Chapter 150 Camel Business
The Song family's fortune began with Song Xian's grandfather, who traded horses during times of war, traveling between the Xiongnu and the Han. By her father's generation, the Xiongnu had been driven away, and the imperial court had begun stockpiling military horses in the northwestern pastures. The Song family's horse trading business plummeted, leaving them unable to sell their horses. Later, problems with the pastures caused the horses to fall ill or die. By Song Xian's generation, the business had completely collapsed. After Song Xian took over the family, she sold nearly all of her horses, buying camels and hiring a man to support the family. She then kept a low profile year after year.
"As a woman, I can't compare to a man in strength. Plus, An Cheng can't help me with business, so I had to give up the idea of going to the desert to herd camels. Ten years ago, I bought fifty camels. Over the years, the female camels gave birth, the camels grew up, and slowly we had a large herd." Song Xian said slowly, "Ten years is too long. The acquaintances my father made have either died or are old. They can no longer speak to me or help me. The merchants in the East Market have long been replaced by new ones. Now I want to do the camel business, but I can no longer get involved."
Sui Yu probably understood what was going on, so she nodded and motioned for her to continue.
"So I'd like to borrow Sister Yu's help. The inns north of the city are always busy, and merchants traveling east and west rely on camels for transportation. I'd like to connect with these people and sell them my domesticated camels." Song Xian leaned forward and said sincerely, "I'm a woman, and my ancestors' reputation is long forgotten. If I were to approach merchants rashly, they wouldn't trust me. How about Sister Yu act as a middleman for me? I'll give you a 10% share of the profits from every successful deal."
Sui Yu was full of thoughts. She thought that Song Xian asked her to be the middleman just to ask her to act as a guarantor. Song Xian had no reputation in the camel trade and the merchants did not dare to trust her, but the inn was located in the north of the city and could not escape. If something happened to the camel they bought, the merchants could come to the inn to seek an explanation.
Song Xian didn't urge her. She picked up the kettle and poured a glass of water for Sui Yu. She also picked up the cup and took a sip of water to moisten her throat.
"If I agree, I'll have to offend people on your behalf." Sui Yu twisted the slightly hot water cup and said, "Even if Zhao Xiping is a thousand households, he can't stop people from causing trouble openly or covertly by snatching customers from camel traders."
"I'll give you fifty coins for selling a camel." Song Xian made a ruthless concession.
"Do you know Lao Wan? He has a younger uncle named Wan Xingshan?" Sui Yu looked at Zhao Xiping and asked, "Is that his name?"
"Yes, I know them, uncle and nephew." Song Xian said, "Sister Yu knows them too?"
"We've dealt with them before." Sui Yu was a little afraid of trouble. She asked hesitantly, "How many camels do you have? I can help you sell your camels to them."
Song Xian shook her head without hesitation and said, "I'm partnering with Sister Yu in business not to sell camels for money, but mainly to establish myself and gain a reputation, and to secure a steady customer base for long-term business." She pointed to her son sitting beside her and said, "In five or six years, Song Congzu will be able to leave home and take over our family business. I'm paving the way for him."
Sui Yu understood that Song Xian wanted to restore the reputation of her ancestors.
"How many camels do you have?" she asked.
"There are 327 adult camels and 70 camels of all sizes. In two or three months, the female camels will give birth again." Song Xian explained.
Sui Yu was shocked, "What a rich family and business."
Song Xian smiled proudly.
Sui Yu was willing to agree. On the one hand, she wanted to make friends with this person. Song Xian was ambitious, stable, and had a long-term vision. She believed that making friends with such a capable woman would bring more benefits than disadvantages. On the other hand, she wanted to make money. By selling dozens or even hundreds of camels, she could buy back a dozen or so, thus establishing her camel caravan.
"Can I give you an answer tomorrow? I'll come again tomorrow and you can take me to see your herd of camels." Sui Yu said.
Song Xian readily agreed.
The meal was almost over and it was late at night, so Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping left the Song family.
"Did Huang Ancheng say anything to you?" Sui Yu asked.
"No, I think he seemed quite shocked. He probably didn't know what his wife was up to." Zhao Xiping sighed and said, "It seems that life as a son-in-law is not easy."
"You don't know his situation?" Sui Yu was surprised.
Zhao Xiping shook his head. He really didn't know. He and Huang Ancheng had only dealt with each other on the battlefield. After the war, the two had almost no contact. They only met when he left the city.
"If you hadn't set up a stall selling buns at the West City Gate, I wouldn't have spoken a word to him for a whole year," said Zhao Xiping.
There was no one on the street anymore. The sounds of their walking and talking attracted the barking of dogs. Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping suppressed their words and quickened their pace to walk back.
I rang the doorbell and Sui Liang ran to open the door.
"Have you had dinner?" Sui Yu asked.
"We ate. We cooked two bowls of soup noodles." Sui Liang followed him in and asked, "Where have you been?"
