The news that a large group of soldiers from the garrison had gone to work for the Song family quickly spread throughout the town, and Xue Zhuang knew it all too well.
Song Liyun was an excellent cook of stinky sausage, so the garrison staff brought the ingredients to the Song family and asked her to help cook.
He could never have something like that.
Xue Zhuang experienced a mix of joy and sorrow during this period.
After sending his mother-in-law away, the house was indeed quiet. Xu Yan'er was obedient and well-behaved, and even in bed, she would adjust her position according to his wishes.
However, the restaurant had to close down.
Xu Yan'er and Granny Cui managed to cook porridge and steam buns for two months, but it was clearly not enough to make several dishes.
Not to mention that he can't cook as well as Song Liyun, he can't even make some of the more novel dishes. Even when he cooks acorn tofu, he doesn't use salt and oil evenly, or he burns it. As a result, people only come to eat here a few times and then stop coming.
With one major source of income gone, Xue Zhuang's finances became tight.
Although he managed to establish a connection with the garrison and secure a small job with a monthly stipend of fifty coins, the same as the regular soldiers' wages, it was clearly not enough to support his wife.
When Granny Cui was alive, her family ran a restaurant. They sold acorn tofu every day, earning about ten or twenty coins a day, which brought in five or six hundred coins a month.
Now that my mother-in-law has left, not only has my income stopped, but I also owe money to my brothers at the garrison. I have to find a way to pay it back.
To be honest, ever since he learned that the Song family had fresh vegetables, Xue Zhuang had been thinking about selling vegetables at his restaurant.
But the price was too high, and the two companies didn't get along, so he didn't mention it, and it was even more difficult to compete with the garrison.
Now that Granny Cui is gone and Xu Yan'er has stopped causing trouble, he wants to get some fresh vegetables to sell in Qili County. Paying a higher price wouldn't be considered undermining the garrison.
He had already inquired about it; Tianxianglou in Qili County was a high-end restaurant where a single dish cost one or two taels of silver, something ordinary people simply couldn't afford.
With the Lunar New Year approaching, if I were to sell some rare and fresh vegetables, I could at least have a prosperous New Year and buy my wife a new outfit she's been wanting for so long.
It's just that telling the Song family this is a difficult question for him.
Just as he was racking his brains trying to find a solution, he heard that Wang Qi and the others were cooking at the Song family's house, which drew cheers from the garrison.
This time, he couldn't sit still any longer.
The next day, he went to the garrison to find out from an acquaintance and learned that the Song family was now sending supplies every two days.
He wondered if he could talk to the garrison about selling a portion of the vegetables.
In fact, he wasn't the only one with this idea. The reason why Suijin Town hadn't made any moves was because Song Liyun had previously only entrusted Boss Mu with the sale of acorn tofu.
Moreover, Song Liyun also said that each of her products is sold exclusively, and others can only receive a few as gifts.
Now that the food is in the garrison, no one dares to ask the garrison for a share.
Seeing that he had no money for the New Year, Xue Zhuang reluctantly went to the garrison.
Not long after, a messenger came to summon Song Liyun and Song Zhenping to the garrison, saying that Wang Junxu had something to discuss.
Song Liyun, unaware of what was happening, hurriedly took Song Zhenping with her.
Upon entering the camp, they learned that it was Commander Luo who had returned.
In Luo Baihu's office, there sat quartermaster Wang Zhong, two squad leaders whom Song Liyun had met before, and another unexpected person, Xue Zhuang.
Upon seeing Song Liyun and Song Zhenping, Luo Baihu patted Song Zhenping on the shoulder and laughed heartily: "Song Zhenping, I didn't expect you to be able to grow so many vegetables at such a young age, allowing us rough men to have a good meal even in the dead of winter. Not bad, not bad!"
Song Zhenping blushed with embarrassment at his praise and could only rub his hands together and chuckle, "I don't have any other skills, all I know is farming!"
The others in the room chimed in, "Being able to farm is a skill in itself. Soldiers can fight, and farmers can farm; that's called everyone doing their job."
"Soldiers who go into battle are heroes, and those who can find creative ways to work in the fields are also capable people."
Song Zhenping was practically overwhelmed by all the praise; he could only laugh and couldn't say anything else.
After everyone had given their praises, Commander Luo spoke again: "Zhenping! The reason I invited you and your sister here today is this."
The soldiers in the garrison work so hard, they should be treated to something nice, but... alas! They can't just think of themselves; they have wives, children, and elderly parents waiting for their pay.
After listening to Commander Luo recount how hard the soldiers worked, Song Zhenping wholeheartedly agreed. No one works hard just for themselves; their families are the most important ones.
Song Liyun, however, sensed something amiss: they wanted to exchange the vegetables for money.
Sure enough, after seeing Song Zhenping express sympathy, Luo Baihu changed the subject: "So, I want to sell your vegetables for silver. From now on, your prices will remain the same, and I'll take as many as you have."
Song Zhenping was already dizzy from what he was being told, and nodded sheepishly, "Indeed, we should sell some of the money to buy winter clothes for the soldiers."
Song Liyun was extremely anxious. Why did they set the price for her dishes without mentioning anything else?
She had just opened her mouth: "Commander..."
Luo Baihu had already turned his face, and his honest face, hidden by his big beard, was full of a triumphant smile: "Miss Song, your brother has already agreed. Oh! As for the matter you asked about Wang Junxiong before, I can give you the goods, but it can only be used as collateral."
Song Liyun froze, her mind racing, when she suddenly remembered what she had asked the quartermaster, Wang Zhong, for.
Yesterday, I asked Wang Zhong about the products produced by the Di tribe. Wang Zhong even said that it was a serious crime for the Wu Dynasty army to communicate with the Di tribe.
It seems that items cannot be bought and sold publicly, but they can be mortgaged privately.
So that's another way to do it!
Song Liyun's goal wasn't how much money she could make from the vegetables, and besides, she didn't put much thought into the vegetables themselves; there were many ways to make money.
For example, goods from the Di tribe could be resold for three hundred taels of silver.
How many vegetables do you need to buy with 300 taels of silver?
Even at the current high price of seven taels of silver per month, that's only eighty-four taels a year, and vegetables become worthless in the spring.
It would probably take at least five years to earn that much, while you could easily earn it by reselling a single carpet.
Upon seeing Song Liyun accept the offer to sell vegetables, Luo Baihu immediately explained his plan: since the garrison should not directly participate in local business transactions, the only ones who can sell the vegetables outside are the local people.
Military households were naturally the first choice for the army.
There are only two families in Suijin Town. Currently, the Song family is responsible for growing vegetables, while Xue Zhuang is responsible for selling them. The money is settled separately between the two families by the garrison.
With the garrison acting as an intermediary guarantor and providing security services, the two families no longer had to worry about trouble when doing business in Broken Gold Town.
The garrison naturally profited the most, getting something for nothing without paying any capital.
The people inside the room clearly knew about the wool carpet, and when they heard Luo Baihu mention the mortgage, they all smiled knowingly.
Other garrisons have plenty of those things, and they're hard to sell if sold openly, so they just pile up in the warehouse.
Only Xue Zhuang was unaware of what Commander Luo was talking about. He only knew that the Song family had promised the garrison that he could sell vegetables, and he immediately said with delight, "Don't worry, Commander Luo, I guarantee I will supervise Brother Song's vegetable planting. He won't be able to slack off even if he wants to."
Everyone is happy now, and Xue Zhuang is even joking with Song Zhenping.
But no one responded to his jokes.
The two chief officers wore ambiguous smiles. Song Liyun's face darkened, while Quartermaster Wang's lips curled into a slight sneer.
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