Chapter 132 Chapter 132 Update.
The Wei River sparkled in the sun. At the north end of the Wei Bridge, there were canal boats parked. On the bridge, people and vehicles flowed like water.
Ji Xu was wearing a sunshade hat and waiting for someone at the dock. He saw some young men getting off the grain boats and looking around at the prosperous capital.
One of them was a man with a broad square face, wearing a scarf and a coarse cloth shirt, revealing his dark arms, and holding a bundle tightly to his chest.
As soon as he came out of the cabin, he looked towards the shore and saw Ji Xu waving at him. He also waved back, revealing a mouthful of big white teeth.
"Brother Deng, you've had a hard time on this journey. Is your mother okay at home?"
This is the eldest son of the Deng family, coming forward, Ji Xu greeted him. In the past, his mother, the daughter-in-law of the Deng family, and the daughter-in-law of the Liu family bought a stone mill together and set up a small workshop to supply tofu skin to Ji Xu.
She had naturally met Deng Jia Dalang before and knew that he was honest and reliable.
"I'm fine. Mother always says that thanks to you, we've made some money. Last year, we bought two acres of land from Mrs. Jin and planted wild rice. The harvest will be ready in a month or so, so we don't have to worry about the land tax and the mental arithmetic fee this year."
Deng Dalang said that he was over twenty years old and came to the capital to serve as a guard.
There were also men from Lingshui County traveling with them. They were all from the same group and came to serve in the army. When they spoke to each other, they had the local accent of Wu, which Ji Xu found particularly cordial.
This group of service personnel was in charge of the leader Che Fu. After agreeing on the time and place of meeting with Che Fu, Ji Xu temporarily brought Deng Dalang out.
The ox cart at home was used by Tian to travel to and from Huai City every day. Ji Xu lived close to Jiaomen City, so he bought a wheelbarrow, which made it convenient for him to push a few double-handled pottery plates to the market across the street every day.
The oxcart hired by the man came to the dock to pick someone up and took Deng Dalang to Jiaomen Market for a meal. The vendors along the way were all familiar to her. He looked at her and asked:
"Xu, who's that next to you?"
"No wonder he closed up shop so early. Did he go to the dock to pick him up?"
"This is my good elder brother from my hometown. He came to the capital to serve." Ji Xu said with a smile.
Deng Dalang had just come here by car. The hustle and bustle of the traffic along the way made him dazzled. Now that he was being stared at with smiles on his face, he felt even more embarrassed.
Ji Xu brought her into a big restaurant. There was a full supply of food and wine on the table. They were all dishes that he couldn't name. The aroma was so tempting that he swallowed his saliva.
But he had something on his mind and didn't bother to eat. He looked around and took out a sturdy purse from the bottom of his bag, handed it to Ji Xu, and said:
"With this money on me, I've been feeling uneasy all the way. I dare not sleep soundly. Please count it. There are 45 taels in total. The Chen family's eldest mother said that 25 taels of this were dug out from the ground, and 20 taels were earned from the tofu shop."
Speaking of tofu stalls, he couldn't help but sigh,
"There are Tofu Zhang and Tofu Li at home now. At the end of last year, there were many people selling tofu with baskets on their shoulders. They all came from Shouchun and Hefei. Many of them can make it. We are not the only ones.
Later, a tofu shop opened in the county market. That shop, relying on its connection to Magistrate Pan, excluded the Chen family, repeatedly sending people to pick fights. The Chen family's eldest father even injured his leg in an argument, and their business was ruined. At the beginning of the year, they stopped renting out the small shop. It was the Chen family's eldest mother who carried the tofu on her pole and hawked it around the countryside. That way, they could still make a little money, which was more profitable than opening a shop.
The tofu making ceremony spread to his hometown. Ji Xu had guessed it when he passed through Shouchun. Now he was not surprised. He was just worried about the two elders of the Chen family.
"How is Mr. Chen's leg injury?"
"This happened half a year ago. Fortunately, the injury was not serious. Now I have recovered and can go out to work.
They assured you, but they felt guilty that they hadn't taken good care of the tofu shop."
"That's secondary. The most important thing is that no one is hurt. I don't plan to open a tofu shop at home anymore. I'm now selling cooked food here."
Deng Dalang was filled with admiration when he heard this and said:
"We all say 'People who hear about the joy of Chang'an will go out and smile towards the west'. You have actually come to Chang'an, the Western Capital, and started a business. If those people at home knew about this, they would probably be very envious. How many of them have ever been to Chang'an?
Even if I served like this, I only worked hard for a year and then hurried back home. Today, thanks to you, I can still go to the downtown area to take a look."
The two chatted while eating. Deng Dalang was a little embarrassed to pick up his chopsticks at first and said:
"Why come to such a nice place? I'm afraid it will cost a lot of money."
"It's not worth much. Our two families are good friends. Since you came all the way here, you should eat and drink well."
Later, Ji Xu also took a large bag of braised food he made and asked him to take it to the western suburbs camp to share with his fellow villagers.
He hired a car to take him to the camp to meet up, looked at the tents and watchtowers here, and said:
"I'll remember this place. I'll come visit you next time. If you need a break from camp, come find me at the trading post. We're running out of time today, so I'll take you on a tour of the Nine Markets of Chang'an someday."
In the afternoon, Tian and Erfeng returned home from Huai City. After washing their faces and drinking some water, they saw a linen bag on the kitchen table.
When I opened it, I saw a lot of big and small packages inside, including a package of dried lotus seeds, a package of dried bamboo shoots, a package of dried shiitake mushrooms, and even a package of dried herbal jelly fish, which is used for bathing and getting rid of prickly heat.
