Chapter 137 A Lot of Debt
On the second day of the guesthouse's thatching, Sui Yu roughly counted the money in the money box. She had taken in about fifty coins that morning. She called Sui Liang and said, "Dongzi's father will bring over the noodles later. After weighing them, you go and pay the bill. Also, pay Sister Lamei and Aunt Sun for the noodles, vegetables, and eggs. If there's any left, you can use it to buy half a basin of tofu. I'll go check over at the guesthouse and I'll probably be back before noon."
Sui Liang nodded.
Sui Yu took off her apron and walked out. Seeing Ah Shui running around the yard with a shuttlecock, she warned him, "Ah Shui, you can't go out."
Ah Shui responded crisply.
"Don't worry, Third Sister-in-law. I'll keep an eye on her. She won't get lost." Zhao Xiaomi came in from outside and whispered closer, "Several families in the alley have agreed to go west together. I guess they're going to see our inn."
Sui Yu also went out and walked west, then walked north out of the alley and out of the city. Sure enough, she saw a group of seven or eight people she knew. She saw them, and they also saw her.
The person walking in front slowed down his pace. When Sui Yu caught up, the old bald man explained, "I heard that your second guesthouse is about to be completed. We came to take a look and see if there is anything else we can add to our alley."
Sui Yu kept walking and said with a smile: "Then let's go together. I haven't been here for a long time. Let's go and take a look together. You can give me some suggestions."
This group of people smiled but didn't say anything
After walking for another cup of tea, you can see people squatting on the roof. The soldiers who are building the house are standing on the beams and laying straw. They are pressing the straw with one hand and tying the rope with the other. There are no restraining ropes tied around their bodies, but they are walking briskly on the beams.
"Captain Zhao has to be very capable to call together so many soldiers, all of whom are strong and nimble. If it were people like us, we wouldn't be able to complete such a large house even in two months." The bald old man sighed.
Sui Yu didn't respond. She took two more steps. She realized the meaning behind his words and couldn't help but tilt her head and ask, "Are you planning to build another guesthouse, too, uncle?"
"Not really. It would cost a lot of money, right?" asked the bald old man.
Sui Yu nodded and said frankly: "The money I have is gone."
The people traveling with me didn't quite believe it.
"I would like to tidy up my house. The courtyard wall is old and the grass on the roof is dirty and infested with insects. When I built the wall to separate the rooms before, I thought I could make do with it, but now I can't do that." The bald old man looked at the new house in front of him. Compared with the guest room in his place, the other one was for people to live in, while his was for livestock to live in.
"But I'll wait a little longer. If you take away our business, I won't have to bother with this anymore." The old bald man said with a hint of sarcasm.
"You think too highly of me." Sui Yu lowered her head and smiled. She didn't say anything to comfort him. She said, "You guys can look around. I'll go see if Zhao Xiping is here."
Zhao Xiping came over half an hour ago. He had just finished discussing the credit issue with Uncle Lao Niu. When he saw Sui Yu, he raised his hand and motioned her to come over.
"There's a lot of grass and dust from the roof, so don't go in," he said.
Sui Yu stood beside him with his arms folded, looked around, and said, "Next spring, let's dig up some trees from the sand hill and transplant them here. This place is too empty and looks a bit desolate."
Zhao Xiping nodded, holding a string of coins in his hand, and said, "We can also raise a flock of chickens. The land is wide, there are insects in the soil, and there is grass. We don't need to feed them much."
Speaking of grass, Sui Yu suddenly realized something. She grabbed his hand and said excitedly, "You're so stupid! I forgot to spread more goldenrod seeds on the wasteland this spring. Now that winter is coming, there won't be enough hay."
"I'm planting soybeans on my twenty acres of land this year. You can go and pull up the bean stalks during the autumn harvest." Uncle Lao Niu said.
"Are you farming this year?" Zhao Xiping was surprised. In previous years, he had eaten the seeds he received as his own food.
"I asked the village chief to send people to help me plow the land, and then sow the bean seeds. He will arrange people to harvest in the autumn." Uncle Niu straightened his slightly hunched back and said, "Now it's not about one person eating enough to feed the whole family. The old village chief came to my house and threatened me that if I don't farm, I won't get any food. I had no choice but to give in."
Seeing his aggrieved face, Sui Yu wanted to laugh.
The group that came with Sui Yu walked around twice and left. Zhao Xiping shook the money chain and said, "Let's go. We'll go there right away."
Walking into the second courtyard, Uncle Niu called out, "It's getting hot, come down and take a rest. The cold porridge has been delivered. Come down and have a bowl to quench your thirst."
The person who was handing over the grass put down the bundle, the person who was tamping the earth put down the wooden hammer, the person who was shoveling the mud put down the shovel, and waited for the person on the roof to come down. The person holding the wooden ladder also came over.
Gan Da and Gan Erhe came over carrying a clay pot, and Yin Pozi carried a basket of black clay bowls. The pottery pot fell to the ground, and she pulled away the carrying pole. She scooped up the cold porridge with a spoon and handed it to the person who came over.
Zhao Xiping went with Uncle Niu to distribute the wages. After receiving the wages, someone asked, "Sir, are we going to build the third guesthouse?"
"I would like to build it." said Zhao Xiping.
"Whether he builds it or not is not up to him. It depends on whether you are willing to do it." Uncle Niu said, "He has used up all his family savings building the house. He told me the other day that he would stop construction after the second guesthouse was completed and resume construction when he saved up enough money. But I thought that after the autumn harvest, the weather will be cold, and the ground will freeze after the snow. Construction will not start until February or March of next year. I am thinking, why don't we continue building houses for him? If we keep working for another month or two, we can at least build a fourth guesthouse. When autumn comes and merchants move in, he will pay us at the end of the year. After all, he has such a big house here, he can't refuse to pay us. If he dares to do so, I, this old man, will come with a shovel and tear down the house and the walls."
