Chapter 178 Returning to Yi County
After leaving the sight of everyone in Mingfu Village, Xie Wanniang and Haitang switched from traveling by carriage to riding horses.
The two men, along with their guards, vigilantly patrolled and kept watch around the convoy.
In addition, the captain of the guard also arranged for two people to scout ahead to prevent their convoy from unknowingly walking into the bandits' encirclement.
Hao Yu and Atai, who were in charge of driving the carriage, would call the two men back to the carriage to rest for a while every two hours.
During their rest periods, Xiaomei would quickly prepare hot cakes, tea, and side dishes such as dried meat, meat sauce, preserved fruit, and pickled vegetables for them.
The group remained overly vigilant throughout the journey, but fortunately, they did not encounter any robbers.
Xie Wanniang guessed that perhaps it wasn't that no one had been watching them along the way, but rather that the guards she and Hao Yu had brought back this time were not only numerous, but also armed with weapons, making them look very troublesome. As a result, those people were already afraid before they even made a move.
She didn't investigate further, and her guess was just a casual one when she had nothing else to do. To her, the reason was not important at all. What mattered was that they successfully transported the grain to their respective warehouses in Yi County.
Jiang Yuan's share had already been handed over to her for her to handle, so Xie Wanniang put all the grain into her own warehouse.
However, she converted all the grain into silver based on the new grain purchase price in Tang County this autumn.
Jiang Yuan, of course, would not accept the money. After Xie Wanniang mentioned it to him, she put the money into his small money box for safekeeping.
To her surprise, she found a large wooden box in a warehouse that was originally used to store fabric. It was only coated with a layer of varnish, looked plain and unadorned, but was very thick, heavy and sturdy.
Although the box was locked, Xie Wanniang got the key from Xiao Yang the moment she returned to Yi County.
Xiao Yang didn't know what the key was for either. She told Xie Wan Niang, "Brother A Yuan asked me to give this to my sister. He said that once you see it, you'll know which lock it's used to open."
Now Xie Wanniang knew for sure. She opened the large wooden box and found that it contained half a box of gold, silver, and gems, and most of a box of cloth and furs.
After moving the list and everything else except the fabrics into a large trunk in her room, Xie Wanniang picked up her pen and wrote a letter to Jiang Yuan.
Jiang Yuan's reply came quickly, but his words revealed a sense of helplessness. He told Xie Wanniang that he hadn't had time to buy a mansion or shops, so he could only leave the spoils untouched and hand them over to Xie Wanniang to handle.
Xie Wanniang had already guessed this, so she wasn't surprised at all when she heard him say this.
She touched her chin, pondering how to use the money Jiang Yuan had entrusted to her.
Buying a house, estate, and shops is the safest option, but Xie Wanniang needs to carefully consider whether to buy the property in Tang County, Yi County, or in the prefectural city or the capital.
She also planned to spend the dowry money given to her by Xie Daoheng and Madam Hu, aside from using a portion to purchase some furniture, bedding, clothes, and other standard dowry items.
First of all, she definitely needs to buy a shop. With a new shop, her pharmacy can open sooner.
Having set aside the money for buying the shop and the initial start-up capital, Xie Wanniang looked at the remaining gold and silver and decided to make a trip to the prefectural capital at some point.
Although the prefectural city was also classified as a border region, it was much safer than places like Zijing Pass and Yi County, which were very close to the border and where foreign tribes or bandits would sneak in every year.
Firstly, there are more troops stationed there, and secondly, it is farther from the border than Yi County.
Xie Wanniang wanted to buy two small estates nearby. Even if she couldn't buy them directly in the prefectural city, buying them in a few towns or counties on the other side of the prefectural city would be quite nice.
Since the money to buy the estates belonged to both her and Jiang Yuan, she planned to register the two estates under her name and Jiang Yuan's name respectively.
All the property under her name is of course her private property. As for the property under Jiang Yuan's name, since he is so determined to take on the responsibility of supporting the family, she will give him a chance to prove himself.
Xie Wanniang had carefully considered how to use the money Jiang Yuan had given her during this period of time.
She had originally come up with two plans, but after meeting Xie Daoheng and Madam Hu, she quietly eliminated one of them.
The idea of splitting the bill is still a bit out of step with the times. If she insists on acting according to her own logic, even if Jiang Yuan marries her, he will probably be unable to control his suspicions and anxieties.
Xie Wanniang didn't want him to doubt her determination to spend her life with him, so after much thought, she finally decided to follow local customs and put all of Jiang Yuan's money into the family account as their shared assets to pay for daily expenses. Her own private property, like a woman's dowry in this era, was kept separate from their family account to ensure her personal safety.
For Xie Wanniang, this was already the most acceptable solution that would put Jiang Yuan at a disadvantage. She simply couldn't bring herself to completely take Jiang Yuan's money for herself.
Having settled these matters, Xie Wanniang busied herself once again.
Aside from what they would consume over the next year, she planned to use the remaining grain stored in the warehouse for her restaurant.
Compared to simply selling primary agricultural products, processed food products obviously have a greater profit margin, which is why she would rather hire a vehicle to transport the grain produced from her own land.
As for Hao Yu, his martial arts school provides lunch for his students, and he also has many guards he has hired. The grain he brought over will barely last until next autumn.
Xie Wanniang had originally planned to buy some of his surplus grain, but now that plan was no longer feasible.
But it doesn't matter, she still has last year's grain that she collected from some wealthy households in Tang County.
Chen Lizheng was a reliable person. He would take his sons and nephews to carefully inspect every bag of grain that was collected. He didn't let any of the grains that were adulterated or that were moldy or spoiled get away with it.
Therefore, Xie Wanniang always felt that the money she spent hiring Chen Lizheng and others to help her was well worth the money.
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