20demayo Chapter 173 Buying Chili Peppers for 52,000 Silver
Chapter 173 Buying Chili Peppers for 52,000 Silver
Zhang Youtie returned quickly, his hair and clothes covered in snow when he entered the house.
"The person's gone?" Liu asked Zhang Youtie.
"I'm leaving," Zhang Youtie replied to Liu Shi, wiping the snow off his clothes with a cloth.
"Did Steward Ding come by himself?" Seeing that there was still snow on his hair, Madam Liu stepped forward and took the cloth from his hand to help him clean it.
"No, there's another carriage outside. But we don't know if there's anyone else in it. I suppose there are guards."
After brushing the snow off themselves, the group sat down at the table again.
Seeing what Butler Ding had just put down on the table, Xia Yu reached out and took it. She handed the silver note to her mother, but she was interested in the round thing.
Xia Yu pinched the ladybug's shell, which resembled a ladybug's shell, and applied a little force while holding the antennae on both sides. The ladybug's wings split in two. Xia Yu looked at what was revealed inside and a smile unconsciously appeared on her face.
"Xiaxia, what is that?" Zhang Youtie couldn't help but ask when he saw the determined and happy look on his daughter's face as she held the object.
"Dad, this is a pocket watch." After saying that, he took the watch and walked up to his father, pointing to the lines on the dial and showing his father how to read the time.
"Dad, this is much more convenient than looking at the sun. You can hang this chain around your neck and put it inside your clothes so you won't lose it. You'll know the time when you go out to run errands in the future," Xia Yu said to Zhang Youtie after teaching him how to use the pocket watch.
"This is good. It feels heavy in your hand. It looks like it's made of silver." Zhang Youtie fiddled with the pocket watch in his hand, extremely fond of it.
Hearing his father's words, Xia Yu took it and examined it carefully. "It really does look like silver." Actually, Xia Yu didn't recognize it either. But there was definitely no stainless steel in this era. What else could be so shiny and silvery but silver?
The father and daughter were playing with the pocket watch and didn't notice that Madam Liu checked the silver notes in her hand again and again. Finally, her face turned a little pale as she looked at the father and daughter who were having a good time.
"Father, Xiaxia, this...this is too much money." Liu's voice was still a little stammering.
"How much?" Zhang Youtie asked without looking up, admiring the pocket watch in his hand.
"Fifty thousand taels," Madam Liu said softly, glancing cautiously towards the doorway.
"How...how much?" Zhang Youtie was also shocked by the number, and almost dropped the watch in his hand.
"Fifty thousand taels." Madam Liu repeated it softly. Xia Yu was also stunned by this number. She thought it would be at most a few thousand taels of silver. How could it be so much? How many kilograms of chili peppers did Shen Jingheng really want?
"So many?" Zhang Youtie said in a low voice.
Xia Yu picked up the charcoal pencil and scrap paper on the windowsill and began to write and draw. The dried chili peppers she sold before cost 400 coins per catty. Lord Shen sent 50,000 taels of silver. Could it be that he wants 125,000 catties?
Even if she did it quietly, and even if she gathered everyone in Zhangjia Village, she couldn't make this many dried chilies in ten days.
"Father, what should we do now? The chilies I grew are fresh. If we sell them at the same price of 400 coins per catty as before, then we'll have to pay 125,000 catties of chilies for 50,000 taels of silver. Father, what should we do? How can we dry all these chilies in ten days?" Xia Yu almost cried after calculating the quantity.
"How many people are we supplying this stuff to?!" Xia Yu muttered to herself in anguish, clutching her head.
Zhang Youtie thought for a moment and said to Xia Yu and Liu Shi, "It's too late today, let's go to sleep first. We can talk about it tomorrow. There are still eight empty rooms by the pond, plus the two kang beds in Uncle Ma's and the cripple's rooms. Let's try to see how much we can kang in a day tomorrow." After saying that, he looked at Liu Shi and Xia Yu, who seemed hesitant to speak, and continued, "Don't worry, Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma won't say anything out of line. Usually, the chilies we use for hot pot broth are freshly kang-dried, and they've never asked us about it, have they?"
Hearing Zhang Youtie say this, Xia Yu realized that she had overcomplicated things, creating unnecessary trouble for herself. She didn't need to explain to anyone that she was cooking chili peppers at home.
Having figured this out, Xia Yu felt much clearer-headed. She didn't care what others thought; she simply wouldn't ask, and if they did, she'd just say she didn't know.
Back in her room, Xia Yu entered her spatial dimension again. It was much larger than when she first entered. Each time she came in, she appeared in the same spot, which Xia Yu mentally considered the entrance to her room. Around the entrance were many baskets filled with various fruits, vegetables, and spices she had grown in the space over the past six months. She had secretly thrown away any useless produce, such as the pile of wild vegetables she had grown when she first arrived, which she had long ago discarded on the mountain.
Xia Yu held a handful of chili seeds and scattered them evenly on the ground in the space. She had long ago discovered the nature of the space: if you were a seed, planting one would result in a plant growing inside. If you planted a seedling, it would continuously sprout roots and grow until it filled the entire space, provided the seedling grew outside the space. If a seedling that grew inside the space was taken out and then brought back in, it wouldn't sprout.
Xia Yu currently has no chili seedlings outside the space, so this is the only way to proceed for now. Tomorrow, she'll go over there and heat up the kang (heated brick beds) in several rooms. Once the rooms are warm enough, she'll cultivate some seedlings in water inside and transplant them into the space. That way, things will be easier for her.
Xia Yu spent the entire night planting and harvesting in her spatial dimension. Only when she felt somewhat exhausted did she leave the dimension and crawl into bed to sleep.
Perhaps she had already come to terms with it, because Xia Yu slept soundly and without any pressure. When she opened her eyes again, it was already past nine in the morning. The baskets of chili peppers that had been placed in the main room were gone.
After putting on his cotton-padded clothes and trousers, he came out of the inner room and saw Liu sitting by the charcoal brazier sewing shoe soles.
"Mom, where's Dad?" Xia Yu asked.
"We've already gone to the pond to heat the kang (heated brick bed). Breakfast is simmering in the pot. We'll go over and take a look together after you finish eating."
"Okay, Mother."
Xia Yu quickly ate breakfast and went to the pond with Liu Shi. When they arrived, the kang (heated brick bed) in those houses was already lit, and the pungent smell in the air made Xia Yu sneeze a few times.
Hearing Xia Yu sneeze several times in a row, Liu reached out and pulled Xia Yu's scarf up a little.
Uncle Ma and Zhang Youtie were inspecting the rooms. Some of the kang (heated brick beds) were already covered with chili peppers, which needed to be constantly turned over to prevent them from burning.
After the two looked around, Xia Yu felt they still needed to hire more people for the household chores; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to manage so much work. They couldn't wait until after the New Year to buy more people. Having made up her mind, Xia Yu spoke to Liu Shi...
"Mom, I think we should buy a few more people, the kind with lifelong contracts. We've already been busy with the hot pot base, and I don't trust outsiders to handle the dried chili peppers now. I think it's more appropriate to buy people."
"Yes, your father and I discussed this last night before bed, and we've come to the same conclusion. However, we haven't decided on the exact number of people to buy yet. Do you have any thoughts?"
"Let's buy six, but we'll have to see who they are first. If we really can't find any we like, we can't force ourselves just to make up the numbers," Xia Yu said after thinking for a moment.
Hearing her daughter's words, Madam Liu nodded and said, "You're absolutely right. We'll go talk to your father in a bit. But I think we could bring Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma along. They're worldly-wise and can help us choose."