Chapter 136 Caravan Profits
That night, there were fewer familiar faces in the food store. Even though Sui Yu had anticipated this and prepared reduced quantities of various foods, they still weren't sold out.
When Uncle Lao Niu came to pick up Ah Shui, Sui Yu mixed him a small plate of cold noodles. She asked Zhao Xiping to roll the remaining dough into dough sheets and cut it into noodles, and then take them back and hang them in the yard to dry, so that they would not become sour overnight.
"Cat Officer, Cat Officer." Sui Yu called out, "Is Cat Officer home?"
A large civet cat jumped out from the back room, meowed twice, and rubbed against Sui Yu's ankles with its tail raised.
"Ouch, you're shedding hair! You rubbed my leg." Sui Yu pushed it away. She held the cat's head and warned, "Don't go out and wander around tonight. Keep an eye on it under the shelf to make sure no mice come to steal food."
Mrs. Yin went to close the door of the back room. All the doors were closed, so the cat couldn't get in and could only stay in the yard.
"Have you caught the chicken?" Sui Yu asked.
"I caught two roosters, and there are only five hens left. Next year I will buy more chicks to raise." said Mrs. Yin.
These seven chickens are already old, two or three years old. Sui Yu only bought chicks once to raise. After that, he learned to hunt, and the family could have meat from time to time. In addition, the shop bought a lot of eggs, so the demand for chickens was not high, so he never bought chicks again.
Sui Yu suddenly slapped her legs, and the cat official who was rolling on the ground was startled. Seeing her running into the house, it quickly followed.
"I forgot one thing. We can build a pigpen in the open space north of the west kitchen, or even next to the camel pen, so we can share the manure pit with the camels. We're bound to have plenty of slop in the future. We can raise more pigs and slaughter them from time to time when they grow up. We won't have to worry about the money for meat."
Zhao Xiping put down the wooden board and said, "Killing the pigs you raised yourself? Aren't you afraid your brother will cry again?"
The ram in the pen now can't be sold or slaughtered, and it can't give birth to foals. I have to drive it in and out every day to eat grass, and when winter comes, I have to prepare hay for it. The more I raise it, the more I lose money.
"Why don't you just stop him from raising it?" Sui Yu walked over, put her arms around the man's neck and lay on his back. "You're looking at the drawings. Do you think there's something wrong with the way the house is built?"
"No problem." Zhao Xiping nodded beside the camel pen and said, "I forgot to tell you, your Xiao Hei is pregnant. I estimate she will give birth next month."
"Huh?" Sui Yu jumped up straight. "I thought it was just getting fat again, but it turns out it's giving birth to piglets?"
Zhao Xiping raised the oil lamp and went out with her, saying, "If you plan to raise pigs, don't sell this litter; we'll raise them ourselves. But when the piglets grow up and need to be slaughtered, you won't be reluctant to part with them, will you?"
"I only have deep affection for Xiao Hei."
"You two siblings, one raising pigs and the other raising sheep, you're really weird." Seeing the cat official scurry past his feet, Zhao Xiping muttered again, "There's another cat here. The three of them will enjoy a happy life in this home."
"Pig--" Sui Yu called out.
The big black pig grunted twice, got up and walked to the door of the pen.
Sui Yu took the oil lamp and leaned over to shake it, and saw the black fat pig with a drooping belly. She reached out and touched it, and felt something moving under its belly.
The cat officer jumped onto the wall and tried to slap the camel in the mouth. Zhao Xiping strode over and grabbed it. With a thud, his head popped off. He cursed, "What are you doing? Watch out, it'll chew you up."
"Let's give the camel a name." Sui Yu came over with an oil lamp and said, "I heard other people's camels had names in the desert before, so I thought about giving our camel a name too, but I forgot when I got back."
Zhao Xiping pointed to the largest camel and said, "This is the first camel I harnessed, so I'll call it the eldest. This one is the second, and so on." When it came to the youngest camel, he added, "This one is still young, so it's appropriate to call it Ying. You can give it a name you like."
Sui Yu held it in for a long time before uttering the word "eggshell".
Zhao Xiping: ...
"When it came back with us, its fur was eggshell color." Sui Yu argued, pressing his head and saying, "That's why it's called Eggshell."
"It's up to you. You're not naming my son anyway." Zhao Xiping didn't care.
