Chapter 145 Chapter 145 Update.
Then he pulled Ji Xu to a deserted corner, looked around, and took out a large golden hairpin from his bosom and gave it to her.
"Good stuff, beautiful, and valuable."
Ji Xu was surprised and asked her where she got it. She said it was from the Yan family. Such a gold hairpin inlaid with precious pearls is probably not something a child can give casually. Xiaoyao gestured and said:
"I won't give it to others, I'll just keep it for my sister."
Force it on her, as if it is a good thing she hunted and must give it to you.
Ji Xu got it temporarily and returned it to Feng Gu, the wet nurse, without her knowledge.
"This thing is too valuable. I can't accept it. Aunt Feng should keep it for her."
Speaking of this, Feng Gu was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
"The young lady got this hairpin, but she refused to give it to anyone. We tried to coax her several times, but it was no use. It would be fine if it were anything else, but this is a gift from a relative or elder. If I give it away and never wear it, I'm afraid people will gossip about it. So I kept it quietly and didn't tell her."
Ji Xu and Tian Shi went back and passed by Li's house on the way. It was just as Li Fuye had said. The house was full of leather and wool, which were piled up like mountains and were transported out from behind the corner gate in carts.
Ji Xu took a closer look and went back to ask Zhang Er about the market price of wool. Zhang Er whispered:
"Wool is now worth four taels of silver per stone, and mats are even more valuable. At the border market, there's only so much of it in the middle of the country, and you can only buy one for eight taels! Girl, you're really hoarding it. If you keep it for a while, you might make even more money."
Unexpectedly, Ji Xu said he wanted to sell everything and asked Zhang Er to find a buyer.
Zhang Er was puzzled, but he did as he was told. Wool and mats were in short supply nowadays, so he facilitated the deal the next day.
Ten ox carts came and took away the stored goods in Ji Xu's house. The neighbors were stunned.
East end of Wei Bridge,
A wool merchant came with a cart to sell wool early in the morning. The river was covered with ice three feet thick, but many people were still waiting on the bank to buy wool.
They all knew that the Han army was going to fight the Xiongnu and that the border markets were closing, so they came here to stock up on wool, waiting for the price to go up before selling it. Jin was among them, rushing forward and saying,
"I want them all! Give them all to me, I want them all!"
Now it's unavailable anywhere else, except for this vendor. Jin, who was initially hesitant, is now completely desperate. If she doesn't buy it now, it'll be gone. So she's been snatching it up for two days straight, her eyes red with anger. She pushed others and said,
"Stop pushing, old man! You're squeezing me."
"You buy so much, what else can others buy?"
The vendor was still unwilling to sell her more wool. After some persuasion, Jin finally got a big bag of wool and took it home.
Then she saw her eldest daughter coming and looking anxiously in the direction she came from at the entrance of the alley.
"Oh no! Oh no! The neighbors have brought over ten ox carts to sell all their wool and mats. We watched from the sidelines and saw that those things were worth at least seven or eight hundred taels, and they sold them all in one day."
"Sold? They sold it now, when it's so hard to find it anywhere?"
Jin was shocked and proud at the same time.
I was surprised that my neighbor had secretly hoarded so much and sold it for so much money. I was proud that my neighbor sold it early. Now that the price is soaring, I can't sit still and sell it. I laughed and said:
"It's too early to sell it. Let them regret it later! Your mother and I snatched two more bags today. This wool is out of stock anywhere, and the price is still rising."
Ji Yuan felt somewhat uneasy. Jin had her reasons. He was already thinking about how high the price would be when he sold the house in the future. The neighboring family would probably regret it.
Although Tian also wanted to stay for a while longer, now in the whole Chang'an City, anyone with spare money would stock up on wool. Even a seven-year-old child knew that wool was valuable, not to mention mats made of cow hair and wool.
But her daughter insisted on selling it, so she finally gave in. The wool was loaded onto the cart and gradually taken away. The west room became empty again. Outside the yard, there were many neighbors watching the excitement, and they were shocked and said:
"Auntie Tian, when did you stockpile so much goods without telling us?"
"Who's still shouting about making money? I'm afraid you'll lose money and start blocking my house to ask for money."
Tian said, they all said no way, and then said:
“It’s too early to sell it!”
In fact, Ji Xu decided to take action because, firstly, she saw big merchants like the Li family who had hoarded wool selling off their goods, and secondly, the news of the border market's closure spread everywhere. The whole city was optimistic about the rise in wool prices and scrambled to buy it. She felt that there was not much momentum for further increases. After all, news was the most valuable, so she was willing to sell.
Excluding some wool used by the family, this batch of goods was sold for a total of 800 taels, including 400 taels each of wool and mats.
She gave Zhang Er extra money as the middleman for selling the wine, and got 800 taels for herself, which she counted on the bamboo couch.
All the money was exchanged for gold ingots according to the current price of four taels of silver to one tael of gold. This way, they would take up less space. Two hundred taels of gold ingots were equivalent to twelve and a half pounds at that time. They were golden and heavy enough to be put into the "household" money box.
This meant that the family could breathe a sigh of relief and no longer had to sell food all the time to pay back the monthly loan. She said to Tian:
"With this box of gold cakes, there's no need for you, mother, to go to Huai City. You can stay home and enjoy your life."
