Chapter 36: Escaping from Marriage White Moonlight 13 Don’t like it?
On the first day of the new year, Ali slept in for a rare time and when he opened his eyes, the sun was already high in the sky.
She turned over in the quilt, revealing her rosy face from sleep, and the dejection and sadness of last night had disappeared.
My mother once said that the best thing about her was that she didn't take things to heart, and everything would be fine after she woke up from a good night's sleep.
Ali went out to fetch water with disheveled hair, and found the yard was quiet, with no one there.
There was warm water and breakfast on the kitchen stove. It should be what Aunt Wei left for her. Ali finished eating and went out.
Xu Ying's family lived in the east of Shangxi County. There was a large courtyard at the entrance and several cow sheds next to it. Ali knocked on the door and a white-haired old woman came to open it.
Ali smiled and handed over the rice cake in his hand: "Happy New Year, Granny Xu! I came to wish you a happy new year!"
Grandma Xu is Xu Ying's grandmother. Ali has been to the Xu family several times and recognized her.
Granny Xu grabbed her hand and said, "It's Ali! Come in quickly! Yingzi is in her room. I'll take her to find her."
"Hey! Thank you, mother-in-law!" Ali agreed and walked in happily.
Xu Ying was packing up in her room when she saw A Li coming. "You've come just in time. I'm going to the shop later. Come with me and help me."
Ali helped her close a box: "Okay, but I've never done this before, and I'm afraid I might be doing you more harm than good."
"Don't move, I'll do it." Xu Ying easily moved the box to the top of the wardrobe and dusted off her hands. "No one is born with the ability. You just have to learn."
Ali agreed: "Okay!"
The two set off in an oxcart. Granny Xu asked when they would be back for lunch so she could cook. Xu Ying waved her hand and said, "Grandma, please don't bother. I'll take my sister to a restaurant down the street to eat."
Ali looked at her and said, "Sister, you're spending too much money. Just eat anything you want."
"Look at you, you look so embarrassed," Xu Ying said, concentrating on driving, her long hair casually tied behind her head with a wooden hairpin. "Something must have happened to you. Tell me."
Ah Li clutched his hands in embarrassment: "Sister, how did you know that?"
"The first step in doing business is not to open a storefront or find the source of goods with the lowest cost and the best quality, but to learn how to recognize and identify people," said Xu Ying.
"When you open a business, everyone who comes is a customer, but each customer is different. You have to first identify what kind of person they are before you can make them willingly buy your goods."
She glanced at Ali and said, "A little girl like you, I can tell what you are thinking at a glance."
Ali nodded awkwardly, "Sister, you're spot on. I've just been feeling a bit upset lately. If I ever leave here, what will I be able to do to make a living?"
Xu Ying pulled the reins: "You want to leave?"
Ali shook his head repeatedly: "If, I mean if one day."
Ever since Xu Ying told her that the two plots of land owned by the Lu family were not fertile enough and needed to be slowly fertilized to restore them, she gave up the idea of making quick money by farming.
These days, she had nothing to do and did odd jobs in shops on the street, earning a few coins, which was better than nothing. However, she couldn't do these odd jobs for long. She didn't learn any skills that would support her for a lifetime, and the money didn't come quickly.
Xu Ying tapped her forehead and said, "It's not as good as you think. Nothing in this world can be solved once and for all."
Ah Li covered his head and muttered softly, "I know this truth, but there are only a few options left for me. If I take a wrong step, I'm afraid I'll never be able to recover."
Xu Ying paused. "How could you be thinking about this at such a young age? When my short-lived fiancé died, I never thought that I would never be able to recover and would die."
"But..." Ali was about to say something else, but was interrupted by Xu Ying: "Alright, I think you're just too idle, so you're just overthinking. From now on, you can go to my shop to work every day, and I'll pay you according to the salary of a shop assistant."
"But let me tell you in advance, the work here is not easy. It starts at 1:00 AM and ends at 1:00 PM every day. You have to be mentally prepared."
As she was talking, they arrived at Xu Ying's shop. She jumped out of the car and said, "You can try it out here for half a day today. Don't back out halfway."
Ali agreed. Xu Ying came to the back of the car and pulled back the cloth, revealing a car full of goods: "Come and give me a hand."
Ali hurried over and started working without saying a word.
Xu Ying's family's shop sells fish. The shad in Shangxi County is famous for its delicious meat. A few years ago, Xu Ying met a fisherman who specialized in catching shad.
This fisherman can catch 200 kilograms of fish every day during the peak season, but he can't sell these 200 kilograms of fish. The reason is that almost every household in Shangxi County has a fishing net. The shad, which is regarded as the best fish by people all over the world, is just an ordinary dish on the table here.
However, if these fish are sold to traveling merchants for resale, since these merchants travel far and wide with a wide variety of goods on their ships, transporting shad with a very short shelf life will greatly reduce their income from each voyage, and the price of the fish will certainly be pushed down to an extremely low level.
After learning this, Xu Ying became creative. She sold all her dowry and bought a fish transport ship that only transported fish from Shangxi County. This way, not only would the ship have complete preservation facilities, but the price would also be much lower than that of an ordinary cargo ship.
