Chapter 41 The Pavilion Stall Su Zhihan's worry grew stronger as she walked. Waiting...
The further Su Zhihan walked, the deeper her worries became.
When she arrived at the alley where Grandma Chen lived, and saw the many collapsed houses around her, she quickened her pace.
When they arrived at Grandma Chen's doorstep, Su Zhihan's heart finally settled down—it had indeed sank a little!
"Grandma Chen, Xiao Hong, are you alright?"
"And Grandpa Hu, is he alright?"
"Is Madam Su here?" Grandma Chen, who was carrying bricks and planks with several people, heard the question and quickly straightened up, then cried out and held her old back.
Su Zhihan was startled and, along with another person, stepped forward to help Grandma Chen. Once Grandma Chen was steady, she looked up at the dark-skinned, unfamiliar-looking woman: "You are—"
“Madam Su, this is Uncle Li’s wife.” Grandma Chen, remembering that Su Zhihan had never met her before, quickly introduced her. Then, she said to Li’s wife, “This is Madam Su, the head of our household.”
"I've met you, I've met you, Madam Su." The Li family's daughter-in-law was taken aback, but she forced herself to greet her. She had heard her father-in-law say that the family's tofu shop had found a wealthy household, but she never expected that this wealthy household would be a young girl of such a young age.
Su Zhihan paused for a moment, then looked around after greeting Li's wife. Sure enough, she saw Uncle Li, who sold tofu, with a middle-aged man wearing a wide-sleeved undershirt, a cotton-padded jacket, and an old gauze turban on his head, and two little children with pigtails tied in the air and wrapped in thick coats, who looked like two round balls.
"And who is this person...?"
"That's Uncle Li's son, he's talented." Grandma Chen led Su Zhihan over to greet him. Later, she learned that Uncle Li's leg injury hadn't fully healed, and his son and daughter-in-law were worried, so the whole family came to the city with the truck, hoping that they would deliver goods from now on.
"Who knew there was no wind or snow when we came this morning?"
"As evening approached and we were about to leave, the wind and snow intensified." Li's wife explained to Su Zhihan with a worried expression, "We originally wanted to go back, but we were stopped at the foot of the mountain."
The county where Uncle Li's family lived was one of the areas most severely affected by the disaster. Last time, many houses were crushed and many people died.
This time it's even worse. Someone had already come to ask for help, saying that a truck had rolled into the valley. Because the snow was too thick, the government's reinforcements couldn't get in either, so the mountain road is now closed. Uncle Li's family has no way to go home and can only return to the capital to stay.
As for why we stayed at Grandma Chen's house, it was because the inns in the capital were expensive. Li's wife said this with some embarrassment: "Later, when Grandma Chen heard about our situation, she invited our family to stay here for a few days until the mountain road was open."
Finally, she muttered, "The prices at the inns in the capital are outrageous."
With heavy snow blocking roads, prices in the capital city have been rising frequently. Inns and guesthouses are full of merchants and travelers who are stuck in the city and unable to leave. The prices of the remaining rooms have been soaring. It is said that the cheapest rooms have risen from 30 coins a day to 300 coins a day and there is still a shortage.
Merchants could manage, but ordinary people like Uncle Li suffered greatly. Some had to stay overnight in temples or even make do in the corridors of government offices.
From Li's wife, Su Zhihan became increasingly aware of how bad the situation outside was. On the other side, Grandma Chen also told her about her family's situation. Because she had earned some money earlier, she had even hired craftsmen to help repair her house to prepare for the winter. As a result, half of her roof had collapsed under the weight of the snow, making her family the best off in the surrounding area.
"At least we still have firewood and charcoal in the house."
"The price of firewood outside... used to be thirty or forty coins a bundle, and even in the winter when it was expensive, it would only be sixty or seventy coins, but now..." Grandma Chen said, and couldn't help but feel grateful for her family's good fortune once again.
It was precisely because Su Zhihan hired Xiao Hong to work and handed over all the tasks to her family that her family was able to spend a lot of money to stockpile firewood and charcoal, thus eliminating the hardship of buying firewood.