"Someone's inviting us to dinner." Sui Yu pushed the door open and walked into the room, saying, "We're going to sleep, you should go back to your room and sleep too."
"There is hot water in the pottery pot, and it's very hot." Sui Liang explained.
Zhao Xiping took a basin to fetch water and found sparks in the stove. He brought the water in and said, "Sui Liang hasn't slept yet. I guess he went to boil water after a while. The fire in the stove is still burning."
"My brother has always been considerate. He is a careful child." Sui Yu said happily.
Zhao Xiping agreed, Sui Liang had no selfish motives towards Sui Yu.
"What do you think of what happened tonight?" Sui Yu knew clearly that if he cooperated with Song Xian, he would have to rely on Zhao Xiping as his backer in the future when he got involved in the competition for profits between camel dealers like Wan Xingshan.
Zhao Xiping snorted and laughed. He didn't understand her yet. The fact that she didn't refuse him tonight showed that she was moved. What did his opinion matter?
Water was poured into the yard, and the wooden basin was leaning against the wall. Zhao Xiping went into the house, closed the door, sat on the bed and said, "I think this money is not easy to make. The merchants are all regular customers of the camel dealers. If the camels are of similar quality and price, they prefer to buy from acquaintances."
"Now that you put it that way, I'm not worried anymore. I was worried that all the merchants would buy camels from us, which would offend all the camel dealers in the city." Sui Yu smiled. "I was also worried that they would cause trouble for our inn. If that affected our business, it would be more trouble than it's worth."
"Do you think buying a camel is like buying eggs? A camel dealer needs to have a good reputation. If it were as easy as selling buns, would she still ask you for help?" Zhao Xiping nudged her and said, "You might as well give it a try. It's a profitable business anyway."
The next day, Sui Yu went to the Song family in Dinghu Lane alone again. Huang Ancheng was on duty and Song Xian was home alone.
After a few pleasantries, Song Xian took Sui Yu out. They rode camels out of the west city gate and headed southwest. Near Yangguan, Sui Yu saw a herd of camels walking in the desert.
"When merchants head west and enter the desert, camels search for food and water. I raise them in the desert. Although I've never traveled far, I've seen them. This way, merchants won't end up buying a burden." Song Xian led Sui Yu into the camel herd and said, "Don't worry, the male camels in heat are tied up. They won't come out and hurt anyone."
Sui Yu noticed that there were many people guarding the camels, and it must be very difficult to guard three or four hundred camels.
After a walk in the desert and seeing these strong, docile yet alert camels, Sui Yu put aside his worries and agreed to cooperate with Song Xian.
"Aside from my guesthouse and Captain Zhao's reputation as a guarantor, we don't have much of an advantage over other camel traders." Sui Yu began to plan for future business. She climbed a sand dune, looked at the constantly moving herd of camels, and asked, "If a camel gets sick, do you have a veterinarian here to treat it?"
Song Xian nodded.
"How about this? We promise our customers that if they buy camels from us and pass through Dunhuang every year, we'll provide free medical treatment for them." Sui Yu looked at Song Xian and said, "My family also raises camels. If they're well cared for, camels rarely get sick. If they do get sick, they're usually minor ailments like hoof rot, eye rot, or skin sores. These shouldn't cost much."
Song Xian agreed.
After coming down from the sand dunes, the two men rode camels back to the city. After returning to the city, they finalized some words and Sui Yu returned to the guesthouse in the north of the city.
In the afternoon, Sui Yu went back to the city to find Song Xian, borrowed a servant from her who could castrate eggs, and castrated all five little piglets born by Xiao Hei.
Two days later, the five little pigs were still lively and energetic. Sui Yu felt relieved and put the matter aside. She asked Zhao Xiping to hire someone to build a mud couch.
Twenty soldiers came to dig the earth and mix the mud on the second day of the second month. They mixed the mud with broken grass residue from under the haystack. When the mud was formed, they started to build the couch.
The weather in February was still cold, and it would even freeze at night. In order to prevent the mud couch from freezing and cracking, Sui Yu asked Gan Da, Gan Er, and Lao Niu Shu to light a brazier after dark. When the temperature in the house rose, they would close the doors and windows, add firewood in the middle of the night, and remove the brazier when the sun came out.
Ten days later, the mud couches in the three-story guesthouse were built. Sui Yu paid the twenty garrison soldiers eight hundred coins in wages, and she used the remaining money to go to the cloth shop and buy five pieces of coarse cloth.
Now I don’t have much money left.
While Yin Po was taking two female helpers and two official slaves to cut cloth and sew bedspreads, Sui Yu took Sui Liang and Zhao Xiaomi out of the city to hunt. Occasionally, when Zhao Xiping was free, he would also go out of the city with them. Every time the four of them brought back prey, they would go to the street to exchange it for reed fluff and cattail fluff.
After working hard for half a month, the newly made mattress became plump. It was placed in the sun to dry and then spread on the mud couch.
In early March, the sound of camel bells could be heard again in Dunhuang City.
Sui Yu was cheered up and business came.
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