We also negotiated with merchants in many places to sell the shad we caught to them, but without transporting them via their cargo ships, thus saving a lot of transportation costs.
As time went by, Xu Ying's shop, or more accurately, her business, gradually grew in size. Recently, she planned to make fish fertilizer or other things from the poor quality shad that the merchants were unwilling to buy, which was also a way to make money.
It just so happened that Ali showed Xu Ying the fertilizer she had piled up before the New Year, which is why Xu Ying thought of asking her for help today.
While working, Ali listened to Xu Ying's introduction and was filled with admiration.
Just as Xu Ying said, when one is busy, one has no time to think about other things.
By noon, Ali was so tired that he couldn't even stand up straight, but Xu Ying was still full of energy: "Come on, I'll treat you to a meal."
This restaurant is not far from the street. Not only does it serve food quickly, but it is also delicious. Ali concentrated on eating and finished two bowls of rice in a row before stopping.
She held her round belly and sighed, "I can't eat anymore."
Xu Ying held her small wine flask in one hand and drank slowly: "Sister, you are not so distressed because of love, right?"
Ali choked and coughed: "Why, why are you asking that suddenly?"
Xu Ying shook her head indifferently: "I don't know, I'm just guessing."
Ali wiped her mouth guiltily and didn't continue the topic. She held her chin and looked around, and saw a familiar figure in the lobby downstairs.
She said something to Xu Ying and went downstairs.
"Aunt Wei, why are you here?"
Aunt Wei turned around and was surprised to see Ali: "I came here to buy some things, why are you here too?"
Ah Li smiled and pointed at Xu Ying upstairs: "Sister Yingzi and I are going out to eat."
The waiter handed the food to Aunt Wei, and Aunt Wei asked, "Have you finished eating? Why don't you go back with us?"
Ali nodded, went upstairs to say goodbye to Xu Ying, and soon walked out of the restaurant with Aunt Wei. She saw Uncle Wei next to the carriage at a glance and went up to greet him.
Aunt Wei pushed her forward and said, "Come on up. It's cold outside, and we can't let the young master wait for us inside for a long time."
"Wait, wait!" Ali pressed hard against the carriage, his entire body filled with resistance. "Master... is he also in the car?"
Aunt Wei looked at her curiously: "Yes, we went out with the young master this morning."
Only then did Ali understand why there was no one in the yard when she got up in the morning. What a pig-brained she was!
Aunt Wei saw that she didn't move, and said again: "Go up, we should go back."
"I'll sit outside with Auntie," Ali climbed onto the carriage, looking as if he wouldn't get off no matter what. "It's nice here, and it's cool."
Aunt Wei laughed: "If you sit here, where should I sit? You can't let an old woman like me sit in the carriage, right?"
Uncle Wei also looked at her and smiled. Ali's face turned red and then pale, and she refused to come down no matter what.
Lu Jingming's voice suddenly came from the carriage behind him: "Uncle Wei, what's wrong?"
Ali couldn't help but shudder and straightened his back.
"Oh, we met Miss Ali and were just about to have her go back with us." Uncle Wei replied.
The car seemed to be quiet for a moment: "If there is nothing wrong, why did you delay for so long?"
Aunt Wei held Ali's hand and winked at her desperately. Ali had no choice but to lift the curtain and go in.
Lu Jingming was resting with his eyes closed in the car. When he heard her come in, he didn't even lift his eyelids.
Ali sat down close to the door, leaning against the car wall, looking forward through the curtains blown by the wind.
Lu Jingming didn't seem to want to talk to her, so Ali breathed a sigh of relief. After being scolded by her like that last time, no one would be nice to her.
The carriage traveled westward, passing through a bumpy and muddy road. Ali's head inevitably bumped against the wall of the carriage a few times. Fortunately, the interior of the carriage was wrapped with fine brocade, which was silky and soft. Ali didn't feel much pain, but instead felt a little novel.
She was curiously touching the intricate patterns on it when Lu Jingming suddenly opened his eyes. Ali immediately felt the thorny gaze behind her.
She tried her best to shrink into the corner and avoid his sight.
Lu Jingming knocked on the sandalwood table in front of him. Ali knew that this was a sign of his impatience.
Forget it, if you stick your head out, you will get a knife. If you hide your head, you will also get a knife.
Ali moved her body like a turtle and faced Lu Jingming reluctantly. Lu Jingming could only see the top of her head.
He didn't say anything, but took out a carved lacquer box from his sleeve, put it on the table and pushed it to her.
Ali pretended to be silent for a long time and didn't hear his voice. Her neck, which had been lowered all the time, couldn't bear it anymore. She secretly raised her eyes and saw that Lu Jingming had closed his eyes again, with an expression that said, "Keep away from strangers."
Ali's gaze moved to the box in front of her. She hesitated for a long time before slowly opening the box.
Inside was a box full of pearls, each of which was about the size of a pigeon egg, much larger than the two she sold. Each one was lustrous, delicate, plump and lustrous, and half of them were an extremely rare orange-pink color. Even a layman like Ali knew that this box of pearls was priceless.
She withdrew her hand and the box closed again with a snap.
Lu Jingming looked over and frowned: "Don't you like it?"
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