Chapter 29 Leaving the military camp! Getting ready to open a shop! ...
Her gaze was so scorching that Chi Qing couldn't help but glance at her while holding the potted plant. He realized that she saw the potted plant as if it were gold. He thought that this little cook was quite knowledgeable and knew that this was a plant that was only found outside the Great Wall and was very rare!
Jiang Yanyi came to her senses after being stared at by him. She knew that she couldn't stay any longer. She glanced at the potted plant in Chi Qing's hand reluctantly and bowed to leave.
Her heart was beating wildly.
There are peppers in this dynasty! It's
just that they haven't been put on the table yet!
When she leaves the military camp, she must go to the market to look for them and buy more!
At this moment, hot pot, spicy skewers, and hot pot chicken all flashed through Jiang Yanyi's mind. She couldn't wait to leave the barracks and open her own hot pot restaurant!
After she left, Chi Qing looked at Feng Shuo with an accusing look on his face: "See! The young cook knows more than you!"
Feng Shuo glanced at him indifferently: "Go and wash the potted plants."
Chi Qing wanted to say whoever made it dirty should wash it, but when he thought about this guy pouring the water for washing the brush directly on the pepper, he must not have taken the pepper seriously. Expect him to go, unless the sun rises from the west!
Chi Qing had to go out of the tent with the potted plants to find water, grumbling.
At this time, he had not yet realized why Feng Shuo, who usually was too lazy to take care of the potted plant, suddenly asked him to take it down and clean the light ink stains on it.
When Jiang Yanyi returned to the fire camp, she ran into several firemen who came to look for her. It turned out that Chef Li saw that she had not returned for a long time and was afraid that something might happen, so he asked them to come and check. As soon as she returned
to the stove, Jiang Yanyi ate hot rice and hot dishes. Chef Li specially ordered them to be heated in the stove. It was rare that he had not finished work at this time tonight.
Chef Li learned from Tou'er Zhao the location of the shop that Jiang Yanyi planned to rent.
When Jiang Yanyi was having dinner, he talked to her about many things, from how many assistants to hire to interpersonal relationships, and reminded her to run a shop in a harmonious way and not to offend the powerful people around her.
This was the first time that Jiang Yanyi felt someone was so kind to her in this strange world. She was touched, but there was some bitterness in her eyes.
In her previous life, whenever she had to go on a long journey, her father would nag her like this and remind her of everything he could think of. She had a car accident in that world, and her parents must be very sad now...
Jiang Yanyi's eyes were just wet when she heard a sobbing sound coming from behind the stove. It was Qiu Kui.
Jiang Yanyi was startled, thinking something had happened, and hurried over to ask her what was wrong.
Qiu Kui cried so hard that she could hardly breathe. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and choked, "I miss my dad..."
When she heard Chef Li say this to Jiang Yanyi, she couldn't help but think of her parents who died of hunger on the road while fleeing from famine. When she was a child, she had a serious illness and had a fever for several days. After she recovered from the illness, she became a little dull.
The children in the village laughed at her for being a fool, but her parents still held her in their hands and loved her.
But when her parents died, she couldn't even find a roll of straw mat to wrap their bodies on the road of fleeing from famine. She used branches to dig in the ground for two days before digging a shallow pit and buried the two old people.
Jiang Yanyi's tears, which she had finally held back, were brought out again because of Qiu Kui's words.
She squatted down and hugged Qiu Kui: "Don't cry, your father must be hoping for the best for you. He will feel at ease when you are doing well."
Qiu Kui lay on Jiang Yanyi's shoulder and cried loudly, helpless like a child. After a while, her tears wet Jiang Yanyi's shoulder.
"I...wuwu...don't want to be a camp prostitute...wuwuwu..."
"I really...wuwu...wanted to go with my parents...wuwu...many times..."
“But my parents… uh… my parents said before they died… uh… they wanted me… uh… to live well…”
Jiang Yanyi patted her back gently to calm her down, and consoled her: “We won’t be camp prostitutes anymore, we will leave the barracks tomorrow.”