When it comes to money, everyone is cautious. Uncle Niu and the ten or so people Qin Dashun found were not worried that Zhao Xiping would withhold wages. However, the military households under Zhao Xiping's command were concerned. After all, he was their superior. If he really didn't pay their wages, they would have no way to deal with him.
"Sure, I'm idle anyway, so I might as well work for another two months. I'll get a little over two hundred yuan at the end of the year and buy a new sheepskin coat for everyone in my family." A man raised his head and drank the cold porridge. He said, "Just because Captain Zhao and his wife didn't treat us badly with food, I know they're not such low-class people."
As soon as this was said, many people agreed.
Zhao Xiping raised his hand to suppress it, saying loudly, "Those of you whose families are short of money shouldn't force yourself. You work for me for the money. If you can't get paid here, you can go earn money elsewhere. Don't force yourself out of respect and make your family suffer. Let me be clear, I won't bear a grudge against you for not wanting to stay, and I certainly won't abuse my power to bully others. You can rest assured about this."
"My mother is sick and relies on medicine every day to survive. I come out to do this hard work just to earn money for her medicine." A man in his forties stood up and said, "If I don't get paid tomorrow, I won't come tomorrow and will find other work."
Zhao Xiping nodded and said, "I remember you. Were you brought here by Captain Ye? There was someone else with you."
"It's me." Another man raised his hand.
"Are you coming tomorrow? If you do, I'll give you his wages tomorrow and you can take them to him." Zhao Xiping looked at the middle-aged man and said, "Go find another job tomorrow. If you can't find a suitable one, come back to me and I'll help you find one."
"I'll come back tomorrow," the other man said. "Uncle An, I'll bring you my wages tomorrow."
Zhao Xiping gave Uncle Niu a look, and Uncle Niu asked, "Have you thought it through? Those who are willing to come tomorrow, please raise your hands and I'll nod. If there aren't enough people, then forget it."
One hand after another was raised. Sui Yu stood aside and watched. She counted silently. There were thirty-two people... Two more people raised their hands, making it thirty-four.
"Okay, thirty-four people, come back tomorrow as usual." said Uncle Niu.
The matter was settled, and the sun was already high in the sky. Sui Yu didn't stay any longer. She and Zhao Xiping walked back, and Yin Pozi also went with them. The three of them parted at a fork in the road, and Yin Pozi went back to cook for the helpers.
Zhao Xiping helped out in the food store. After the busiest time, he would eat a plate of cold noodles to fill his stomach, then go home, get his bow and arrow, and go out hunting.
Seven days later, ten strings of copper coins were piled up in the money box again. Zhao Xiping took ten strings of money and went to find a carpenter to pay a deposit first. He took the carpenter to the guest house to measure the dimensions of the west kitchen courtyard door, the east and west side doors of the guest house, as well as the stove door, warehouse door, and guest house door. He asked the carpenter to find more people to make them for him as soon as possible.
At the beginning of July, Sui Yu used the 1,500 coins she had saved to buy six bolts of coarse cloth. One bolt could be cut into twenty quilt covers, which could make ten double-layer mattresses. She led her camel back to the military settlement. Because Dong Zi Niang was a fiery and outspoken woman, she gave her the six bolts of cloth and asked her to find someone to make her sixty mattresses.
"I'll pay you thirty cents for each mattress. I won't provide needlework, so please keep an eye on the stitches." Sui Yu said, "I don't want any scraps of cloth either. Please distribute them to the needlework staff."
Dongzi's mother nodded and said, "Okay, I'll take care of it. Is it urgent for you? If not, I'll send it to you in ten days."
"Then send it to me in ten days." Sui Yu had no objection.
At the same time, the builders stopped working on the walls, and a group of people moved to the guest house that was built first to build a mud couch. The couch was the same length as the wall and seven feet wide, and could accommodate four or five people lying horizontally.
By mid-July, the carpenter had doors and windows brought in. It took three days to install wooden doors in the western kitchen, guest house, and livestock pen.
Most of the money saved in the past half month went into the hands of the carpenter, used to pay for the doors and windows, and the remaining money was used as a deposit, and the carpenter continued to make tables, chairs and benches for him.
After building the mud couches, they constructed the stoves and finally sealed the roof of the sixth guest house. The soldiers, who had toiled for three months, packed up their tools and left.
The baskets for carrying mud and grass were in such tatters that Zhao Xiping would have thrown them away in the past. But now he was poor, so he piled them up in the guest house that had not been cleaned yet, to use them for carrying manure or mud in the future.
Ten days passed in a flash. The thousand coins I had just warmed up were gone after a walk on the street. I bought six more clay pots and twenty-five copper locks. I saw someone selling reed catkins on the road, but unfortunately I had no money in my pocket.
"Old Baldy is urging us to move out. We can only do business for another half a month at most. We have to move out by the end of the month," said Sui Yu.
"I don't need much anymore. I just haven't bought enough copper locks and haven't stuffed my mattress with reed fluff." Zhao Xiping sighed and said, "I'm leaving the city tomorrow. I'll take Gan Da and Gan Er with me and go farther to look for reed fluff."
"The carpenter hasn't been paid yet, right?" Sui Yu asked, "How much is still owed?"
"Not much, just over seventy coins."
Sui Yu wanted to laugh. Now he was not worried about having too many debts, and he was not afraid of having too many lice.
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