Chapter 13: Counting Money Under the Lamp: One person counts from the beginning, the other counts from the end...
"A-choo!" The spicy particles entered her nostrils. Liu Yeshu turned her head and sneezed, wiped it with the linen clothes on her elbow, and continued to work.
Father and younger brother helped to transport and move the ingredients. Afraid that his father would not have enough energy to go to the fields tomorrow, Liu Di asked his father to go back first. He worked all night and now went into the house to sleep.
Liu Yeshu dozed off for a moment, then woke up when she heard the door close. By the time she finished chopping, pickling, and sealing the jars, it was already noon the next day.
She was already completely busy and excited. She washed her hands and went next door to get food to bring to her father.
"Mom, I'm going to take the meal to Dad now—"
After calling a few times but no one opened the door, Liu Yeling came out from behind, rubbing her eyes and saying, "Mom should have gone to see her off. Sister, you should get some sleep too. I'll be able to feed the chickens and camels when I wake up."
Liu Yeshu returned to her bed and slept until the cockcrowed the next day.
On the small path in the field, a few sparrows were chirping and jumping. When they lowered their heads to peck at food, they heard footsteps and flapped their wings and flew away. The snow on the top of the Qilian Mountains never melted all year round, and from a distance it looked like a layer of silver gauze. A week passed in a flash, and the kimchi fermented over time, and could be delivered to the Hu merchants tomorrow.
The oxen had already plowed the fields nearly completely. Every day, Liu's father would lead the oxen past Zhao Chunfang's field, and Zhao Chunfang would stare at him with rage. They'd ask Manager Li to borrow an ox, but Manager Li would always say he'd ask. When they went back, he'd always say he didn't have any. After the last house-stealing incident, the whip marks on her back still itched on rainy days, and she was worried when she saw a cloudy day. She no longer dared to rob openly.
"Encyclopedia, are you here? How are the seeds growing?"
[Host, seed progress is 90%. It is recommended to sow seeds five days later for maximum effectiveness.]
Liu Yeshu was also curious. Could it be that the seeds nurtured by the system could yield significantly higher yields than ordinary seeds? She asked the system, but it was vague, saying it had something to do with the soil texture and environment. Without a definitive answer, Liu Yeshu gave up.
The next day, Liu Yeshu and his brother led the camel to the agreed place to deliver the kimchi.
Seeing that there were so many people, the newly arrived caravan also came over. Liu Yeling took out the prepared pickles for them to try, and soon received new deposits.
Seeing that Liu Yeshu and her brother were each weaker than the other, the Hu merchants stopped asking them to carry the things up and down and carried them away themselves. Liu Yeshu stood there smiling and collecting the money with a flushed face.
On the evening return journey, Liu Yeshu sat on the camel, and Liu Di led the camel. Liu Yeshu leaned over and said to Liu Di, "Let's set up a stall in the East Market. That way we won't take away business from the West Market. I'll ask Manager Mo when I deliver the embroidery for my mother tomorrow."
"Sister, spring plowing will begin in two days. I'm afraid I'll have to follow Dad to the fields to sow seeds. Can you handle it alone?" Liu Di was a little worried. What if his sister was bullied by bad guys when she was alone?
Liu Yeshu thought about it and said that he would go and ask tomorrow.
After returning home, Liu Yeshu opened the box of copper coins, lit the oil lamp, and sat cross-legged with Liu Di in the candlelight to count the money.
The total was three thousand five hundred and thirty coins, which, after deducting the deposit, was exactly three thousand coins. The two of them strung the coins together, one from the beginning and the other from the end. When they were done, they lifted the coins and found a heavy weight of three strings of cash.
"Ling'er, take this money to next door."
"Okay!"
Liu Di held the cash box, carefully closed the lid, and ran to the next door. After a while, he came back happily and said that his mother took some money to buy vegetables, and his father also said that he had good ideas and let him manage the rest.
Liu Yeshu took a look and saw that there were still two strings of cash left in the box. That was good, as renting a stall would cost money.
The next day, when she arrived at the Jinxiufang, Manager Mo was not in the shop. Instead, there was a Hu merchant who was touching the fabric with his back to her.
When Hu Shang turned around, Liu Yeshu recognized that this was the man who had bought kimchi from him a few days ago, and started a conversation naturally: "Brother, I recognize you. You've bought kimchi from me before."
Hu Shang narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, then nodded. "It's you... your kimchi tastes great. Are you from this shop? Do you know where the owner is?"
Liu Yeshu shook her head: "My mother makes embroidery for them, and I come to deliver the goods."
