Chapter 19 Perfume Bottle (Two Chapters in One)
Zhou Jin and his group hurried on until it was completely dark before they finally caught up with the exile group. The Zheng family had been waiting anxiously for a long time, and even the two younger ones, Zhou Li and Zhou Ying, hadn't slept, staring eagerly at the official road behind the camp.
When they finally saw the shopping team coming back, the whole family rushed to greet them. Unexpectedly, Feng and the others were quicker than them and surrounded Zhou Jin first. Zhou Huan and the others even picked up the things on the wheelbarrow that Zhou Jin was pushing without even saying hello.
Zhou Jin...
Well, he couldn't help but admire the bad nature of this bunch of people, and he felt more at ease about embezzling the money.
"Stop it!" Zhou Jin shouted at the people rushing over, "If you keep trying, I'll call the police. Don't blame me if your things are confiscated!"
Zhou Jin has always been very good at using his power to pressure others, and it is also very effective. Old Master Zhou, who has been watching coldly, immediately spoke up when he heard it.
"Stop it, let's see how Jin-ge divides it!"
The implication is that if he is not satisfied with the distribution, it is not too late to snatch it back.
Zhou Jin was too lazy to argue with this gang over these trivial matters. Anyway, he had already hidden what he needed to hide, and the rest he bought in three portions, so he simply divided the things into three portions, and then unloaded two of them from the car, leaving only the portion belonging to his family in the car.
Old Master Zhou smiled and pointed at the supplies and asked, "Brother Jin, have you spent all the three hundred taels on just these things?!"
"Of course not," Zhou Jin had long known that he would ask this question and had already thought of an answer. He sighed softly towards Mr. Zhou:
"Grandfather, you don't know. I only found out after I went there that in order to follow the officials out to buy things, the other two families had paid a lot of money.
After giving Song the yamen servant many goldfish and gold leaves, he finally agreed to let them follow him. The grandson thought that we would have to follow him when he went out, so he also gave the big head in his hand as a gift.
Add in the money for the officials to buy wine and meat, and the rest will be enough to buy these supplies!"
At that time, the gold leaves of ordinary goldfish weighed five taels. According to the market price, one tael of gold was exchanged for ten taels of silver, which means that one goldfish could be exchanged for about fifty taels of silver.
When Mr. Zhou heard Zhou Jin say that Zhou Zesheng and the others had given a lot of goldfish, he thought they had given at least four or five. He thought to himself, sure enough, there are quite a few people in this exile group who have hidden money, and there are many who are richer than him!
Then he thought that since the other party had given him several goldfish, it would be unreasonable for Zhou Jin to not give him anything, so he didn't say anything else!
He stopped talking, but Feng Shi beside him started talking again, pointing at the unicycle track Zhou Jin bought, "We have to give us this bike!!"
With this cart, she can ask someone to push it when she gets tired.
Among all the supplies in front of her, Zhou Jin cared most about this wheelbarrow. How could she give it to her? After hearing this, she pointed to the two small bags of brown sugar and two bags of brown rice and brown flour that were left after the supplies were distributed.
"Grandma, since I can only bring back one wheelbarrow after going out, I am afraid that it will be difficult for us to divide it among our families when I come back, so I specially bought some extra brown sugar and brown rice and brown flour.
If you want the wheelbarrow, that's fine. Then the brown rice, brown flour, and brown sugar will belong to us. Otherwise, these will belong to you, and the wheelbarrow will belong to me. Next time I go out, I can buy another wheelbarrow for you."
Feng hesitated for a long time between walking and buying food and brown sugar, but ultimately decided that food and brown sugar were more important, especially the two small bags! Zhou Jin had also mentioned that she could buy another one next time she went out, and since it wouldn't be long before the next official shopping trip, she ultimately chose food and brown sugar.
Feng loves sweets and used to eat a bowl of sugared eggs every morning. Zhou Jin knew this through his original body's memory, so he bought two bags of brown sugar to prevent Feng from stealing his tricycle.
So, Zhou Jin got the wheelbarrow as he wished, and happily carried Zhou Li and Zhou Ying onto the wheelbarrow, took their own supplies, and pushed the wheelbarrow towards their camp.
After returning and taking inventory, they found that their family had received a bag of about 70 pounds of fried noodles, a bag of brown rice, an oilcloth, a thick quilt, as well as some necessities such as flint, bath beans, salt, etc.... Together with the refined rice, refined flour, sugar, and oil that Zhou Jin had hidden in the RV, Zhou Jin felt that even if they did not go out in the future, these foods would be enough for their family to eat along the way.
But Zhou Jin never expected that his words would come true, and he would never have the chance to go out shopping with them again!
But at this time, the whole family had no idea what would happen in the future. They were happily gathered together, each eating two buns and a bowl of oil tea noodles with great relish, which made everyone around them envious.
