Jiang Huaifu did not come for several days.
The newly turned land in Xiaoyangzhuang has already been sown with seeds. Since Xiaoyecheng is not under the jurisdiction of the Nanzhao court, there is no need to pay land rent to the court for anything planted.
In this way, Zhang Xiu'e and Qin Xiaoniang, having nothing else to do, fenced off a large area. All they had to do was give the head of the village a headsman's permission and occasionally give him some benefits, and they could live there peacefully for a period of time.
"How's the harvest at the shop today?" Song Xiaoyu asked while watering the fields.
Song He'er glanced at the ledger and replied, "The liquor cost 300 coins, the noodles 100 coins, and the steamed buns were a free gift. We spent 150 coins, the cost was 117 coins, and we made a net profit of 133 coins."
Song Xiaoyu put down the bucket and frowned slightly. "One hundred and thirty-three coins? The four of you worked all day and only earned one hundred and thirty-three coins? That's a bit too little. If this continues, we'll only earn one string of cash every ten days, and only three strings a month, barely enough to pay the rent."
Song He'er knew, of course, that the previous profits were not very good, but everything is difficult at the beginning. Now, as newcomers from out of town, they were lucky to be able to make a living here.
The government hasn't come to inspect yet, but if someone with ill intentions reports us one day, all the work we've done so far will be for nothing.
"Third Uncle, don't worry. There are many people coming and going in Xiaoye City, and most of them don't live here permanently. As the saying goes, it's hard to please everyone. It's not easy to find something that everyone likes to eat."
"It's not that I'm in a hurry, it's just that I feel sorry for you all. You work so hard from dawn till dusk to earn so little money. It's really not worth it."
Upon hearing this, Qin Xiaoniang couldn't help but laugh and said, "You're used to receiving a salary from the imperial court. You feel that you can earn a lot of money every month just by doing your job. Now that you're an ordinary citizen, you're working hard but earning less money, so you feel it's not right."
Although Song Xiaoyu was not someone who couldn't endure hardship, she still felt somewhat unbalanced. She would have to gradually adapt to such a drastic change in her life.
"Well, let's do our best. At least we don't have to suffer from cold and hunger anymore."
“Yes, we’ve escaped the harassment of the soldiers and the discrimination we faced. Now that we’ve fled Xinzhou and bought new identities in Nanzhao, it’s the best arrangement God has ever given us,” Song He’er replied.
In the past, every exiled official would have words tattooed on their shoulders, but Song He'er had long ago used modern tattoo removal chemicals to remove all the marks on their bodies. As long as they were not exposed, those tiny scars would not be noticed.
"How much money did we borrow from Young Master Jiang?" Qin Xiaoniang suddenly asked.
Song He'er was slightly taken aback, then casually made up a number, "Three strings of cash."
"Three strings of cash? That'll probably take two months to pay it back..."
“Mother, don’t always be so pessimistic. No one has stipulated that we can only earn three strings of cash a month. That’s just Uncle’s speculation. If our business does well in the second half of the month, we can double our earnings.”
Zhang Xiue had just returned from the shop, her apron still stained with oil. Seeing several people chatting idly together, she suddenly felt angry, plopped down on a stool, put her hands on her hips, and complained, "I didn't earn much money today, and that old hag across the street even came to cause us trouble."
Qin Xiaoniang and Song He'er returned early today, leaving only Zhang Xiu'e and Li Qiang's wife tidying up the shop, so they were unaware of what happened afterward.
"What's wrong? Is someone causing us trouble?" Qin Xiaoniang asked.
Zhang Xiue was so angry that she was panting heavily and had no desire to reply.
Li Qiang's wife glanced at everyone's faces, sighed, and slowly replied, "It's the owner of the steamed bun shop across from ours. She saw that we were giving away steamed buns for free and got angry. She said that many of the businessmen who used to eat at her shop were now eating noodles at ours, so she felt unbalanced and thought we were deliberately going against her. She brought her shop assistants to cause trouble, falsely accusing us of having bad meat, and even deliberately put flies in our meat. It was such a commotion, it was really annoying!"
Upon hearing this, Qin Xiaoniang flew into a rage, standing up and shouting, "There are such scoundrels? I think she's just taking advantage of the fact that you two are outnumbered, which is why she dares to cause trouble at this time. If we were all here, she wouldn't dare to make such a scene!"
“Even if you were all here, she would still cause trouble. She’s a big, burly man who doesn’t look like a businessman at all. He’s just a gangster, which is quite scary. Not only is he good at petty theft, but he’s also good at spreading rumors. This fly was probably put in by him!”
"Did any guests see you making a scene?" Song He'er asked.
After resting for a while, Zhang Xiue finally spoke, “Of course there are flies, otherwise why would I be so angry? Some of our customers have even eaten at our restaurant before. Now that they see flies being taken out of our kitchen, they must be disgusted and won’t come to our shop to eat again.”
"Oh dear, it's true what they say, the rope always breaks at its thinnest point!" Li Qiang's wife sighed.
Song He'er is not the kind of person who swallows her pride and suffers in silence. If someone bullies her, she will get her revenge sooner or later.
So what if he's good at petty theft? Throwing a fly from a distance isn't something only a scoundrel can do. As long as Song He'er is shameless enough, centipedes and rats can all end up on their chopping boards. It's just a matter of who's more ruthless...
"Third Aunt, don't be sad. We'll deal with whatever comes our way. We'll go to the shop tomorrow and talk about it. If no one comes to eat noodles anymore, we'll think of another way. Besides, the matter of the fly is already beyond proof. No matter how hard we try to prove our innocence, it's useless. We can only make things chaotic for others so that we have a chance to turn things around."
Song Xiaoyu pondered for a while, then couldn't help but ask, "Make others scramble and panic? You mean...?"
"Third Uncle should understand!"
Song Xiaoyu immediately understood that Song He'er's intention was simply to give them a taste of their own medicine and make the steamed bun shop across the street suffer as well!
The next day.
Song He'er went to the market early. When she looked up, she saw the owner of the steamed bun shop across the street carrying a basket to buy vegetables. In order to find out their supply channels, Song He'er secretly followed her and went with her to a dirty, open courtyard.
"Boss, pack all these vegetable leaves up for me, I'll take them all. Also, did you keep the pig offal I asked you to keep yesterday?"
......
I finished writing this chapter a long time ago and it's been sitting in my drafts. I forgot to send it, I'm so sorry everyone~~~
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