Yunling looked inside and saw a man walking out from beside the large flowerpot. The muscles on his arms jiggled. Without needing to see anything else, Yunling knew that this was the muscular man named Gangzi whom Zhang had chosen last time. This time, she was sure of success.
"Hey, why did Chief Escort Chen leave you behind alone?"
"The boss was worried that the old lady might need to find me, so he specially asked me to stay at the escort agency, and also to mentor the newcomers." Gangzi stepped forward and waved to the two new faces, "Come over here and greet your old lady."
"Grandma."
Yun Ruoxia, standing to the side, was stunned. Her eyes kept darting between Yun Ling and Gangzi. She was extremely curious about how Yun Ling had managed to subdue such a group of thugs and treat them with such respect.
Yunling didn't bother with pleasantries and went straight to the point: "I want to go to Qingcheng tomorrow. I have a lot of things to bring back. Can you make the arrangements?"
Gangzi immediately ran to the stables outside to check, and soon ran back in to reply, "Then three people and three carriages will suffice. We can set off first thing tomorrow morning. What do you think, Grandma?"
Yunling thought about how a carriage had brought back ten catties of cotton last time. She did some mental calculations and realized that the business of Fengyue Tower alone would use up 160 catties of cotton. Other customers would probably use 30 to 40 catties of cotton. If she were to include it as inventory, it would be 300 catties of cotton.
Three hundred catties sounds like a lot at first glance, but even with the price of the cotton, it's only twenty-two strings and five hundred cash. If she were to have He Da Dong deliver it to her door, she'd probably be cursed at for eighteen generations.
However, relying solely on ordinary escort teams would make it impossible to transport three hundred catties of cotton back in one trip. But there was no other way at the moment, since her connections were limited. She could try to come up with a solution when she got there and try to persuade Master He. Perhaps a solution would come to her.
"Okay, the price will be the same as last time, ten copper coins per person, how about that?"
"My aunt is truly exceptional."
Yunling ignored his thumbs-up and only instructed, "Make sure you check the carriage carefully. My mother is coming tomorrow, so there shouldn't be any mishaps."
Alright.
After leaving the escort agency, Yunling and Yun Ruoxia went to the cloth shop. The shop owner grinned as soon as he saw them and strode forward to greet them.
"It's been a long time since I've seen you, young lady. I thought you'd found a good way and forgotten about me."
"How could I forget the boss? I remember the boss said last time that if I buy more than ten bolts of cotton cloth, I wonder how much the discount is."
The owner asked with delight, "How many bolts of silk would you like, young lady?"
Yunling pondered that the thousands of panties in the brothel would require eleven or twelve bolts of cloth, plus menstrual cloth and other items, which would probably take more than twenty bolts. She decided to buy thirty bolts to have on hand.
"Thirty horses, do you have any in stock?"
"Yes, yes, of course." The owner's smile was much wider than before. "If it's thirty horses, then it'll be four hundred and ninety-eight coins per horse."
"You're such a nice person. You could have opted for the discount, but you insisted on waiving the sixty coins."
When Yun Ruoxia heard that the last number was eight, she felt a lump in her throat, which made her very uncomfortable. She could be stingy, but she wouldn't allow others to be stingy with her, so in the end she couldn't help but say it out loud.
The owner still smiled and said, "Young lady, if it weren't for the fact that you often patronize our business, I wouldn't be able to offer this price. If anyone else wanted it, I wouldn't be able to give this discount for less than a hundred horses."
"This discount is only for 100 horses? Good heavens, if we were buying 100 horses, we wouldn't dare come here."
“That’s someone else. Given our relationship, it’s different.” The owner’s fingers moved up and down on the abacus, quickly announcing the price, “It’s fourteen strings and nine hundred and forty coins in total. Does the young lady want it now?”
"Yes." Yunling took out fifteen strings of copper coins from the bag, took out sixty coins from them, and put them on the table.
After taking the thirty bolts of cotton cloth, it was time for Yun Shenghua to finish work, so they went home together.
Tonight's dinner was very sumptuous, and the air seemed to be filled with the fragrance of perilla. Yunling put all the cotton cloths at Granny Fan's house, and then threw the beef tendons that Yun Shenghua bought into the wooden basin to soak before quickly sitting down on a stool.
"Thanks to you, my good boy, we can drink perilla tea today."
This was the first time Yunling had ever seen perilla drink. After taking a sip, her mouth was filled with the taste of perilla, which she really liked. She had never been able to resist perilla.
Madam Zhang asked gently, "Would you like some more honey? I only added a tiny bit of honey to your cup. If you feel it's not enough, you can add some more."
"That's enough, that's more than enough." For Yunling, who doesn't have a sweet tooth, a tiny bit of sweetness is more than enough.
"Then hurry up and finish this cup, and I'll pour you another one. Perilla drink is meant to be drunk in this weather; it relieves heat, promotes sweating, regulates qi, and soothes the stomach. Tomorrow I'll pack two water bags for you to take with you on your journey."
Yunling nodded repeatedly, because she was not only afraid of the cold, but also afraid of the heat. Summer was fast approaching, and traveling would be arduous. Preparing perilla drink was a good idea.
On the table were not only perilla drinks, but also braised duck with perilla and steamed large intestine with perilla, all of which Yunling loved to eat.
Yunling picked up a piece of large intestine and stuffed it into her mouth. The aroma of perilla and minced garlic blended in her mouth. The steamed large intestine was chewy and glutinous, and she quite liked the texture.
"Mother, when I come back, shall we have a clay pot of fried pork intestines with galangal?"
When Yunling thought of the sizzling, oily pork intestines in the casserole, the aroma of galangal seemed to linger in her nose. She really, really missed that hot, oily, and slightly burnt galangal flavor.
Yun Ruoxia quickly teased, "You've gone on a long trip, you should bring back some local specialties, why are you ordering local stuff instead?"
Knowing she was in the wrong, Yunling felt a little guilty. She took a couple of bites of large intestine and said defiantly, "I'll eat it, I'll eat it. Auntie, you're so naughty."
"You're the bad one, Ling'er is the worst."
"You're so bad."
"You're the bad one."
"..."
The two of them said to each other, "If you don't forgive me, I won't let you off the hook," which made everyone present laugh.
Although Zhang's attitude was more lenient than last time, she still couldn't help but worry and stayed by Yunling's bedside at night, talking to her.
"It feels like just yesterday you were a tiny little baby, still babbling, and now you've grown up so much!"
“If Mother blinks even once more, my elder sister will be a married woman by now.”
Yun Chu quickly pulled the quilt over her head, "No, no, Lingniang, don't make things up. We're talking about you right now, so don't try to drag me into this."
"Where am I making things up?" Yunling pulled her blanket down and asked with a smile, "What kind of man does elder sister prefer?"
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