Farming with Taobao - C70
Chapter 70 Nameless Dining Hall (20)
The news of the taking in the forage leaf on their behalf caused a huge sensation in the Li Village like a bomb in deep water.
On this day, when Li Yannian was washing her clothes at the stream, he heard a few wives talking about this.
One of the young wives suspected whether this was true or not, “This package of rice dumplings is everywhere on the mountain. If it’s really worth it, why don’t they take it themselves? “Don’t expect us to work so hard to pick them and send them over, and then say that we don’t want them anymore.”
Then, an old man from the village who had mocked that person jumped out and laughed, “Don’t speak nonsense if you don’t know that you’ve just gotten married. Have you not heard of the reputation of the Mountain-head Li Family? Those were words spoken by someone made from iron. Weren’t they supposed to collect eggs on behalf of the rich in the town last time? He had counted the correct number on the spot and paid the money on the spot. However, it was different from the other families who loved to pay on credit, ten gold coins would have to be delayed for ten days to half a month before they would be willing to give it to them. If you don’t believe it, just don’t go to the Li family and give them the forage leaf. “I have nothing better to do at home, since all the work in the fields is done by the men and the children at home are also free, so it’s good for me to have some extra free money. I can also buy a catty of salt later.”
The auntie who followed him up complained, “Speaking of this salt, it’s getting more and more expensive. “In the beginning, we only needed 20 letters for a catty. But now, the price has already risen to 45 letters for a catty. How can we still afford to eat this much?”
Li Yannian’s heart skipped a beat, then immediately gave up on the idea of using salt to exchange for forage leaf. She had seen the salt here before, and it had a lot of impurities, its color was also not as white as the salt produced by modern industry. She had hastily traded the low-priced salt from the system in exchange for forage leaf, if someone were to report it, it would be a heinous crime to sell salt from the imperial court.
He might as well just use the copper coins to buy it from the villagers. When he thought about how the system only bought two pieces of salt per kilogram and the fact that he was selling them here at a high price of 45 grams, Li Yannian felt a pain in his heart.
When he came back to his senses, a few of his wife who was washing clothes had already excitedly arranged to go to some mountain to pick forage leaf.
Based on the situation, the forage leaf business seemed pretty promising. She didn’t have many clothes to wash, and since she had soaked them in laundry detergent at home, they would be clean after a few rinses, so she left before everyone else did. Along the way back, they saw very few people around. Suddenly, a figure jumped out from the side of the road, almost scaring Li Yannian out of her mind.
“Sister Lotus, why are you here? Are you waiting for me? ”
Her impression of the little girl was pretty good. Thinking back to when her cousin took the risk of being discovered by her aunt and sent them a small bag of mixed grain noodle soup when their family was poor and almost starved to death.
Lotus looked around carefully, seeing that there was no one around, she spoke to Li Yannian in a hushed tone, “Red Bean, Big Sis wants to ask you to do something for me, I don’t know if you can help me with this.”
Li Yannian asked curiously: “Sis, tell me, if I can help you, I will definitely help you.”
Lotus hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice: “Have you heard about your next-door aunt taking in forage leaf?”
Li Yannian nodded: “En, I know. I even told Mao Dou that we would go to the mountain to pick some forage leaf to sell in the afternoon. ”
Lotus blushed and said, “My mother also told me to go and pick them. I want to save my own money, so that you can help me save it. The money I get from selling them will also be saved by you. I’ll ask you when I’m useful to you.”
Li Yannian thought that this Lotus was such a pitiful person. It was already difficult for him to earn a private money, so she immediately nodded her head: “It’s a small matter, Sis, how about we go up the mountain together in the afternoon to pick it?”
Lotus didn’t expect that her cousin would agree to her request so easily. If it wasn’t for the fact that her mother had revealed some intentions of changing the marriage of her brother, she wouldn’t have hidden the secret from her parents.
As for the purpose of saving the money, the poor little girl actually didn’t feel confident at all. She just blindly felt that there was still some money in her pocket, so she felt at ease.
He immediately said gratefully, “Red Bean, thank you.” But when I go back and feed the pigs, I’m going up the mountain to pick the leaves. I’ll pick it on the eastern hill behind the village. If you come with Mao Dou this afternoon, you can come and find me there. “From now on, we have to go up the mountain together to pick leaves. I will keep one or two hundred pieces for you to keep, do you think?”
Li Yannian laughed: “Then what’s not good about it. “Then Sis, let’s make a deal, I’ll look for you in the afternoon.”
The worry on Lotus’ face lessened, and she watched Li Yannian leave. Only then did she sigh, and carried her bamboo basket as she continued to head home.
“Sis, you’re back? The servant of the Bookstore came, and was still sitting in the living room waiting for you, “upon returning home, Mao Dou immediately welcomed him, and took the wooden basin from Li Yannian, then pouted at the room and said worriedly,” Other than the worker of the Bookstore, there was also a young lady from the Du Family, who said that she had something important to discuss with you, Sis, she seemed to be very fierce, and did not come to our house to cause any trouble right?
Miss Du? Li Yannian’s heart turned, could it be Du Mumei, Gu Mingyuan’s cousin? But what was she doing at home?
