Chapter 175 174. Port of Rare Treasures
He drank too much last night and took advantage of his drunkenness to act crazy for half the night, without even having a bowl of sobering tea. When Lei Li woke up in the morning, he had a severe headache.
Fortunately, Zhou Yi asked his servant to keep an eye on him. When he found out that he had woken up, he brought him some sobering soup and massaged his solar plexus. He was relieved to see that he was much better.
But I can't help but persuade him a few words. He shouldn't drink so much just because he is young. It will damage his stomach and liver, which will be difficult to treat with the current medical level.
"I know."
Lei Li agreed with a smile and cooperated with Zhou Yi to dress him and tie his hair.
They were the only ones eating breakfast.
Lei Li gets up late, while others get up early, like grandma, grandpa and Liu Ye'er. Lei Dashan is old and sleeps less, so he gets up early in the countryside and is used to getting up early. He wakes up at five or six in the morning just after dawn.
He got up early and practiced Tai Chi twice in the yard. When he had nothing to do, he washed rice, cut vegetables and cooked. By seven or eight o'clock, when Zhu Zhuer, Miao Fulang and other younger generations got up, breakfast was already ready.
——I came to the city to have fun, so there’s no rush to get up early.
Otherwise, Miao Fulang and his family usually get up very early, make breakfast, wash clothes, and send the children to school. People like Liu Xiaocao also have to go to the pepper garden to pick peppers and work. Men like Niu Ershu also have to go to the fields. There are a lot of things to do.
Since we finally made it to the provincial capital, we had to go out for a good stroll, so everyone went out to play now, and probably wouldn’t come back for lunch.
When Zhou Yi and Lei Li went to a Sichuan restaurant two days ago, they had already informed the owner that their parents Liu Xiaocao and others would not charge any money when they went there, so that they wouldn't be reluctant to spend money and not enjoy the meal as they were used to being frugal in the village.
As the saying goes, since you are here, it would be a shame if you don’t eat, see and shop around.
"Little Ginger is going to play too?"
Lei Li asked when he didn't see Zhou Yi bringing Xiao Shengjiang.
Her husband is different from other men. He is very family-oriented and virtuous. He can do housework, cook, and take care of children. Xiao Jiang is almost entirely taken care of by him.
Especially in the first few months after the birth of little ginger, his stomach is weak and his appetite is small. He needs to eat small meals frequently and often wake up at night to drink milk.
Even with Nanny Mu Fang watching over him, Zhou Yi was still worried and would often go to see Xiao Shengjiang, asking if he was drinking milk well and more than before, and if he was sweating and catching a cold while sleeping at night.
However, after Lei Li had tormented Zhou Yi, he fell into a deep sleep and slept until dawn. It took him several months to learn the correct way to hold the little ginger.
I couldn't hold her for long.
It seems that in the blink of an eye, little Jiang is one year old. Now that he can walk, he doesn't like to be carried. He just holds his father's hand and walks happily.
This small boy is quite troublesome. After walking for a long time, he feels tired and wants to be carried. After being carried for a long time, he wants to get down and walk again. Unfortunately, his legs are short and he can't walk far. He walked for a long time and when he turned around, he still hadn't left the main hall.
Lei Li likes to tease others but doesn't like to be teased by others. He plays with Xiao Shengjiang for a while and then runs away.
Zhou Yi is much more patient. He doesn't feel tired after playing with little Jiang for an entire afternoon, walking around and hugging her. Therefore, little Jiang is more attached to Zhou Yi as a father than to Lei Li as a father.
——Daddy Lei Li would also bully little Jiang and loved to see him cry little Pearl away.
Little Jiang was afraid of his father at first, but Lei Li did not play by the rules. Seeing that Little Jiang was scared, he pretended to be a big monster and roared to scare the child. Little Jiang was so scared that he cried and hugged his father tightly.
Lei Li thought of this playful little kid and felt itchy and wanted to catch him to play with him, but he was a little disappointed because the little brat was not at home.
"Little Jiang sticks to Xiaobao. When he sees Xiaobao go out, he wants to follow him."
Zhou Yi didn't know his wife was up to another evil idea of teasing the child, so he said, "Zhang Daqiang is holding Sheng Jiang, and there are many adults, so there's no need to worry about not being able to look after the child and getting lost."
"That's right."
Lei Li nodded. There were thirteen adults in his parents' group, fourteen people including Lei Jingsheng, and only five children. Two or three people would not let a child get lost.
"Will you go to the harbor later?"
Lei Li added, "I was so busy looking at our store the past two days that I didn't even have time to explore the harbor. I heard some of the stuff there is imported from Baihui. Maybe there's something good there."
"OK."
Zhou Yi nodded and said, "When my parents come back, let the maid in the mansion tell them."
They came to the provincial capital from Qingmi County, bringing with them two maids and two servants, all of whom were efficient and quiet. They found a carriage and a driver at the pawnshop for temporary use.
There were so many people in their group that the four servants seemed overwhelmed. However, they were not idle and waiting to be served. Take cooking for example. Grandma and her husbands Liu Ye'er and Liu Xiaocao cooked together in the mansion.
The two big maids washed clothes and cleaned the house, the two servants did rough work like cleaning the yard, and also kept watch over the house at night.
It's not a very heavy job, it's enough.
