Chapter 215 Huge Profits
The five wolves were exchanged for three sheepskins and a woolen blanket three feet long and two feet wide. Gan Da and Gan Er handed the items to Sui Yu and said, "I don't know if I lost money selling them."
Sui Yu unfolded the wool blanket. The weaving texture was rough and it was black and white, but the pattern was bright and had an exotic style. He could easily sell it if he took it back to Dunhuang or sent it to Chang'an.
"It should be worth it." Sui Yu folded up the wool blanket and said, "Let's go around first and ask people where Yan Qu is. We'll settle down and have a good rest today."
"Yanqu" is the name of the alley where merchants stayed in Loulan, equivalent to the Minxiang in Dunhuang. It is said that most of the people living there were Han Chinese, sharing similar dietary and living habits. Besides being convenient for living, Yanqu people could also be hired to serve as interpreters.
The sun was shining brightly, and workers were coming out from the high loess walls one after another. A girl herding sheep came out of the narrow alley with light steps, and the crisp sound of bells came from the whip she was holding. She looked up suddenly, and saw a pair of lake green eyes lying on her white face. Her long brown hair was wrapped in a light green headscarf. She had a very impactful appearance, but the coarse cloth long coat and thick trousers on her body made Sui Yu feel a sense of familiarity. The clothing of the Central Plains had entered the lives of the people outside the Great Wall.
The flock of sheep jumped out. In order not to block the way, Sui Yu signaled the caravan to retreat and let the sheep go first.
The girl herding sheep stared at the people in the caravan again and again. Sui Yu, Song Xian and the maids were petite, much thinner and shorter than Gan Da and Gan Er. The difference was even more obvious in front of the Loulan people with large skeletons. Therefore, although they dressed like men, they could not hide their identity as women.
"Han merchant caravan?" The girl herding sheep uttered a few words with a strange accent.
Sui Yu nodded and asked, "Do you know which direction Yan Qu is?"
"Wait a minute."
The girl, like the wind, rushed back into the narrow alley and slipped back into the high wall. A moment later, she dragged a shorter boy out. The brother and sister muttered a few words in Loulan dialect. The brother chased the sheep with a whip, while the sister approached the caravan.
"I'll lead the way. Here, give it to me." The shepherd girl pointed to a clay basin carried by the camel.
Sui Yu thought about it and nodded in agreement.
The girl smiled when she heard that. She walked in front and waved to the caravan to follow.
Loulan's walls were massive, half a arm's length thick. Doorways carved directly into the walls, peeked through them, and the darkness seemed to shroud the inner world, perhaps hiding its winding paths. The alleyways of the outer city were similar, with dwellings scattered like a maze, and vendors setting up stalls scattered through the alleyways. Sui Yu was surprised to discover that textile technology from the Central Plains had also trickled down to the area. Loulan women were weaving woolen blankets with spindles, and young children were equally busy, twisting the wool into ropes.
Seeing a caravan approaching, vendors along the way began to display their own wool blankets, large and small, pure white, pure black, black and white, or gold and red with animal patterns... They were dazzling and colorful, making people dazzled.
These people could speak Chinese to some extent. Zhang Shun asked the prices at each stall and wrote them down for comparison.
A city wall appeared in front of them. The girl herding sheep looked around, then quickly walked into a doorway and disappeared.
Sui Yu and Song Xian exchanged a glance, and the others also became alert. Just as Sui Yu was hesitating to leave, the girl herding sheep came out with a woman of Han appearance.
"This is the first caravan arriving this year. They look unfamiliar. Have they never been to Shanshan before?" the woman asked.
Sui Yu noticed that when the woman mentioned Shanshan Kingdom, the sheepherder girl looked a little unhappy. Loulan was renamed Shanshan after it surrendered to the Han Dynasty. It seems that the local people are still a little dissatisfied.
"Yes, this is my first time in Shanshan. I heard from Qin Wenshan, the head of the Qin family, and Wei Chuanshu, the head of the Wei family, that if you pass through Shanshan, you must stay in Yanqu. So we came here this time." Sui Yu said.
Zhang Shun took a clay basin from the camel's back and handed it to the girl herding sheep as promised.
A smile appeared on the girl's face. She weighed the pottery basin and checked it carefully inside and out. There was indeed no crack. She walked away happily with the basin on her shoulder.
Sui Yu led the caravan into the doorway. The woman saw that she seemed familiar with several caravans and asked what the relationship between Sui Yu and those caravans was.
"I've opened several guesthouses in Dunhuang, and most of the caravans traveling east and west have stayed at my place in recent years." Sui Yu smiled and said, "We're still traveling together."
The woman understood now and said, "I have two caravans staying here. I don't know if you recognize them. One just left this morning. I'll pack up and then you can move in. By the way, how long will you be staying?"
"Ten days at most."
