Chapter 16 The Old Lady Invites Me to Eat Chicken
Li Rong was very satisfied: "It's already very good! Miss San, please calculate how much we earned today?"
Xie Yanyan figured it out in no time. Caustic soda and lard were not expensive, and wild flowers and weeds had no cost, so a bar of soap cost less than 20 cents.
At the current exchange rate, one tael of silver is equal to about 250 coins. A bar of soap can be sold for 10 taels of silver, which is really a huge profit.
A total of 99 pieces were sold today, and the escorts earned a total of 693 taels, and Xie Yanyan earned 297 taels.
Liu Mingjie was really impressed. It was the first time he knew that things could be sold in this way.
The pregnant woman and the little boy were the ones who were hired by Song Lingling and Xiao Baozi, and the first man to wash his face was the escort Lao Zhao.
All Thirty-Six Stratagems have been used. The Third Miss is truly a talented person.
Li Rong and Liu Mingjie were carrying bags of silver and were grinning from ear to ear.
He was so happy that he prepared a special meal for Xie Anfeng's family and invited them to have a table of food and wine in the tavern next to the inn.
While they were eating, Li Rong ordered Liu Mingjie, Lao Zhao and others to go to Ruyang City to buy caustic soda and lard, as they had received a large order for 1,000 bars of soap from a traveling merchant.
After eating and drinking in the tavern, we returned to the inn, where Huangfu Ming came out to greet us with a smile on his face.
He bowed and greeted Xie Anfeng: "General Xie, I am Huangfu Ming."
Xie Anfeng knew that Shen had asked for 300,000 silver coins to marry Xie Yanyan to the man in front of him, so his face turned very ugly and he said, "I am offending Xie Anfeng."
"In our hearts, you will always be a general who defends our country." Huangfu Ming said to Xie Anfeng politely with a very good attitude, "I heard that the third young lady developed soap?"
"Um."
"Look, can we cooperate? You can supply me exclusively, or you can sell it on consignment in my shop. Both are fine. The price is negotiable."
"We are exiles, and our future is uncertain. This will not work."
Xie Anfeng didn't dare to tell others about his cooperation with Li Rong and others. He knew this very well. Although Li Rong and others were of low status, they were also considered government officials.
"I am very willing to cooperate with the general. I will greet all the Huangfu shopkeepers along the way. The door of the Huangfu family is always open to the general."
"Let's talk about it later."
Xie Anfeng did not dare to be arrogant and quickly avoided it.
They are prisoners. Li Rong and his men were polite to them for the sake of the silver, but they could not be arrogant.
Without further delay in Ruyang City, everyone set out on the road of exile.
In the carriage, Song Lingling said to Xie Yanyan: "Aunt, if it is work that I can do, you can let me do it."
Jiang Shuang also said: "I can do it too."
"Then help me process the grass and flowers and squeeze out the grass juice and flower juice." Since Jiang Shuang couldn't throw them away, she couldn't ask her to eat for free.
She made the recipe herself, and left the heating and cooking process to Song Lingling.
The mixing job was given to Xie Anfeng and his elder brother Xie Ning. It was very strenuous but also very crucial.
Demolding, embossing, stamping and packaging are all considered the final steps, and both Song Lingling and Jiang Shuang can do them.
As soon as they came out of Ruyang City, Li Rong and the others kept urging everyone to hurry up.
But this time, Huangfu Ming's carriage team also came out with them.
His carriage was naturally extremely luxurious, with dozens of guards driving two carriages and dozens of horses.
Song Lingling whispered to Xie Yanyan: "We are an exiled team, and Huangfu Ming has no shortage of guards. I wonder what he wants to do by following us?"
Xie Yanyan kept his hands busy and said, "No matter what he wants to do, we just need to remember that there is no such thing as free food in this world."
Song Lingling nodded. She had just heard that Huangfu Ming invited Old Shen, Xie Jinrong, and Xie Anhuai to have lunch, and also found a doctor to treat their illnesses. She didn't know what he wanted to do.
