Chapter 753 Forty-Eight Villages
Jiang Baozhu was in poor spirits after being injured and fell into a deep sleep again. Lin Yuesha left Longjing and Xiaohe behind and went out with Baicha.
Upon arriving in Qincheng, things were a little different from what Lin Yuesha had imagined. The streets were teeming with people, and the restaurants and shops on both sides of the street were packed with people, making it a bustling metropolis.
The mansion that the pockmarked man bought had a back gate facing an alley, and a vegetable market not far from the alley was bustling with people.
"Are we staying in the most bustling area of Qincheng?"
The area is lined with restaurants, fabric shops, general stores, and jewelry stores, covering almost all daily necessities, making it very convenient.
Lin Yuesha took Bai Cha to browse the general store and found that the store had many spices that could not be bought in the north or the capital, which were perfect for stewing mutton to remove the gamey smell.
“Miss, I went to the front yard to serve meals yesterday and chatted with the head chef for a bit. We live in a relatively remote area of Qincheng.”
The master chef who makes mutton soup had been to the capital, but he felt nothing for the capital city. Instead, he found Qincheng to be a place with more ordinary people and a more down-to-earth atmosphere.
Further northwest, the population is sparse. Several sandstorms occurred a few years ago, which led some people with some wealth to move to Qincheng with their families. As a hub connecting all directions, Qincheng's population has increased dramatically, making it more lively.
"Where are there breakfast stalls in the inner city of the capital? There are no pedestrians on the streets after the curfew."
At the entrance of the alley, there is a stall selling all sorts of things, including fried dough sticks, tofu pudding, noodles, sesame cakes, and mutton soup, a specialty of Qincheng.
"The customs in Qincheng are different from ours. It gets light late, and the stall owners set up their stalls at 7 a.m."
Bai Cha got up very early. It was just dawn, and there were few pedestrians on the street. When she finally bumped into someone, she learned that people in Qincheng did not get up early.
Sunrise is delayed by an hour, and so is sunset; food vendors usually close their stalls at sunset.
"What's that smell? It smells so good!"
Lin Yuesha sniffed, then took the white tea and headed straight for the aroma.
On a street corner, there was an inconspicuous little shop where people lined up in long queues, carrying small porcelain jars or bowls.
"Auntie, what does this shop sell?"
There were too many people to squeeze in, so Lin Yuesha had to ask an old lady holding a bowl nearby, "It smells so good."
"Our Qincheng's time-honored oil tea noodles."
The old woman looked Lin Yuesha up and down and said with a smile, "Young lady, you must be from out of town. Since you've come to Qincheng, you must try the oil tea noodles."
To be honest, there's nothing special about it. It's just flour, nuts, and sesame seeds that are stir-fried and then mixed with boiling water to make a paste. But I just can't make it taste the same as it does.
"Next time."
Lin Yuesha was very tempted, but when she looked at the dozens of people behind her in the line, she immediately backed down.
The main reason for going out with Bai Cha was to purchase military supplies. She had spent most of her money on medicine in Licheng, and it was thanks to the money Bai Youran had raised that Lin Yuesha had some extra money.
They spent tens of thousands of taels of silver to purchase the duck and goose down, and then talked to the local large-scale duck and goose farmers about the production of duck and goose down.
Before this, Wang Binglan had already gone there, but was treated as a fraud and met with rejection everywhere.
Because of the frequent wars in the Northwest, there were always those self-righteous and unscrupulous people who abused the pretext of raising military supplies to buy things from farmers and then buy them on credit. In the end, they would disappear without a trace, causing the farmers to suffer heavy losses. Therefore, when they heard about purchasing military supplies, the local people not only refused to acknowledge it but were also very disgusted.
I heard that Wang Binglan tried to persuade someone, but was chased out with sticks.
"Girl, you should still try it. There's always a line for their oil tea noodles every day. You can come at a different time of day and it will be the same."