Qiu Kui shook her head, and she could hardly speak because she was crying so hard: “I… uh… I also want to be like… uh… like you, Huahua… hiccup…”
She hiccupped while crying, and then continued with the previous words: “I want to… live a clean life… uh… go back and re-bury my parents… re-bury them…”
Chef Li was old, and couldn’t bear to see such crying scenes, so he wiped his eyes and turned away without looking at them.
But he was very upset in his heart. He joined the army at the age of fifteen and joined the Huotou Camp. He stayed at the stove all his life. He had no children and didn't know how to spend his old age.
Before tonight, he looked down on Qiu Kui, a silly girl, because she was simple and stupid and had no understanding. But seeing how filial she was, he felt sympathy and even envied her parents.
Jiang Yanyi's heart was torn by Qiu Kui's crying. Thinking of what she had said before that her parents died on the way to escape famine, she felt very uncomfortable. At the same time, she was more grateful for the grace Feng Shuo gave her today.
She quickly told her about the grace.
Qiu Kui was already crying her eyes out. When she heard the news, she felt like she was dreaming: "Is... is it true?"
Jiang Yanyi said hurriedly: "The general has personally promised to help you get rid of the crime. It will take some time for the memorial to be sent to the capital. I will buy you tomorrow, and you can open a restaurant with me in the future. When you are cleared of the crime, you can go back to bury your parents."
Qiu Kui's tears rolled down when she heard this. "Thank you, Huahua. After I bury my parents, I will work for you in the restaurant for the rest of my life. I don't want any wages, just give me a meal."
Jiang Yanyi was touched and distressed: "What nonsense are you talking about!"
When Qiu Kui calmed down, Chef Li gave Jiang Yanyi a few more instructions. Seeing that it was getting late, he asked a few big firemen to take Jiang Yanyi and the others back to the barracks to rest.
When the two returned to Hu Yanglin's barracks, few people were asleep. Those who were about to regain their freedom were mixed with sadness and joy and couldn't sleep, and those who were charged with crimes were also trying to find a way out for themselves.
Some gave their lovers their savings, hoping that they would buy them back; some were unwilling to do the hard labor of washing clothes, and washed themselves from head to toe in the cool water in the water tank outside the barracks, hoping to be noticed by the madams from the kilns tomorrow; others looked empty-eyed, probably because they didn't want to fight with their fate anymore...
What surprised Jiang Yanyi was that Chunxiang asked someone to fetch water to help her wash and put on her best clothes.
The reward for doing all this was a box of rouge.
She had already spent all her money on buying medicine to treat her injuries.
When she was in her glory days, she had saved a lot of rouge and powder. There were camp prostitutes who had the same idea as her, so they would naturally be willing to help her in order to look better tomorrow.
Jiang Yanyi looked at the busy women in the barracks, and suddenly felt like something was blocking her chest, making her feel uncomfortable.
This is the sadness of this era. Her own life is like a floating duckweed, and she can't help them.
She turned over and forced herself not to think about these.
Qiu Kui was a very simple person. Knowing that she would go with Jiang Yanyi tomorrow, she didn't worry about anything. She fell asleep in a short while and even snored softly.
Chunxiang, who was in the bed opposite, felt as if she had returned to her past glory days because many people came to borrow her rouge and powder tonight. When she heard Qiu Kui's snoring, she sarcastically said, "They say fools have good luck. It's true. You can still sleep so soundly at this time. I guess you will have a good time with our chef Jiang tomorrow."
Before returning, Jiang Yanyi told Qiu Kui not to tell others that she could be reinstated and that he would buy her tomorrow.
With the lessons that Chunxiang and Liu Cheng had taught her before, Jiang Yanyi didn't dare to show off her wealth at all.
When Feng Shuo gave her the banknote that day, except Qiu Kui, the camp prostitutes were not present, but someone might have heard about it from the firemen on duty that night.
Moreover, the reward she received tonight could not be concealed. Jiang Yanyi deliberately put the reward silver she received tonight and the silver and copper plates she received before under her pillow. This was considered the worst-case scenario - even if it was stolen, she still had the 100 taels of silver notes.
