"Let me see them all, both adults' and children's!"
The waiter nodded, "Yes, madams, please wait a moment, I'll go get it right away."
An Shuyi and her companion had no choice but to sit in the shop and wait. There were two other shop assistants in the shop, but they were busy attending to customers. When they heard that she wanted to buy so many shoes, they looked at her in surprise for a moment, and then looked away.
"Shushu, there are some Confucian skirts over there. The fabric looks nice. Let me buy you two!" Xia Hua said, pointing to the skirts on the counter.
"This dress is made of brocade, which is unique to our Jinnan City. If you two ladies like it, we have a room here where you can go in and try it on. If you like it, you can buy it."
An Shuyi and Xia Hua turned their heads at the same time to look at the woman standing at the top of the stairs.
The woman covered her mouth with a handkerchief and chuckled, “Greetings, ladies. My husband’s surname is Li, and everyone calls me Lady Li. I’m the manager of this Jinxiu Pavilion. I just heard from the shop assistant that two ladies came to buy shoes, and quite a lot of them. I was curious, so I came to take a look.”
An Shuyi nodded, "Hello, Madam Li. We've come to buy shoes. Do you have any other Confucian skirts here? We'd like to buy a few more."
"Of course I have some. I'll show them to you two ladies right away." Madam Li said, taking out several dresses from the cabinet. "These dresses are suitable for you two ladies in terms of both color and style. I wonder if you like them?"
Xia Hua looked at An Shuyi, and seeing her nod, said, "Then pack up all these outfits. We'll pay you all at once after your staff brings the shoes and we've inspected them."
Lady Li chuckled sweetly, "Then this young lady will pack it up for you two ladies."
After the shop assistant brought the shoes, An Shuyi immediately picked out forty pairs of embroidered shoes and multi-layered sole shoes of various sizes. Although some of them might not fit, they wouldn't be too different, so she would just have to make do with them!
After Xia Hua gave the silver, she took the prepared Confucian skirt and the two of them left Jinxiu Pavilion together. After carrying the shoes and clothes for the eldest brother and the others, they set off to return.
It was already afternoon when they got back; time really flies. When they reached the path, An Shuyi looked at her sons and said, "You all go back first. Your Aunt Xia and I will go and see if we can find some villagers to help us dig the road."
"Understood, Mother!" the sons and daughters-in-law replied. As for whether their mother and aunt had the money to hire villagers to dig the ground, that was not their concern.
An Shuyi and Xia Hua separated from them. After they were out of sight, Xia Hua handed over an ice cream. "Shushu, here you go. This weather is so hot! If there hadn't been so many people, I would have loved to eat a few." This weather is so weird!
“It’s hot, so we need to hurry up. Otherwise, we might catch a plague and we won’t be able to find anyone to work for us.” An Shuyi looked at Xia Hua, hesitating whether to continue.
Xia Hua finished her ice cream in one bite, then took out another one. "Say what you need to say quickly, while I'm feeling calm now, or you won't have the chance later."
“Hehe,” An Shuyi smiled guiltily, “Huahua, I want to send the prescription for treating the plague to the prefect when the plague has just appeared and before it breaks out.”
Xia Hua stopped in her tracks. "I don't object to you sending it to the prefect, but how can you be sure he'll believe you? Okay, even if he does, what if he tries to keep the prescription for himself for personal gain? What will you do then?"
"And aren't you afraid that after he gets hold of this formula, he'll buy up all the medicinal herbs, sell them to the people at a high price, and then present the formula to the emperor, where he'll be promoted to a high-ranking position, while you might end up with your life in danger?"
An Shuyi nodded, "I've thought about all of that. So in a few days, we'll investigate this prefect. If he's a good one, we'll give him the prescription. If he's not a good official, then forget it, we can find a better one."
“We don’t know how long we’ll be here, and you don’t want a corrupt official, do you? So this prescription is our pledge of loyalty. Although the prefect’s position isn’t very high, it’s enough to protect us in Jinnan City.”
“We will use it in our business in the future. As long as it is not evil to the core, it will be useful. Moreover, this prescription is for the benefit of the people, so we will not lose out.”
“Alright,” An Shuyi said, “It seems that Shushu’s brain is still working. She didn’t lose her brain just because she transmigrated. Let’s go see what the prefect is like in a few days.”
"But the most important thing is to fix the roads in the village first, and then build the houses. There's a village over there, let's go there and ask."
"good!"
The two entered the village and found that it was not much better than their own village, with mud houses and thatched roofs. As soon as they entered, someone spotted them.
Then several men ran out with hoes, shouting, "What are you doing in our village? Leave now! If you want to settle down, go to Jinnan City!"
An Shuyi and her companion stopped and said, "We're not here to settle down. We're villagers from Taoyuan Village. We just settled in yesterday and are looking for some villagers in your village to help with road repairs. We'll pay 25 coins a day, no meals provided. Anyone interested?"
“Peach Blossom Village? There’s not even any good land there. How did you end up settling down there, and you’re paying twenty-five coins a day? You must be lying.”
“That’s right. If you have money to repair the road, you might as well use it to bribe the official who will be settling you in, so he can move you to a better village.”
An Shuyi smiled. It seemed that everyone knew about Peach Blossom Village. "If you are worried, you can go and see for yourselves. I suppose you all know where Peach Blossom Village is. But judging from your appearance, you are not short of money. So let's go and see other villages."
"Wait!" Before they had even left, an old man ran over.
"Is there anything else?"
"Ladies, are you telling the truth?"
An Shuyi nodded, "It's true. This place isn't far from Taoyuan Village. You must have seen the commotion we made yesterday. As for lying to you, there doesn't seem to be anything in your village worth lying about."
They were already starving and emaciated, yet they refused to investigate, accusing the women of lying. They didn't even bother to look at what they could possibly be lying about.
The old man continued, "Greetings, ladies. I am Liu, the village chief of Xinglin Village. I wonder how many villagers you would like to send to repair the road?"
“The more the better,” An Shuyi said, looking at the village. “But we only need people who can work. We don’t want the lazy ones. We’re in a hurry and hope to get it fixed as soon as possible. If you’re worried, we’ll settle the wages at the end of each day.”
Village Chief Liu clapped his hands and said, "Ladies, it's settled then. Our villagers will repair the road for you. You can rest assured, they are all capable workers and there will be no slackers among them."
"Our village has more than two hundred strong laborers. I wonder if the two ladies think that's enough?" Actually, their village doesn't have that many villagers, but everyone has relatives. If they invite them all, two hundred people would be more than enough. It's not easy to find a job that earns money and doesn't require them to go far from home, so of course they're willing.
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