherd's purse in together. If you put it in the pot too early, the color won't look good."
"As long as it tastes good, that's all." Zhao Xiping swallowed the noodles in his mouth and said, "It tastes better than dried radish rice."
"If you like it, eat more. We'll add this dish to the shop later. Come over when you're hungry," said Sui Yu.
"Keep those birds for me. I'll have some people over for dinner tomorrow." Zhao Xiping observed her expression and added, "Pay."
Sui Yu smiled and nodded, saying, "Okay, then I'll wait for the adults to take care of the business."
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