Grandma Chen sighed: "Now a bunch costs two hundred coins outside, and that's the normal price. Yesterday I heard from Yang San Niang that they went too late and couldn't buy a cheaper one, so they had to buy a bunch from that store for two hundred and thirty coins."
Firewood has increased six or seven times, lodging has increased tenfold, not to mention other food supplies, all of which have increased several times compared to previous years.
The situation outside was even more dire than Su Zhihan had imagined. She instructed Grandma Chen and Xiao Hong not to go out to set up their stall for the next few days, but to rest at home. Then she went out again to wander around the surrounding market.
The market was bustling, but unlike the usual lively scene with countless vendors and shouts, today the people coming and going had somber expressions, whispering among themselves in twos and threes, and some even walked away angrily.
Just as Su Zhihan was looking on with confusion and about to follow to see what was going on, the old woman from the meat pie shop next door called out to her and advised her not to go any further: "Young lady, listen to my advice, don't go any further."
"Auntie, what happened?"
"It's all because firewood and charcoal are so expensive, which has angered everyone." The old woman sighed with worry, "Those merchants are really heartless. They said someone placed an order yesterday, but today the shop has turned around and said they'll raise the price again."
"And now...it's starting to get noisy."
"There are a lot of people gathered at the charcoal shop ahead. Little girl, don't go and join the fun. Be careful they don't get into a fight and hurt you."
Su Zhihan glanced in that direction twice, listened to the old woman's advice, thanked her, and then changed direction and headed towards the dental clinic.
During times of disaster, merchants often take advantage of the situation to make a fortune, while many poor families suffer from the disaster and are forced to sell their children.
Most of these people were forced to sell, and they were willing to sell to legitimate brokerage firms. That's why the brokerage firm was unusually lively today. Su Zhihan managed to squeeze in with great difficulty following the crowd, and after looking around for a while, she finally found the familiar broker.
Wei Ya was busy with her work and didn't notice her arrival at all. She watched for a while and then saw four or five people selling their children. They were asking for very low prices, almost only one-fifth of what Su Zhihan and Jiang Zhenniang had paid when they sold themselves. Some even said that as long as they could be given food and a coat, they would be willing to pay even lower prices.
The price was so low that Su Zhihan was speechless. She did the math in her mind and realized that the price of renting Xiao Hong for a year could buy one.
Su Zhihan was somewhat tempted, but considering that her family had nowhere to stay in the capital, bringing a maid home would be too conspicuous, so she quickly suppressed her thoughts.
The most important thing is the reaction of the guards. Faced with the words of the people in front of him, he reacted indifferently and shook his head repeatedly: "It's not that I don't want to take them, it's just that we've sold too many girls these past two days, and we have nowhere to take them. You should go back."
Su Zhihan waited for a while until Wei Yaren was free. She stepped forward and greeted him, "Wei Yaren."
The servant holding the teacup looked up and immediately smiled. He stood up to greet Su Zhihan and personally poured her a cup of tea: "Miss Su, it's been a long time. Is there anything you'd like to buy today?"
"Perhaps they want to buy servants?"
"Servants are cheap now, it's a good time to buy." Wei Yaren was trying to sell, and he specifically picked out a few who knew how to cook and said to Su Zhihan, "I have quite a few good ones on hand, some who came from inns and know a little cooking, and some who used to work in the kitchens of wealthy families..."
Su Zhihan was indeed slightly tempted, just as he had expected, but then she asked curiously, "Why are they even letting these people out to sell?"
Wei Yaren was silent for a moment, then pulled Su Zhihan aside to talk: "After the tofu shop incident, all the merchants in the city involved in the case were imprisoned. If they wanted to reduce their sentences, they had to pay a lot of fines."
This is the current legal concept of atonement, where, in cases where no victim dies and the crime falls under the category of civil disputes or economic crimes, the offender can pay money to atone for their crime.
The fines corresponding to redemption are determined according to the circumstances of the crime and the criminal's economic situation. Usually, criminals have to sell their houses and land to afford to pay them.