The old woman looked at Lin Yuesha and said warmly, "Why don't you stand here with me and fight with me?"
"Thank you, ma'am, you're such a kind person."
The old lady extended an invitation, and Bai Cha, unable to refuse her kind invitation, took out a bowl and spoon from her backpack and thanked the old lady with a smile.
Hearing that Lin Yuesha was from out of town and had gone to great lengths for a bowl of oil tea noodles, the crowd did not criticize her for cutting in line. Instead, they introduced her to the local customs and culture of Qincheng.
"Is the young lady here in Qincheng to sell goods?"
The old woman pointed to Lin Yuesha's down jacket and muttered, "This kind of clothing won't do you any good in Qincheng. On windy days, it can blow you into the sky. Your clothes are so thin that the wind can see right through them."
As she spoke, the old woman touched it with her hand. It was so light that there wasn't even a speck of cotton in it. She couldn't help but advise, "Young ladies shouldn't be exposed to the cold. It's no small matter if you develop a cold constitution."
"Auntie, I'll be inside in a bit."
The down jacket kept her warm, so Lin Yuesha wasn't cold at all, but she still thanked the old lady, saying, "I'm here in Qincheng to sell some goods; I'd like to buy a batch of meat."
Pork is the best choice; a whole pig weighs at least 230 jin (115 kg), and since it's not sold in small quantities, it's relatively easier to transport to the Northwest.
"Pork..."
The old woman drew out her words and remained silent. Instead, the diners in line around her said, "Young lady, you don't necessarily have to come to Qincheng to buy pork. You can go north. Although it may cost more in transportation fees, it's safer."
"That's right."
The old woman chimed in, saying that in Qincheng, pig farmers all gathered in the northern suburbs, where all sorts of people lived and the security was terrible. If any merchants went to the northern suburbs, those who weren't tough enough would be skinned alive.
Why?
Lin Yuesha, being new to the area, suspected something was amiss in the business dealings, but Wang Binglan wasn't so kind as to tell her. She figured she'd be better off asking the locals for information.
“Young lady, there are forty-eight villages in the northern suburbs of Qin City. It used to be wasteland, but now quite a few people live there, but it is…”
The people of the Forty-Eight Villages had a bad reputation, almost like bandits, because many fugitives lived there.
"The most serious criminals of the Great Qi were exiled to the Northwest. Some were released at the end of the year, while others escaped from the mines to Qincheng. None of them were easy to deal with."
Ordinary people, who would do things like burning, killing, and looting? Moreover, the people of the forty-eight villages, some of whom have tattoos on their faces, are wicked and commit all sorts of evil deeds, burning, killing, and looting. The government can't do anything about these people.
They never went to the northern suburbs, and those people rarely came out either; they were completely unrelated to each other.
When the people of the Forty-Eight Villages were mentioned, everyone looked disgusted.
“Young lady, I’m not trying to scare you, but my husband’s family has a relative who lives in a village near the Forty-Eight Villages. Their only daughter went out to gather hay and was raped by a local bully. She couldn’t bear it and hanged herself…”
Of the forty-eight villages, only eight are inhabited by women, while the rest are inhabited by men. Because of the imbalance between yin and yang, local bullies have frequently harassed the people.
"The government can't do anything about them. They're all desperate criminals, and they've banded together. The government has tried to suppress them several times, but to no avail."
An old man standing nearby sighed, thankfully their people didn't go to the northern suburbs and didn't interact with the people from the Forty-Eight Villages.
However, many merchants still do business with the people of the Forty-Eight Villages for the sake of profit.
When the topic of the Forty-Eight Villages came up, everyone chimed in with their own opinions, giving Lin Yuesha a lot of useful information.
About fifteen minutes later, Lin Yuesha drank the steaming hot oil tea. She closed her eyes, savored it carefully, and gave everyone a thumbs up. The food that was being lined up and fought over was indeed worth the effort; it lived up to its reputation.
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