Chapter 58: Buy a Cow or a Mule First [VIP]
I don’t know how long this trip will take.
But regardless of whether the raw silk could be sold or not, the three of them promised to return home before the Chinese New Year.
Chen Yao asked for a pass from Village Chief Zhao, and left the village with a backpack and a small bag under the watchful eyes of her relatives.
Before noon, Chen Yao, her father, and her uncle arrived in Qingfeng Town and had lunch at the inn where the businessmen were staying.
Shen Qingshan gave some extra money when paying the bill and asked the store owner if there were any business trips going to Baihe Town and if he could give them a ride.
The shopkeeper called the waiter to inquire, and found out that there was indeed a group of tea merchants going to Baihe Town, but he had to inquire first whether they could take the three people with them.
Shen Qingshan heard the hidden meaning and took out another twenty coins from his pocket. He asked the shopkeeper to cut a plate of braised meat for the tea merchant. "Thank you for your help, shopkeeper."
The shopkeeper didn't expect that Shen Qingshan was so considerate. He asked the kitchen to cut a plate of meat and he personally brought it upstairs. When he came down again, the matter was done.
"We'll set out early tomorrow morning and arrive in Baihe Town the day after tomorrow. The tea merchant leader said they can take you with them, but you'll have to find a mule cart on your own. They need this shipment urgently, so they won't be stopping at any inns along the way."
This made the three of them very happy, and they hurriedly thanked the shopkeeper.
"Will you stay here tonight?" The shopkeeper asked casually, noting that although the three men were wearing new coats, they did not look like city people at all.
"Let's go back to Huangji Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Please ask the shopkeeper to prepare six pounds of braised meat for us so we can eat it on the road." Chen Yao took out a string of copper coins from her backpack and put them on the table.
"So you are relatives of Manager Huang. Why didn't you tell me earlier?" The manager was startled by Chen Yao's action of taking out money. Seeing that the elders standing on both sides of her had no reaction, he took five copper coins less and told the kitchen to prepare it.
Chen Yao took the braised meat and went to her uncle's shop first, while her father went to the city gate to look for a mule cart.
The end of the year is approaching, and there are many customers buying New Year's goods. The business of the shop has been particularly good these days.
Huang Dongsheng simply cleaned up the original storage room and turned it into a wing room. He brought his bedding from home and lived in the shop to work on his business.
When he saw his father and cousin coming, he immediately put down the work in his hands, stepped forward to greet them, and took the backpack from his cousin.
"Dad, the three of us will sleep here tonight, and my cousin will sleep inside. I have prepared the bedding." Huang Dongsheng pointed to the butcher's counter.
Huang Songbai put down the backpack and helped his son organize the container.
"Cousin, please try the pancakes we made at home. They even have meat on them." Chen Yao opened the bundle in her hand.
Huang Dongsheng didn't bother to be polite with his cousin. He immediately took a pancake, put two pieces of meat in it, and sat behind the counter to eat it voraciously.
These days he just eats a few bites at random.
Chen Yao took ten eggs from the shelf, threw copper coins into the money box, and used a small stove nearby to make salt-baked eggs.
Not long after, Shen Qingshan returned from outside.
The mule carts in the city were unwilling to leave the city. Shen Qingshan tried his best to persuade them, and only after giving them a pass and offering a high price, he finally ordered one.
The mule cart will be waiting for them in front of the inn early tomorrow morning. The driver's food and accommodation are not included, and the fare is 100 coins.
The Huang family father and son felt a toothache from listening to this.
Huang Dongsheng swallowed the last bite of the cake and said, "Cousin, let's buy a mule next year. It will be useful to our family in the future."
Huang Songbai disagreed and said that they had to buy cows, which could plow the land.
"Dad, let's buy a mule first. Mules run fast, and we won't be able to use a mule cart to deliver raw silk to Baihe Town later!" As soon as Huang Dongsheng said this, he saw his father frowning.
His face was full of confusion as to whether to buy the cow or the mule first.
