Chapter 139 Thoughtful Service
After the western kitchen was cleaned up, it was already dark and the wilderness was exceptionally quiet. Apart from the sounds of water and wind, there was the grunting of piglets in the livestock pen.
Sui Yu walked out of the third guesthouse and stood at the west door, looking west. A small herd of camels strolled leisurely around the riverbank, and a large ram lay on a mound, watching idly. As people moved out of the city, their livestock followed. The land here was spacious, so camels and sheep no longer needed to be confined in pens; they could roam freely.
"Third sister-in-law, come and take a look." Zhao Xiaomi shouted loudly.
There was old hen soup stewing in the pot. Zhao Xiaomi was in high spirits as she was the one cooking tonight. However, she hesitated when adding the dry vegetables as she was worried that the chicken was not stewed enough.
Sui Yu walked in, fanning away the white smoke, picked up a piece of chicken and tasted it, saying, "We need to stew it a little longer. The hen has been old, so the meat is tough. And your third brother came back late, so the dried vegetables were added too early and stewed too much."
"Then I'll get some firewood and keep the fire low so the chicken soup doesn't dry up." Zhao Xiaomi sniffed and said, "Old hen soup is so delicious."
The cat officer jumped in and saw Sui Yu's mouth moving. He immediately meowed for food.
"It's Aunt Yin coming. I'll go help make the bed." Sui Yu threw the chicken to the cat official, put down his chopsticks and went out.
All the mattresses, cushions and boxes from the houses in the city were brought over, and Sui Yu went to clean up her own room. The mud couch had already dried, so she put the manuscript on the couch, and the cushion on the manuscript, and then the bed sheet on the cushion. Sui Yu sat on it to try it out, and it was okay, not too hard and not uncomfortable.
However, the mud couch was too long to be covered by the sheets, and the exposed half was just enough to store suitcases and cash boxes.
The last rays of sunset in the sky faded away, and the guest house became completely dark. Sui Yu pushed open the door and walked out, calling Sui Liang to go see the piglets together.
Gan Da and Gan Er were driving the camels and sheep into the pen. Xiao Hei heard their voices and stood up to ask for food. A litter of nine black piglets were sleeping in the grass nest and only their shapes could be vaguely seen.
"Let them out tomorrow as well. Let them out at dawn and drive them back into the pen at night." Sui Yu instructed.
Gan Da agreed and said, "There's water and grass here. Gan Er and I don't have to worry about feeding the pigs, sheep, and camels. We can still do other things in the future."
"We can talk about other things later. We will be busy with the autumn harvest next. You two should take care of the work in the fields first. Use camels without calves to transport grain and grass. Take the female camel with calves as well. Don't let it work for now. Let it learn by following." Sui Yu said.
Gan Da and Gan Er should be good.
"Third sister-in-law, I'm going to steam the rice." Zhao Xiaomi shouted loudly from the western kitchen.
Zhao Xiping was about to come back, and Sui Yu took Sui Liang to the west kitchen.
The west kitchen was quite far from the livestock pen, at least ten feet away, and it took half a cup of tea to walk there. Not long after Sui Yu and Sui Liang entered the kitchen, they heard the sound of camels running outside. It was Zhao Xiping who had returned.
"I'm here, come and have dinner, I'm waiting for you." Sui Yu shouted.
It was warm in the kitchen, so the family took their dishes and sat in the dining room to eat. There were five sets of tables and chairs in each dining room. Yin Pozi, her mother and her son sat at one table, and Sui Yu's family of four sat at another table.
"Let's have my parents and brother and sister-in-law come here to celebrate the New Year this year. We have food and shelter here. The fire in the kitchen is always burning, and the warehouse next to the kitchen will probably be warm." Sui Yu drank a sip of chicken soup and continued, "Do you think you can go back in the next few days, or send a message back? These are the only days we have free time. Wait until I'm done here. The family can't do without you."
Zhao Xiping spat out the chicken bones and thought for a moment, "It would take ten days to go back and forth. It's not worth it. I'd better send a message back. I'll ask them to finish their farm work and come over. It's a good opportunity for them to help."
Sui Yu looked at Zhao Xiaomi and asked, "Do you want to go back?"
Zhao Xiaomi shook her head and said, "I'll wait for my parents to come over, and then I won't go back."
