Yunling did as she had said when she came in: treat it as just watching the fun, and once she had seen and laughed it off, she would let it go and not take it to heart.
But tonight was destined to be a sleepless night. Yun Sanzhuang's wife woke up from a nightmare, feeling uneasy as if she had a vicious wolf in her heart.
Yun Sanzhuang was startled awake by her screams, and said with a hint of resentment, "You got your foot grabbed by a ghost? Why are you making such a fuss? You scared me half to death."
“My dear husband, I just dreamt that Xiao Liu was captured and his head was shaved. He angrily said that he wanted to sever his blood ties with us. My dear husband, he is our own flesh and blood.”
When Yun Sanzhuang mentioned Yun Xiaoliu, a hint of reluctance flashed in his eyes. "That was just a dream. Dreams are always the opposite of reality. Xiaoliu is the most well-behaved. How could she sever her blood ties with us? Go to sleep. We still have to work tomorrow."
"All you do is work hard, work hard. What's the point of working hard? You've been working so hard, but all the money is in someone else's pocket."
Yun Sanzhuang immediately covered her mouth and whispered, "Don't talk nonsense. We're all family. What do you mean by 'others'? Dad said that as long as we pay off all the debts, he'll go and save Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu."
"Honey, I've heard this so many times I'm sick of it, but what's the result? Honey, let's run away, let's earn the money ourselves to save Xiao Liu, okay?"
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
Yun Sanzhuang quickly pressed the person down, covered them with a blanket, and lowered the volume to a minimum. "With the family in such dire straits right now, would we even be human if we ran away?"
"But we weren't the ones who started this trouble. It was the eldest son's family who were greedy for profit. In the end, they only managed to take down the roots of our two families. Do you see them even trying to save the fifth and sixth sons?"
"Can,"
"But what? I've had enough. If you don't save him, I'll risk my life to save Xiao Liu myself."
Yun Sanzhuang was frightened. It wasn't that he was afraid his wife would be in danger, but rather that if she left, there would be no one to warm his bed, no one to take care of him, and no one to share his hardships. He quickly replied:
"Of course we should help, but we can't rush this. We need to save up some money before we can run away, otherwise we won't get very far. We also need to get travel permits. It's not as easy as just leaving whenever you want."
"Alright, let's save up a hundred coins and leave. We won't have to pay back the debt. I don't believe that people with hands and feet can starve to death."
Yun Sanzhuang thought this made sense, so he made up his mind.
**
Yunling and Chen Jie found out the location of the cotton workshop the next day at noon. Just by standing at the gate and glancing inside, they could tell how big the workshop was.
Upon learning that they had come to buy cotton, the servant led them into the front hall. But Yunling's eyes were not idle along the way. She looked at each of the open rooms. First, she saw a woman sitting on a bench, picking up small cotton balls from a basket with her left hand and placing them on the cotton ginning machine, while shaking the machine with her right hand, presumably picking cotton kernels.
Next, she saw a person carrying a large cotton slingshot on his back. It was made of bamboo, with the string taut and cotton fibers flying up. Yunling couldn't help but sneeze.
Looking to the side, one could see a person scattering lace, another spinning yarn, and yet another counting yarn; there was nothing more to see.
"Please have a seat and some hot tea, my four distinguished guests. I will go and invite the master here right away."
"Thank you, sir."
Upon hearing that distinguished guests had arrived, He Da hurried over from the backyard. However, when he saw Yun Ling, Chen Jie, and the others, he felt a slight displeasure. He noticed that they were all quite young, with the youngest, Yun Ling, probably only eleven or twelve years old.
Moreover, his clothes didn't look like those of someone who came to buy cotton; they looked more like those of thugs looking for trouble. So he didn't go into the hall, but just stood outside the door, ready to call for someone to grab a weapon at any time.
Seeing that it wasn't the old man, Master He, Yunling felt reassured and immediately signaled to Chen Jie that he didn't need to relay her message; she could handle it herself.
"I've heard that the owner is from Jiangnan?"
"yes."
"No wonder you have such an air of nobility. Our group originally planned to go to Jiangnan to purchase cotton, but if we were to make that trip, it would inevitably take a year or two. An elder in our family is a merchant and said that there are cotton producers in Qingcheng, so we came here instead."
Hearing Yunling's sincere words and her mention of the trading company, He Da figured she genuinely wanted to buy cotton, so he went inside.
"No problem, no problem. What do you plan to do with the cotton? Of course, don't blame me for being nosy, but we don't buy cotton alone. If it's a small amount, you'll have to take it with you. We don't deliver."
Yunling understood this reasoning and didn't pursue the matter further. "The lady of our household wants to use it as a menstrual belt, I wonder..."
"Menstrual belt?" He Da's face instantly turned sour. He had been extremely busy since taking over most of the workshop, often neglecting to eat and drink. Now, after putting in so much effort, this person was using it to make menstrual belts. With such a small amount of material, he was truly heartbroken before continuing the conversation.
"Why did you go to all this trouble to come all the way to Qingcheng for your period? You could have just bought that little bit of fabric from any shop. It's such a waste of time."
As He Da was about to leave, Chen Jie was so angry that he rolled up his sleeves and was about to give the guy a good beating. What kind of jerk was he, daring to give his grandma such a hard time?
Yunling grabbed him and hurriedly called out to He Da, "Master, our menstrual belts are not ordinary. They are not just a few small ones for our own use. Just tell us the quantity of cotton you need before you sell them."
Do you want seed cotton or lint cotton?
Upon hearing this, Yunling learned that the seed cotton was unprocessed, while the lint cotton had impurities removed. Since they had come all this way, it was best to take the cotton with impurities removed, rather than carrying a full load of seed cotton back only to pick out the impurities and leave just a tiny bit.
"I wonder how much difference there is between seed cotton and lint cotton?"
“This pound of seed cotton yields four ounces of lint. Seed cotton is fifty cash a pound, and lint is seventy-five cash a pound. How do you want it?”
Yunling calculated that she was going to degrease the cotton, so there would be a loss rate of about two to three percent. After degreasing, one pound of cotton would weigh about nine and a half to nine and a half ounces.
She estimated that five menstrual pads for daytime use would contain about one ounce of absorbent cotton, and one pound of raw cotton would only be enough for forty-five or forty-six menstrual pads.
As for smaller quantities, it costs eight yuan for one ounce of absorbent cotton, and seventy-two or seventy-three yuan for one pound of raw cotton. For nighttime use, it costs three yuan for one ounce of absorbent cotton, and only about twenty-seven yuan for one pound of raw cotton.
This put Yunling in a bit of a dilemma. She was afraid that if she only asked for three catties of cotton, why wouldn't she sell it? And if it was popular, she wouldn't be able to supply it all at once. If she asked for more, what if the market was bad? Wouldn't that be a waste of money?
"So, have you figured out the number yet?"
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