Chen Yao gave everyone an egg, and simmered the rest overnight so they could take it with them on the road tomorrow.
Chen Yao was peeling eggs while comforting her uncle, "My cousin is just making promises in advance. Whether Shopkeeper Lu of the Towing Building will accept our raw silk is another matter. We have to consider the issue of buying a mule."
The most important thing is to earn money and bring Yang Jizong back.
Huang Songbai bit into the delicious egg and nodded vigorously: "Ayao is right."
"Dad, what's the matter?" Huang Dongsheng had made friends with many city officials in the past few days and became more and more talkative. "Cousin, uncle, have you ever heard the saying that those who do not plan for the future will inevitably have immediate worries? We must take a long-term view and not be short-sighted."
Huang Songbai took off his shoes and called out to his son, "I told you that you can't spit out ivory from a dog's mouth. You dare to talk nonsense after learning a few words. Now I will let you know what immediate worries are."
The father and son chased each other across the shelves in the store until a customer came. Huang Songbai then awkwardly put down the shoes in his hand and pretended nothing had happened to go to the back to stock up.
Shen Qingshan helped his daughter turn off the stove and let her go inside to rest.
Before he could finish his words, he heard the manager coming to order New Year's dishes and game with them. Since a large quantity of each ingredient was required, Chen Yao helped her cousin to register.
When Shen Qingshan heard that the visitor wanted to order ten wild rabbits and ten pheasants, he took the initiative to step forward and inform him that the quantity of game could not be guaranteed, and that he had to go on a long journey and would not be back in the city until six days later.
The manager also knew that hunting in winter depended entirely on the hunter's skill and luck, so he didn't say anything to make it difficult, and just said that they could take as much as they could.
He left five taels of silver as a deposit and would pay the rest when the time came, and then he left.
After the others left, Shen calculated that they could make a net profit of five taels, with the game making the lion's share.
"Cousin, you have to run the shop and collect vegetables with the vendors. Can you handle it? Why not let Brother Baolai help?" Chen Yao closed the account book.
Huang Dongsheng nodded rapidly, not wanting to be polite with his family members. Brother Baolai opened the door.
He had to go back to the village early tomorrow morning to tell his cousin the addresses of the vendors and the amount of money they wanted for the food.
"Dad, uncle, sister, do you feel that there is more and more work to do in our family, but we are less and less able to handle the work?" Huang Dongsheng sighed to the sky.
Huang Songbai finally got the chance to slap him across the face: "You think this is too tiring? When Zi'an and I were carrying stones in the quarry, we didn't even complain about being tired."
Huang Dongsheng glanced at his father's expression and quickly waved his hand and said no.
Chen Yao stood up and prepared to go back to the house to rest. Chun, if any of the students in the village don't want to go to school anymore,
Huang Dongsheng pouted when he heard this: "Then I have to choose carefully. Luo Dunzi may be smart, but he is too young. I don't want him."
The next day, it was just dawn.
The four of them sat in the shop and drank a bowl of hot porridge, then went their separate ways to get back to their work.
At the door of the inn, a team of tea merchants came out from the backyard one after another, with five mule carts with canopies. Every mule exhaled a puff of hot air from its nostrils when passing in front of their carts.
Chen Yao wrapped herself tightly in the quilt and sat behind her father and uncle. She turned her head and snorted coldly. It was no big deal to have a tent. She had even ridden in a car and a high-speed train.
In the future, her family will also make a covered cart and let your mule brothers pull the cart hard. If they don't work hard, they won't be given any fodder.
Shen Qingshan and Huang Songbai got off the car and greeted the tea merchant's leader. They only found out that the leader's surname was Chang. It was this leader Chang who told them about it because he saw them taking the girl out and thought it was okay.
The team left from the north gate of Qingfeng Town, and everyone was allowed to pass after their passes were checked one by one by the officers.
Chen Yao sat behind her father and uncle, looking at the gradually shrinking city wall, feeling both expectant and a little uneasy.
