"Are you feeling bloated because you ate too much for dinner, or are you feeling horny because of the smelly mutton?"
Xu He used a feather duster to brush off the dust on his thick coat. Now that he was no longer guarding the pork stall, he could wear his clothes for a few more days. Cotton-padded clothes are not suitable for frequent washing in winter. If washed too often, they will become tangled and lose warmth. He can also be lazy and does not have to wash clothes every day.
If it is stained with the smell of pork, if you wear it for one day without washing it, you really won’t want to wear it the next day because of the smell. Nothing is good about winter, except this one thing.
He dusted off Zhang Fangyuan's coat and hung it beside him. He glanced at the man lying on the bed, twisting and turning like a cabbage worm, and shook his head helplessly. He was about to be a father, but he was still like that.
Zhang Fangyuan was lying on his side, propping up his face and looking at Xu He, with the corner of his mouth raised: "Can you say this openly? No matter how fishy the mutton is, it won't be fishy anymore after you marinate it with ginger juice."
"How about you treat me too?"
"Ginger juice can cure mutton, but it can't cure you." Xu He covered the lampshade he bought home to prevent the candle from being blown out by the wind at night. His ears were burning: "I'm talking to you seriously, but you have to talk nonsense. I don't want to pay attention to you."
"No." Zhang Fangyuan climbed up from the bed: "Are you not coming to sleep yet?"
"It gets dark early in the winter, and I go to bed early so I don't get enough sleep before dawn. I toss and turn in bed and can't fall asleep. I'm not going to the city now, so it's unbearable to lie in bed all the time with nothing to do."
Xu He took out a sewing basket from the drawer. He was not good at sewing, as if his fingers were too long and not flexible enough. The embroidery for clothes and shoes were not as beautiful as those made by his second sister.
Even so, he still wanted to make some underwear for his child himself. There were not many shops selling children's clothes in the city, and children's clothes were mostly made by family members themselves.
Thinking that Zhang Fangyuan didn't mind his clumsy hands and feet, and would rush to wear the clothes he made for him as soon as they were washed, it was obvious that they were made later than the clothes he had worn when he got married. In the end, he wore them more times and they were worn out before the older clothes. The child is young, so he certainly has no chance to complain that the clothes made by his father are not beautiful.
"I'll do some needlework before I go to bed."
"It's easy to damage your eyes if you do needlework with a lamp on at night. Besides, you're not afraid that I won't be able to sleep with the lamp on."
Xu He said: "You are a person who can fall asleep as long as you touch the bed. You can fall asleep even when there is a fire, but you can't fall asleep with a light on."
Zhang Fangyuan pulled a stool and sat next to Xu He: "I won't sleep. I'll watch you do needlework here."
Xu He lowered his eyes and could see a large group of people gathered to one side, blocking most of the candlelight in front of them, and a shadow fell on the cloth.
"Are you here to cause trouble?"
Zhang Fangyuan didn't move at all when he heard the sound, and just stayed there. When Xu He saw the man's sticky energy, he knew what kind of evil plan he had in mind. Normally, when I don't have any bad ideas, I would have fallen asleep on the bed long ago, and there is no way I would do this.
He put down the work in his hands and looked at him with slightly raised eyebrows. Zhang Fangyuan immediately smiled, touched the tip of his nose with his finger, bent down and picked him up.
"I'm still a little worried."
"It's okay. I'm not a young boy anymore. I know the seriousness of the situation."
Xu He looked suspiciously at the man with clear tendon lines after taking off his clothes. His expression didn't match his words. He wanted to ask you to confirm, but found that the room was bright, so he said instead: "You don't want to blow out the lights?"
"Light it up, some light won't hurt." The important thing is that if you blow out the lamp, he will get even more excited.
Xu He pulled the quilt. There was no mosquito net in winter, but there was a tent on the bed to keep warm. Even if it was put down, they could still see each other's faces clearly. They were warm and soft, and there was some charm in them. "But I'm not used to this."
It's hard to have it all.
"How about this, light it for a while and I'll go blow it later."
Each side should take a step back.
"Oh well."
The next day, the wind outside blew against the closed window, and when Xu He got up, it was already bright.
Zhang Fangyuan had driven his carriage to the city early in the morning, and he didn't know what time he left. Anyway, he heard the rustling sounds of people getting dressed and opening doors in his sleep.
He went to open the window, and light poured in along with a little mist and rain.
Winter is always gray and gloomy, and it is not very bright even at noon. This season and weather always make it difficult to tell what time it is, morning or afternoon.
He propped up the window and looked at the wax flowing onto the wooden board next to him, which had burned out, and sighed helplessly.
…………
"Boss, I want a bowl of wontons. Add some hot soup. Cook it and send it to Linglong Toothbrush Shop in front."
It was already late when Zhang Fangyuan set out for the city. Many shops on Tian Street had already opened, but he was not in a hurry. His family's business was no longer busy with the early morning market, so it didn't matter if they opened a little later.
Passing by the alley where Xu He used to set up a stall, he ordered breakfast while riding on his horse.
"Okay."
He was already a regular customer, so even if he didn't pay first, the stall owner would still give him noodles.
Today at noon when he was free he went to buy a horse-drawn carriage. He didn't even have a cart when he came here. He rode the horse all the way here, feeling the winter morning breeze. All his sleepiness was blown away, but he didn't feel cold. He just thought it was interesting to ride a tall horse to come to the city to open a shop.
But the fun only lasted for a moment. The couple was used to opening the business together, and he was not used to coming alone to open the door today. Even the proprietress of the cloth shop next door asked about Xu He.
The shop opened and steaming wontons were delivered to the store. Zhang Fangyuan took out ten cents from his pocket and gave it to the vendor, then ate his breakfast in a hurry.