As for the 100 or 200 silver notes, she hid them under Qiu Kui's shoe insoles before returning to the camp.
Jiang Yanyi knew that she was at the end of her rope. If someone really wanted to steal the money, she would definitely be the first choice, after all, she had received a lot of rewards in the Huotou Camp.
Her bed was so small that she couldn't hide it even if she wanted to, and her soles would definitely be turned over.
On the contrary, Qiu Kui looked stupid on weekdays, and was the camp prostitute who could least save money, so naturally no one would think of looking for money from her.
Chunxiang didn't know all this, and once she was proud, she didn't change her nature and deliberately made sarcastic remarks.
Jiang Yanyi didn't want to cause any more trouble on this last night, so she pretended not to hear it.
Chunxiang thought that Jiang Yanyi didn't intend to care about Qiu Kui, and she felt guilty and embarrassed, so she didn't dare to say anything to her.
She became even more proud: "So this person should think carefully before trying to climb up the ladder, so as not to end up with nothing."
The prostitutes in the camp will all go their separate ways. Except for a few who want to borrow cosmetics from Chunxiang and flatter her, no one else said a word. Chunxiang herself felt it was meaningless, so she took a breath and stopped yelling.
After midnight, the barracks became completely quiet.
But Jiang Yanyi didn't dare to sleep soundly, and he didn't take a light nap until almost four o'clock in the morning.
The next day, when the roosters crowed for the first time, the women in the barracks began to get up one after another to pack up.
Jiang Yanyi woke up and found that the silver under her pillow was still there.
But when she was about to get out of bed, she noticed that the insoles of her shoes were a little loose, as if they had been turned over by someone. She was slightly startled, and glanced at Qiu Kui's shoes next to her calmly. Seeing that there was no sign of her insoles being turned over, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Since nothing was lost, she didn't make a fuss. After she got dressed, she called Qiu Kui
to get up. At the time of Yinshi, the little leader who managed them came over, and just like the day Jiang Yanyi just came over, he shouted at them to follow.
The only difference was that that time he took them to Huotouying to be cooks, and this time, they were going out of the camp.
On the way, Jiang Yanyi looked at the military tents, which were twice as many as when he first arrived, and the patrolling soldiers, and suddenly felt a little emotional.
When he arrived at the gate of the Xizhou camp, he saw a few mule carts and ox carts parked outside. They were probably here to buy camp prostitutes, or decent girls who had been captured in the camp and heard the news that their daughters could return home, so they hurried to pick them up.
The little leader took out a list, and when each person was read, someone went out of the team. The soldier behind him took out the household registration document and five taels of silver and handed them to the girl who came forward.
Jiang Yanyi was the last one.
"The great general is kind and has redressed your grievances and restored your good status. You can go home on your own!" the little leader said to them.
Next came the camp prostitutes who were charged with crimes. Qiu Kui was among them because her pardon document had not yet been issued.
As soon as the leader said that they could be sold, several middle-aged women on the mule carts and ox carts that had not yet left came over with twisted waists. Their clothes looked a bit shabby, and their faces looked mean and sharp. It was obvious that they were powerful.
Jiang Yanyi knew that this might be the madam of the kiln. Before she came over, he hurriedly pulled Qiu Kui to the leader and said, "Military officer, I want to buy her."
Qiu Kui had a dark complexion and a round face. She was pretty, but because she looked dull on weekdays, her appearance was reduced by three points. In addition, the other prostitutes had all been specially dressed up today, so she looked like a silly goose standing out in the crowd, making her even more inconspicuous.
Jiang Yanyi was now a good person and had the right to buy and sell slaves, so the leader did not ask too many questions. He only asked her to sign the contract for purchasing a government slave and reminded her not to resell the slave easily. Even if the owner changed, it had to be registered with the government. Jiang Yanyi agreed to all of it.
Xizhou was poor, and basically no one would buy prostitutes with criminal records. No matter how tall, thin, short or fat they were, the price was set at one thousand yuan per person.
Jiang Yanyi bought Qiu Kui with one or two taels of silver. When Qiu Kui saw the leader handing her contract of sale to Jiang Yanyi, she was happy and sad, and her eyes were a little red. She had been in a shambles since she was sold out by her aunt, but now she can finally get out.
