The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 453 Kansai Trading Company
The herders and farmers of the Iri River Valley are hoping that Manager Zhu, who is still busy on the pastures, will continue to be a mainstay in stabilizing the market prices of agricultural and livestock products.

The autumn harvest is just around the corner.

Because of the Silk Road, agriculture in the Ili River Valley was influenced by both the Central Plains and Western Regions cultures, resulting in a rich variety of grains grown.

The most common crops are barley and wheat, but some farms also grow millet, sorghum, beans, and a small amount of rice.

Farmers with large tracts of land are hoping for a good price after this year's harvest, so they can sell their produce to unsuspecting buyers.

The sucker, Steward Zhu: The distillery is already completed and we're just waiting to collect grain to start construction.

Meanwhile, the middle class and wealthy nobles living in Tianma City, Yinyue City, and Fengyu City looked forward to the Kansai Trading Company's monthly restocking season.

And so, those two days of the month have come again.

From afar, the soldiers guarding the city saw more than fifty carts of goods being escorted into the city by hundreds of able-bodied men.

They were already used to the Kansai merchants using only able-bodied laborers to transport goods and were basically unguarded against it.

They eagerly await these people to open for business as soon as possible.

Based on the experience of the past two months.

Kansai Trading Company would only operate for a maximum of three days after each shipment.

The soldiers guarding the city said: "In all my decades of guarding the city, I have never seen such an arrogant and greedy merchant."

Suddenly, a soldier guarding the city shouted into the city, "The Kansai Trading Company's wagons have entered the city!"

On the street, the city dwellers who had just been strolling leisurely and casually wandering around immediately took off running towards the largest two-story shop in the city.

"Hulala"

A large number of people followed suit.

A female slave, weighing approximately 180 pounds, pushed through the crowd and appeared in the queue.

He's incredibly agile for a fat person!

Even after she managed to snag seventh place in the queue, her body was still trembling.

What a risk, what a risk.

We finally made it!
In high spirits, she started chatting with the person in front of her in line:

"Where did you guys get this information? You're grabbing those spots way too fast!"

The other party shook their head:

"It's not that we reacted quickly; the people ahead of me had been sitting in front of this shop all morning, just like me."

The third-ranked middle-aged female slave, around thirty years old, couldn't help but complain:
"What can we do if we don't hold out? Last month, I came out half an hour late and ended up not getting anything."

Our master said that if they still can't buy toilet paper this time, he'll give me to the seventy-year-old widower in the village.

Some people felt sorry for her:
"What a heartless master! You're not that old, and you've worked for the master's family for many years. How could you so easily marry you off to an old widower?"

Some people also spoke from the perspective of the female slave's master:
"That's because you've never used toilet paper. Once you've used that soft yet resilient toilet paper, you'll never want to use anything else. Your master has finally managed to have toilet paper, but because of your slow pace, he's suffering when he goes to the toilet."

Ok.

Each side has its own reasons. The topic has now focused on toilet paper.

"Tsk tsk, a roll of toilet paper isn't even enough for one person for ten days. And the Kansai Trading Company even stipulates that each person can only buy ten rolls of paper at a time. If you have a dozen or more masters at home, ten rolls of paper won't last more than half a month."

"If toilet paper runs out, everything else is in trouble too! Our master uses soap to bathe, wash his hands and face, and now he even specifies that all his clothes be washed with floral-scented soap. This time, in order to buy soap, five people were sent to queue up at once."

"Toilet paper and soap are rationed, but as long as you squeeze to the front 200 in line, you have a chance. Tea bricks are what we both love and hate. This big business only has 200 bricks a month, and we have to wait for Awule (the chief) to buy first. We don't even know how many bricks will be left for us!"

"I'm telling you, stop complaining. At least there's still hope of getting one or two tea bricks. The rare items on the second floor of this shop aren't even available on the market. Do you know what they're selling there?"

"I don't know. If you do, tell us so we can see for ourselves."

“I had the honor of serving my wife and the chief’s wife up to the second floor a month ago. The display there was full of silk fabrics! Do you know what Shu brocade is? One bolt costs a hundred taels of gold! There was only one bolt, and if the chief’s wife hadn’t been there, the other dozen or so noble ladies would have definitely fought over it. However, in the end, they managed to buy a double-sided embroidery that they liked at a reasonable price.”

These words shocked the female slaves so much that their mouths could have been stuffed with an egg:
"Is that Shu brocade embroidered with gold thread? A hundred taels of gold could buy a top-quality Akhal-Teke horse."

"We all know that brocade is expensive, but why is a piece of embroidery so pricey?"

A worldly-wise female slave said:
"Just wait a little longer. In a few days, you'll see Awule's (chieftain's) wife wearing Shu brocade at the autumn harvest banquet. Anyone who has seen the fabric will know whether it's worth the price."

There's a reason why embroidery is expensive. Didn't I tell you that they sell double-sided embroidery? My wife spent eighty taels of gold to buy a double-sided embroidery of a boy and girl that could be used as a screen.

The front depicts three golden boys, and the back shows three jade maidens. Each child is about two or three years old, and their appearance, clothing, and expressions are all very festive. Our lady loves them so much that she can't get enough of looking at them every day.

Another lady spent 180 taels of gold to buy a life-size double-sided embroidery of four fairy maidens descending to earth as a gift for her husband. It is said that after receiving the embroidery, the lady's husband reciprocated by gifting her a horse farm with over 3,000 horses!

The female slaves hissed.

Sister Li is no good, I can't accept Sister Li.

Don't pry into the affairs of wealthy and powerful families.

Hearing too much of this is heartbreaking!
They all breathed a sigh of relief.

An older female slave lamented:
"This Kansai Trading Company has many good things, but what I, as a cook, like the most is still honeycomb briquettes. Four briquettes a day can be used to cook meals for the master's whole family, and even boil water for their baths."

"Speaking of honeycomb briquettes, I also have something to say."

The female slaves then launched into a 360-degree praise of honeycomb briquettes.

Whoever cooked it, knows.

On a sweltering day, the hardest job in the kitchen is tending the fire.

After using honeycomb briquettes, we can reduce the wages of one fire-starting girl.

Merchant from Bali City: I really love this honeycomb briquette business, it's a pity I couldn't secure the distribution rights for Tianma City, Yinyue City, and Fengyu City.

The female slaves chattered at the front of the line, while the male slaves were in the middle (most of the households in the Iri Valley that were eligible to live in the city had slaves).

The male slaves exchanged glances with their counterparts in the line ahead and behind them.

It was easy to glean some information from the other person's eyes.

They quickly formed small circles, whispering to each other with their heads close together.

(End of this chapter)