Sui Yu rolled her eyes at him. She looked at the bellies of the two camels and muttered, "Are they pregnant yet? How long does it take for a camel to show its pregnancy?"
Zhao Xiping didn't know how many months it would take for a camel to show signs of pregnancy, but he knew it would take more than a year for a camel to conceive. If a camel got pregnant this year, the baby would be born in April or May next year.
After leaving the livestock yard, Zhao Xiping left the cat official in the front yard to guard the scene, and he and Sui Yu went to wash up and sleep.
The next day, Sui Yu and Zhao Xiaomi carried the noodle rack to the shop. Before leaving, they told Gan Da and Gan Er to go to the food shop in the evening to pick out some cold noodles.
There were not many people coming to eat in the morning, but fortunately a group of merchants arrived at noon. This caravan had left the country in March to go to Loulan, Ruoqiang and Shanguo. After selling all the goods they brought, they bought a batch of furs and returned.
Sui Yu and Zhao Xiaomi served them all the food in the shop and listened to their discussion about entering Guanzhong to sell leather. She asked, "If we go to Guanzhong now, can we return by the end of the year?"
"Sure, I can make it in time." The merchant scooped up a mouthful of cold noodles and asked, "Do you have any wine?"
"No, if you want to drink, I'll go out and call a runner to buy it on Nanshui Street, but you have to pay ten cents for the errand." Sui Yu said.
"OK."
Sui Yu asked Zhao Xiaomi to go out for a while, and there was an errand boy squatting in the alley. He came over as soon as he waved his hand.
The merchant took three strings of cash from his bag and gave it to the waiter, handing over the water bag and saying, "I want sorghum wine, but don't try to dilute it. My mouth has been soaked in a wine vat, so I can tell if the wine is strong enough by just tasting it."
"Don't worry, Grandpa. I'm doing a legitimate business. I earn money by running errands. I don't do anything shady."
The guy took the money and water bag and ran out quickly.
Sui Yu cut half a bowl of pickled shredded radish and brought it to the table. He asked, "What kind of goods do the small countries outside Yumen Pass like to buy from us? Cloth? Pottery? What else?"
"They buy everything we buy here, from small things like needles and thread to big things like grain and oil. They can sell everything they take out." The merchant, biting a mouthful of sour shredded radish, looked at Sui Yu and asked, "Why? Are there men in your family who want to form a caravan?"
"No, that's not the case. My husband is a captain in the army. How can I let him go into business?" Sui Yu took out Zhao Xiping's official title and asked curiously, "You can earn 10,000 yuan a year traveling inside and outside the Great Wall?"
The twelve merchants looked at each other and knew that her husband was an official. It was difficult for them not to answer, so they could only say vaguely: "If we can only make 10,000 coins, why should we work so hard? Ten brothers can share it. Each of us will make less than 1,000 coins. We might as well be peddlers at home."
"I mean ten thousand coins per person per year." Sui Yu said again. Seeing their faces change slightly, he knew that his guess was almost right.
"Your small caravan can earn so much in a year. How much more do those big caravans earn in a year?" Sui Yu was amazed.
"The more money you can make, the more risks you take. Those who make a fortune might not even live to use it." The merchant next to Sui Yu smacked his lips and shook his head. "You can't just watch the thieves eat the meat without seeing them get beaten. After leaving the border, many people have grievances against the Han people. Countless people died on the way west. This trade route is paved with human lives. Not to mention merchants, a few years ago, a captain who went to Cheshi State to cultivate land was beaten to death by the locals."
The guy who bought the wine came back and another customer came. Sui Yu went to cook noodles and didn't talk to the customer anymore.
After noon, Sui Yu sat under the eaves and watched Zhao Xiaomi lead Sui Liang and Ah Shui in a game of crisscross. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lao Tu come in. She thought for a moment, then smiled and asked, "Haven't you eaten yet?"
"We just settled a group of merchants and haven't had time to eat yet. Please cook me a plate of cold noodles, but without bean sprouts. They get stuck in my teeth."
"Okay, find a place to sit." Sui Yu went into the house to light the fire.
Lao Tu didn't mention the argument yesterday, and neither did Sui Yu. Both of them acted as if there was no grudge between them. One finished the meal and paid the bill, and the other walked a few more steps as usual.