Not long after leaving the city, Huangfu Ming stuffed some silver into Li Rong and others, and invited Shen, Little Shen, with Xie Xiangxiang, and Fang, with Xie Tingting, to ride in his carriage for a while.
Both Shen and Xiao Shen were very tempted, but Xie Xiangxiang refused: "Grandma, I'm not tired."
"How can you not be tired? You have so many blisters on your feet." Shen whispered, "Grandma and your mother are here, don't worry."
Xie Xiangxiang still shook her head.
Xie Yun, Xie Yao and Xie Qingmu got on the carriage guarded by Huangfu Ming, overjoyed.
The farther we get from Kyoto, the more desolate the village becomes.
It is now the third month of the lunar calendar. The ground has warmed up and the winter wheat in the fields should be growing lushly and vigorously. However, the wheat seedlings are growing poorly. They are only slightly taller than chopsticks and are all green and yellow.
There were not many farmers working in the fields, and there were very few oxen, and they were using straight-beam plows.
Looking at a man and an ox, or one person holding the plow and the other pulling the plow with difficulty to plow the land, Xie Yanyan's already serious face became even colder.
Song Lingling didn’t know what was going on. Her sister-in-law seemed very unhappy?
She followed her sister-in-law's line of sight and saw that both the people holding the plow and pulling the plow were dark and thin, especially the man pulling the plow, who was still a half-grown child.
He sighed and said softly, "Sister, all farmers are like this."
Xie Yanyan didn't say a word. She thought about the straight-beam plow. Although it was easy to make and made of simple materials, it was inefficient and time-consuming.
It would be another two or three hundred years before the curved plow appeared. She looked back in the space and found a Dahua Bookstore in the shopping mall, where she looked for the design and production drawings of the curved plow.
As the sun set, they walked to a village called Shangpeng. Li Rong contacted the village head and decided to rest in Shangpeng tonight.
This dirt road outside the village is an official road. The government has cooperation with Shangpeng Village. Escorted prisoners often stay in the village and pay some silver to the village. Therefore, the headman leads the prisoners to the village ancestral hall with ease.
The ancestral hall is very simple, the door of the room for ancestral tablets is locked. There are two side rooms on both sides, and the rest are sheds with straw mats under them.
There are beds, stoves and resting places in the wing rooms.
The shed outside is for the prisoners to rest.
A few pots of mixed flour pancakes were steamed for the prisoners, some hot water was boiled, a large wooden barrel was brought over, and a stack of earthen bowls were brought over. This was the prisoners' dinner.
Huangfu Ming would not be in the same yard with the prisoners, but he asked the guards to give the stove to Shen.
He bought three chickens from the village and said he would give them to Lord Xie's family as a nourishment.
Shen sat upright, waiting for the guards to deliver the chicken to her, so that the fugitives could have a good look at it. Even if they were in trouble, the Marquisate was still the Marquisate.
Li Rong frowned and said, "Although we don't object to friends and relatives sending money and supplies, if you do this, it will cause the prisoners to be uneasy and affect our escort. These chickens should be returned. You can give them some cakes and porridge."
Huangfu Ming's guard took out 50 taels of silver and gave it to Li Rong.
Li Rong took the silver and said to the guard, "This will not happen again."
Xiao Shen and Fang bought some oil, onions, ginger and salt from Zhu Ba, and stewed the three chickens on the earthen stove in the yard.
A large pot of braised chicken was brought to the table, and Shen and her two sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren sat around the table.
Xie Yun picked up a large piece of chicken, and under the envious eyes of the exiles, he took a comfortable bite and shouted proudly, "Mm, it's very fresh!"
The prisoners around them kept swallowing their saliva, but they quickly pulled their children away.
Xie Tingting's injuries had healed somewhat, and she looked lively and alive. She looked at Xie Anfeng's family and said, "Oh, there are too many chickens. We have to throw away the chicken legs, wings, and chicken hearts and livers!"
"Don't be in a hurry to eat, wait for your second uncle's family." The old lady was smiling and said very affectionately, "Jiang, why don't you call the third girl to come and eat chicken together?"
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