Chapter 1987: Farewell is imminent
Zhou Silang patted his chest and said, "What's our relationship? I just brought back some goods, so how can I not sell them? I specially wanted to save them for you."
He said, "After the Mid-Autumn Festival, every family will be preparing winter clothes. If you buy furs then, they will be too expensive. Since we are brothers, I can give you a discount."
Zhou Lijun was laughing on the side, explaining to the three people: "Fourth Uncle exchanged all the money he could use for goods during this trip, so he doesn't have much money on him now."
But he still has so many people under his command. Even if he has food, he still has to spend money to go out and meet people, buy meat, clothes and so on.
Zhou Lijun said, "Grandma thinks Fourth Uncle doesn't know how to spend money, so she asked me to keep a close eye on the accounts and not add to his bills."
So if Zhou Silang wanted to have cash, he had to cash the goods.
Manbao smirked at Lijun, and Zhou Silang turned around and glared at him, "Can't you give me some face?"
Although Bai Erlang was usually stingy, he was very generous when it came to spending money. He thought for a moment and said, "If it's good, I'll buy it."
Zhou Silang patted him on the shoulder and assured him, "How could my goods be any worse?"
After discussing this matter Zhou Silang and Manbao said, "I will return to the capital tomorrow and bring back some medicinal herbs. If Jishitang wants them, I will give them to them and then distribute some to other medicine shops. I will also bring Lijun with me this time. The herbs we bring back are all good."
Zhou Lijun often stays with Manbao and Lu, so he knows some methods of preparing medicinal materials and is better at identifying medicinal materials than Zhou Silang, so the medicinal materials he selected this time are good.
He said, "I asked Shopkeeper Zheng, and the price of the prepared herbs has doubled."
"That depends on what kind of herbs they are. Some herbs are easy to prepare and can be dried, making them not much different from raw herbs. Others require other ingredients, like alcohol, so the price difference is huge." Man Bao flipped through the list of herbs he brought back, and seemed to know what he was thinking. He said, "Most of the herbs you brought back were raw herbs, but you made a lot of money. Herbal preparations also require secret recipes. Even if I could find the secret recipes, we still can't prepare many herbs well at home."
Manbao also learned how to prepare medicinal materials from the shopkeeper Zheng, but she can only help out now. It is impossible for her to prepare all the medicinal materials independently. Although she can do it, the quality cannot be guaranteed.
Man Bao said seriously, "Some herbs are poisonous. If they are not prepared properly, the poison will remain in the herbs. Then, taking the medicine will not cure the disease but be like taking poison."
Zhou Silang, who wanted to give the herbs to his fifth sister-in-law and Li Ru to prepare, made up his mind and said, "Okay, I'll go talk to Zheng Da, the shopkeeper, later."
Zhou Silang's medicinal materials business already has regular customers, and with Manbao's face, it is basically not difficult to make sales.
Not to mention cows, who doesn’t need cows?
Not to mention those far away, even their farms are in short supply, not to mention the numerous fields in the capital and Yongzhou, so there is no need to worry about selling cattle.
However, Zhou Silang did not sell all the cows. He kept more than ten to pull carts and decided to send them back to Qili Village after the Mid-Autumn Festival.
In Old Zhou's words, such a good thing should be sold cheaper to the villagers. It's impossible for everyone here to use cows while others still have to use people to pull the plow, right?
Moreover, Old Zhou and Qian were also planning to go home after the Mid-Autumn Festival. They had been away for a year and didn't know how things were going at home.
It just so happened that Mr. Bai also wanted to go home after the Mid-Autumn Festival, so they decided to go together.
Zhou Dalang and Qian were left behind. The manor was now entirely managed by Zhou Dalang and Qian, with Li Zhong and others coming over occasionally to help.
Such a large piece of land is larger than the fields at home. Old Zhou was not willing to hand it over to outsiders, and Manbao was busy, so he decided to keep Zhou Dalang and his wife.
Manbao was overjoyed, and the sadness of her parents' departure instantly dissipated. She specially made a lot of pills for them and put labels on them for them to see. "This one is for diarrhea due to acclimatization, this one is for wind-cold, this one is for wind-heat, and this one is for fever..."
"Anyway, you can keep it for half a year. If you are safe on the road, you can take it back home." He took out a lot of medicine packets and said, "This is for mosquito repellent, Dad. Take it with you. The mosquitoes outside are too fierce. Don't get bitten, otherwise it will be uncomfortable."
Old Zhou accepted all of it with a wave of his hand, then took Manbao's hand and sighed, "I don't know when I'll be able to see you again after Dad leaves."
Manbao said, "What's the big deal? You can come with me when Fourth Brother goes to the capital."
"Forget it," Old Zhou said with some disdain, "He still has business to run. How can he have time to take us with him? Besides, he didn't celebrate the New Year at home last year. This year, he must properly offer sacrifices to his ancestors. If he wants to come again..."
Old Zhou gritted his teeth and said, "We have to celebrate Qingming Festival next year."
Manbao reassured him, "You can come whenever you want. It only takes nine days to get from home to the capital. We have both carts and mules, and my brothers and sisters-in-law are working in the fields. If you and mother are bored at home, you can come to the capital to see me. If you think the capital is too hot, you can go home to escape the heat."
Old Zhou was stunned. Traveling, which was such a difficult thing, seemed so simple after Manbao said that.
He smacked his lips, pondering the meaning. "That's true. I'll ask your fourth brother to bring a couple more cows home. Then your mother and I won't have to work in the fields. If we miss you, we can just drive out. I've seen it's been very safe on the roads these past few times, and there haven't been any bandits or anything like that."
Manbao nodded repeatedly, "Just take the official road, don't take the small road."
Old Zhou nodded thoughtfully, thinking it was feasible.
Old Zhoutou suddenly remembered something. He took a look outside and whispered to Manbao, "Manbao, where did you hide all that money?"
Manbao subconsciously covered his purse and asked, "What's wrong?"
Old Zhou glanced at her and said, "Would Daddy steal your money? Didn't your mom clean up your room yesterday? I went in and took a look, but I didn't see any place to hide the money. You have so much money, don't spend it carelessly."
The main reason is that Zhuangzi has collected all the grain and money from this summer harvest, and now the autumn harvest is almost over. The things Zhou Silang brought back from this business trip are almost sold out, and the money will definitely be divided when the time comes.
Manbao gave a lot of capital at that time, and she got the biggest share, not to mention that she also received a monthly salary.
Old Zhou walked around her room but didn't see any money. He felt a little panicked. "Did you put money out like the second young master of the Bai family?"
"No, it's illegal to lend money," Man Bao said righteously, "and I'm an official, how could I break the law knowingly?"
She paused and then whispered, "Dad, Bai Er isn't lending money. He just lends it to a few friends, and the interest isn't high."
See you at 6pm
(End of this chapter)
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