Chapter 17: Erye's Business Acumen
Yu Zhong sighed.
"This matter is really confusing. Aunt Yun used to be the head maid in the old lady's room. We all called her Sister Yun.
But a few years ago, she suddenly became Aunt Yun. What was even stranger was that Second Aunt wasn't angry at all; everyone said she had become more virtuous.
Not long after that, Aunt Yun gave birth to my little cousin. From then on, Second Aunt's face became very ugly. She even drove Aunt Yun to live in the backyard and made her cook and prepare dishes with the servants in the kitchen. Her life was even worse than that of a servant.
But fortunately, Ruo'er was raised by the old lady, so he was somewhat respectable."
Having said that, Yu Zhong paused for a moment and began to introduce the servants in the house to Chen Qi.
In the front shop, in addition to Xie Yuming and Xie Yuduo who are in charge, there is also a big manager and eight or nine young assistants who usually don't come to the back.
There was only one young waiter nicknamed Xiaowu, whose surname was Du and who was in his teens. He was originally the distant nephew of the old lady's mother's family. Because his father died early and his mother remarried, he was sent by his family to work as a waiter.
Because he is a relative, he is young and smart, and he often comes to the backyard.
There were originally two maids arranged to serve in the courtyard where the old lady lived at the back. But after Aunt Yun left, only the younger maid was left to serve.
There are two cooks in the kitchen of the house, led by Aunt Yun. They are responsible for purchasing ingredients, cooking meals, and also feeding livestock. They live in the back room.
There was a maid in each of the east and west courtyards, who was responsible for various chores such as washing clothes, cleaning and boiling water.
The maid in the east yard was named Chunliu, and the one in the west yard was Guixiang. Both of them were fifteen or sixteen years old.
In addition, there is a little maid named Xiaoqiaoer in the west yard. She is the dowry maid of my cousin-in-law Sun.
Speaking of this, Yu Zhong hesitated.
Chen Qi knew that it was because she did not have a maid as a dowry. Her elder sister was afraid that she would think too much, so she hurriedly smiled.
"I see. Thank you, big sister. If you hadn't told me, I'd have been so scared I wouldn't have remembered it for a while!"
Yu Zhong smiled and said, "If you feel that there are not enough people in the yard, just tell Erlang. It will be the same if we add some more people at home."
Chen Qi said nothing, but smiled and shook her head.
The Xie family is considered a wealthy family in the county. If you count on your fingers, you will find that they have many servants at the front and six or seven servants at the back. There are also three generations of people in the family, and even the old lady has only one maid in her room.
It can be seen that although the Xie family has the reputation of being a wealthy family in Pingshan County, they are only better off than ordinary families in the county in terms of food and clothing, and are not a truly wealthy family.
Fortunately, Chen Qi herself is not a proud person. She has been used to doing everything by herself since she was a child.
After a while, Yujing came back jumping and skipping, followed by Chunliu.
Chen Qi looked at Chun Liu carefully, and saw that she was in good shape, with a rosy face and a strong body. She was very capable and neat.
Maybe because he was shy, he didn't talk much with Shen Qi and Yu Zhong, and only dared to talk and laugh with Yu Jing. He also slept with Yu Jing at night, and it seemed that the two of them had a very good relationship.
Here, Yu Zhong hugged Xiao Yu Jing and talked with Shen Qi for a long time, and it was evening in the blink of an eye.
When it was time for dinner, Xie Yuming and Xie Yuduo really came back to have dinner.
However, due to the conflict at noon, Second Aunt, Cousin's wife and Yu Jin didn't say much. Naturally, Chen Qi and Yu Zhong sisters didn't mention it either. Everyone ate in silence.
However, my cousin Xie Yuming complained that the food served at noon was a bit bland, and was criticized by my second aunt for this.
We had just finished our meal when Wu'er from the shop happened to come over and tell us that the shop in front wanted to see the owner of the shop.
Xie Yuming was just getting mad at his mother, so he grabbed Wu'er and scolded her harshly.
Xie Yuduo was about to go back to the room with Chen Qi, but when he saw this scene, he had no choice but to nod at Chen Qi and signal her to go first.
Chen Qi nodded in understanding.
"Brother, calm down. I was just about to go somewhere up ahead, so I stopped by on the way."
I had just finished my work in the study, sent the guests away, and was about to go back when I saw Xie Yuming push the door open again.
"Brother, why are you here again at this time?"
Xie Yuming walked in, collapsed on the bed in the study, and sighed.
"I'll be full of anger if I go back. This doesn't make sense, that doesn't matter. It's better to be at ease here."
"Are you angry with your sister-in-law again?"
"You, a newlywed, don't know my pain. No one would believe me if I told them. Only God knows."
Xie Yuming smiled bitterly and then thought of something else.
"Later this afternoon, Uncle Tang told me that he met two merchants from Huaiyang who brought a lot of fine herbs. Why didn't you take any of them? He showed me the inventory list in the shop. There weren't many of those herbs left, and their prices were low. It would be a great profit to take them."
Xie Yuduo looked through today's bill.
"If I accept it, I might make some money, but I'm afraid that after half a year of litigation, I'll lose more."
Xie Yuming stood up and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Those two people are very strange."
"Strange?"
"I went to see them. The two merchants were staying in Handkerchief Alley, which was full of cheap inns and difficult for carriages to get in and out.
Most drug dealers travel all year round, and for their own safety and convenience, they stay in large inns. How could they save money on this?
"That being said, it's not a sure thing. If you meet someone who is frugal and manages his household well, you can stay in a small inn for a few days."
"That's one reason. Secondly, Huaiyang merchants travel a lot, and most of them speak Mandarin. But those two men, selling medicine, spoke with a Huaiyang accent. Plus, they were wearing silk clothes and didn't shave. It was really odd."
Xie Yuming poured a cup of tea and said with a smile: "Second brother, what you said is unreasonable. You don't allow people to grow beards?"
Xie Yuduo closed the account book, stood up and walked over.
"Big Brother, you don't know. For medicinal herbs like this, the most important thing is that they are clean. That's why merchants rarely grow beards, fearing that a few strands might fall off accidentally and damage the appearance.
These two men were dressed in silk, but their beards were so long that their faces were invisible. To be honest, from head to toe, from toe to head, I felt that they didn't look like legitimate merchants at all.
"We don't care if he has a beard or not. The goods are good, so we just collect them and sell them for money. What's there to be afraid of?"
"If it were some ordinary merchandise, it would be more reasonable. I could buy it and sell it at a low price. But it was precisely because the merchandise was so good that I concluded it was stolen goods."
When the eldest brother heard this, he even forgot to drink the tea in his hand.
"Stolen goods?"
"It's clear they're not medicine dealers. They're holding onto this valuable merchandise and want to sell it cheaply, but they're also adamant about not meeting the owner. They might be bandits. But now that we're at peace, there aren't many bandits in this province. They probably stole it."
Xie Yuming's eyes were blank and he was stunned.
Xie Yuduo continued speaking.
"If we take it, the government will investigate sooner or later. Handing the goods over is a small matter, but if they close the shop as well, it will be troublesome."
He paused.
"However, if there is an opportunity, this money will eventually come into our family."
After saying that, he patted his eldest brother on the shoulder and went back to the backyard.
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