Chapter 76 Why is my second brother not speaking clearly?
The two walked from North Street to the center of Cile Town and found a small shop at the intersection of North and South Streets. The shop was less than five square meters and was a small area separated from the inn. There were some groceries scattered inside and the business did not seem to be good.
Song Yuntang curled his lips into a smile and walked straight into the inn.
Perhaps business was bad this year. The shopkeeper, who was drowsy behind the counter, suddenly perked up when he saw someone coming in.
"Does the girl need accommodation?"
"I don't want to stay here." Song Yuntang pointed to a small shop with groceries piled up next to him, "Boss, is this place for rent?"
The shopkeeper looked in the direction of Song Yuntang's finger, walked out from behind the counter, led the two out of the inn, and came to the grocery store next door to introduce, "This place was originally rented by a grocery store owner. The market was bad this year, so he left before the rent was due. He had some things left and asked me to sell them on his behalf. Do you want to rent it, young lady?"
Song Yuntang nodded.
"I have an idea, but I don't know if the rent is high?"
The shopkeeper thought for a moment and said, "The market is indeed bad this year, but our location is still good. Previously, the monthly rent for three months was 240 wen. If the girl pays for six months, it can be calculated as 220 wen a month."
Two hundred and twenty coins a month, half a year's payment is one ounce and three hundred and twenty coins. If it was a little bigger, it would be fine, but it's less than five pings...
Song Yuntang shook his head.
"This shop is not big, and there are many restrictions on doing business. Two hundred and twenty wen is indeed a bit high." She looked at the shopkeeper and said, "If the shopkeeper is straightforward, I can sign a contract with you to pay one hundred and eighty wen a month. If not, forget it. I will look for someone else."
The shopkeeper looked embarrassed.
"This is really different from before..."
Then he thought about the bad business this year, and his inn was running at a loss. If he could collect more than two taels of silver in rent this year, he might be able to survive this year.
Thinking of this, he nodded and said, "Okay, one hundred and eighty cents a month, payable in full annually."
Song Yuntang smiled.
"Of course, the shopkeeper, please sign the contract."
They both worked very quickly. After the contract was drawn up and Song Yuntang confirmed that there was no problem, they each signed and sealed it, and then paid the rent. The total annual rent was two taels and one hundred and sixty coins.
Yuan Jingui took the money with a smile and started to clean up the debris in the shop next door.
"Miss Song, if your shop needs water in the future, there is water in the backyard of the inn. But you can't use too much. It's a drought this year, and I'm afraid the well will dry up and affect the guests' water use."
Song Yuntang and Mu Qiu were also there to help him.
"We do need water in the early stages, but we won't need too much. When the situation stabilizes in the later stages, we won't need any water."
Yuan Jingui nodded, "That should be no problem, feel free to use it, young lady."
"Then thank you, shopkeeper."
There weren't many sundries left in the shop to begin with, and the three of them worked together, and soon they had moved all the sundries to the inn.
Song Yuntang sprinkled water in the shop, and Mu Qiu swept the floor carefully.
After cleaning the place, Song Yuntang borrowed a ruler from the shopkeeper, measured the width and height of the shop, then locked the door with Mu Qiu and went home.
…
The next day, there was a knock on the door early in the morning.
"Tang'er, I'm the second brother."
Song Yuntang opened the door and did not show any surprise when he saw Song Jinsheng.
"Brother, come in first."
"I made two stools for you at Brother Mazi's place yesterday. I'll make a table next time, and then you'll have all the tables and chairs here."
Song Jinsheng brought two high stools into the yard and placed them under the eaves. Then he took out three bamboo jars from the bag on his back. One of them was brought to him by Mu Dong yesterday, and the other two were made by himself after he returned home from Song Mazi last night.
"I made these two jars myself. Take a look and see if they work."
He knew that Song Yuntang wanted to use it to package shampoo for sale, and that if he did it himself, the cost would be lower. If he asked someone else to do it, it would cost several cents for each one, which was not cost-effective.
Song Yuntang casually tied her long hair behind her head, reached out to take the bamboo jar he handed over and looked at it carefully.
"How many jars like this can my second brother make in a day?"
Song Jinsheng said without hesitation, "From morning to night, twelve should be no problem."
Song Yuntang placed a few bamboo jars on the windowsill. "The jars are well made, but I may need a lot later."
"Then I can ask my uncle's cousins to do it together." As if he was afraid that Song Yuntang would mind, he hurriedly explained, "I think my uncle's family is pretty good, and my cousins are not bad either. If Tang'er minds, I can find someone else then."
"I don't mind my uncle's family. I can also invite people from the Qiao family." After a pause, she added, "Just don't get close to my second aunt's family."
Thinking of what Ma and Song Zhimei had done, Song Jinsheng shook his head helplessly.
If it weren't for them, Tang'er might not have left Rongshu Village, and it was inevitable that she would have some grudges against them.
"Second Aunt..." He sighed, "Oh, forget it, she is an elder, let's not talk about her."
At present, Song Yuntang has left Rongshu Village and doesn't care about those people at all. He just doesn't want to have any interaction with them.
"Now, besides this jar, there is something else I need my second brother's help with." She said, and went into the house to take out the blueprint she had drawn after returning yesterday evening. "Second brother, please see if you can do it first. If not, I will ask someone else."
Song Jinsheng glanced at the drawing and then looked at her.
“Is this a shelf?”
Song Yuntang nodded, "I rented a shop yesterday and need shelves. If my second brother can make them, I will ask Mu Dong to help. We will start making them in my yard and I will pay you when the time comes. I don't want the people in Rongshu Village to know what I'm doing."
Song Jinsheng understood what she meant.
"I'm helping my sister, so don't talk about wages. But I have to go back and tell Brother Mazi first. Before I came to your place this morning, I told him in advance that I would be working a little later."
Song Yuntang took out eight coins of silver from his purse and handed it to him.
"Is this enough money to buy lumber?"
She had been spending a lot these days and the few taels of silver she had in her hand was running out. Today she had been using the silver from the purse Xu Qingye gave her.
Song Jinsheng said hurriedly, "That's enough. I'll go to the village and ask who has any wood. Maybe we don't need so much."
Song Yuntang thought about it.
"If there is any left, use it to collect bamboo jars. Before my shop opens, I need 500 bamboo jars. I will charge 5 cents for each jar from you, and you can just help me keep a close watch on it."
Song Jinsheng carefully put the silver into his purse and said, "Okay, I'll keep it in mind. If there's nothing else, I'll go back first."
"Okay, I happen to be going out for a while too." Song Yuntang turned around and took the hat off the wall.
Seeing this, Song Jinsheng looked puzzled.
"Where are you going, sister? If it's convenient, we can walk together for a while."
"I'm going to Lushan Village to deliver medicine to Brother Xu." Song Yuntang said calmly.
When Xu Qingye left two days ago, he forgot to adjust the prescription for him. He was originally planning to go to Lushan Village, so it would be better to buy the herbs in the town and send them over to save him from making another trip.
If it weren't for his thirty taels of silver as a backing, she wouldn't dare to do business so ostentatiously.
As for the painting of the walls of the shop, she has handed it over to the siblings Mu Qiu and Mu Dong.
After hearing what Song Yuntang said, Song Jinsheng, who didn't know that Xu Qingye's entire fortune was in Song Yuntang's hands, felt worse than swallowing a fly alive.
He looked at Song Yuntang with a look of disappointment, and began to stutter with excitement.
“You, you, you…”
This time it was Song Yuntang's turn to look puzzled.
"Why can't Second Brother speak clearly anymore?"
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