Chapter 495: Staying Alone to Work on Your Business
"How did I marry such a capable man?"
Lu Qiniang said that even when she thinks about it now, she still feels like she is dreaming and it’s unreal.
"I thought so too. How could I marry such a powerful woman?" Xiao Yan tilted his head and kissed her face. "Abandoned mother, I never took the initiative to contact them in the past. I also wanted to avoid suspicion."
But now, he has changed his mind.
The Prince of Yan may not be able to be helped, but there is still the Princess of Yan.
For both public and private reasons, this world cannot fall into the hands of the prince.
"Don't let them get involved or cause trouble." Lu Qiniang said, "Is it really okay for Erya to stay?"
"It's okay. It's just a small matter. Gu Chengyuan will take care of it."
"Um."
In this way, Erya stayed in Jiangxi.
Lu Qiniang repeatedly reminded her and stuffed two hundred taels of silver into her pocket.
Erya refused and whispered in her ear, "Mom, I have hidden more than a thousand taels."
Lu Qi Niang: "How did you hide?"
"Then leave it alone."
Gu Chengyuan wanted to take Erya home. After all, she was a girl, and he planned to let his wife entertain her.
Arya declined politely, "Master Gu, if you could just assign me two reliable men who are familiar with the local shipyards and craftsmen, that would be a great help to me. I won't bother the lady anymore."
She stayed to do business, which required her to be outside rather than in the inner house.
Gu Chengyuan thought she was shy and said, "My wife is kind and your father is someone I respect. She will take good care of you."
"I know, my father told me," Erya said knowingly, "but Master Gu, if it brings you trouble, wouldn't it be my father's loss?
My father and our whole family know how sincere you are towards him. But the more this is the case, the less need we have to waste time on these matters. What do you think?
I need to finish my work as soon as possible and go find my parents."
Seeing her resolute attitude, thorough consideration, and the fact that she always took his and Xiao Yan's relationship into consideration, Gu Chengyuan was even more impressed. He stopped forcing her and sent two smart, capable, and tight-lipped followers to Erya as she said.
While Lu Qiniang and her group continued to move south, Erya was traveling in Jiangxi.
Without any delay, she immediately wrote a letter to Yun Ting, who was far away in the capital, asking him to send the previous book and help find a few more books on the ancient method of camphor purification and southern products to her as soon as possible.
She changed into a neat set of men's clothes, tied her long hair into a bun, and transformed herself into a handsome young man. With the people given by Gu Chengyuan, she plunged into the shipyards along the Ganjiang River.
There is a different world in the dock.
The air was filled with the rich smell of tung oil, pine resin and fresh wood.
The huge keel lay on the slipway, the craftsmen were sweating profusely, and the sounds of axes, chiseling, sawing and planing were endless.
Erya’s target was clear - those mountains of camphor wood waste.
Under the guidance of Gu Chengyuan's personal attendant, she quickly established connections with the managers of several large shipyards.
"Young Master, you want these scraps?" A bearded steward looked at the delicate-skinned but shrewd "young man" in front of him with some surprise. "What else can this stuff be used for besides firewood? Take as much as you want, and the price is negotiable!"
He wished someone would deal with these "garbage" that took up space.
Erya was secretly happy, but she didn't show it on her face. She just said that it was of some use.
She carefully examined the camphor wood waste. The roots were gnarled, the branches were thick, and the sawdust fragments were piled up like mountains. The rich and unique camphor wood fragrance wafted into her nose.
The familiar smell made her feel as if she were seeing the expensive camphor blocks in the pharmacies in the capital.
She bargained with the steward, agreed on a price, and signed the deed.
Renting a warehouse, hiring laborers, transporting... Erya ran every trip by herself.
After agreeing on one docking station, we will move on to the next one.
Sometimes she was so tired that she would go home with disheveled hair and fall asleep immediately.
She is actually the most beauty-loving and particular girl, but she knows that her parents are worried about her being alone away from home.
She needed to sort things out here quickly.
She also wrote a letter to Chang Hui, explaining the situation here and asking him to help see if he could recommend a suitable manager who could take charge here if this place could be successful.
After receiving the letter, Chang Hui wanted to go south in person.
But no, the world still needs him.
So Chang Hui finally suppressed his emotions and wrote back to let her know not to worry and go ahead with it, and he would support her.
Chang Hui brought her five hundred taels of silver along with the letter.
Erya knew that this should be all the savings he had.
She didn't want it.
She knew that Chang Hui couldn't let go of his previous relationship, but they had to move on after all.
It’s okay to cooperate in business, but there shouldn’t be any deeper ties, otherwise it will harm Chang Hui.
Erya's heart was also in turmoil, but she did not indulge herself in the past that could not be returned to and the future that could not be reached.
She asked someone to take the banknotes back.
I hope Chang Hui can understand.
Going in and out of the dock day after day, Erya's attention gradually became more than just the camphor wood waste.
The huge ship, the busy dock, and the cargo ships coming in and out all attracted her attention.
Whenever she had some free time working with camphor wood, she would involuntarily go to the experienced old boatmen.
She was clever and sweet-spoken, and was willing to buy some wine, meat and snacks. The old boatmen were happy to chat with her, the "curious little lady".
"Young man, do you see that? That big-bellied boat over there is a grain boat, specially used to transport grain. It has a deep draft and moves steadily, but it's slow." An old boatman with gray hair and calloused hands said, pointing to the river.
"Where's the one with the pointed head?" Arya asked, pointing to another ship with a different shape.
"Hey, that's a warship! It's fast, with an iron-clad bow, so it can ram! But now that there's no war, there aren't many of these ships built." The old boatman smacked his lips. "The most common ones on our Gan River are still these flat-bottomed sand boats, and those Fujian boats with pointed ends. They're the most stable for crossing the sea!"
"Cross the sea?" Erya's heart moved, and she immediately asked, "Father, are you saying that Fuzhou ships can sail the sea? Can they go to places like Qiongzhou?"
"Qiongzhou? That place is not easy to navigate, with strong winds and waves and many hidden reefs!" The old boatman shook his head. "But the Fuzhou boat has a strong keel, a wide hull, and many sails, so it can withstand wind and waves better than the sand boat. If it is built big and strong enough, and equipped with an experienced captain, it is not impossible to sail to Qiongzhou. But the cost is too high..."
He gestured with a few fingers, "Seagoing vessels have high requirements. Timber, iron, tung oil, labor... everything is expensive. A good ship that can cross the strait and has a large cargo capacity will cost at least five or six thousand taels of silver."
Five or six thousand taels!
This number made Arya gasp.
But after the shock, an unprecedented idea began to grow wildly in her mind like bamboo shoots breaking through the ground, and became extremely clear.
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