Chapter 81 She Stops Studying [VIP]
Huang Songbai got up early and went to the city with his son. On the way, he even found Baolai driving a mule cart to accompany him.
When everyone arrived at the door of the city's foot shop, Huang Songbai asked the waiter to serve four bowls of vegetarian noodles as soon as he entered, and then he ate while observing the customers around him.
There were already caravans about to leave the inn, and some had just woken up and came downstairs to ask the waiter for food.
Gradually, more and more people came and the conversations in the store became very noisy.
"Dad, look at those people sitting in the east corner. The frostbite scabs on their faces are much more obvious than those of others. They must have been walking outside all year round. Should we go over and ask them?" Tian Baolai raised his chin slightly and motioned for everyone to look.
Before Tanaka Masaru could reply, he heard the sound of a bell outside.
"Boss, it's still the same." As soon as Chang Wei and others came in, they were stared at by several pairs of eyes, but soon these eyes moved away from them.
But there was only one person who looked at him excitedly.
Does this person know me?
It was obvious that they knew each other. Huang Songbai suddenly stood up and went to the counter, approaching Chang Wei warmly. "Captain Chang, don't you remember me?"
"Who are you?" Chang Wei leaned half of his forearm on the counter, looking at the man in front of him who was dressed like an old farmer.
"I'm Huang Songbai from Xiahe Village. Years ago, I had the honor of traveling with your caravan to Baihe Town." Seeing that he still couldn't remember, Huang Songbai continued, "You also helped us repair the ox cart along the way. My niece gave you a salted egg. Did you forget?"
Speaking of salted eggs, Chang Wei finally remembered.
"It's you. You came to find me but you want us to lead the way? Where are you going this time?" Chang Wei took out some silver from his pocket and motioned his brothers to find a table to sit down and have dinner first.
The waiter in the store had already brought their food over.
Only when it was Chang Wei's turn, his food was taken over by Huang Songbai and brought to their table. Huang Songbai then asked the waiter to bring some side dishes.
Chang Wei took a look and thought, well, he also wanted to ask how the salted eggs were made.
After Chang Wei sat down, Huang Songbai first introduced them to each other, and then got straight to the point.
"We have something we would like to ask Captain Chang."
"What's the matter? Tell me." Chang Wei had no food in his stomach, so he wolfed down the noodles and put the whole plate of braised meat into his mouth with one chopstick.
"Baolai, drive the mule cart with Dongsheng back to the supply and marketing cooperative to pick up the goods." Tanaka said to his son.
"Got it, Dad. We'll get it right away." The two kids set off without any hesitation.
Chang Wei raised his eyebrows upon seeing this. "We are tea merchants and have a fixed delivery route. We can lead the way for you, but we can't deliver other things for you."
The thing tea cakes fear most is being contaminated by other odors.
Seeing that Chang Wei didn't seem full, Tian Zhongzheng waved to the waiter, "Do you have any rice dumplings prepared?"
The Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, and restaurants in the city have already prepared realgar wine and rice dumplings. How can they not be available if customers need them?
"My three guests, we have fresh meat dumplings, red date dumplings, and realgar wine in our store. Which ones would you like?"
"Give me two fresh meat dumplings, no drinks." Chang Wei knew that they wanted something from him, so he didn't bother to be polite with them.
"Okay." The waiter went to the kitchen and got two fresh meat dumplings.
After Chang Wei's brothers finished their meal, some went upstairs to rest, while others guarded the goods behind the stable. As for why the two farmers wanted to see their leader, no one asked.
Before Chang Wei finished eating his two rice dumplings, Tian Baolai had already arrived at the door in a mule cart.
Tanaka was getting up to help his son unload the goods. At this time, there were not many people dining in the restaurant.
"Uncle, there are customers in the supply and marketing cooperative right now, so Dongsheng stayed in the store and didn't come." Tian Baolai explained.
Huang Songbai nodded, and then asked for a basin of clean water with his colleague. After washing their hands, they took out the finished product of their rabbit house from the backpack and showed it to Chang Wei.
"These are all made by the embroiderers we specially hired."
"To be honest, Captain Chang, the weather is getting hotter day by day, and these things may not be selling well in our city. We came here today to try our luck and see if there is any captain who is knowledgeable and needs these things from other places and can give us some advice."
Knee pads, scarves and other cold-resistant items are common, but it's the wrong season now, so they can be sold in winter. However, these shoulder bag jewelry with lifelike animal shapes are more suitable for wealthy people to wear and appreciate.
Most people really can’t afford it.
Chang Wei looked at these things and had a suitable place in mind to recommend to them.
"Jiangnan is a land of fish and rice, where everyone wears silk and silk and loves these delicate and exquisite items. If you're willing, we can take you along for a field trip when our caravan goes to transport goods at the end of June."
Seeing is believing.
Even if others describe it in exaggerated terms, you still have to see it with your own eyes.
"The pine and cypress trees asked in unison.
Chang Wei did not hide it from them and said, "It will take two months to go back and forth."
This is a big deal. Even though Tian should go out and take a look, he still has to go back and discuss this matter with everyone.
Chang Wei saw their concerns and thought, "If you decide to go with us, you should still wait for me here at the end of June. The journey is long, and we will not be responsible if you want to turn back halfway."
"We understand, Captain Chang, thank you so much today." Tanaka Masaru and Huang Songbai stood up together to thank him.
