Chapter 137: Leather Business
After returning to Baolinju, Song Liyun prepared to go to Qili County.
Now Xue Zhuang and his friends go to the county every other day to sell vegetables and acorn vermicelli, and have saved more than ten taels of silver this month.
A few people simply bought a mule cart with their own money for others to use.
Song Liyun and Han Ming were going to the county, so it was a good opportunity for them to take this bus.
What made Song Liyun angry was that she had a Juqing horse at home.
But now, even though her injuries have healed, he won't let her get close to him.
Only Song Zhenping could put something on the horse's back.
With a mule cart, it only takes an hour to get to Qili County.
After arriving safely outside Qili County, Song Liyun discovered that this place was different from the last time she came here.
There were many people on the road, especially by the river, where you could see waves of people heading to the city.
Some of these people were walking, and some were driving carts loaded with loads.
The ice on the moat has melted and pedestrians need to cross the river on a floating bridge.
Bridge fee: ten cents per person.
If you want to bring livestock across the river, the price is fifty coins.
Xue Zhuang and his group always come in groups of three, two of them carry vegetables into the city, and one drives a cart into the village to collect acorns, which also saves them the entrance fee.
With the experience of entering the city last time, Song Liyun handed over her and Han Ming's twenty cents for the crossing fee.
I had only taken a few steps onto the floating bridge when I heard a commotion behind me.
A hoarse voice said angrily, "No, you have to pay an extra fifty coins for bringing goods into the city."
Song Liyun turned around and saw that Xue Zhuang and the other man who were following her were stopped.
The vegetable baskets in their hands were also opened, exposing the green leaves to the air.
"Oh, there are vegetables for sale now?" A person crossing the river next to Song Liyun exclaimed.
Han Ming saw Xue Zhuang and the other man being stopped and was about to turn back to help, but Song Liyun stopped him: "Let's see first."
Song Liyun did not leave her cowhide and ox horn cup outside, she had taken them back into the space long ago.
At this time, the basket she was carrying in her arm contained only a water bag and a few baked cakes.
Han Ming was carrying a load on his shoulder, which was covered with a lid, so no one else could see what was inside.
Xue Zhuang and his friends have made at least ten trips to sell vegetables, so they are more or less familiar with these gatekeepers.
Seeing that he had stopped them, Hu Qing, who was following him, smiled and stuffed a handful of copper coins into his hands: "Just a few rotten vegetable leaves to exchange for some money. Brothers, you have worked hard. Have some wine to warm yourself up after the shift."
This Hu Qing is one of the five people rescued by Song Liyun. Now he is very diligent in selling vegetables with Xue Zhuang and is very capable. Later, he specially came to Baolinju to express his gratitude. Now he looks respectful when he sees Song Liyun.
Unfortunately, his flattery was pushed away by the policeman who blocked the road, and the copper coins scattered on the ground, and some of them rolled into the river.
"Who is your brother? Just give the money and stop talking nonsense!" The officer's attitude became worse and worse.
What is going on?
Because of the obstruction of Xue Zhuang and others, several people who wanted to enter the city were standing at the end of the pontoon bridge, and they were all silent. It was obvious that blocking the road and charging tolls had long been the norm for these people.
Behind Song Liyun, the man in the cotton robe began to mutter again: "You won't be able to jump around for a few days, you won't be able to jump around for a few days."
"Big brother, what do you mean?" Seeing that this man couldn't keep secrets, Song Liyun couldn't help but ask.
"Hey! If I'm not mistaken, you should be from Suijin Town! It was the Dilu people who came to your place and caused trouble before the New Year."
The man put down the roll of bedding on his shoulder and began his long speech.
While listening to this man's confusing talk about the Di Lu people's attack on Suijin Pass at the end of December, Song Liyun kept an eye on the movements of Xue Zhuang and the others.
"…There's nothing going on in Suijin Town right now, and everyone says there's nothing going on in Qili County, so all the refugees are coming here.
Hey, food prices in the city have been skyrocketing since yesterday..."