Tian was looking through it and asked where it came from. Ji Xu was washing scraps outside the yard and said:
"These were brought to us by Deng's eldest brother. They were all from the villagers we are close to, and they asked him to bring them to us."
"You mean the Chen, Wang, Deng, and Liu families? It's such a long way to go, and it must have been hard for him to carry them here. How are their families doing now? That lazy Wang Mazi is so poor that he had to sell his ass. Fortunately, he has a good wife, and his family is doing better."
Tian said, let's sit down and work together, chatting about the recent situation of the villagers that Ji Xu learned from Deng Dalang.
"I heard that Feng Yun was selected as a doctoral student this year and went to Chang'an a few days ago to study at the Imperial College for a year.
Deng Dalang also asked me if I had seen him. I said I hadn't been to Huai City this month and hadn't met him. "Has my mother seen him there?" Ji Xu said.
Tian thought for a moment, clapped his hands and said:
"Oh! It's him. That day, there was a student standing in front of the grocery stall. He seemed to have something to say, but he bought a pen and left. I said he looked familiar, but I was busy at the time and didn't think much about it.
He must be the Third Son of the Feng Family. He has grown a lot taller and is still the same as when he was little, with a quiet temper. If it were you, I'm afraid you would only be willing to say a few words."
Tian had been away from home for more than two years. Feng Yun usually kept company with books and did not hang out outside, so it was possible that she did not recognize him when she saw him.
Ji Xu said, "He has indeed made it through his studies. His years of hard work have paid off. I heard that Aunt Xu gave him a grand banquet to see him off. She hopes he will get a good official position in the capital and make a name for himself."
Speaking of Feng Yun, Tian recalled an incident that happened a long time ago. It happened when Ji Xu was kidnapped by thieves, and Tian had always been puzzled about it.
The next day, Ji Xu went to Zi Qian's house and settled the loan. He kept twenty-five taels of silver at home to use for buying a house and household items.
One hundred and eighty taels were used to pay for the house, and the remaining one thousand two hundred taels were borrowed from the Zi Qian family at an interest rate of one twelfth.
That afternoon, I found Zhang Er and went to the teahouse.
The boss, having received the news, had already sent a respectable steward and a clerk to wait here in advance.
The manager said, "Is this the buyer? Please come this way."
The two of them first went to a teahouse and signed a lead contract for the sale of the house.
This note was written by the clerk after he asked Ji Xu about it. It only read:
On the 21st day of the seventh month in the second year of the Yuanshi reign, Ji Xu, the eldest daughter of Lingshui County, Kuaiji, bought a house and a courtyard area 13 steps away from Sangshu Lane in Anling Town from Sun Bo, a man from Maoling Town.
The payment was 1,480,000 coins, equivalent to 1,480 taels of silver, and the payment was made on the same day.
The manager Sun Yi was in charge of the matter. At that time, the horse dealer Zhang Er knew the agreement and they each took half of the money from the sale of wine.
"Please take a look, ma'am. If you think it's correct, we can sign and seal it." said the manager.
Such a lead certificate was similar to the sales contract of later generations, and was made in duplicate. Ji Xu took a look at it and thought it was okay, so he signed and stamped his fingerprint on the lead certificate.
The seller, Sun Bo, had his manager bring a seal and stamp it with his own private seal, so that both the buyer and the seller could keep a copy.
Ji Xu gave the money, and the steward weighed it on the spot. When the amount was correct, he took out the title deed and the key from the box and gave it to her, not forgetting to say some auspicious words:
"I wish the girl to live in a blessed house, be happy every day, be rich every month, and be free from worries!"
With Zhang Er's witness, the sale of the house was completed.
According to what was written in the lead certificate, both parties paid half of the wine-selling money to Zhang Er, which was similar to the agency fee in later generations. At that time, it was called wine-selling money.
The amount of money was also agreed upon in advance. Ji Xu paid 500 coins and the landlord paid 500 coins.
Zhang Er had been watching over the house for over a month and had earned a small sum of money from selling it. He was very happy and, with the money, he went to buy two liters of Laoma wine and a piece of pig's liver. Then he went home and shouted:
"Mother, I'm back!"
"My daughter is back!"
At the entrance of Sangshu Lane, Tian Bingfeng, Zhu and Xiaoyao were waiting there early. In preparation for the happy event of buying a house today, they were all dressed in bright and festive clothes, with bright faces.
"Sister, sister, have you bought the house?" Ji Feng asked impatiently.
Xiaoyao also jumped up and down, pulling at her sleeves, looking forward to it.
"Look, what is this?"
Ji Xu smiled and took out the land deed from his sleeve.
Tian took it and looked at it first.
"Mother, you got it wrong."
After Jizhu's reminder, she smiled happily, took the book and looked at it carefully. Although she could not read, she could not let it go. She did not let Feng, Zhu and Xiaoyao touch it. She just let them look at it for a while. She was afraid that it would be damaged, so she folded it carefully and put it in her arms.
Ji Feng smiled and said:
"Tell my sister quietly, although Mom says it's not a good idea to borrow money to buy a house, she's actually been thinking about this day for a long time. She bought a locked wooden box while she was shopping at the market. I'm sure that box is used to lock the deed."
Tian poked her on the forehead.
"You're such a cunning girl! You even know when I bought the box."
In the alley, there were neighbors who came out to watch the excitement. Tian had already announced to everyone with great fanfare that her daughter was going to buy a house today, and this house would be hers from today on!
Aunt Liu said, "Look at that smile on your face, you must have bought it. When will you treat us to a house-moving party?"
"That's right! We're looking forward to having some drinks!"
Tian said, "On that day, we will decorate the house with mother and daughter, prepare delicious food and wine for the guests, and have all the neighbors come to add to the festive atmosphere!"
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