Chapter 20 Building the Cabinet: Ah, a poor home, a poor woman.
Cheng Niangzi whispered to Yao Ruyi, "I had a bench made at his house in the twelfth lunar month. The mortise and tenon joints fit perfectly, and the price is reasonable. Take a look and if you like it, then place the order with him. If you don't like it, we can look for another one."
Yao Ruyi nodded, and as she stepped into the shop, she saw him squatting there hammering wood. She went up to ask him how much it cost to make a cabinet. Zhou Jumu, covered in sawdust, stood up, rubbing his hands and muttering something unintelligible.
His wife, He Xiang, was quite clever. Upon hearing Ru Yi's purpose, she immediately rose from her rocking chair, wiped her hands on her apron, offered them seats, and then solicitously ordered Zhou Jumu to come in and pour tea for them. After asking carefully, she said, "If it's convenient for you, young lady, my husband and I will come to your home tomorrow to take your measurements. We'll then give you a detailed quote. If it's not to your liking, that's fine too; we won't charge you a penny. What do you think?"
That's good, otherwise she wouldn't be able to explain it clearly, and there would always be details she couldn't pay attention to when drawing the pattern.
Yao Ruyi agreed and arranged to come for the measurement early the next morning.
After leaving the carpenter's shop, Aunt Yu and her daughter, Sister You, met up on the road. After buying needles, thread, and scraps of cloth, the group headed to the area where chickens, ducks, and eggs were sold. As soon as they entered, they could hear chickens flying and ducks quacking, and the air was thick with the stench of poultry. Most of the vendors were farmers from the outskirts of the city, with towels draped over their shoulders and straw ropes used for binding their feet, calling out their wares.
Sister-in-law You, with her sharp eyes, pointed to a dark-faced man and said, "Isn't that Hong Shiba? I bought his old hen last year. He's trustworthy; his chickens are plump and healthy, and when you stew them, a thick layer of yellow chicken fat floats on top—it's incredibly fragrant."
The crowd went closer to look and saw that Hong Shiba's bamboo basket was piled with green-shelled eggs, each one round and plump. Behind him, there were seven or eight bamboo cages, with live chickens and ducks huddled together, clucking and squawking.
Yao Ruyi stepped forward to negotiate the price, and several aunts and sisters-in-law also helped to look at the eggs and bargain. In the end, they agreed that he would deliver four hundred eggs to the Imperial College every three days, and the total price would be 20% cheaper than the general stores in the city.
"If we use Hong Shiba's eggs, which cost three coins each, the cost of tea eggs can be reduced to less than one coin," Yao Ruyi thought to herself, calculating incessantly.
Afterwards, the group found Granny Liu, who sold soapberries, and Lady Wang, who made pig pancreas. They inquired about the market prices and Yao Ruyi had a general idea of what to expect. They then agreed on the terms for picking up the goods: in the future, if they needed to order goods, they only needed to leave a message at Old Zhang's teahouse outside Zhuque Gate. The teahouse was located next to the moat, and they often stopped there to rest after selling their goods in the streets and alleys. They were familiar with the owner and the staff of the teahouse, so as long as they left a message, they would definitely know.
There were also small vendors selling brooms and baskets, tinderboxes and mulberry paper, chamber pots, foot basins and back scratchers, hair oil, rouge and lipstick, straw mats, woolen yarn, silk handkerchiefs and wrapping cloths, etc. Ruyi found good quality goods for all of them and asked about the prices.
I'll sell snacks for a few days, save up some money, and then I can buy wholesale goods once the containers are ready.
After following her around, the aunties and sisters-in-law finally understood her plan and exclaimed, "So you're going to open a general store in this alley? That's a great idea!"
"This is really a good thing, it saves us from having to run two miles just to buy a needle," said Sister You, clapping her hands.
Aunt Yu said while chewing on a fried dough stick, "That's great, now we have firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, which makes things much more convenient for us!"
Madam Cheng and Sister-in-law Yinzhu hurriedly added, "We also need a comb, a bronze mirror, and some trendy hair accessories!"
Jasmine and Xiaosong jumped up and shouted, "Sister Ruyi, we also want silk dolls, candied hawthorns, and plum candy!" They chattered excitedly about what goods to stock the shop, showing even more anticipation than Yao Ruyi herself.
Yao Ruyi also remembered the items they wanted. The things her neighbors wanted were also in her plan. They were all common items in the convenience store, so it wouldn't be difficult to get them.
By this time, it was nearly evening.
The sun was setting in the west, its rays falling between the battlements like a large egg yolk, being blown westward by the autumn wind.
It's almost time to pick up Grandpa Yao; it's time to go back.
Everyone boarded the long bus again, carrying their bags and bundles. Yao Ruyi went to Zhao Taicheng's clinic to pick up Grandpa Yao, and after returning home, she tidied up a bit and then rested.
The next day, the sky was still blue, and the thin, damp autumn mist drifted silently through the alley, carrying with it the familiar, still intermittent sound of reading. This time, however, the child, whose name was unknown, had finally progressed from "Alas!" to "The Yellow River's waters come from the sky," a truly joyous occasion.