As he was speaking, he passed through three doorways, the dim light faded away, and a sun-drenched alley came into view. On both sides of the alley were connected houses, with low doors and mottled earthen walls, all in a yellowish earth color. Only the grape vines planted in front of the doors had a hint of green.
"Sister Lian, another caravan is coming?" A man came out from the doorway.
Sui Yu was surprised to see someone and exclaimed, "Master Qin?"
"Shopkeeper Yu?" Qin Wenshan was even more surprised than her. "You...why are you here?"
The people in the room came out when they heard the noise. They were all familiar faces. Sui Yu asked others to unload the goods while she went over to talk.
"After you left Dunhuang at the end of February last year, a month later, I entered the customs with Mr. Song. I went to Chang'an and Taiyuan to buy some goods. I will go out of the customs this year." Sui Yu explained briefly.
The woman stood by and watched. Seeing that Sui Yuzhen knew Qin Wenshan, the caravan owner, she said truthfully, "Since you are acquaintances, you should pay the same price as them, two cents per room per night."
The rent was more expensive than in Zhongyuan, but Sui Yu didn't dare to object. She glanced at Song Xian, and Song Xian went to arrange accommodation.
"Can the copper coins from the Central Plains be used here?" Sui Yu asked.
"Yes, people here can use copper coins to buy the goods we have." Qin Wenshan explained.
"Then what do the locals here use to buy things? Barter?" Sui Yu asked.
"They have their own coins, shell coins, horse coins, and coins from other countries." Qin Wenshan was happy to answer her questions, and then said, "Loulan is like Dunhuang. Merchants and diplomatic missions traveling east and west had to pass through here. There were many people, many different currencies, and even different languages."
"We followed two caravans here. Before entering Loulan, they warned us that the people of Loulan were difficult to get along with and asked us to have less contact with the locals." Sui Yu said in a low voice.
Qin Wenshan nodded and said, "The more people there are, the more conflicts there are. Just do business and don't have too much contact with the people here."
Sui Yu understood, and she asked when Qin Wenshan's caravan would leave.
"Five more days, after we get the wool blankets, we'll leave."
Sui Yu waved to Zhang Shun, "Bring me a jar of wine."
"This is the mulberry wine we bought in Taiyuan County last year. You've been wandering outside the Great Wall for a year, so you should try the flavors of home." Sui Yuyan smiled and said, "Can you take us to pick up the goods for you in five days?"
Qin Wenshan lowered his eyes and looked at the wine jar without saying a word.
Sui Yu suddenly had an idea and proposed another exchange: "This winter I will compile your personal biography. Next year when I enter Chang'an, I will buy two bamboo slips and copy the personal biography onto them. The next time you stay at Changgui Guesthouse, I will give it to you."
Qin Wenshan readily agreed.
Now that the matter was settled, Sui Yu felt relieved. With an acquaintance leading the way, her life in Loulan would be much easier, and she wouldn't have to cross the river by feeling the stones.
The mattress in the room was made straight, Xiao Chunhong had cooked the meal, and Sui Yu took a bowl of pickled cabbage dumpling soup and sat against the wall, sipping it in small sips.
After having food in their stomachs, the group went back to the house to sleep.
I slept until the evening and woke up to prepare dinner.
Qin Wenshan received a jar of mulberry wine from Sui Yu, and he returned it with two lamb legs. Dinner was stewed lamb legs and rolled into noodles. After the lamb legs were cooked, the noodles were cooked in the lamb soup.
Sui Yu roasted the short blade she carried with her on the fire, then used it to cut the lamb leg meat and put a layer of lamb on the soup noodles. This was the first full meal she had after leaving the retreat.
After sleeping for most of the day, the master and servant, exhausted both physically and mentally, still couldn't recover. After dinner, the male servant went to feed the camels, and Sui Yu took the rest of the people for a walk in the alley to understand the general situation and then went back to sleep.
The next day, Qin Wenshan assigned a tribesman to take Sui Yu to sell goods. The mulberry wine from Chang'an was loved by the nobles of Loulan. A jar of wine could be exchanged for five tanned sheepskins or a colorful blanket.
Sui Yu vividly remembered encountering heavy snow while crossing Hongchiling Mountain on her way to exile. She bought a tanned sheepskin from a merchant for 200 coins, while in Dunhuang, even a small live sheep cost only 200 coins. In ancient times, with transportation difficult, the high cost of goods was due to the difference in transportation costs. The Loulan people lived on herding, so sheepskin was cheap. The people of Taiyuan County cultivated mulberry and hemp, so mulberry wine was cheap.
Sui Yu chose to exchange ten jars of mulberry wine for fifty sheepskins, and another five jars of mulberry wine for five colorful wool blankets.
The wool blanket was six feet long and three feet wide, the kind suitable for the floor coverings of the rich and powerful. Sui Yu chose a blanket with a predominantly dark blue color, interwoven with white and black threads. This kind of blanket would be discreet under the bed and would suit the interior of most houses.
