Seeing the broker's reaction, Yunling calculated the amount for him.
“If you think I’m joking, then I’ll do the math with you. Let’s start with the donkey cart. Renting a donkey cart from the city back to the village costs only eight coins. Since it’s farther from here, I’ll charge you twelve coins.”
“A donkey cart can carry ten catties of cotton, twenty carts can carry two hundred catties of cotton, and two round trips a day can carry a total of four hundred catties of cotton. A thousand catties of cotton can be carried in two or three days, so let’s say three days, it’s seven hundred and twenty cash.”
"As for the people you mentioned, dockworkers do manual labor for no more than forty coins a day. You only need to drive a donkey cart to transport goods, and the market price is twenty coins a day. Twenty people would be four hundred coins, and three days would only be one string of cash and two hundred coins."
"The total is one string of nine hundred and twenty cash. I know that business needs to make a profit, so I added an extra string of nine hundred and twenty cash to you. I also thought that the rent for your shop here might be high, so I added another string of copper coins to make it a round number, five strings of cash."
“But you’re asking for forty strings of cash with just one word, broker. It seems like all the money I make in this business is being taken by you.”
Ya Lang hadn't expected Yun Ling to be so perceptive, and seeing his little scheme exposed in public, the smile vanished from his face, and even his attitude turned cold.
"Alright, then five strings of silver. Take the key to the warehouse, and I'll make the arrangements tomorrow."
How could Yunling dare to make another deal with him? Who could guarantee that he wouldn't try to trip her up in the back? "Next time, we have something to do, so we'll be going now."
Yunling grabbed Zhang and left. The broker angrily chased after them, but unfortunately, they ran too fast, and he couldn't catch up. He could only shout:
"Go ahead and look around at other places. My place is the most affordable in this area. If you turn back now, we'll still charge you five strings of silver. But if you come back after looking at other places, we'll charge you my price. You'll definitely regret it."
Yunling pretended not to hear and even quickened her pace.
Zhang followed behind and couldn't help but laugh. She wanted to hold Yunling's hand, but then she thought that Yunling was dressed as a boy, so it wouldn't be appropriate. So she could only look at Yunling and laugh.
Yunling should have been angry because the matchmaker had tricked her, but when she saw Zhang Shi laughing, she laughed along with her. "What are you laughing at, Mother?"
"I thought that now that you're the boss, you'd value money less, and I thought you'd agree to his offer."
“Mother, I’m the boss, not a fish or turtle.”
These words made Zhang laugh so hard she couldn't stop, and she kept clutching her lower abdomen, saying her stomach hurt from laughing.
Yunling helped her up and waited for her to catch her breath before entering another brokerage shop.
This brokerage firm was smaller and more remote than the previous one. The broker inside wasn't particularly enthusiastic when he saw Yunling and Zhang Shi; he simply asked indifferently:
What are you here for?
"I would like to ask Ya Lang to help me transport the cargo from the dock warehouse to the Yun family in Dongtou Village, Pingcheng, a thousand catties of cotton."
Ya Lang's expression didn't change much; instead, he frowned. "Do you need it urgently, or can we take our time?"
"Eager to use."
"Transported by horse-drawn carriage, two days, six strings of copper coins."
"OK."
Yunling readily took out six strings of copper coins from her bag and placed them on the table. The broker glanced at them, picked up a pen, and wrote something on the paper. Only after finishing writing did he speak:
"Here is the receipt. Tell me the location of the warehouse and the key, and I will arrange for someone to come and deliver the goods first thing tomorrow morning."
"Our goods have just arrived, and we're currently renting a warehouse. I'll deliver them to you later."
"Can."
It can be done in one sentence.
Yunling picked up the receipt and left with Zhang. When they returned to the dock, Yun Shenghua had already rented the warehouse, and the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort) and others were gradually moving the goods into the warehouse.
The moment the warehouse door was locked, the three groups said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. The head镖师 (bodyguard) Eryi and his group left by boat, Gangzi and his group drove the carriage back to the镖局 (bodyguard agency), and Yun Shenghua took Yunling and Zhang Shi by detouring to the镖子行 (escort agency) to hand over the keys before returning to Pingcheng.
It was already dark when I got home.
Before Yunling could even go home, she carried two sour ducks and some dried longan to the Fan family's house. When Bingniang saw Yunling return, she breathed a huge sigh of relief. They had finished embroidering the design of the briefs, and only the cowhide thread was missing.
“Ling’er, let’s all switch to menstrual cloth.”
"Auntie is right. Just start sewing the briefs in a couple of days."
Yunling gave a few more instructions and then hurried home. She found all forty-eight pieces of beef tendon, kept eight, and threw the remaining forty into a wooden basin to soak.
Yun Ruoxia leaned closer, her little mouth chattering incessantly.
“Ling’er, you don’t know that madam. At first, she was urging me so hard that I felt like I was going to die two years earlier. But after I started paying for some goods, she treated me like a living Buddha. She stopped urging me and just kept saying things like, ‘Take it slow, and make sure to do the work well.’”
"Those days, the brothel was so crowded that it was almost impossible to get in. There were so many more outsiders. She must have earned so many copper coins that she couldn't count them all in three days and three nights. When will this damn life be my turn?"
"Speaking of which, I'm doing alright, but your father is being pressured by those wealthy businessmen, he's really overwhelmed."
When Yun Shenghua came out of the outhouse and heard Yun Ruoxia mention him, he replied, "They did urge us, but some couldn't help but place more orders. I put all the orders in your room, Ling-jie can take a look."
Okay.
Yunling wasn't thinking about that right now. Her nose had already caught the scent of galangal, and sure enough, a little while later, Old Madam Yun came out carrying a sizzling clay pot. The aroma of galangal, coriander, and perilla rushed into her nostrils.
Yunling couldn't resist any longer and pounced on the dining table, her eyes fixed on the pork intestines in the pot. She could imagine how cheerful she would feel after taking a bite of them.
Today, it was Grandma Yun who cooked. She brought out a large casserole. As soon as the lid was lifted, the aroma of eel, ribs and sausage rose into the air, making the candles around them flicker. Yun Ling's mouth was already watering.
Zhang took out one of the pickled ducks that Yunling had brought back, chopped it up, plated it, and served it. Yun Chuyi jumped back.
“Lingniang, you...you...how long have you left this duck out? It’s infested with maggots, and there are so many of them.”
Yunling leaned closer for a look and burst out laughing. "I didn't expect my eyesight to be even worse than mine. I called it garlic duck the first time I saw it and made a fool of myself. But my sister is even more amazing; she called it maggots."
Zhang smiled and placed the sour duck in front of Old Man Yun, keeping a distance from Yun Chu, saying, "That's fermented rice wine, it smells delicious."
After Grandma Yun brought out the pigeon soup, she called out "Eat!" and everyone started eating.
"By the way, Ling-jie doesn't know that the eldest son's family has moved away, does she?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