Chang Wei waved his hand and said, "If you want to thank me, why not tell me the recipe for the salted eggs? To be honest, when we caravans travel, we have to sleep in the open air and eat the most dried meat. It's harder than climbing to the sky to get eggs or vegetables."
These salt-baked eggs were made by A Yao, and they would not tell anyone the recipe.
"Team Leader Chang, are you going to stay here for one night?"
"Yes, what's wrong?"
"Then we'll come back to find you this afternoon and give you an answer, okay?"
Chang Wei nodded in agreement and sent the three of them away.
Tian Baolai drove a mule cart to take the two elders to Huangji Supply and Marketing Cooperative first. Huang Songbai told his son about his plan, and Huang Dongsheng was obviously panicked.
"Dad, uncle, you're going on a long journey. Who's going to take care of the rabbit hutch at home? And what if we run into bad guys on the way?"
Huang Songbai patted his son's shoulder, telling him not to make a fuss. "This matter hasn't been finalized yet. See if Team Leader Chang and the others are injured. We're taking the official road, so we won't run into any bad guys. If we really need to go out, don't you still have you at home?"
Huang Dongsheng immediately understood what his father said, which undoubtedly meant he had made up his mind to leave.
"Cousin, don't you object? It will be inconvenient for you to collect mountain products without a mule cart."
As soon as he finished speaking, Huang Dongsheng was hit on the forehead: "Why are you still instigating Bao Lai, kid? Okay, just look after the shop here. We will go home first. You can close the shop tonight and come back early."
Huang Songbai stood up and left with his brother-in-law and his son.
Huang Dongsheng was very angry and stood in front of the container pinching vegetable leaves, refusing to see them off.
The three returned to the Shen family.
Chen Yao and Yang Jizong were making a hand-cranked reeling machine in the yard. The level ground was filled with bamboo sticks and wooden boards of varying lengths.
I saw two people, head to head, hand to hand, hammering the bamboo sticks into shape according to the drawings. The clanging noise lasted all morning, scaring the hens in the chicken coop so much that they clucked non-stop.
"Brother, A Yao, uncles and brother Bao Lai are back." Yang Wenying was sitting in the corridor embroidering and reminded the two busy people in the yard.
Yang Jizong hurriedly pulled Chen Yao to stand up, greeted the elders first, and then very attentively helped Tian Baolai unload the backpack from the mule cart into the yard.
"Uncle, aunt, and cousin, have a drink of water." Chen Yao handed the dried tea to the three of them, while Yang Wenying moved two benches from the main house and placed them under the corridor.
The yard was full of bamboo sticks and there was no place to stand. It seemed that my brother and A Yao were going to continue working, and the elders obviously had something to say.
Yang Wenying had no choice but to make such arrangements.
"Ayao, your father hasn't come back yet?"
"No, he should be on his way back." Chen Yao multitasked, helping Yang Jizong hold the finished wheel and then hammering the handle into one end of the wooden frame of the base.
Huang Songbai and Tanaka Zheng simply told them what Chang Wei had told them.
Chen Yao stopped what she was doing and looked at the two elders, "Are you planning to go, uncle and aunt?"
"Where are Dad and Uncle going?" Tian Baozhu pushed open the fence door, and three sisters-in-law were talking and laughing as they walked in behind her.
At noon, all the family members except Dongsheng sat around the table. When they learned that the two wanted to take the goods and follow the tea merchant's team leader Chang to Jiangnan for inspection, Huangmei and Miao, who rarely worked together, expressed their disagreement.
"If it really doesn't work, we can just store the goods and sell them in the winter. Why bother traveling so far?"
Huang Songbai disagreed with his wife's words: "Why do we open rabbit houses and silkworm houses? It's to make money. There are only so many rich people in the city. We can't always sell to them and expect them to sell us a lot. It's only a matter of time before we have to go on a long journey. Now that they are willing to take us with them, it's also under certain conditions."
"Any other conditions?"
When the two elders told Chang Wei about his request, Chen Yao, who was sitting on the side, couldn't help laughing, "Uncle, uncle, cousin, you have brought another business to our family."
"Ayao, what do you mean? Are you planning to sell the salt-baked egg recipe to Team Leader Chang?"
Chen Yao's head shook like a rattle. She was not selling. The recipe for salt-baked eggs had to be given to Chang Wei as a favor. The real business was to make dried vegetables and sell them to the passing caravans.
Chen Yao told everyone that these dried vegetables can be preserved for a long time and are easy to carry. They can be made into vegetable soup by simply taking them out and boiling them in water.
Everyone suddenly realized that this was exactly what the caravan needed.
"Ayao, why don't you come with us into the city this afternoon." Tanaka felt that Ayao was more experienced than them in doing business.
Chen Yao was about to nod when she saw Tian Baozhu, who was sitting next to her, suddenly stand up and say to everyone, "Dad, Mom, I don't want to study anymore."
Her words shocked the women more than the fact that their two elders were going on a long journey.
Baozhu and Chunya are the only two girls in the village who still insist on going to school. They finally have the opportunity to change their fate, so why do they suddenly stop studying?
"Baozhu, tell me why you don't want to study anymore?" Huang Mei held her daughter's hand, her eyes full of concern. She felt that she must have been busy making money these days and did not do well in some way, so she neglected her daughter.
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