Jiang Yanyi was good-looking, and the madam who came to pick people couldn't help but look at her a few more times. When she saw that she was also buying people, she knew that she was a good girl and gave up.
Chunxiang in the crowd saw Jiang Yanyi buying okra, and her face was twisted with anger. It turned out that she deliberately didn't answer her last night and was waiting here!
Seeing the madam coming over, Chunxiang immediately put away her ferocious look. She was wearing gorgeous clothes, had a charming figure, and put rouge on her face. She was the most eye-catching in the crowd.
The madam saw her at a glance, and when she came closer, she found that she was supported by two prostitutes to stand up. However, her forehead was sweating a lot, and her rouge could not cover her pale face.
The madam looked her up and down.
Chunxiang hurriedly called her with a smile: "Mom, please buy me back, and I will make you a lot of money."
The madam's eyes were shrewd. She only glanced at her, snorted and laughed, and turned to look at other prostitutes.
Chunxiang was completely panicked and shouted at her: "Please buy me! I can really make you money!"
She pounced forward and tried to grab the madam's sleeves, but the two camp prostitutes who had benefited from her could not hold her up at all. She fell directly to the ground, and the wound on her buttocks split open. She screamed in pain and crawled towards the madam, who grabbed her clothes and said, "Please sell me!"
The madam pulled her clothes out of her hands as if something dirty was on her, and said with a mean look on her face, "Go away, don't bring me bad luck! Bad luck!"
As she spoke, the madam had already chosen the person to buy and went to the little leader to sell her indenture.
Chunxiang was immediately filled with despair. She couldn't even stand up now. If no one bought her, she would be sent to do hard labor. She would die of pain. She lay on the ground and cried loudly.
Jiang Yanyi and Qiu Kui had already walked a distance. When they heard the crying behind them, they both looked back.
Chunxiang was probably a person who lived up to the saying "There must be something hateful about a pitiful person".
Everything that happened now was her own fault. She almost died in her and Liu Cheng's vicious scheme. Jiang Yanyi really couldn't sympathize with her.
She said to Qiu Kui. "Let's go."
Qiu Kui nodded.
Zhao Tou'er rented an ox cart and was waiting for them in front. His nephew was so eager that he went to the south of the Yangtze River yesterday afternoon. Zhao Tou'er took a leave of absence today to take her to sign the contract for the shop and send them there.
When they arrived at the shop, it was already noon. Jiang Yanyi signed the lease with Zhao Tou'er and paid the rent for three months. Because they had not had time to clean up everything, they did not invite Zhao Tou'er to have a meal. They just asked him to come over for a meal after the restaurant officially opened. Zhao Tou'er naturally agreed.
Jiang Yanyi and Qiu Kui roughly cleaned up the shop in front and the yard in the back. It was almost noon, and the two had not eaten breakfast yet. There was nothing good at home, so Jiang Yanyi decided to take Qiu Kui out to eat.
Qiu Kui lowered her head, pinching the corner of her clothes and unwilling to go: "Hua Hua, I have already spent a thousand dollars on your purchase, and the rest has to be kept for the store, so save some money. I see there is still some rice in the rice jar, I will go to light a fire and cook, it won't take many hours."
Although this girl is a little dull, she is actually sensitive, and he is afraid that she will be a burden to him.
Jiang Yanyi felt sorry for this girl, thinking that even if he forced her to go out to eat, she might not be happy, so he had to say: "Then you go to light the fire first, and boil water in the pot."
Zhao Dabao just left yesterday, and the kitchen was fully stocked with firewood, rice, oil, and salt. Before leaving, Zhao Tou'er also said that these things would feed rats if they were left there. His house was far away, and it was not convenient to move for such a small amount, so he let them use them as they pleased.
Jiang Yanyi went into the kitchen and looked around. She found that there were no fresh vegetables, but there were a few large yellow pumpkins piled in the corner.
She immediately had an idea to make a simple pumpkin stewed rice, and the remaining pumpkin could be made into pumpkin cakes!