Upon hearing that there were still five days left, Lu Yan felt even more dizzy. She grabbed Lu Yunfeng and said pleadingly, "Big brother, I want to go to the ground and get a good night's sleep. The sky is spinning right now."
Although this ship has two floors and you can choose any room you like, it's still different from the one on land. If you keep rocking like this for too long, your brain will be shaken to its core.
Lu Yunfeng nodded, "Then let's stay here for two days."
So the boat stopped in a county town on the canal.
The group found an inn in the county town and stayed there.
Lu Yan is still a child, full of energy. After only two hours of rest, she dragged people out for a walk after dinner.
Many vendors on the street had already packed up their stalls, with only a few shops along the street still open.
The group walked around and didn't find anything particularly unusual, except that the water was more abundant than in Fenggu County, and there were more wetlands.
Lu Yan carefully observed the women's clothing and suddenly said, "The people here seem to be very wealthy."
Lu Yunxing was taken aback, not noticing anything, and could only ask, "Why do you say that?"
Lu Yan looked at the two mothers and daughters not far away. "Look, that mother looks to be in her thirties. Her clothes are made of ordinary fabric, but they are inlaid with pearls for buttons, and there are pearl hairpins in her hair. If this were in our Fenggu County, they would be worth at least two taels of silver. And the pearl necklace around the little girl's neck is also quite nice. Isn't that wealthy?"
After Lu Yan pointed this out, the group noticed that the women here all wore pearls to varying degrees, which showed that they were indeed wealthy.
As dusk settled, the group returned to the hotel under the moonlight. Lu Yunfeng ordered a late-night snack and casually asked the waiter, "Do the women here really like pearls?"
The waiter was taken aback, then shook his head with a wry smile. "It's not that I really like them, but there are many wetlands here, and many families cultivate pearls. Pearls are cheap and hard to sell, especially the irregular and small ones. It's a pity to throw them away, so women often use pearls as hair ornaments."
"We also have pearl powder here, which can be used as a face mask. I've heard it's good for beauty and skin health."
Lu Yan's eyes lit up, "How much is one?"
She likes pearls and wants to buy some so she can take them back as gifts for her mother, sister-in-law, and aunt.
The waiter's expression was complicated. "The best pearls are all tribute. The medium grade is about 500 coins per catty, the second grade is 100 coins per catty, and the lowest grade is 20 coins."
Lu Yunfeng then asked, "Where do the families who raise pearls live?"
The waiter smiled and said, "Almost every household here has a wetland and makes a living from aquatic products. Madam, just go east to the county town and ask at any of the houses you can find."
Lu Yunfeng took five copper coins and thanked the waiter.
The waiter happily accepted the item and added, "If you wish to buy something, sir, you can go thirty miles east. The village there is poor, but it has many good things. You might find what you're looking for."
That day, Li Shaoming came to the door, accompanied by two men.
Li Shaoming stood respectfully at the entrance of the Zhu residence. He greeted Qin Xiaozhou politely, "Manager Qin, this is a merchant ship that came from the south. They said they are looking for you."
The two men looked somewhat simple and honest. One of them took out a letter and said, "My name is Bai Laosan. This is a letter from Young Master Lu Yunfeng. He asked us to give it to Manager Qin."
Qin Xiaozhou asked anxiously, "Has something happened to Lu Yunfeng?"
He hurriedly took the letter and opened it.
"No, no," the man said nervously. "He bought our pearls, paid a deposit, and asked us to deliver them to Manager Qin in Fenggu County. He said that once Manager Qin sees this letter, he will settle the balance with us."
Qin Xiaozhou had finished reading the letter, and what it said was no different from what the man had said: "I am Manager Qin. Where are the pearls?"
Bai Laosan was delighted, but also somewhat surprised, as he hadn't expected Manager Qin to be a woman.
"It's on a merchant ship right by the dock. We'll take you there now." With things settled, Bai Laosan became happy and naturally more talkative. "Our county has many waterways, which are suitable for raising mussels and producing pearls. Shopkeeper, our pearls are lustrous and shiny. Whether they are made into powder for face masks or embroidered on clothes, they are extremely good."
On the way from the mansion to the East Wharf, Qin Xiaozhou had already thought of what pearls could be used for. After seeing the pearls on the ship, she was even more delighted. "Great, transport them to the embroidery building's warehouse."
Granny Qian was pleasantly surprised to see the ten large boxes of pearls. "These pearls are so lustrous; they would look beautiful embroidered on clothes."
They then negotiated a price with Bai Laosan and his group, agreeing to have the pearls shipped over once a month.
Qin Xiaozhou already had many designs for pearl-themed dresses in her mind, which she drew out one by one and handed to Li Zhen. "These dresses are all summer wear, so we need to make them as soon as possible."
Li Zhen took the blueprints and examined them carefully. The dresses were mainly made of gauze, with soft white silk as the secondary material, and the embroidery was simple and elegant. "These dresses are flowing yet gorgeous, and they look really good with pearls."
Qin Xiaozhou was counting on making a fortune from this batch of clothes. "Go and get busy. Everyone has worked hard these past few days. If you work an extra hour each day, you'll each get an extra 500 coins as a bonus at the end of the month."
Li Zhen was both surprised and delighted. If she received an extra 500 coins, she would have five taels of silver in her monthly allowance by the end of the month. "Don't worry, shopkeeper, all the sisters in the embroidery shop are happy to accept this."
She went back to her workstation and told everyone about it. They were all very excited. "An extra five hundred coins? Manager Li, is that true? Then I can earn more than one and a half taels this month!"
The woman speaking was an orphan girl who had been rescued in the winter. She was fleeing alone and thought she was about to die, but unexpectedly, fate had other plans.
Not only did she survive, but she also received wages after being sold into embroidery. However, as a slave, her wages were not as high as those of the recruited embroidery girls, but she was already very satisfied.
Tian Xiaohua also secretly calculated her wages. She was not an embroiderer, but an apprentice under Granny Qian. She only had a base salary of eight hundred coins per month, and after deducting living expenses, she could still have seven hundred coins left.
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