Chapter 186 The Caravan Returns

As July approached, the weather was getting hotter. Lu Lingyun changed into a light summer shirt and moved from the small flower room where she usually stayed to a ventilated and cool main room.

In the backyard, apart from the quarrel between Du Ruo and Cheng Yunshuo, which they quickly reconciled, there was nothing serious going on.

Qiu Ling and Ling Long were looking forward to the time when Du Ruo would fall out of favor so that they could make fun of her.

Unfortunately, Du Ruo was still in great favor.

She went back to her parents' home after making a fuss, and Cheng Yunshuo personally took her back.

Lu Lingyun just listened to these little things and laughed it off.

The only major event was that Cheng Qi went to Dongzhimen and served as a city guard officer.

His sister Cheng Hui was taken to the inner courtyard by Lu Lingyun, who raised her.

"Sister-in-law, I've finished writing."

Cheng Hui stood up, picked up a piece of calligraphy she had just written, and showed it to Lu Lingyun.

Lu Lingyun looked at the page of large characters she had written carefully and said, "Well, it's well written."

Cheng Huike was much more obedient than Du Ruo. She would do whatever Lu Lingyun told her to do and learn whatever she told her to learn.

Cheng Hui's round eyes turned, "Sister-in-law, can I play for a while?"

"Go ahead."

With Lu Lingyun's permission, Cheng Hui immediately went to find Xia Mei with a smile on her face, and the two of them went to play games under the rose stand in the yard.

Shuanghong came in carrying a large plate of chilled watermelon.

Lu Lingyun called out to them, "Don't just play around, go eat the watermelon."

Cheng Hui ran over, grabbed two pieces of watermelon, and shared them with Xia Mei, each eating a piece in big mouthfuls. The bright red watermelon juice immediately covered their faces.

Shuanghong saw this and laughed, "Young Madam, these two don't act like girls at all!"

"That's how children should be." Lu Lingyun waved his round fan and said with a smile.

At this time, the maid from the mansion came in with a happy face and reported.

"Young Madam, you're back! You're back!"

"Who's back?"

"Captain Qian and Captain Qin of our caravan are back!"

When she heard Captain Qian coming back, Shuanghong's eyes, who were standing next to Lu Lingyun, immediately lit up.

At the beginning of this year, due to Lu Lingyun's suggestion, the two caravans of the Marquis' Mansion both ran along the Jiangnan route.

During this period, the goods have been sent back several times, but the two managers have not returned home. Now that it is the middle of the year, the two team leaders have come to the house to report on their work.

"Please come in!" Lu Lingyun said.

Soon, Captain Qian and Captain Qin both entered Lu Lingyun's room.

When the two men saw Lu Lingyun, they first knelt down and kowtowed.

"Greetings to the young lady!"

"Greetings to the young lady!"

"You two have worked hard, get up quickly." Lu Lingyun sat upright in his seat, smiling as he looked at the two team leaders who had returned to report on their work.

"Madam, we are very lucky to have followed your instructions and went to Jiangnan," Captain Qian boasted to Lu Lingyun after he stood up. "You don't even know that the caravans that went with me on the border trade route haven't come back yet!"

"And the silk material you asked me to look for in Jiangnan is really very popular! We just placed orders with various silk workshops, and the price immediately started to increase. It's hard to get a piece! When those Jiangnan silk merchants saw that we stocked up the goods early, their eyes widened, and they all said that we were lucky."

Captain Qian praised Lu Lingyun fiercely, saying that this trade trip was the luckiest one he had ever taken.

Years ago, when Lu Lingyun asked him to change his business path, he didn't believe her in his heart. He just thought that how could a lady from a secluded family understand business matters.

He was used to taking the western trade route, which was dangerous but profitable and a huge source of income for the Marquis's mansion.

If he went along the Jiangnan trade route with Captain Qin, he would definitely earn little and waste time.

Unexpectedly, not long after he set out at the beginning of the year, he heard the news that his friends who were traveling along the border trade routes were trapped and captured one after another.

As time went by, not only were those people not rescued, many of them got into trouble and were killed at the border.

When Captain Qian thought of this, he felt a mixture of fear and secret joy. Fortunately, a young lady came to their house this year and saved them from a big disaster. If this disaster happened to the Marquis's mansion, it might just mean a loss of money, but if it happened to him, it would be a matter of life and death!

Not to mention that after he followed Captain Qin to Jiangnan, he followed the young lady's instructions to order the material she wanted. Not long after they placed the order, the price of the material began to rise wildly, and later it was even harder to get one!

By the time the caravan traveling with them to Jiangnan realized what was happening, all the materials had been bought by their family. Captain Qian would never forget the look in their eyes when they looked at them.

It’s just so cool!

Everyone was envious and praised them for their good luck. Some even made conspiracy theories, saying that they had hyped up the stock themselves and that it would not be popular for long. The stock would fall in price and they would lose all their money.

Who would have thought that this material would become more and more popular and fashionable, even becoming popular all the way to the capital.

Ninety percent of this kind of material in the entire capital was brought by their Ningyang Marquis Mansion caravan.

This time, both caravans made a lot of money, but they just didn't have enough manpower!

"Young Madam is truly far-sighted! She has a keen eye and foresight!" Captain Qian was the first to praise her, only to regret that he did not praise her well enough.

It is hard to overstate Lu Lingyun’s foresight.

Captain Qin on the side couldn't help but look up at Lu Lingyun.

Lu Lingyun smiled and waved his hands, "No, you have all worked hard, take a seat and rest."

The maids brought up stools early, and Captain Qin and Captain Qian sat down respectively, and the maids served them tea.

It was Shuang Hong who put the teacup on Captain Qian and said, "Captain Qian, have some tea."

Captain Qian took one look at her and recognized her at once, saying, "It's you!"

Shuanghong immediately lowered her head, responded with one syllable, and quickly retreated.

Team leader Qin next to him handed over the account book and asked people to bring up all the items.

The two team leaders came to report on their work and not only handed in the account books and brought back more than a dozen boxes of cash, they also brought back a lot of other things.

These are for the Lord’s house.

The top-quality and rare items collected during each trip will not be sold but will be delivered to the owner.

This year, in addition to bringing hundreds of pieces of the most fashionable fabrics, they also brought a box of Jiangnan-style hairpins, five boxes of porcelain vases, bowls, and dishes, three pairs of large screens with hand-painted ladies, and a box of Jiangnan-style novel folding fans, Japanese swords, sachets, snuff bottles, table clocks, mirrors, and other small items.

Lu Lingyun is now the head lady of the Marquis's Mansion. She looked at the silver and items presented and said with a smile, "You have worked so hard."

She first counted the silver according to the account book. This time she brought in a total of more than 78,300 taels of silver, nearly double her usual profit. All the money was put into the warehouse.

She glanced at the rare and wonderful things they brought and began to plan.