Jiang Huaifu was indeed a clever man. Perhaps fearing that Song He'er would be caught in the middle, he did not come in person today, but only sent two soldiers disguised as servants.
To avoid being discovered by other prisoners, large boats were not used this time; instead, they were all moored on the opposite bank of the river, within the territory of Nanzhao.
The sun was shining brightly, and Zhang Xiue was breaking down the kneaded soil into bricks and stones.
Song He'er was helping when she suddenly saw two tall, thin figures walking towards her in the distance...
"Third Aunt, someone's coming."
Zhang Xiue rolled up her sleeves and looked into the distance. "Two more strange people have arrived. What's going on lately?"
“They are from Nanzhao,” Song He’er replied affirmatively.
"What?"
"Just look at their attire."
Zhang Xiue gazed into the distance in disbelief. "There really are merchants coming to this desolate place? That's unbelievable!"
The two soldiers disguised as servants must have recognized Song He'er, and were now walking towards their tent...
Qin Xiaoniang frowned slightly, looked around, and seeing that they showed no sign of going anywhere else, asked, "Could it be that you've come to find us?"
Song Xiaoyu nodded. "That should be it. There are no other people living around us. Those women live more than a mile away, and they're going in a different direction. If they weren't looking for us, they wouldn't have any reason to come this way."
Song He'er was perfectly aware of their actions, just like Jing'er, but now she had to pretend to be completely unaware.
“They shouldn’t be bad people. Let’s see what they’re up to,” Song He’er replied.
The two servants were very well-behaved. Apart from carrying a bundle on their backs, they did not carry any other weapons and wore very ordinary clothes. They did indeed look like stewards of a wealthy family and merchants traveling from street to street.
As they approached, Song Xiaoyu slowly stood up and asked politely, "May I ask where you come from?"
The servant politely returned the greeting with a bow, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are merchants from Nanzhao. Because our family business is very busy, we are temporarily unable to attend to our needs. We were thinking of finding some day laborers to help us with our work. We will pay them regularly. Are you interested?"
Song Xiaoyu was stunned, seemingly unable to believe what was happening before her eyes. "We are prisoners from the Central Plains... Moreover, this is a forbidden area. How did you get here?"
The servant was naturally prepared and his answer was flawless. As expected of Jiang Huaifu's subordinate, he was efficient and clean in handling matters.
However, although Jiang Huaifu was intentionally helping her this time, he is currently living in another country and also needs money to make a living. So, this situation can be considered a win-win situation where each gets what they need and achieves mutual benefit.
“We’re people who travel all over the place for business, so we naturally have connections everywhere. We even know the soldiers who are holding you here. They used to do business with Nanzhao on the side, but their work was terrible, their prices were too high, and they weren’t honest. So we came directly to you to cut out the middleman’s markup. Merchants, you know... always put profit first. This gentleman probably doesn’t trust us, does he?”
Song Xiaoyu turned her head and shifted her gaze to Zhang Xiue, as if seeking her opinion.
Zhang Xiue was willing from the bottom of her heart. After all, everyone in this group needed to eat. Once they finished eating today's food, they would have to think about what to eat tomorrow. Regardless of whether doing business was dangerous or not, she was willing to take the risk.
This is better than starving or freezing to death in the wilderness, isn't it?
Thinking this, Zhang Xiu'e replied, "I wonder what you need us to do?"
As soon as he finished speaking, one of the servants took off his bundle, took out two oil-paper umbrellas, and handed them to Zhang Xiu'e.
Zhang Xiu'e was naturally unfamiliar with such delicate work, so she only glanced at it twice before stuffing the umbrella into Qin Xiaoniang's hands.
Qin Xiaoniang looked at it again and again, then tilted her head up and asked, "Do you want an umbrella?"
The servant nodded. "If you're willing, we'll send over a batch of materials every night. You can work during the day and someone will come to collect them at night. As for wages, we'll calculate them in Central Plains currency: two copper coins per paper umbrella."
Qin Xiaoniang carefully calculated that in the capital city, ten copper coins could be exchanged for a peck of rice, enough to feed all of them for a day.
If you do this for a long time, you can save up some money, which you can then use to buy clay for reinforcing the house, as well as window paper, and so on...
In short, money has many uses, but the prerequisite is that it can make money.
“This oiled paper umbrella… my family used to do this kind of business, so I know a little about it and can make it. But there’s still one problem we don’t understand,” Qin Xiaoniang replied.
The servant was slightly taken aback. "I wonder if there's anything else you don't understand, madam?"
"There are many prisoners in Xinzhou, why... did you choose us?"
The servant smiled and replied naturally, "Because after we disembarked, we only saw you. Are we supposed to go looking for other people nearby instead of going to the other side?"
Song He'er was very satisfied with this answer. It seemed that these soldiers were not only good at fighting on the battlefield, but also had some brains when it came to dealing with women.
"Hmm... So you mean, you deliver the materials every night and finish the delivery the following night?"
The servant nodded and took out a document with black and white writing from his bundle.
"I presume that all of you ladies have attended school? To protect your own interests and to put your minds at ease, we can sign a document. Of course, if you want to hire others to work with you, we will not interfere. How you pay them is up to you, but please don't delay our delivery."
The servant was very proper and handed the document to Song Xiaoyu.
Zhang Xiue smiled and said, "If that's the case, then let's agree to it. But you'll help us deal with the government troops, right? You should know that we are now just exiled criminals. If we're not careful, we could be beheaded."
"Ladies, you don't need to worry about that. We will do everything we can to ensure your safety."
........
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