Although Team Leader Chang took the official road, it was very unfamiliar to the three people who were leaving Qingfeng Town for the first time.
The father and daughter were responsible for remembering the route, while Huang Songbai was responsible for protecting the backpack and holding the hemp rope tied to it tightly.
After riding in a mule cart for a whole day, just when everyone's buttocks were about to be broken into pieces, the leader Chang finally shouted to stop.
A fire was made on the spot and everything was tidy. People and livestock all needed to take care of food, drink, defecation, urination and sleep.
Shen Qingshan watched his daughter squat down in the tall grass, and stood guard beside her to prevent anyone from approaching. After his daughter finished using the toilet and escorted her to sit next to Huang Songbai, he went to take care of the matter.
"Dad, come here and warm up." Chen Yao held the meat pie on a stick in her hand, heated it by the fire, and then handed it to her uncle and father.
Huang Songbai took out four eggs from his bundle and asked Chen Yao in a low voice, "Ayao, uncle gave an egg to Team Leader Chang to thank him for helping us repair the car."
A mortise on the wheel of the mule cart fell off halfway. Fortunately, the merchants in this business always had a mortise on hand, which got stuck in the groove and prevented the wheel from falling off.
Chen Yao said generously that it was no problem.
Huang Songbai came back with a smile on his face after delivering the eggs.
The two elders had agreed that Huang Songbai would be on duty in the first half of the night, and Shen Qingshan would be on duty in the second half. A Yao was a girl, and if she hadn't come out to discuss business with Manager Lu, she wouldn't have endured this hardship.
After the three of them finished eating meat patties and salt-baked eggs, Chen Yao really couldn't sit still anymore and had to lie down.
So he wrapped himself tightly in the quilt and lay down beside his father, holding a clod of earth in his arms, his back against the hot bonfire, and fell asleep.
She didn't even know when her father switched jobs with her uncle.
The next day, Chen Yao was awakened by the sound of a mule. She looked at the wilderness in a daze. When she came to, she was already sitting on the top of the mule cart in the wind and snow, having to protect her butt and stretch her neck to remember the way.
At noon on the third day, the team finally arrived at Baihe Town.
Chen Yao jumped off the mule cart first, waiting for the officer to check the pass and pay the money to enter the city.
After entering the city, we had to part ways with Team Leader Chang.
When the two teams parted ways, Team Leader Chang asked Chen Yao for the first time how the eggs were made. After all, they were traveling in the wild, and it was rare to have such delicious food that could be stored for a long time.
Chen Yao bowed to the team leader while carrying the basket on her back, and said with a smile: "Team leader, if you think it's delicious, next time you pass by Qingfeng Town, come to Huangji Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and I will make more for you to eat."
Team leader Chang didn't take her words to heart, thinking that he would let his family do it after this business trip. But the food didn't taste the same no matter how many times he ate it, and he became more and more itchy.
Shen Qingshan asked the coachman to wait at the city gate.
The three of them wandered around the city with baskets on their backs. They were not in a hurry to go to the traction building. Instead, they walked around the clothing shops on every street, first asking the price of cloth, and then asking the price of ready-made clothes and handkerchiefs.
Then he took out the handkerchief embroidered by Yang Wenying and asked about the price.
After asking and comparing prices several times, the three of them squatted in a remote alley and whispered for a while.
Huang Songbai was really enlightened this time. The clothing shops in Baihe Town sold clothes at a lower price than those in Qingfeng Town.
Take the cotton-padded jacket that cost eight hundred wen, for example; here it only costs seven hundred and fifty wen.
One piece costs fifty wen, and ten pieces cost five hundred wen. If they buy them back and sell them in their own shops, even if they only sell them for seven hundred or eighty wen, they will still make a profit.
Huang Songbai suddenly felt that what his son said was right. If a man does not plan for the future, he will have immediate worries. He must work hard. After earning money and bringing Zi'an back, he must first buy a mule.
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