As they were talking, Shopkeeper Mo strode in. Seeing Hu Shang there, he knew he had a business call. After a slight nod to Liu Yeshu, he naturally greeted the guest first. Liu Yeshu wisely stepped aside and listened to their conversation. She realized that Hu Shang wanted to see the embroidery patterns. Shopkeeper Mo took out a few pieces of embroidery and showed them to Hu Shang one by one. Hu Shang leaned in to examine them, touched them with his hands, and looked dissatisfied.
"It's still quite different from what I saw in the capital." Hu Shang shook his head slowly and raised his foot to leave, but was stopped by Liu Yeshu.
"My mother is a new embroiderer. Why don't you take a look at her embroidery? This is her first batch of embroidery."
Shopkeeper Mo also chased out, took the embroidery from Liu Yeshu's hand, and spread it out on the table.
Hu Shang's eyes lit up. "This is pretty much the same as what I saw in Beijing!" He picked up a piece of cloth embroidered with a rabbit and held it up to the sunlight streaming in from the door. The embroidery shimmered, the rabbit's expression was lifelike, and the tips of its furry hair were clearly visible. He turned around and asked, "Isn't your mother from here?"
Liu Yeshu confessed, "We are criminal slaves, exiled from the capital. My mother was originally a daughter of an official, and her embroidery skills were among the best in the capital."
Hu Shang heard this and laughed out loud, "How good is a criminal slave! He's very knowledgeable!"
These words were unpleasant to hear, and Shopkeeper Mo looked embarrassed. He glanced at Liu Yeshu out of the corner of his eye, but she remained calm and didn't show any displeasure.
"Shopkeeper Mo, your cloth may be ordinary, but the embroidery is really good." Hu Shang said straightforwardly, "If you can provide large quantities for a long time, I will buy from you in the future."
Seeing that the two were about to negotiate the price, Liu Yeshu took the initiative to go out without being asked, stood at the door of the embroidery workshop, with his hands behind his back, observing where it would be suitable to set up a stall.
After Hu Shang came out, Liu Yeshu had just walked in when Shopkeeper Mo came out to greet her. He took the initiative to say, "You heard it just now, I'm not the type to skimp. From now on, the wages will be 100 wen per foot, and I'll also pay an extra 10 wen per foot as a deposit."
Liu Yeshu smiled: "Shopkeeper Mo, this high-end embroidery still sells well outside the customs. I will not raise the price anymore, but there is something I need your help with." After that, she told him about her idea of setting up a stall in the East Market and gave Shopkeeper Mo a small jar of pickles to try.
Shopkeeper Mo took it, thinking this girl was perceptive and capable. Meanwhile, his son, who was the same age, barely knew how to count. He waved his hand and said, "It's just right. My brother-in-law just opened a noodle shop. You can set up your stall in front of his shop. I'll talk to him and see if I can cut your stall fee in half." The noodle shop was new and hadn't been doing much business lately. It was empty anyway. If the kimchi sold well, it might bring in some customers.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Manager Mo." Liu Yeshu bowed and walked forward to take the cloth that he wanted to take this time.
From then on, Liu Yeshu would carry his load to the noodle shop early in the morning to sell kimchi, and would return after sunset and after dinner time.
At first, most of the people who came to buy kimchi were people who came to eat at the noodle shop. Since it was close, and the stall owner was dressed neatly, looked good, and was good at attracting customers, they would just buy some kimchi in front of the noodle shop to eat with it. After a few days, those who had eaten came with jars just to buy kimchi. After a few more days, there were some unfamiliar faces coming to buy kimchi.
Sunrise and sunset, the kimchi stall has a stable of regular customers.
The vendor selling pickled vegetables from the West Market came over several times, his face darkening each time he left. Once, he even took advantage of the crowd to try some, then quietly squeezed out of the crowd after finishing his meal. Liu Yeshu pretended not to know. After all, she was in the East Market, so he had no reason to bother her.
Mo's brother-in-law was also happy. As his kimchi's reputation grew, more people came to his noodle shop to eat. If there were any malicious thugs who wanted to take advantage of him, he would sullenly throw a basin of water outside the door to drive them away. After a while, the thugs thought they were relatives of Mo's brother-in-law and dared not cause trouble. Sometimes, when it was almost evening and there was a lot of noodles left, Mo's brother-in-law would invite Liu Yeshu in to eat some.
That day, Liu Yeshu was carrying an empty basket on his shoulder as he walked home. Passing by the village entrance, he smiled and greeted the aunties as usual. Aunt Sun cracked melon seeds and smiled meaningfully, "No wonder you didn't tell me the recipe when I asked you before. You want to sell it for money. I heard you set up a stall in the East Market? You must have made a lot of money recently, right?"
Liu Yeshu smiled and said politely, "Whenever you want to eat it, I'll save it for you. You don't have to go to the market to buy it."