Yao Ruyi twisted the thick quilt with her legs and hugged the corner of the quilt tightly with her arms. She dreamed that she was sitting on a cold mountain of copper coins, counting money until her hands cramped and she still couldn't finish. Her beautiful dream was shattered by the little chick pecking at rice, stuttering, "Difficult as to ascend to heaven... heaven... heaven... heaven what was it again?"
She sat up from the couch with her hair still messy from sleeping, stared blankly at the window lattice with another moldy patch for a while, and then let out a big yawn.
Ah, a poor family, a poor woman.
I'm awake now.
After washing up and getting dressed, I steamed some buns and then hurried over to help Grandpa Yao up as well. I wiped his face clean with a large cloth and gave him a proper wash. The two of us then stood together in the cool morning light of late autumn, practicing the precursor to "Eight Pieces of Brocade"—which was then called Baosheng Daofa Quan. Only five of the movements were very similar to the standing Eight Pieces of Brocade, and some of the moves required sitting and breathing exercises.
The intensity is not high, which is just right for Grandpa Yao and her to practice.
After finishing one round of the Eight Pieces of Brocade, they did another ancient exercise routine. Yao Qizhao followed along, completely bewildered, and asked while swinging his arms, "Does Baoshengquan (a style of martial arts) have this move?"
"Go ahead and practice!" Yao Ruyi swung her arms like a windmill.
Although he didn't understand, he obeyed and followed Yao Ruyi's lead, swinging his arms and waving his wings.
Seeing Grandpa Yao's thick eyebrows furrowed in a frown as he tried to suppress his embarrassment, Yao Ruyi couldn't help but laugh as she practiced.
She didn't set up her stall today; she was waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Zhou Jumu to come over.
Unexpectedly, a sudden downpour occurred a while later. Yao Ruyi busied herself collecting clothes all over the yard and even peeked through a crack in the side gate. The mother dog and her puppies had slipped back. The plate was empty, and the three dogs and one cat were huddled together beside their mother, sleeping peacefully under the dry eaves.
Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, she saw the sleeping mother dog suddenly wake up and look around, which startled her so much that she quickly closed the door.
This mother dog has such a keen sense of smell; she'd better not scare them into running out in the rain.
As if the sky had a hole in it, Yao Ruyi was wondering whether Zhou Jumu and his wife would come again when she heard what sounded like a mule cart coming from the alley entrance.
Yao Ruyi hurriedly grabbed an umbrella, changed into wooden clogs, and ran out to greet them; otherwise, the soldiers would not have let the two of them in.
Afterwards, she carefully explained the style of the shelves and display cases she wanted to the Zhou Jumu couple who came as agreed. Yao Ruyi arranged everything according to the style of her grandmother's old small shop: first, the partition wall between the two messy storage rooms of the Yao family had to be knocked down and opened up, so that there would be a more open and spacious room.
Inside the convenience store, all the shelves against the walls were single-sided, adjustable-height racks. Larger, heavier items like wooden buckets and basins were placed there, while lighter items like pots, pans, and dishes were placed on top. Yao Ruyi had even planned it out: the middle shelf on the left against the wall would hold various flavors of instant soup noodles, while the right shelf would display various daily necessities: toothbrushes, tooth powder, shampoo, hair oil, hair accessories, combs, mirrors, and the like.
The top floor stores inventory, while the middle and bottom floors are for sale.
In the middle are two double-sided island shelves. One is used to display popular items like oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea, while the other is dedicated to selling soap balls, needles and thread, tooth powder, and toothbrushes. Next to the entrance, there's a half-person-high open display case, made quite deep, where she plans to place two large earthenware urns for storing chilled drinks in summer and simmering sweet soups in winter. Next to them, she'll nail a nail and hook bamboo tubes strung together with hemp rope onto the urn. When someone wants tea or wine, they can untie one, priced by the bowl.
The window was widened to half the width of the wall, and a large wooden board was nailed to it, creating a large window facing the alley. A row of hooks was installed on both sides of the window frame to hang various small toys: bamboo dragonflies, windmills, kites, and nine-linked rings. On the board were placed a sausage grill, a tea egg pot, and various snack jars: candy, dried fruit, preserved fruit, roasted nuts, candied hawthorn, etc. Two sets of benches and square tables were then placed under the window for customers who weren't in a hurry to sit and eat.
Yao Ruyi also asked Zhou Jumu to use scraps to make her a few small partition signs, engraving words like food, daily necessities, tobacco and tea, and to make some replaceable label sleeves to be embedded in the shelf panels, so that she could cut paper and write the price on them later.
Almost everyone at the Imperial College was literate, making it more convenient to have prices clearly marked.
After all the details were agreed upon, they began to calculate the accounts.
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[Heart] I'll be a paid seller on April 24th, and I'll update 10,000 words that day. After that, I'll be posting daily updates!
Thank you everyone, looking forward to meeting all the lovely babies! [pink heart]
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