"My parents are here to help, and I'll pay them for their work." Sui Yu explained, "We've never helped my brother and his wife, and they haven't given us the worry of supporting my parents. I don't think it makes sense for them to work for me for free."
"My third sister-in-law has always been sensible." Zhao Xiaomi laughed.
Sui Yu laughed heartily and praised: "My sister-in-law has a clear vision and a bright mind."
Zhao Xiping glanced at him with disdain, then looked at Sui Liang and then silently looked away.
Sui Liang breathed a sigh of relief, he thought he would also give a compliment.
After dinner, Mrs. Yin cleaned the stove, Gan Da and Gan Er cooked for the pigs, and Sui Yu and his men continued to collect reed flowers to fill the mattress.
"Will there be business tomorrow?" Zhao Xiaomi worried.
"I'm planning to stay at Yumen Pass for a few days," Sui Yu told Zhao Xiping. "I'd rather stay there for a while. I'd hire someone reliable to follow the caravans through Yumen Pass and spread the word about a new guesthouse in Dunhuang."
"I'll go find Huang Ancheng tomorrow and have him tell the caravans entering the city." Zhao Xiping was worried about her leaving for several days, so he advised, "Except for those entering the pass between the end of October and mid-November, the caravans won't stay in Yumen Pass for long before then. They'll go east if they can. The more they go this year, the sooner they can return to Guanzhong in the spring."
"Then I will go to Yumen Pass again at the end of October," said Sui Yu.
Zhao Xiping did not stop them this time. When it snowed, the morning and evening training at the training ground would probably be stopped.
…
The next day, at the end of morning training, Zhao Xiping found Huang Ancheng. As soon as he opened his mouth, Huang Ancheng agreed without saying a word.
"My eldest brother and his family are coming over this year, but my house can't accommodate them. So I'll let the couple and their children live with you," said Huang Ancheng.
"Okay, when will you come over? I'll let Sui Yu keep a quiet room."
"I guess he won't come until the end of the year. I'm not sure. I received a letter last month saying that the grain production has decreased this year. Once the grain tax is paid, the remaining grain will not be enough to make a living. The implication is that he wants to come and take a look. He probably also wants to move to Dunhuang." Huang Ancheng sighed, "It's good to come. My parents died a long time ago, and I lived with my eldest brother and his wife for five or six years. Now that I'm established here, if they move over, we two brothers will have someone to look after us."
"That's true. Although you can't make money by farming here, it's hard to starve to death either," said Zhao Xiping.
"The imperial court's policies are still good. They have always taken care of the northwest." Huang Ancheng smiled. Seeing that it was getting late, he said, "No more chatting. I have to go on duty."
"Don't forget what I asked you to do."
"I can't forget you. Leave it to me."
Zhao Xiping rode his camel back and met Dongzi's father on the way, bringing him noodles. He looked at the camel and asked, "Did you buy this year?"
Dongzi's father scratched his head and said happily, "Thanks to you, I made some money in the past two years. I bought a camel. How is it? Isn't my camel nice?"
"Yes, feed it well, it can grow longer."
"The feeding has been good. Do you have anything else to do? You go first."
Zhao Xiping had nothing urgent to do, but there were still a lot of trivial matters at the guesthouse, so he couldn't walk leisurely. He patted the camel's back, and the camel strode away.
Sui Yu was preparing to go into the city. After filling the sixty reed mattresses, she planned to buy six more pieces of coarse cloth. In addition to cutting the sheets to size, she also needed to hire someone to sew quilt covers.
At the west gate, a group of merchants entered the city. Huang Ancheng led a group up the city wall and pointed to a large guesthouse in the wilderness. He said, "That guesthouse is newly built. It has warehouses for stock, livestock pens, and three meals a day. You should go and take a look. The conditions are much better than those in Minxiang."
The merchant was worried that the location was too remote, but the city guard spoke again, and he couldn't refuse, so he had to agree. After entering the city, he went north along the city wall.
"Brother, I went to ask around, and that guesthouse belongs to Captain Zhao in the army." A man ran over and said.
"If someone can make the city guard speak, then there must be someone behind this guesthouse. Well, let's go and take a look. If nothing works, we can rest for one night and leave the city tomorrow."
Sui Yu saw a caravan heading north halfway, so she gave up her plan to buy cloth and rode her camel back the same way.
