Chapter 890 Chapter 890, Kindness
After having dinner in Gu Jian's yard, Daohua sent Li Xingnian and Li Chenzhi to the guest house to rest, and then returned to her room.
Seeing Xiao Yeyang sitting at the table with his arms exposed, fanning himself in one hand and reading a letter in the other, Daohua asked Guyu to bring over a watermelon that had been chilled in well water to cut.
After cutting the watermelon, Daohua walked over with a piece in each hand and passed the watermelon in her right hand to Xiao Yeyang's mouth: "It's getting hotter in Ganzhouwei now. Eat a piece of watermelon to quench your thirst."
Xiao Yeyang opened his mouth and took a bite: "Hmm, this watermelon is very sweet." He moved his eyes away from the letter and took another big bite.
Daohua was also eating and nodded, saying, "There's a lack of water here in Ganzhouwei. Because of the lack of water, dryland watermelons have a particularly high sugar content after a long period of accumulation, making them particularly sweet and delicious. However, because of the lack of water, the yield is low, and the watermelons that grow are also relatively small."
Xiao Yeyang: "It's good that they can be grown. Xiliang has a vast land and a sparse population. If there are more varieties of fruits, vegetables and grains, the people's lives will be better."
Daohua hummed, "Oh, right. My second uncle and third cousin came over this time. Besides visiting us, they also came to investigate Xiliang. They want to develop here. What do you think?"
Xiao Yeyang: "This is a good thing. Xiliang needs merchants to develop. Xiliang is still not peaceful, and my second uncle and his men dare to come here to develop. This shows their courage."
Daohua nodded and said, "The Li family was able to build up its current fortune thanks to the hard work of my eldest and second uncles. They must have been very brave."
Xiao Yeyang was silent for a moment: "The coming and going of the caravans can promote the development of Ganzhou Wei. Since the Li family took the risk to come here, the garrison should give them some support."
Having said that, he paused.
"I plan to hire Uncle Dong as my staff member and have him help me with some details of civil affairs."
Daohua agreed. "Uncle Dong was once a provincial governor. With his help, you can relax a lot. Civil affairs are complicated. If you try to take care of everything, you won't be able to handle it even if you have three more heads. But, do you need to tell Uncle Huang about this?"
Xiao Yeyang understood Daohua's concerns and shook his head, saying, "The second branch of the Dong family was originally implicated by the first branch of the Dong family. Uncle Dong's achievements during his time as a foreign minister were highly recognized by the Emperor. I'm only inviting him to be an advisor, not to grant him an official position. It's fine."
Upon hearing this, Daohua didn't say anything more. She asked the maid to bring hot water. After washing up with Xiao Yeyang, she went to bed.
The next day, after breakfast, when Xiao Yeyang was about to go to the garrison, Defu suddenly came in and whispered a few words to Xiao Yeyang. Then Xiao Yeyang said to Li Xingnian and Li Chenzhi, "Second uncle, I will accompany you and third cousin to go shopping today."
Li Xingnian smiled and said, "Will it delay your work?"
Xiao Yeyang shook his head: "It's okay, it just so happens that the five barren hills that Yiyi bought have been transformed into terraced fields, and I want to go and see them too."
Seeing this, Li Xingnian said nothing more, smiled and followed Xiao Yeyang out of the house.
After the three people left, Daohua met Qin Xiaoliu.
Qin Xiaoliu reported to Daohua what happened during the transportation of tea.
Hearing that they had encountered bandits on the way, Daohua frowned and said, "I still say that safety comes first. Even if it means spending a little more money to hire more escorts, we must try our best to avoid casualties."
Qin Xiaoliu nodded: "I'll take note of it."
Seeing that he looked exhausted, Daohua said, "Thank you for your hard work during this period. You will definitely be traveling to Xiliang frequently in the future, so you don't have to come every time."
"The shops and farms in the capital need your attention. Select a few smart and steady people from the farms and train them. You can have them escort the goods for you."
Qin Xiaoliu smiled and thanked him, "Thank you for your concern, young lady. I just thought that since we've only made two trips to Xiliang, we're not very familiar with it yet. I'm worried that the people below us won't do a good job and will delay the important things for you and your husband, so I want to lead them on a few more trips."
Daohua nodded and said, "You and the others should take care of yourselves. It's extremely cold in the winter and extremely hot in the summer here in Xiliang, with strong winds and sandstorms. Go back and tell your subordinates that every time they come here, they will receive an extra five taels of silver."
Qin Xiaoliu quickly said, "I would like to thank you on behalf of everyone else."
Daohua: "The kitchen has made milk tea. Before you leave, the escort agency and the people you brought with you will drink a bowl of milk tea every day to nourish their bodies."
Qin Xiaoliu thanked him again.
Daohua waved her hand to let him go, and she went to the warehouse to check the tea that had been delivered this time.
As soon as Qin Xiaoliu returned to the guest house, several strong women came over carrying several buckets of steaming milk tea.
"Manager Xiaoliu, this is the milk tea that Miss Guyu ordered us to deliver."
When Qin Xiaoliu saw that the food was delivered so quickly, he was delighted and quickly invited the people in the yard to come over and drink milk tea.
"What is milk tea?" a young escort from the escort agency asked in a low voice.
The old woman smiled and said, "Milk tea is made by boiling milk and tea leaves together. It's a good thing. Madam is kind-hearted and thought you must have worked hard transporting the goods from so far away, so she made it specially for you to nourish your bodies. Come, everyone, have a bowl. After you finish, we still need to go back and make lunch."
After hearing this, everyone immediately took their bowls to get milk tea happily.
Milk is also a precious commodity in other inland areas and is difficult to find.
To escort the tea this time, Qin Xiaoliu hired three escort agencies. The heads of the three escort agencies drank the sweet milk tea in the bowls, looked at each other, finished the tea quickly, and then went into the room together to find Qin Xiaoliu.
"What's up, three of you?"
"Manager Xiaoliu, this is our second time running an escort with you. You should be able to see your abilities and character. We want to continue cooperating with the Xiao family."
Although the road in Xiliang is difficult to travel and not very peaceful, the reward given by the Xiao Mansion is high. From the incident of delivering milk tea today, it can be seen that the master of the Xiao Mansion is a kind person.
A powerful and kind master like this is undoubtedly the person those who go out to escort goods want to meet the most.
If we can maintain long-term cooperation with the Xiao family, not only can we guarantee a stable source of income, but also because we run a route for a long time, we can effectively reduce the casualties of the escort agency.
Qin Xiaoliu used to be a bodyguard, and he understood the feelings of the three people. It was because he and his tribesmen met the girl that they changed their fate of being bodyguards who made a living by licking blood.
"I understand what you three mean. In fact, I also want to continue to cooperate with you. Everyone knows the situation in Xiliang. We need sincere cooperation to ensure the successful completion of the escort."
"We can cooperate, but I want to remind you three: you must not harm the interests of the Xiao Mansion. Otherwise, the consequences will not be something you can bear."
When the three escort agency leaders heard this, they all looked happy: "Don't worry, Xiaoliu, we are all here to make a living, so we naturally know to abide by the rules."
(End of this chapter)
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