Aunt Sun guessed the implication was that she would have to pay for the melon seeds if she wanted to eat them in the future. She curled her lips and spat out the melon seed shells in her mouth.
Passing by Aunt Sun's house, Liu Yeshu was mysteriously stopped by Aunt Sun's lame daughter, who asked her to come in for a drink of water. She was inexplicably grabbed by her arm and pushed into the backyard. Her heart tightened, and she clutched the wooden hairpin that had been coiled in her hair.
She was setting up a stall alone outside. In order to protect herself, she had hollowed out the hairpin she used to tie her hair and hid a sharpened small sword inside.
Unexpectedly, after she stood still, the lame woman pointed to the land in her backyard and said, "Look, I have cabbage and radish planted in my backyard. Come to me to buy ingredients for making kimchi in the future. I can't finish it at home, so I'll sell it to you at a low price. It's better than letting it rot in the field."
This was a good thing. Liu Yeshu thought about it and agreed without hesitation: "Okay, two catties for one cent, are you willing to sell it? By the way, how many catties do you have?"
"About fifty kilograms of radishes, a little less cabbage, about forty kilograms."
"Then I'll take them all. From now on, you can sell me whatever you grow in your fields. I'm planning to grow some in my backyard, too." Seeing the lame daughter's hesitation, he realized she was worried she wouldn't buy what she grew, so he added, "I need a lot of radishes and cabbages. I wish the whole village could sell me all the radishes and cabbages."
The lame girl was relieved and said that if she had any questions about planting Liu Yeshu in the future, she could come and ask her. She also said that the rapeseed from Shopkeeper Wang at the market was of good quality and she could go to him to buy it.
When Aunt Sun came back, the lame girl happily told her about this. Aunt Sun snorted, "Who needs this little money? You are helping her make money!"
The lame woman stopped smiling and turned to go into the kitchen to add more firewood.
*
A blinding flash of lightning split the dark clouds, instantly illuminating the entire world. Immediately afterwards, a deafening roar of thunder rumbled across the sky, like a giant hammer falling from the sky, striking the earth fiercely—it was spring thunder.
The seeds in the fields had been planted, and the busiest spring plowing had finally come to an end. These days, despite wearing a hat, Liu Yeling seemed to have darkened every day when she returned, and her baby face had gradually lost its childishness.
"Ling'er, come with me to the mountain to chop some wood tomorrow. I want to make a table."
Seeing that Liu Di was puzzled, Liu Yeshu continued, "The chicks have grown up and started laying eggs. I will sort the items and put them on the table in the stall so that customers don't have to squat down to choose."
The next day, when they went up the mountain, the brother and sister were talking and laughing while leading their camels, but they suddenly heard a rapid shout from the front. The voice was filled with fear and pain, which instantly broke the tranquility of the mountain.
Liu Yeshu's heart tightened. She listened carefully to the direction of the voice. The voice was still calling for help. She was sure that the voice came from not far ahead.
After exchanging a glance with Liu Yeling, the two quickened their pace and headed towards the direction where the sound came from.
The closer we got, the clearer the sound became, and we could even hear faint moans.
Liu Yeshu suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart. He carefully pushed aside the bushes and saw a young woman lying on the hillside not far away.
The woman was dressed in coarse cloth, her face pale, with fine beads of sweat oozing from her forehead. Coiled at her feet was a patterned snake, an arm's length long, its head slightly raised, looking around vigilantly.
"Sister, that snake!" Liu Yeling exclaimed in a low voice with a look of horror on her face.
Liu Yeshu suppressed the fear in her heart, held her brother's hand, and whispered softly: "Don't be afraid, Ling'er, let's save people first."
She quickly pulled a short knife from her waist and stabbed the snake in the groin. The snake, struck hard, twisted its body a few times before collapsing motionlessly to the ground. Liu Yeshu stepped forward and chopped off the snake's head, then squatted down to examine the woman lying on the ground.
The woman's face was as pale as paper, her lips were blue, and two rows of deep tooth marks could be seen on her ankles. The skin around the wounds had begun to turn black.
This is snake venom.
She quickly tore open the woman's sleeves, untied her leggings, and quickly tied them above the wound to prevent the poison from spreading.
"We're taking you to the infirmary now. What's your name? Where do you live?"
The woman raised her head with difficulty and said in a weak voice: "My...my name is Chu..."
Liu Yeshu leaned over and moved closer to hear her voice clearly.
"Chu...Chu Yurou..." The woman seemed to have used up all her strength and finally spit out the name.
Liu Yeshu was startled, her mind buzzing. This name was not unfamiliar to her—
Isn’t this the heroine of the novel she transmigrated into?
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