Moreover, Zhou Yi and his men were not the kind of bosses who were harsh on their servants. Not only did they pay them generous wages, but sometimes when they went out to play and bought some food and brought it back, they would also give some to the maids and servants, so they were happy to do it.
At this time, Lei Li finished his breakfast, and the two maids cleaned up the dishes and the table. Then he and Zhou Yi went out to the port.
There are two main rivers in Xiling Prefecture, one leading from Nanjiang to Zhongchuan and the other leading to Baihui. There are several large ports and many small docks on the rivers.
The largest port in Xiling that Lei Li and Zhou Yi went to was leading to Baihui, so it was called Xibai Port.
Xibai Port is much larger than the one in Qingmi County. The two are like a dwarf compared to each other. There are tens of thousands of porters moving goods at this port alone. It is very spectacular at first glance, and the shouts of the porters moving goods are earth-shaking.
Including the shop vendors doing business, merchants and sailors on the large ships traveling east and west, tens of thousands of people circulate here every day.
There are all kinds of people here, and the goods are numerous but of varying quality. It is easy to be cheated if you can't identify them, so most of the merchants doing business here have a pair of sharp eyes.
Lei Li had not seen many things. If he were asked to identify, for example, which was a river pearl and which was a sea pearl, he would not be able to do it.
But he doesn’t have to buy it!
If you can't understand, recognize, or know the goods, then don't buy it. Don't care what the merchant says.
"Did you see anything good?"
Lei Li strolled around slowly, asking questions and looking at anything he found interesting, but he didn't buy anything. Seeing Zhou Yi also strolling with him without buying anything, he asked a question and jokingly said,
"I'll give you some money today. Just tell me what you like and I'll buy it for you."
“…Speak properly.”
Zhou Yi thought the voice sounded like the fat, straw-headed guy visiting a brothel in a TV drama. It was weird... vulgar, and he even got goose bumps on his arms.
"The boy is quite hot-tempered. I like it."
Lei Li reached out and touched Zhou Yi's face. He looked like a frivolous lecher, but he had a smile on his face and spoke in a frivolous tone. He said greasy words, but his voice was nice and his appearance was outstanding, so he didn't sound so vulgar.
“…”
Zhou Yi was exhausted and speechless.
"It's done."
Lei Li smiled and said, "I won't bother you anymore. Seriously, is there anyone you like?"
“Not at this time.”
Zhou Yi shook his head. He had low material desires and was not tempted by the so-called precious sea urchin shell and coral pendants, strange-shaped conchs and shells, and mirror oil paintings from the West.
But what was a bit funny was that they were said to be glittering colored glass beads from the East, and they were sold for a hundred taels of silver each, but he knew at first glance that they were glass beads.
When he was a child, he often played with his friends using glass beads. They would dig a few small holes in the sand or mud, aim one glass bead at another and hit it out. With a sound of collision, the other glass bead would roll into the small hole.
Whoever gets the glass bead in first wins.
"Some people have bad aim, so they use their fingers or a small wooden stick to draw a line on the ground to create a shallow groove. The glass beads will then follow the groove and roll straight towards another glass bead or a small pit."
Zhou Yi whispered to Lei Li that he still felt nostalgic when he thought of that time. The happiness at that time was very simple and pure. He could play with a few glass beads for an entire afternoon.
"So who won in the end?"
Lei Li asked him.
“There are always winners and losers.”
Zhou Yi said, "But I have better accuracy. Some people think that marking is cheating and won't let me do it. So in the end I won more and won back all their glass beads."
"I forgot to mention that the winner can pick one of the loser's glass beads as a trophy."
"There was a classmate who was quite wealthy. His glass beads were all the newest and most beautiful, but he was not a good shot, so I won the most of his beads. I also picked out the ones he liked and ended up with enough to buy a small box."
"Were you so bad before?"
Lei Li laughed when he heard this, "Does he hate you? He always wins and picks out his beautiful glass beads."
"No."
Zhou Yi shook his head and smiled, "He's very generous. Even though he gets angry every time I beat him, he still plays with me next time. Sometimes I feel embarrassed because I beat him too much, so I let him win on purpose. He never notices and is always very happy."
"Then next time you play with me again, lose again, get angry again, and play with me again."
"But when I was in junior high school, he moved and changed schools. He said he was going to study in the county. It was too far from our village and we couldn't play together anymore, so he gave me all his glass beads."
Lei Li's eyes lit up, "How many are there?"
"Thousands, maybe?"
Zhou Yi couldn't remember clearly. Seeing Lei Li's eyes sparkling, he laughed and said, "I gave some of those glass beads away. Most of them disappeared later. I don't know where they went. I just occasionally swept up a few in a corner of the house."
"What a spendthrift..."
Lei Li pretended to look up and sigh. Although he loved money, his life was good now and he had enough money to spend, so he didn't get stuck on this.
But he didn't know that even if those glass beads were still there, they were in Zhou Yi's hometown in modern times. How could they be sold in Dayou Dynasty?
The two of them walked around for quite a while and ended up buying several Western handkerchiefs, which were hand-woven lace handkerchiefs with fine stitching and beautiful, exquisite patterns.
Zhou Yi thought it was just okay, except for the high labor cost. Lei Li had never seen lace fabric before, and thought that Liu Xiaocao and Lei Jingsheng, two young men and women who loved beauty, would like it, so he bought a few pieces.
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