Zhou Jin and his sister also noticed the envious, jealous, hateful or greedy eyes around them. Having survived in the apocalypse for several years, they never dared to take the evil of human nature lightly. After finishing their meal, the two of them found an excuse and went to a secluded place to discuss countermeasures.
"Brother, among those families going to buy supplies, ours is the only one with orphans and a widowed mother. We look easy to bully. If those people want to rob someone, they will definitely rob us first. We must prepare early."
This man was so hungry that he would do anything. Although everyone in the exile team had more or less silver hidden, only a few of them could take out dozens of taels at a time to bribe the officials to go shopping with them. Most people could not afford that.
It was only after Zhou Jin came back that he discovered that the reason Zhou Fengsong was able to go shopping was actually because more than a dozen branches had pooled their money as a gift to him. They asked him to represent the family in making the purchases, and the things they bought were divided among everyone.
"Well, I'll take out two daggers from the space in a moment. We'll each take one. Don't all sleep at night. If someone wants to steal something, they have to do it at night. We'll take turns to be on guard, just in case!"
"Okay, but just taking precautions won't cut it. There's no such thing as a thief who steals for a thousand days. We need to think of other strategies, like camping in places where officials can see us..." Zhou Yu said as he pondered...
Speaking of the official, Zhou Jin suddenly remembered the gift he had been thinking about giving to the official Song. He hurriedly told Zhou Jin about how Zhou Zesheng and the other two went out to buy goldfish for the official Song. He wanted Zhou Yu to give him some advice and think about what gift to give that would make him look good without spending too much money.
"Originally, I wanted to just give him two mineral water bottles. There are several boxes of them in the space, but I was afraid of being exposed. After all, plastic products didn't appear in this era." Zhou Jin said with a wry smile.
Zhou Yu thought to herself, "You're so generous! You didn't even leave the mineral water inside, just giving them the bottle? Why not just give them two packs of tissues?" But then she thought, tissues are more useful than mineral water bottles these days, and using one pack means one less. She wanted to keep it for herself and couldn't bear to give it away.
But what else could I give if not a mineral water bottle? What else could I give that the Song yamen runners would think was a good thing and that they wouldn't feel bad about giving it to me? Zhou Yu thought.
Oh right! A mirror!
"Brother, I've got an idea! Just give me a mirror! As far as I can remember, although there was glass in that era, it was all imported and not available locally.
Our family was considered wealthy before we were exiled, and I remember we all used bronze mirrors. You can imagine how expensive glass mirrors were, and most of them were out of stock. Otherwise, our grandmother and second aunt were so vain that they would at least buy a small one to show off, right?
"But we have plenty of these things. In our RV, I have a lot of compact powder boxes, loose powder boxes, and eye shadow boxes, all with small mirrors. We also have stand-alone makeup mirrors and quite a few pocket-sized folding mirrors. We also have glasses, sunglasses, and glasses. Why don't you just pick two and send them to Song Yayi?" Zhou Yu said excitedly.
Although the zombie apocalypse is terrifying, it also has one advantage: you can pick up anything you want!
Those expensive cosmetics, clothes, and bags in shopping malls, luxury goods that I used to be afraid to even look at for fear of being blinded by the prices, can now be taken as long as you don’t mind the trouble and can kill the zombies inside.
In line with women's natural love of beauty, when Zhou Yu and his brother went to the mall to search for supplies, they couldn't help but take these things back in piles. Gradually, they collected a lot, and several boxes were piled up in the space of the RV.
"Yes! Why didn't I think of it! I'll go find it right away!" Zhou Jin was an impatient person and always did what he thought. He immediately shouted for the RV seat and entered the space.
After a while, he came out with a glass bottle of perfume.
"Those mirrors are too rare in this era. I think we should not give them as gifts. What if we keep them and sell them for a high price in the future?! I see that there are quite a few bottles and jars like this in your box, but this one is an empty bottle without a spray head. Just give this one as a gift!" Zhou Jin said to Zhou Yu while holding the empty perfume bottle.
Another empty bottle? Zhou Yu thought to himself, his brother had decided to give someone an empty bottle. How stingy! Since he had already used up the perfume inside, he didn't tell his brother that the bottle of Chanel perfume in his hand had once sold for over 10,000 yuan, more than a thousand times more expensive than those small mirrors worth a dozen or so.
After having something to give as a gift, the brother and sister discussed some details on how to defend their home from a sneak attack. Zhou Yu went back first, while Zhou Jin took the perfume bottle and went to Song Yashi, the yamen runner, and secretly gave the bottle to Song Yashi.
When Song Yayi saw it, he really liked it and kept asking him where he got such an exquisite glass bottle.
Zhou Jin and his sister had already prepared a story, and when Zhou Jin saw Song Yamen asked him, he just said what he had prepared.
It is said that when he went shopping today, he happened to meet a poor Persian selling this bottle in the corner of the market. He asked for three hundred taels of silver and refused to sell it for less. People around him thought it was too expensive and kept calling him a madman for not robbing it. So he never sold it.
