With the weather so hot now, the high-ranking officials and nobles of Jinnan City must be short of ice. How could they let such a lucrative business pass them by? They've been making some to sell these past few days. Once the workshop is up and running, they'll have the women in the clan make the dresses. As for the designs, she'll be in charge of drawing them. She's very knowledgeable about ancient clothing.
As for fabric, it's available in Shushu's trading system and is even cheaper than in Jinnan City, though it might not be as good, since Jinnan City's specialty is brocade.
Next comes papermaking. Paper is very expensive here. People are reluctant to use it for everyday purposes, let alone for writing. They are just waiting for the workshop to be built so that everything can proceed.
The road is a bit troublesome, and there aren't enough people. Let's take it slow. This village is close enough to Jinnan City, and it's suitable for them to settle down.
"Shushu, do you think we should go to the nearby villages and find some villagers to help us repair the road? Ideally, we could build a wall at the village entrance before the plague breaks out."
The village is shaped like a balloon. You enter from the small path, which is narrow at the top but wide at the bottom. The village is mostly flat, but it is overgrown with weeds, with scattered trees and stones piled up randomly on the ground. The other three sides are mountains.
An Shuyi thought for a while and decided it wasn't impossible. If the clansmen didn't have money, they didn't have to pay. She and Huahua could take care of it. Anyway, they would need to repair roads if they wanted to take things out to sell in the future.
“This method is feasible. Mu Tomorrow, besides having some people build workshops, we’ll divide up the land. Everyone should prepare the land first. This place doesn’t look small. We’ll measure it later and see how much land each person can get.”
“From now on, there will only be us in this village, and no other outsiders will come. So let’s divide the land properly. But we need to leave space in the middle to build houses. Our clan will grow more and more in the future, so the foundation can’t be small.”
Village Chief Lin nodded, "Don't worry, sister-in-law. We'll buy the hoes tomorrow and start dividing the land. After that, everyone can start cultivating it. Once it's cultivated, we might be able to plant rice."
“Okay!” An Shuyi nodded. “Anyway, this is your responsibility, not mine, so you can worry about it yourself.”
That night, everyone ate together again, and they would only eat separately the next day after they went to buy cooking ingredients.
The next day, before dawn, An Shuyi asked her fourth and fifth sons to take care of the children, and called on her other sons and daughters-in-law to go to Jinnan City together. They had bought a lot of things that day, but there was no carriage to carry them, so they naturally had to find laborers to carry them.
Apart from her, all the other members of the clan were like this, leaving only the elderly with children and the teenagers behind, while the rest went to Jinnan City to buy things.
When they arrived at Jinnan City, it was already broad daylight. There were still refugees outside Jinnan City, but there didn't seem to be as many as yesterday. "Wood, you take a few people to find Lord Li, we'll go buy some things."
We need to buy a lot of things today. Changing the imperial edict is Village Chief Lin's job. He should handle it himself from now on. We can't rely on her for everything.
Village Chief Lin nodded, "Okay, sisters-in-law, be careful," and then took his two sons to the county government office.
An Shuyi told the clansmen to buy things too. If they bought everything, they could wait at the city gate or go back together in groups. However, they could not go back alone, otherwise there would be danger and no one would know.
Mr. An came along today, along with his son, daughter-in-law, and eldest grandson. Knowing they were busy, he said they were going to buy some things and would go back first after they finished shopping, and then he left.
An Shuyi and Xia Hua took their son and daughter-in-law shopping. First, they took them out for a bowl of noodles and then bought some steamed buns to take back before they started shopping for other things, such as pots and pans, food, and household items.
Finally, they sent the people away and took out cloth and quilts from the trading system. These were cheap in the trading system, especially the quilts, which were still ready-made.
After each of them had filled their baskets to the brim and were carrying other things in their hands, they were allowed to go to the city gate. If they encountered any of their clansmen, they were to go back first; otherwise, they were to wait, put their things away, and then come back to carry them.
After that, the two went to buy building materials, such as blue bricks and blue tiles. They bought more than a thousand taels of silver. Not to mention that they needed them to build the workshop now, they would also need them to build their house in the future. Although they could wait until they needed them to buy them, it didn't matter whether they bought them sooner or later. The shopkeeper also said that after he delivered them to the shop, he could help transport them to the village.
Even though they heard that the village was Taoyuan Village and the road was difficult to travel, they were still willing to deliver the goods. This made An Shuyi and Xia Hua decide to buy the goods from their store.
An Shuyi gave them a deposit and told them to bring the materials to the village over the next few days before leaving with Xia Hua. As for the remaining money, she would pay them after they had brought enough materials.
After leaving, the two of them each bought a cart. After pulling it to a corner, they began to put things on it: grain, chicken and duck eggs, two large iron pots, and two kitchen knives. Both carts were filled with the same amount of food.
"Huahua, come on, let's go buy some jars. We don't have anything to put the oil and salt in," An Shuyi said, pulling her cart.
Xia Hua nodded and followed behind her, pulling the cart. Then each of them bought ten jars of different sizes, and finally two bath tubs. Although they might not need them, the cart was now completely full.
After handing the silver to the shopkeeper, he asked, "Shushu, is there anything else you want to buy?"
An Shuyi sat in the corner of the shop and said, "Let's rest here for a while and go buy more when the boss and the others come. We still need to buy hoes, some pastries, and a few pairs of finished shoes. The shoes have all worn out and we haven't had time to make any new ones. The boss and the others have been wearing straw sandals."
"And look at me, my toes are sticking out. If I don't buy some soon, I won't have anything to wear. And look at yours, it's not much better."
Having transmigrated here, she found herself wearing tattered shoes and patched clothes, struggling to eat and stay warm. The thought of it was more bitter than eating bitter melon.
Hearing her say that, Xia Hua looked at her own shoes and saw that they were indeed worn out, with her big toe sticking out. "Then we'll go buy some more later, and we'll buy you a lot more."
"good!"
When the eldest brother and his men arrived, they left them to watch the cart while the two of them went to buy things: pastries and hoes. The hoes were made of iron and were quite expensive, but they still bought three each. After buying the items, they put them back on the cart and then went to buy shoes.
"Are you two ladies here to sell embroidery?" A shop assistant asked as soon as they entered.
"Embroidery?" An Shuyi shook her head. "No, do you have any finished shoes in your shop? Give me forty pairs, twenty for women and twenty for men, all sizes." Although it sounded like a lot, after she and Xia Hua divided the shoes and then distributed them among her sons and daughters-in-law, it wouldn't be much.
"Ah!" The shop assistant opened his mouth in surprise, and after a while he reacted, "Madam, I don't know if the store has so many shoes, I have to go and check."
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