After dinner, everyone stayed in the workshop where the braised meat was made. There was nothing inside, so they could all stay there.
An Shuyi asked the eldest son and Wenqing to bring over the box containing the silver. "I believe many clansmen have seen the silver from the sale of Xuan paper this time, so I won't say much more. Those whose names are called, come up and take the silver."
Then she was in charge of calling out names, Wenqing was in charge of distributing the silver, which was all the silver from selling Xuan paper, while Xia Hua was also calling out names on the other side, and the eldest was in charge of distributing the silver, but it was ice cubes that were given out.
After everything was distributed, Xia Hua said, "The money for the ice and Xuan paper will be distributed tonight. Tomorrow I will take the dress to Jinnan City, sell it, and then distribute the money. The next time we distribute the money will be a month from now."
There's too much silver, and it can't all be kept in one place. The people in their village are fine, but there are people coming to haul ice every day, and there will be other people coming later, so we can't be careless.
"Take the silver back and keep it safe. The house hasn't been built yet, so just hide it well."
On the other side, An Shuyi had also finished distributing the silver. The sixty-one people who made Xuan paper each received 310 taels. The rest belonged to her and Huahua. Although it was only 6,045 taels, they also sold ice. After the ice was distributed, the two of them would each receive 2,000 taels. Now each of them had as much as 8,000 taels.
"Wenqing, this is yours." On the other side, the eldest brother also took the more than sixty taels of silver handed over by Xia Hua.
Lin Wenqing looked at the silver in his hand and asked, "Auntie, is mine a bit too much?" He had only gone to Jinnan City with his aunt, registered as usual, and registered again today. He hadn't done anything, yet he received so much silver.
An Shuyi smiled at him and said, "You guys are in charge of registration, just like the workers. You divide the money the same way they divide it." After saying that, she and Xia Hua carried the boxes away. They were still sleeping outside. They would go back, divide the silver with Xia Hua, put the silver in the warehouse, and then go to sleep.
The next morning, the two of them got up early and took a carriage to Jinnan City. Li Dong and the second brother were responsible for driving the carriages for them, while Lin Changyuan and the others drove the remaining five carriages.
Upon arriving in Jinnan City, An Shuyi and Xia Hua parted ways. An Shuyi led Lin Changyuan and the others to retrieve the wine jars. Five oxcarts were loaded with huge wine jars, while the horse-drawn carriages contained fist-sized porcelain jars with patterns on them, similar to those used for storing medicinal powder, only smaller and with lids. These were used to store skincare products.
“Changyuan, take it back first, be careful. Come back and take it back later. But don’t come here. Go to that house from last time. I’ll be waiting for you there.”
Lin Changyuan nodded while sitting on the oxcart, "Okay, sister-in-law, we understand." After saying that, he took the lead and drove the oxcart forward.
An Shuyi went to buy bamboo baskets. Since no one was available to carry them, she asked the shop owner to carry them to her house. The shop owner left them at the door, and she took them into the side room herself. She put chickens, ducks, and geese into the baskets. She bought a thousand catties of pork, as well as a lot of chicken, duck, and goose eggs, ten large iron pots, and a lot of grapes, peaches, and strawberries in the bamboo baskets.
Finally, another 20,000 jin of grain was taken out. Originally, Changwu was supposed to buy it, but her prices were cheaper, and she would deduct the cost afterward, because grain was simply too expensive these days.
She's already bought everything. The rest of the things she got were from Huahua: water pipes, and other things she needed to make skincare products. Although she didn't know how to make them, Huahua did. She also got bowls for eating. Although she could buy them, Huahua thought they were all earthenware bowls and not as nice as the ones in the mall. Those nice bowls were expensive and exquisite.
The rock sugar and liquor needed for brewing were all obtained from Huahua.
Seeing that it was still early, she didn't stay there. She closed the door and went shopping. Anyway, Hua Hua had the key. She looked around here and there and bought some things. In the end, she couldn't carry everything and even bought a basket.
There were candied hawthorns that the children liked, although they weren't very sweet, as well as pastries, candied fruits, and pretty embroidered shoes. They bought whatever they saw, and only went home with their baskets when it was almost time to leave.
When she arrived, Xia Hua's carriage was already parked outside, and Li Dong was sitting in the carriage. It seemed that Hua Hua was putting things inside.
"Auntie!"
“Okay,” An Shuyi replied.
Not long after, Xia Hua came out and said, "Li Dong, come inside with me to move some things. Shu Shu, what did you go to buy?"
"I've already bought everything else and put it inside. I was bored here, so I went for a walk and bought candied hawthorns, pastries, and candied fruit, but the candied fruit was a bit expensive. I also bought some other things."
"Then you stay outside and watch, Li Dong and I will move the things."
But An Shuyi stopped her, saying, "Changyuan and the others are already here. Let them carry it. There's so much stuff, it's really heavy."
Xia Hua looked at Lin Changyuan and Erwa who were driving the oxcart over and nodded. "That's right. Wouldn't it be stupid not to use the laborers?"
Lin Changyuan came over and said, "Sister-in-law, the sisters who came to Jinnan City have already gone back. Now we have extra oxcarts, so we brought ten. Do you still have a lot of stuff?"
An Shuyi nodded, "There's a lot, let's go in and move it." She then led them inside. The water pipes that couldn't be seen by others were placed in the horse-drawn cart, while the grain, chickens, ducks, geese, and pork were placed on the oxcart.
The bowls and fruit couldn't fit in the horse-drawn carriage, so they had to be placed on the oxcart. Lin Changyuan had the others take off their coats and cover them with the fruit. In the end, all ten oxcarts and two horse-drawn carriages were full, and An Shuyi and Xia Hua sat on the carriage shafts.
When they finally made it back to the village, An Shuyi and Xia Hua directed the work: the chickens, ducks, and geese were put outside; the wine jars were placed in the wine-making workshop; the grains were put into the cave dwellings; and the candied hawthorns were distributed to the younger children. Everything was neatly arranged, and the water pipes were moved down and placed on the ground. Only a few people were left to cook, along with the older uncles, aunts, and children, while the rest of the people carried hoes and went up the mountain.
Xia Hua called out, "Wenming, Wenjie, some of you come over here and carry these pipes up the mountain. Take turns when you get tired." She and An Shuyi also picked up hoes.
After more than an hour, we finally reached the place with the lake.
Xia Hua picked a spot by the lake, dug a ditch, and said, “Look carefully, just like Shu Shu and I did, we’ll dig a ditch in the ground, and when it’s almost done, we’ll tear this pipe apart and bury it in the soil.”
"Leave a section here, bury the rest. After the pipes are gone, pull out another loop of pipes. This is a larger pipe. Place it between the two pipes and connect them. Do you understand?"
Village Chief Lin asked, "Sister-in-law Xia, what is this? What is it for?" They had always listened to their two sisters-in-law do things, so they had no idea what it was for.
Xia Hua slapped her forehead and turned to look at An Shuyi, "Shushu, didn't I tell them?"
"No, I don't think I said anything!" After seeing the lake that day, the two discussed it and then divided the villagers of Xinglin Village into different groups to do the work. They really didn't tell them.
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