Song Liyun was speechless. Suijin Town was not robbed, but the people from Qili County sent refugees here, causing the rising food prices to be blamed on the people of Suijin Town!
In fact, how could anyone who could enter Qili County be a poor person?
Fortunately, Xue Zhuang and his men did not argue too much with the officers. In addition to the river crossing fee, they had to pay an additional 50 cents in tax before they were able to get away.
As soon as he entered the city, Xue Zhuang, who was full of anger, had a dark face. He made an appointment with Song Liyun to return to the town in the afternoon, and left in a hurry.
He didn't expect that Song Liyun would see him in such a miserable state of being threatened, but the time for delivering the vegetables as agreed with Tianxianglou could not be postponed.
There were indeed more people in the city than last time. The streets were bustling with people. From time to time, you could see hawkers pushing carts or carrying loads on their shoulders, selling their goods to passers-by.
Song Liyun and Han Ming went straight to Wanchun Fur Shop. The middle-aged man was seeing a customer off, and a confiscated rabbit skin was placed on the counter.
Seeing Song Liyun come in, the middle-aged shopkeeper's eyes lit up and he quickly came over to greet her and said, "It's been a long time since I saw you, young lady. Please come in and have a seat."
He had already tipped off Song Liyun last time, and now she's here again, so there must be something going on.
He received a share of twenty taels of silver for that carpet.
Song Liyun didn't bother to exchange pleasantries. She left Han Ming waiting outside and went straight to the private room inside, where she "took out" a set of ox horn cups from the basket in the crook of her arm.
The middle-aged shopkeeper saw the ox-horn cups and a look of joy appeared on his face. "Miss, how are you going to sell these cups?"
Song Liyun said calmly, "What price will the shopkeeper give me?"
The middle-aged shopkeeper made a quick estimate and said, "This set of cups is of average workmanship, so I can't offer a high price. I can only estimate it for fifty taels. If the young lady is willing to wait for a buyer before collecting the payment, you can get eighty taels."
Song Liyun shook her head: "Let's do cash transactions!"
The middle-aged shopkeeper was immediately delighted when he saw that Song Liyun did not bargain.
The workmanship of this set of ox horn cups is not exquisite, but the patterns on the twelve cups are almost identical. It only requires a craftsman to carve them again and replace them with a carved wooden box, and the price will at least double.
After agreeing on the ox horn cup, Song Liyun "took out" two complete cowhides from the basket next to her.
The middle-aged shopkeeper's joy had not yet subsided when he saw the dark cowhide eyelids twitching.
This ingredient is their favorite.
Fur shops usually sell miscellaneous skins such as horse, donkey, pig, sheep, rabbit, dog, cat, as well as pig bristles, horse bristles, horse tails, etc. There are very few fine furs such as fox and wolf, and cowhide is basically unavailable.
During the Wu Dynasty, oxen used for farming were controlled by the government. However, among all kinds of leather products, cowhide was the most widely used. Due to its good sales, the government set a very high price for each piece of cowhide.
As soon as the shopkeeper saw the two cowhides whose tanning techniques were completely different from those of the Wu Dynasty, he was absolutely convinced that Song Liyun had a fixed channel.
"How is it?" Song Liyun asked.
In fact, she was not sure. The two pieces of cowhide were tanned very well, and they felt soft and tough. But Wang Zhong wanted to sell them for five taels each, which seemed too high.
The shopkeeper said in a deep voice: “Miss, I can’t give you a price.
If you can get these things in the future, you can discuss it with our chief steward in detail now."
Do you want to be a VIP customer?
Song Liyun frowned slightly. Would the garrison be willing to ship large quantities of goods in such a subtle way?
She looked at the shopkeeper and said, "Don't worry, I have something honest to ask."
The shopkeeper said, "Young lady, please speak directly!"
If you have something to ask, it means you are considering this aspect.
What he feared most was that Song Liyun would neither ask nor say anything, just like last time.
(End of this chapter)
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