After selling fifteen jars of mulberry wine, Sui Yu still had twenty-three jars in her hands. She was not in a hurry to sell them because she still had three or four small countries to visit in the future.
Coarse cloth was more popular with the common people. Sui Yu bought a piece of coarse cloth for 120 coins, and after it was shipped thousands of miles away, she would sell it for 500 coins. The common people had no money, but they had sheep, and with sheep came wool. Sui Yu would trade coarse cloth for woolen ropes and their own woolen blankets.
The wool blankets woven by ordinary people themselves are rough in texture, have a strong sense of fuzz, and are monotonous in color, mostly black and white. Sui Yu exchanges coarse cloth for wool blankets at a ratio of two to one.
At the end of the day's trading, Sui Yu had five bundles of wool blankets and five bundles of sheepskins, but ten bolts of coarse cloth were missing. The satin, silk, and raw silk remained untouched. She had inquired with Qin Wenshan's clansmen about the price of wool blankets in Chang'an. A foot-long blanket fetched thirty coins, and a bolt of cloth could be exchanged for sixteen feet of blankets. This meant that her bolt of coarse cloth had gained three hundred and sixty coins in value just from the trip.
The profit from ten pieces of cloth was three thousand six hundred coins, and the profit from the sheepskin and fine blankets exchanged for fifteen jars of mulberry wine was at least thirteen thousand coins. Sui Yu was so excited that he bit his fingers. The profit from trading was really huge and it was worth so many people taking risks.
On the way back, he met the shepherd girl from yesterday again. She was herding a flock of sheep. Sui Yu waved to her and wanted to buy a sheep from her.
"What do you want to exchange with me?" the shepherd girl asked in broken Chinese.
Sui Yu still had some money with her, so she used 180 coins to buy a big ram, which she slaughtered and cooked right away, stewing the mutton before it got cold.
It was dark. Sui Yu sat by the fire and used a wool rope to string a red wool blanket. She bought this red wool blanket in Yanqu Alley. The red and white blanket was particularly eye-catching. What she liked most was that there was a puppy with bright eyes on the blanket. She planned to use this blanket to sew a shoulder bag and ask Qin Wenshan to take it back for her cub.
Thinking of this, Sui Yu couldn't help but smile.
"Uncle, it's not moving." The kid lay on the table, staring intently at the eight little silkworms on the green leaves. He poked them with his finger and said nervously, "It's not moving."
"Dead." Sui Liang glanced at him and asked, "How did you kill yourself again?"
The cub said nothing.
Sui Liang ignored him and went out to pick mulberry leaves with his silkworm box.
"Uncle——" the kid shouted.
"It's no use calling me. If they're dead, they're dead. Throw these silkworms away. Just keep them covered. More baby silkworms will hatch tomorrow." Sui Liang quickened his pace.
The cub went to chase him, and Sui Liang immediately shouted: "Don't even think about taking my share. How many times have you killed it? You are trying to take my money and kill it."
"Uncle..." the cub cried. He chased to the mulberry tree and begged, "Give me two or five big silkworms."
"No." Sui Liang refused sternly.
"I'll trade with you."
The boy had killed more than sixty silkworms. He himself didn't know how they were killed, but everyone else knew it clearly. He was too heavy-handed and either crushed them to death or injured them.
Sui Liang didn't want to, so he just kept quiet and ignored her.
The kid called out "Uncle" again, hugging Sui Liang's thighs and pretending to cry.
When Zhao Xiping saw this, he quietly took a detour to avoid him and hid in the livestock pen to talk to Uncle Niu.
After a while, the little cub ran to A Shui happily holding a silkworm box containing three big silkworms.
"Aunt, this is a gift from my uncle to my son." The little boy came to Ah Shui with a shameless face and begged, staring at her silkworm box eagerly.
A Shui turned a deaf ear to it.
"Auntie——" the kid called out sweetly again.
Ah Shui sighed deeply. She picked three silkworms for him and said, "Don't call me aunt from now on."
"Auntie, give me two more."
"No way, get lost."
After being kicked out, Xiaozai went to look for Huaniu, Aqiang and Dazhuang. He had almost plucked all the silkworms from these three people, and their faces fell when they heard his footsteps.
There was a silkworm on every mulberry leaf in the silkworm box, and the little one returned to the house contentedly.
"You can't secretly give your silkworms special treatment from now on. They'll all die of starvation." Sui Liang couldn't bear to see these silkworms die again, so he snatched Xiaozai's silkworm box and said, "Put it together with mine. From now on, you and I will help change the mulberry leaves for the silkworms. You pick the leaves and I'll change them."
The kid was unwilling, so Sui Liang pulled out his trump card: "I want to wear a bellyband. Give me two of the bellybands your mother made for you. I can sew the two together so that I can wear them."
The kid was snorting and he stood there motionless.
Sui Liang snorted and walked away with the silkworm box in one hand.
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