When the caravan arrived, the twelve rooms in the first guesthouse had already been laid out with mattresses, the doors were wide open, and bright sunlight shone in, falling on the soft mattresses. The rooms were clean and comfortable.
Sui Yu led a group of merchants in and said, "One room can sleep five people. Of course, if you prefer to sleep on a couch by yourself, that's fine too. Booking a room also comes with a warehouse. Come in and take a look. The warehouse is bigger than the guesthouse and can easily accommodate the goods of five people."
The guesthouse and the warehouse are in the same yard, which makes the merchants satisfied. They can keep an eye on their own goods and sleep more peacefully.
"In addition to the guesthouse and warehouse, there is a livestock pen outside the east gate. The camels run around in the wilderness during the day and are locked in the pen at night. There are people guarding it at night, so you don't have to worry about anyone stealing the camels." Sui Yu continued to add.
"The city guard is not fooling us. The conditions here are better than those inside the city." The merchant walking in front nodded.
"It's just that the place is a little remote, but it's not a big problem. There are errand boys in the city. If you want to buy something but are too lazy to move, you can hire them to buy it and deliver it to you." Sui Yu continued.
"You guys..." The merchant didn't know how to describe it, so he could only say, "You guys are very thoughtful, better than other counties."
Sui Yu smiled and said, "It will develop in the future."
"There are 37 of us in total. We have booked this guesthouse. How much is the rent?" asked a merchant with an abacus hanging on his waist.
"One room a night is one hundred wen..."
"One hundred coins! Boss, you're asking a steep price."
"The room I'm talking about includes the guest room, the barn, and the livestock pen," Sui Yu explained. "If you don't want the barn and the livestock pen, you can also charge by the number of people. The dormitory room is eight cents per person, and the guest room alone is fifty cents."
"I misunderstood. If the warehouse and livestock pen are included, one hundred coins a night is fine. We can stay for three nights," said the man with the abacus.
Sui Yu handed over a bunch of fourteen keys and said, "The two large keys are for the east and west side doors, and the twelve small keys are for the barn door. The locks and keys are marked, so just check them when you open them. The west kitchen cooks three meals a day, and the meals are paid for separately. We haven't prepared fodder for the camels yet. You should know a fodder supplier who can arrange for someone to deliver it this way."
After everything was explained clearly, Sui Yu led the man with the abacus to the third guesthouse. The price for three nights' stay was thirty-six coins. After collecting the money, she took out two wooden plaques with two words written on each. She hung one on the wall and gave the other to the guest.
"Can you write?" the merchant looked at her.
"I can write a few words, but not many." Sui Yu smiled and said, "Return the key on the day you leave. During this period, we will not enter unless you let us in. Please keep your belongings safe and remember to lock the door when you go in and out."
The merchant nodded, and he left holding the wooden sign, and Sui Yu followed him out.
Merchants and escorts were busy unloading their goods. The unladen camels went to the river to drink water, one after another, and finally lined up in a row.
The sun gradually moved towards the top of the head, and smoke rose from the west kitchen. No buns were prepared today, only soup noodles and flatbreads. Sui Yu went in and took over the job of frying the stuffing.
"Where is my third brother? He should be the one kneading the dough; he's very strong," said Zhao Xiaomi.
"I asked him to go to the city to buy cloth. Today, I asked Dongzi's mother to find someone to speed up the work and sew twelve quilt covers for me before dark." Sui Yu heard footsteps outside the door. She put down the shovel and walked out. There were two merchants standing in the yard looking at them.
"What's for lunch?" asked the tall man.
"We have flatbreads and braised noodles in soup, and we can also have cold noodles at noon."
"No meat?" asked the merchant.
"Yes, if you want to eat it, I will ask someone to buy it. What kind of meat do you want? Pork or chicken?" Sui Yu asked.
"I want to stew two chickens in the evening, stew tofu inside the chicken, and have a pot of white rice."
Sui Yu agreed readily, as she would make money if she could get involved in something meaty.
At noon, thirty-seven people came to eat. They had big appetites, and each person could eat a plate of cold noodles, a bowl of braised soup noodles, and a plate of steamed dumplings. The meal that Sui Yu prepared in a hurry was sold out in an instant, and he charged another fifteen cents.
On the first day of opening, Sui Yu was quite satisfied with the income.
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