“It’s fine. Go and read your book. Watch out for Xu Zi, don’t let others scare him. ”
Li Yannian comforted her good brother and upon entering the house, she saw an angry Du Mumei. Her delicate face was white, her eyebrows were curved and her lips were red.
Perhaps it was due to the obvious surprise in her eyes that when she greeted Du Mumei, the hostility in the latter’s eyes lessened. She opened her mouth to ask, “You are Li Hong Dou?”
Li Yannian laughed: I am. This must be the Miss Du, right? The last time I had heard a voice in the distance at the shop, it had been very fitting to see a real person. Miss Du please take a seat, wait for me and the shop assistant to complete the business, if you have anything you want to say, let’s talk slowly. ”
Du Mumei had secretly followed the Gu Family carriage to find Li Yannian’s home, and was not willing to speak about Gu Mingyuan’s situation with Li Yannian in front of the shop assistant. Furthermore, when the shop assistant politely spoke to his like this to a little girl, he didn’t seem like a wild girl who did not know etiquette at all. At that moment, he sat up without saying a word.
Li Yannian thought that this girl was quite interesting, it would take some time for him to settle the bill with the servant, so she didn’t want to just dry them off. She then greeted the servant: “Guests, please wait a moment, if you have guests at the door, please allow me to serve Miss Du a bowl of tea first.”
The Gu family Bookstore employees were feeling guilty. They had not noticed the Du Family car following them all the way here. They had all heard of the Du Family’s name before, and none of them were easy to deal with. If they were happy, they could give them a few taels, but if they were unhappy, they would beat the crap out of them. Amongst the few masters of the Du Family, other than the third young master who opened the clinic in major chamber, there was nothing good to serve. If this Miss Du caused any trouble in the Lee family and offended them, their shop would not have any place to ask for so many papers from next month.
Hearing Li Yannian’s words, who would be unwilling to stop him? They all nodded and politely laughed: “Miss Li can do it, we aren’t in a rush either. It’s good that you can take it slowly.”
Li Yannian entered the kitchen and poured everyone a cup of warm water. What she gave Du Mumei was a cup of flowery tea, she only placed a little dried flower in it to draw a fragrance.
“My brothers must be thirsty by now. Drink a cup of water to moisturize your throat. There are no good tea leaves in the house, so please don’t mind it.”
On one side, Du Mumei was served another cup of tea. The cups used were different from those used by the others. In addition, there were also red date cakes cut into small pieces.
“Miss Du will first drink a little, I’ll be back shortly after finishing my work.”
Li Yannian smiled apologetically. After the Bookstore doorman finished drinking the water, she led her men to the cubicle to carry the Xuan paper.
“This month, your shopkeeper suddenly asked for 30,000 pieces of paper. The shopkeeper couldn’t prepare all that well, so he could only hand over 18,000 pieces of goods first. Later, brothers can tell the storekeeper that he wants to bring the rest.”
A few of the servants had expected that they would not be able to get anything good on this trip, so they smiled and nodded: “Don’t worry Miss Li, we will definitely report this to the shopkeeper later. “Then, this month, 18,000 pieces of paper, it’s exactly 3 taels of gold. After we check it out, we’ll settle the bill with you.”
The remaining twelve thousand pieces of paper were already piled up in Li Yannian’s warehouse, it was just that she did not want to take them out at once, so she deliberately made an excuse. Seeing that it was almost time to stop the cooperation between the two parties, the eldest young master of the Gu family became greedy. Li Yannian shook his head and laughed. If it wasn’t because he was worried that other paper shops would have their lives cut off, he really wouldn’t be willing to throw away such a lucrative business.
The count of papers was extremely quick. After the Gu family servant finished counting the papers, he immediately called out three taels of gold to Li Yannian. “Miss Li, take a look, it’s definitely three taels of gold.”
Li Yannian accepted it with satisfaction. “Of course, I am at ease with what you guys have exchanged. Since there are still guests at home, I won’t send you guys off. Brothers, be careful on your way. ”
The Gu Clan Bookstore s glanced at Du Mumei, who was still sitting upright in the Li Family’s living room, and sighed in their hearts. They should not offend the partners of the Gu Clan.
“Miss Li, you should be careful as well.”
The meaning in his words was that Du Mumei was now a ferocious beast in the flood.
Li Yannian could not help but find it funny, she sent the few of them out the door before slowly coming back.
Her eyes fell on Du Mumei’s untouched tea and pastries, and she understood. This young miss, Jin, probably didn’t like their family’s crude food, but her original intention wasn’t to make people drink and eat. Her rude guest was because she wasn’t well-mannered, and as the host she was slow, it was because her manners were lacking, making her seem like she was being ill-mannered.
“Miss Du, you came here alone?”
Du Mumei glanced at her and sneered, “My men are waiting outside. Your house is too small, even a horse carriage won’t be able to enter.”
Li Yannian was unconcerned: “Oh, since someone is following us, then when you return later, I do not need to worry. There’s only one oxcart at home, and I’m afraid you won’t get used to it. ”
A thorn was thrown out, but the person was not pierced. Du Mumei held her breath and almost died from anger. After a long while, she gritted her teeth and said, “Why didn’t you ask me why I’ve come to find you?”