Tian smiled so hard that her teeth showed. She had never seen so much cash before. She was so curious that she picked up each one and wanted to take a bite to see if it was real. After hearing this, she was so happy that she said:
"Okay, okay, it's my daughter who is really capable after all. Now mother can enjoy a peaceful and peaceful life."
Having said that, she definitely couldn't just leave the money lying around and not make any money. She planned to go after the winter and twelfth months when the weather cleared up.
Now they are preparing some New Year's goods at home, getting ready for New Year's Eve. This is the first year for them and their daughter in Chang'an, so they attach great importance to it and want to celebrate it well.
Therefore, every corner of the house was dusted and cleaned thoroughly. Some of the broken brooms, kitchen brooms, and whisks were thrown away and replaced with new ones.
There were also new clothes for the mother and daughter, which were made by tearing out bright fabrics and slowly starting to be made.
Then there were the charcoal for the family fire, two large carts of it were brought back at once, enough to keep us warm this winter. Baskets of it were piled under the woodshed, twenty baskets in all, and the ones that were sticking out were all good charcoal that smoked very lightly.
In addition to charcoal, there is also firewood, needless to say. Although it seemed that ten carts of firewood were transported previously, they were actually used to cover up the wool underneath, and there was not much.
This time, Tian was unemployed at home, so she drove to the suburbs to find the family who made a living by collecting firewood. She brought back ten carts of firewood, which were mostly bundles of straw, pine branches and roadside bracken. These were flammable and burned well and quickly.
There were also pieces of wood that were chopped into arm-sized pieces, which Tian stacked in the firewood shed. She was very good at stacking them, and even though they were as high as the courtyard wall, they did not fall down at all. They looked both spectacular and beautiful.
There was also rice for the family to eat. A family came from the south and was used to eating rice. She also bought thirty hu of rice and put it in the west room. She piled up the bags and patted them. They felt very solid. Ji Feng looked at them and said,
"So much rice! We don't even need to buy rice in the spring!"
It was freezing and snowy now, so we couldn't eat fresh fish every day. So there were five cured fish, one hundred cured sausages, one hundred cured ribs, ten pieces of bacon, and two large hams hanging in the yard.
All of these have been made one after another since the winter month. The cured fish is made by Tian, and the rest are made by Ji Xu.
When there is sunshine, they are hung out to dry; when there is no sunshine, they are dried under the eaves. Now they are oozing with oil, the flesh is firm, and they have a beautiful honey color, which is extremely tempting.
Feng and Zhu would often look up from under the bamboo pole to smell it and say:
“It smells so good.”
I look forward to the day when I can dry it in the sun and steam it to eat. This is a delicacy that is only available in winter and cannot be eaten all year round.
During the days of drying the preserved meat, it was thanks to these two little ones who were watching over it. Otherwise, the thin casings would have been pierced by the greedy sparrows if they were not careful. It would have been such a pity, and the holes would not have looked good either. Therefore, the two sisters did not forget to chase away the sparrows when they were playing in the yard.
Later, Ji Xu thought of a way. He cut strips of cloth and tied them to bamboo poles. The wind swayed them, and when there was no one around, the sparrows dared not come near.
This is the situation now. The cured meat is drying in the yard, and Tian eats while busy in the kitchen. The two vegetable plots next to the kitchen are planted with celery, radish, cabbage, turnip, and some green onions and coriander in the corners.
There was still unmelted snow on the green leaves, and a line of smoke rose up nearby, making it look warm.
Feng and Zhu were under the stove, facing the glowing hearth, twirling the flower ropes and occasionally adding a piece of firewood. Seeing that it was almost dark, Ji Feng said to Tian:
"I'm going to pick up my sister!"
"I'm going too!"
Ji Zhu also said.
The two of them rushed into the Jiaomen Market together and trotted all the way to the braised food stall. Ji Xu had indeed sold out and was closing the stall.
With the help of the two of them, they quickly collected the two-handled pottery plates, and the three sisters pushed the wheelbarrow and headed home.
Tian had already lit a charcoal fire on the stove in the main room. "It's frozen, warm it up quickly, and we'll be able to eat in a while."
A bamboo fire basket was stuffed into Ji Xu's hand, with three or five pieces of red charcoal in it. A piece of coarse cloth was covered on the iron net for warming hands. The three sisters put their hands under the coarse cloth and warmed them in front of the charcoal.
"Whose hands are so cold!"
"It's Xiaozhu's! She just took off her clothes and played in the snow."
Ji Zhu then used her icy hands to freeze people, and the whole room was filled with laughter.
Some are happy while others are sad, but the Jin family next door is not in a good mood.
The wool, which was originally in short supply everywhere, suddenly appeared in large quantities like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. Every store had it in stock, and no one knew where it came from.
There were rumors that the Li family of Maoling and several wealthy merchants had sold off their stockpiled goods, but this news did not reach Jin's ears. She only knew that the price had inexplicably dropped from four taels per stone to three or two taels.
Jin had stockpiled five dan of rice, but she had only bought them at four liang. She had lost half of her money, and she was so angry that she couldn't even eat. "Taking her money is like taking her life!" She beat her chest and cursed:
"It's all the neighbor's fault! Why are they hoarding wool? They made money for themselves, but it hurts our family!"
Her daughter Ji Zhi said nothing. Instead, she followed the neighbor and sold the wool she had hidden that day, earning more than three hundred yuan.
However, she did not dare to tell Jin, for fear of being scolded and for fear that Jin would ask for her money. So she quietly hid the money under the mattress and used it to buy Hu bing.
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