Those greedy families who used the stall selling spoiled tofu were desperate to raise money so that their families could have their sentences reduced. They sold whatever they could, big or small.
Aside from these privately owned shops, there were also shops actually owned by officials and wealthy families in the capital. These servants chose to buy spoiled tofu, obviously to profit from the price difference. Such behavior was not tolerated when it reached the master's ears, and some families even sold off all the servants in the entire shop.
Upon hearing this, Su Zhihan immediately abandoned her intention to buy anything. The Wei Ya people, unaware of the true situation, thought they had simply happened to be there, not knowing that it was all Su Zhihan's doing.
Su Zhihan certainly didn't want to create a time bomb in her own home. Although servants harmed their masters and the punishments were harsh and cruel, almost no one did such a thing.
It's better to be safe than sorry.
Su Zhihan showed little interest in these people, but was quite interested in another matter mentioned by Wei Ya: "You mean that many families have put their shops up for sale?"
Seeing that Su Zhihan was interested, Wei Yaren was happy to give her some information. However, the prices of the shops were outrageously high. The tofu shop that Su Zhihan knew, along with the two houses and courtyard behind it, cost 270 guan.
All of Su Zhihan's assets combined were not even half the price of this shop. After listening carefully for a while, she found that most shops of this type, located in the city center and of suitable size, were priced similarly, ranging from two hundred and thirty to three hundred guan.
When Wei Yaren saw Su Zhihan, he knew she thought the price was too high, so he changed the subject and mentioned some other small shops. These were more like fixed stalls with shelter from the wind and rain than shops, and each one generally cost around fifty or sixty strings of cash.
"If you ask me, this place is pretty good."
“The seller is in a hurry to sell, and the price is the lowest it can be.” Wei Yaren took out a list and showed it to Su Zhihan.
This place is at the end of the street where Grandma Chen and Xiao Hong sell dried tofu. It is also the place she must pass through on her way to the brokerage firm. On one side are the academy and government offices, and on the other side are brothels and entertainment venues. Further ahead is another bustling market area. It is indeed a good place. Most importantly, the price is very cheap, only fifty strings of cash.
You should know that in the past, Grandma Chen and Xiao Hong had a hard time setting up their stall on rainy days, and it was even more difficult on snowy days. If they had a fixed location, they could cooperate with the nearby shops and deliver food such as dried tofu to them.
Su Zhihan was tempted, but Wei Yaren, noticing her expression, added, "However, this family has a request."
What are the requirements?
"They needed the money urgently and wanted to pay the full amount at once."
Despite the fact that this is ancient times, mortgages based on property have become commonplace. Homebuyers only need to reach an agreement with the seller, with brokers and pawnshops acting as intermediaries, to pay 30% to 50% of the price as a deposit, and then pay the remaining balance to the pawnshop within the agreed time.
Of course, brokers, pawnshops, and money changers all charge fees, which amount to about 2% to 5% per month.
People who can afford to buy a shop directly usually look down on these kinds of pavilion stalls, while those who do like them often don't have enough money. In addition, the size of these pavilion stalls means they can't hold many items, and the types of food they can sell are quite limited, which is why they've been sitting there for quite some time.
Wei Ya Ren also wanted Su Zhihan to sell braised tofu, which didn't require much space, so he tentatively inquired.
And he made the right choice.
Su Zhihan thought about it carefully for a while, and then went with Wei Yaren to check out the location of the pavilion stall. After some consideration, they quickly finalized the matter.
She returned to the mansion, took the money, and was about to go out again when she heard exclamations and screams from the main gate: "Third Master! Third Master!? How, how could this be? Quick, quick, go and inform the Old Madam!"
Su Zhihan's heart skipped a beat, and she and Granny Xu looked towards the main gate of the Marquis's mansion at the same time.
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The author says: A gazebo stall is a stall set up inside a gazebo, with a fixed location, which can shelter you from the wind and rain, but the space is too small to make a large variety of food stalls.
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