In the evening, Sui Yu first cooked the leftover dry noodles in a soup pot. While they were boiling, she blanched bean sprouts, which she made from soybeans at home, making them inexpensive. She boiled a whole pot at once, blanched them, and then mixed them with the cold noodles in two large pots. She then cut two pickled radishes and four cucumbers, poured garlic oil, salt, and vinegar over them, and stirred them vigorously.
Sui Yu was stirring the pot with great enthusiasm when she heard a lot of people rushing into the yard. She went out to see that it was the merchants who had come for noon, followed by some people from the alley.
"Give me twelve plates of cold noodles and some more pickled radishes," the merchant called out.
"Xiaomi, go and mix us each a plate of noodles." The people in the alley chose to sit in the yard. They had a conflict yesterday, and if it weren't for their mouths causing trouble, they wouldn't have wanted to come.
After trying the cold noodles at Suiyu, I always felt like something was missing from the other stalls: not enough noodles, not enough oil, or not clean enough. Making it myself was too much trouble, and since it was almost dinner time, I had no choice but to come over with a stiff face.
Gan Da and Gan Er happened to come over as well. Sui Yu and Zhao Xiaomi first carried the basin and poured the cold noodles into the rice bucket, then went into the house to mix the noodles for the diners.
"Madam, my mother told you not to cook tonight. She left a bowl of chicken soup and will bring it to you later." Gan Da said while standing outside the door.
Sui Yuying is good.
Gan Da and Gan Er went out with the food bucket on their shoulders. Ah Shui followed them eagerly. Sui Liang stopped her, saying, "Where are you going? You are not allowed to go out."
"Meat." Ah Shui used her fingers and she smelled the scent of chicken.
"You stand at the door and wait for Grandma Yin, she will bring the meat soon." Sui Yu said.
She came out with two plates of cold noodles and gave them to the customers first.
"Who wants to buy two buckets of noodles at once?" asked the merchant.
"They are my servants. They are delivering food to the people who helped build our house." Sui Yu explained. Even though there were people from the alley, she still added, "I have built a guesthouse in the north of the city. It provides food, shelter, and livestock pens. If you can't find a place to stay when you go back and forth, you can stay there."
"Well, we saw it when we entered the city. We thought it was some high-ranking official building a mansion over there."
The others were in mixed emotions and left after finishing their cold noodles, instead of sitting and chatting like they usually did.
After another five days, sixty to seventy percent of the diners in the alley returned. Everyone pretended nothing had happened. They were jealous of Sui Yu's cooking skills, and Sui Yu was jealous of the copper coins in their pockets. Occasionally, they would look unhappy when they saw that Sui Yu's business was good, but Sui Yu always greeted them with a smile, and these people would come again every one or two days.
Time flies and it is June 11th. The cash box at home is completely empty.
After returning home in the evening, Sui Yu poured all the copper coins with the smell of oil on the table, and the four people in the family sat at the table and counted the copper coins one by one.
"Two small caravans arrived today and brought in a good income, a total of over 180 coins." Sui Yu counted the coins and said, resting his chin on his hand, "These two caravans will need to rest in the city for at least three days, almost four. There will be no problem paying the workers who are building the houses."
"I made thirty-seven coins selling game today." Zhao Xiping took out the money and said, "The wall is finished. It will be topped off in two or three days."
"I still have some money here." Zhao Xiaomi said, "I still have more than two hundred yuan."
"Your third brother and I have a plan without touching your money." Sui Yu pressed down her shoulders and said to Zhao Xiping, "After the roof is completed, have them spend another two days shoveling the dirt inside and outside the house. Tamp what can be compacted, and remove what can't. Then have Uncle Niu ask how many people are willing to accept credit for their work. If there are thirty people, then have them continue to build the third guesthouse. If there are less than thirty people, then forget it. We'll continue when we have enough money."
Zhao Xiping nodded.
"From now on, the money I earn every day will be used to buy doors and windows, have carpenters make tables and chairs, find masons to make stoves, and beds..." Sui Yu counted on his fingers and said, "It's better not to buy a wooden bed. It will cost a lot of money. I can dig mud and build a bed, and I don't have to worry about replacing it when it breaks."
"Take it little by little." Zhao Xiping counted out eighteen strings of money and threw them into the wooden box. These would be taken away tomorrow.
Zhao Xiaomi pulled down four strings of cash from the table and said, half-jokingly, "I'm so poor! I feel like I'm going to have trouble making ends meet."
Sui Yu propped up his chin and smiled, saying, "When I first followed your third brother, we had more spare money at home than we do now."
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