After dinner, he imitated Xu He's way of opening the shop in the past and put the toothbrushes in order, wiped the cupboards spotlessly, and took a broom to sweep the area in front of the door. It was a bunch of trivial things to do, but it was very time-killing. Soon it was already 4:00 p.m.
"You can look for yourself if you want to order something. If you don't understand anything, just call me."
"You are the owner of Linglong Shop, right?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Fangyuan raised his head and glanced at the visitor, a man with a felt hat and a beard, who did not look like a local.
"That's right." Zhang Fangyuan asked again, "Are you a cargo merchant?"
"The boss has good eyesight."
Seeing this, Zhang Fangyuan became more polite. He came out from the counter, brought a stool to the man, and made him a cup of tea. As a merchant distributing goods, when he comes to the shop to inquire, he knows that the price is to be negotiated without even asking.
Zhang Fangyuan liked such merchants very much. When he was not in the shop before, the traveling merchants who came to their county town in autumn to sell Luo Qi would come to the shop to buy some goods to sell, but the orders were not large. He remembered that he seemed to have made only four or five taels of profit.
At that time, there were many orders in the city that were bigger than this one, so the couple didn't take it too seriously.
"To be honest with you, I came here in the fall to order some goods, and they were very easy to sell. This morning, I went back to Siyang to deliver Luo Qi to a distinguished guest in the city, and I came here again to order some goods for you."
Zhang Fangyuan didn't know who had placed the order before. After all, there were many merchants from other places at that time, big and small, so he didn't pay much attention. So he asked, "How much do you want to take?"
"After this order, I won't be going out this year. I want to order as many as possible, but I don't have much money on hand, so I'll see if the boss can make it convenient for me."
"All of these are easy to discuss. If you order a lot, I can make the price as affordable as possible." Zhang Fangyuan smiled and poured tea for the man. "The most important thing is to have a pleasant conversation, make friends, and visit each other often in the future."
The merchant laughed when he heard this: "This couldn't be better."
He had placed an order before, so he was considered a regular customer. However, there were not many customers in the shop at the moment. Zhang Fangyuan still took him around and introduced the things in the shop to the merchants.
To be on the safe side at first, he only took the cheapest boar bristle toothbrushes and soapberry tooth powder when he went to business, and he took very few more expensive toothbrushes and tooth powders. However, when he took them to other counties, he found that they sold surprisingly well, so he became much bolder this time.
He ordered fifty of each type of toothbrush at once, and selected each type of tooth powder. For convenience, he did not take the tooth powder that had already been packaged in porcelain bottles, but took it by weight and took it away to package it himself.
As there was a large demand for the goods, Zhang Fangyuan reduced the price of toothbrushes in the shop by fifteen cents a piece, and the price of tooth powder by twenty cents. The prices were quite affordable.
Even so, Zhang Fangyuan could still earn 40 taels of silver from this batch of goods at one time. This was the advantage of selling more goods.
"The goods will be ready in two days, and you can come and take some away."
The businessman's joy was evident on his face. He was very happy to meet a generous shop owner like Zhang Fangyuan. The more he traveled, the more he met cunning merchants, and he cherished such merchants even more. He politely bowed and said, "I am Song Yong, fortunate to have a strong relationship with the boss."
Zhang Fangyuan also gave his name, and generously paid half of the deposit. He drank a cup of tea in the shop, and when he saw a customer coming, he said goodbye and left.
The deposit was fifty taels, and the silver note was given to Zhang Fangyuan, who put it away carefully. This batch of goods is quite large. If it were in the past, it would definitely not have been possible to finish it in two days. However, since the first traveling merchant came into the shop, Zhang Fangyuan had made up his mind to do business with the traveling merchant. He had been running around without staying in the shop for a while just to stock up more goods so that he could take on bigger orders.
He rubbed his hands. He took so much away from the merchants and sold it back. He thought he could make a lot of money and have a good New Year.
In fact, his price was low, and he could make at least twice as much money by selling the products slowly in the shop. However, things might change if he delayed, so the important thing was to make more money quickly. Who knew when these merchants with ulterior motives would follow his example? For this reason, he lowered the price in one go, and the merchants no longer bargained with him.
I think the price should be much lower than the last time I bought the goods.
"Boss Zhang, this is great business. This is another big business!"
Zhang Fangyuan accompanied Song Yong out, and only came back after he had gone far away. He looked up at the voice and saw the owner of the spice shop on the opposite street. He smiled politely and said, "It's just a small profit, not a big business. It can't be compared with the big business of Boss Xue."
"No, that's not true. Song Yong is a well-known merchant. Every year, he sends a large amount of silk and satin from Suzhou. Many wealthy families in the city ask him to choose goods from them. Cloth shops all look to his new materials to do business. Merchants in the city are eager to negotiate business with such a person, but Boss Song has always had a sharp eye. Since he came to our door, how could it be a small business?"
Zhang Fangyuan frowned slightly and said honestly, "I am just a small businessman, and I didn't know that Mr. Song was such a person. It was really disrespectful. If Mr. Xue had reminded me earlier, I would have kept him in the restaurant next door for a meal before letting him go."
As he spoke, he let out a long sigh, and it didn't seem like he was faking it. The boss surnamed Xue smiled upon hearing this and said nothing more. He thought that Zhang Fangyuan, a burly man, did not look like a veteran in the business world. Now he had missed an opportunity to curry favor with a businessman. He felt calm and turned back to the shop.
"The smell of this pickled chicken is so good that you can smell it from across the street. Boss Zhang, have you ever smelled it?"
Zhang Fangyuan tilted his head and saw the proprietress of the cloth shop next door.
He couldn't help but laugh: "The sauerkraut stewed chicken from Lao Tanqi is naturally very tasty."
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