At that time, Zhou Jin was worrying about what gift to give to Song Yayi to repay him for his care for his family. He happened to see this bottle and knew that this kind of glass bottle from Kyoto was exquisite and precious, so he gritted his teeth and bought it.
Originally, Zhou Jin wanted to say that he spent two hundred taels, but seeing that Song Yayi's eyes lit up when he looked at the perfume bottle, he added another hundred taels and said that he bought it for three hundred taels. According to the prices in later times, it was equivalent to spending more than 200,000 taels.
Unexpectedly, the yamen runner Song exclaimed that it was a bargain and asked the Persian in which market and corner he met him, and whether the Persian had any more of this kind of thing in his hands. He seemed to be about to send someone to chase him back.
The Persian was originally a fabrication by Zhou Jin. After hearing this, he kept assuring that the Persian really only had this one thing, so he insisted on selling it for three hundred taels, as if he wanted to raise enough money to go back to Persia. The people nearby had never seen this glass product and thought he sold it too expensive. It happened that Zhou Jin knew that this glass product had always been in high demand in Dayan, so he let him buy it.
"Hey! You are worthy of being my son! If it were someone else, they might have missed this treasure! Haha!" Song Yayi held the perfume bottle in one hand and patted Zhou Jin's shoulder with the other hand, obviously he was very happy!
It's no wonder that Song Yayi was excited. Just based on the transparency and exquisiteness of the glass bottle in his hand, if it was sold in Kyoto, it would probably fetch at least a thousand taels of silver. Although it was a pity that the Persian only had this one, Song Yayi knew that he had gotten a great bargain by getting one, and he was able to get this bargain thanks to the boy in front of him.
So he began to like Zhou Jin more and more, and regardless of how old he was, he started calling him "brother" and said with a smile:
"To be honest, brother, I was thinking of giving you a gift to get a promotion, so that I don't have to leave you alone at home to do this boring job every day. I was always worried about what to give you, and then you sent me this treasure. Haha, you really are a timely help!"
"Hehe, as long as the officer is satisfied, that's good! I'd like to wish the officer everything he wants! Haha~"
Zhou Jin said nothing else but just laughed along with Song the yamen runner, as if he didn't care at all about the three hundred taels of silver he had spent. Of course, he didn't spend any.
When the yamen runner Song saw this, he felt even more satisfied with Zhou Jin and said simply:
"From now on, don't call me Brother Officer. It seems unfashionable. Just call me Brother Song."
"Hey! That kid would rather obey your order, Brother Song!" Zhou Jin called out in a polite manner.
"Haha, that's right!" Yamen runner Song patted Zhou Jin's shoulder happily again. Feeling that he couldn't take Zhou Jin's things for nothing, he patted his chest and said:
"I can't be your big brother for nothing. Don't worry, I will protect your family well along the way, regardless of what others may say! From now on, if you have any problems, just come to me!"
"Thank you very much, big brother. I was just worrying about how to protect the supplies I bought this time, which attracted people's covetousness. Now, with your words, I feel relieved!" Zhou Jin was waiting for this sentence from him, and he quickly followed suit after hearing it.
"Haha, I knew you would never leave empty-handed. Okay, I'll tell my subordinates to visit your house more often during night patrols, or you and your whole family can just live with us in the future. That way, we can take better care of you." Song, the yamen runner, suggested.
"That's a good feeling,"
Zhou Jin was just thinking of doing this, so of course he would agree. However, he didn't want to move in right away. The journey of exile was still long, and there would always be times when the officials couldn't keep an eye on him.
And now they have Song Yashi to protect them, but what about after they arrive in Liaodong? Those who dare to target them now, orphans and widows, will no longer be able to bully them without Song Yashi to keep them in check!
Instead of just sitting there and waiting to die, being on guard all the time, it would be better to intimidate those people right now. If nothing else, at least they won't dare to even think of their family when they bully others!
Then he said:
"We have to move here, but we can't move right away. Otherwise, I'll look weak and anyone can bully me. We have to let people know that even though we're a family of orphans and widows, we're not so easy to bully!"
"Oh? Are you waiting for those guys to show up so you can assert your authority?" Yamen runner Song asked with a frown. "Don't let your loyalty get the better of you. Don't forget you have your mother and younger brothers and sisters waiting to protect you!"
Zhou Jin was thinking this, and upon hearing this, he bowed deeply to the yamen runner Song and said:
"Brother, if you're worried, please lend me two of your weapons. If blood is seen tomorrow, please stay with me!"
Song Yayi...
I thought to myself, this kid has seen blood on his hands!
Looking at Zhou Jin, who was not at all flustered when talking about seeing blood and even had a smile on his face, Song Yayi was sure that the bandit who kidnapped the boy's mother had been killed by the boy!
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