farmhouse ditty

Chapter 181 I don't want to do business with us anymore
Yesterday, Mrs. Liu asked Muzi to pick her up the next afternoon, and Xiuniang thought that the shop was fine for the past two days, so she followed Mrs. Liu's wishes, and the two of them were doing farm work in Xiayang Village, chatting about household chores.

That day, Xiuniang helped Mrs. Liu tidy up the yard, vacated an open space, and then moved the fence and chickens in her yard. Anyway, she will not go back to Xiayang Village often in the future. Well, the ten or so chickens raised in the yard are also a concern, so let's just leave it to Mrs. Liu, lest Mrs. Liu run around with the mixed food.

The two of them worked all afternoon, and when it was late, Xiu Niang went back to sleep in her courtyard, but Mrs. Liu thought that Xiu Niang would be afraid if she was alone, so she brought her own quilt to accompany her. The two really talked all night.

At noon the next day, Muzi came to pick up Xiuniang in a carriage. Mrs. Liu and Ji Laoliu helped put a few jars on the cart. Xiuniang asked Muzi to tie up the jars and talked to them. With a sound, he sat on the board of the car and left.

Xiu Niang tucked a bundle behind her, so she could lean on the armrest softly. She looked at the path under the wheels of the car, stretched out her hand to protect the pots, and yelled for Muzi to drive slowly until she reached the village entrance. On a relatively flat road, drive the horse faster.

Muzi let out an "hey" and asked casually, "Sister-in-law Xiuniang, what do you bring, it's so precious."

Xiu Niang smiled, patted the earthen pot under her hands, and said, "Of course it's a treasure. You can't buy these things in the town."

Muzi looked back at the car, blinked his eyes in confusion, Xiu Niang just smiled and asked him to concentrate on driving, and when he arrived at the shop in a while, he would know.

In fact, these jars are full of foodies. They were bought by her and Mrs. Liu when they went to the village to buy and sell yesterday. There are pickled vegetable dumplings from Old Wangtou at the west entrance of the village, and jars of wine from the small earthen workshop at the end of the village. It was sealed, and the remaining two jars were dried goods from Mrs. Liu's own natal family.

Anyway, now that she was back in the village, she simply brought back some of the food that was not available in the town, and the provincial Chu Ge and old man Li kept talking about what they had to do.

Muzi drove the carriage out of Xiayang Village, Xiuniang felt that the ride was not so bumpy, so she let go of her hands and sat upright.

She said, "Hey, Muzi, I wasn't there yesterday, what's going on in our shop?"

Muzi replied, "It's okay, sister-in-law Xiuniang, did it rain just two days ago? The official road outside our town hasn't dried up yet, and the shopkeepers from other places haven't come over yet."

Xiu Niang didn't show any expression, she just said, "Then yesterday, there were only a few washboards on the counter."

Muzi nodded, "Yeah, about twenty boards came out of the cabinet yesterday... the shopkeeper and us are making boards in the backyard."

Xiu Niang thought for a while, and said, "So, the wood in the east room in the backyard should have been used up yesterday, so do you want to collect some more?"

Muzi replied, "Yes, sister-in-law Xiuniang, when I came out in the morning, the shopkeeper asked Wang Er and the others to go out to collect wood."

After hearing this, Xiu Niang just said "oh", and didn't ask any more questions. She was still thinking about how busy the shop would be after spending a whole day in Xiayang Village yesterday.

But just heard Muzi say that there was nothing going on in the shop yesterday, so she secretly breathed a sigh of relief...

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Because Xiu Niang brought a cart full of clay pots, Muzi still didn't dare to drive the horse fast, the road was not dry yet, and the wheels were driven on, it was still soft and difficult to walk on.

When Xiuniang and Muzi returned to the town, it was half an hour later, and the shops on the street would close their stalls in half an hour. Xiuniang watched and asked Muzi to drive the car to the backyard, and asked the shop assistants to come out and help. Carry the cans from the car to the stove.

She went back to the yard with the two bundles by herself first, and Qiaoer from the second Wang's family came out of the stove when they heard the sound earlier. They saw Xiu Niang and hurried up to help carry the bundles.

Xiu Niang and the two of them laughed and exchanged a few words, looked at the yard, frowned, and said to Qiao Er.

"Hey, Qiao'er, your Muzi just told me on the road. In the morning, Chu Ge yelled for someone to collect the wood. Why aren't there any piles in the yard now?"

Qiaoer took over the burden and faltered in answering Xiuniang's questions. Since she and Muzi were called together for questioning last time, she has always been cautious about Xiuniang.

The mother-in-law and aunt of Wang Er's family took a look at Qiaoer, afraid that Xiuniang would wait impatiently and want to talk about her again, so she opened her mouth.

"Sister Xiu, earlier the shopkeeper asked my man and San'er to go out together, but after walking all morning, they all came back empty."

Xiu Niang blinked, empty car?That means they didn't receive the board, "What's the matter, didn't they go to the store in the back street to collect it?"

Wang Er's family shook their heads, "I don't know about that, just now the shopkeeper took a look, and called my man and San'er into the main room for questioning."

Xiu Niang took a look at the main room, and handed the bundle in her hand to the aunt of Wang Er's family, and asked her and Qiaoer to put the bundle in the front cabinet. She went to the main room to have a look first.

Chu Ge and Wang Er sat at the table, and the three of them didn't say anything. Chu Ge looked dull and his face was not very good.

Xiu Niang stood outside, thinking about going in, and said with a smile, "Chuge, I'm back."

Wang Er and San'er saw Xiu Niang, they both stood up and greeted her, Xiu Niang also nodded to them.

When Chu Ge saw her, a smile appeared on his depressed face, "I'm back."

Xiu Niang smiled at him, walked to sit next to him, "Well, I just arrived, yesterday my sister-in-law and I went to the village to buy some of Old Wangtou's pickle dumpling, and my sister-in-law asked me to give it to you I brought a lot of dry goods."

After hearing this, Chu Ge replied dumbly, "Oh, that's good."

Xiu Niang smiled and pulled out a piece of handkerchief to fan the wind, and talked to Chu Ge about Xiayang Village, and also said that she gave Liu Shi a dozen or so chickens at home.

"Chu, shopkeeper, there is still work in the backyard. San'er and I are going out first." Wang Er watched Xiu Niang keep talking to Chu Ge, as if he had a lot to say, and he pointed his elbow wisely. Touched San'er once, chattered and dragged him out.

Xiu Niang looked at the two of them, thinking that Wang Er wanted her to be alone with Chu Ge, because as soon as she sat down, she pulled Chu Ge to talk about something. In other words, people with discerning eyes can't stand it when they see it, so go away as soon as possible.

Besides, she didn't ask about the material when she entered the door, she just didn't want the guys in the workshop to know that she was involved in the business, or Chugo would call them to work in the future, they would think it was her Commanding miles behind.

In that case, the prestige that Chu Ge had managed to build up would be gone. After all, no elder would be willing to listen to an aunt.

As soon as Wang Er and the others left the main room, Xiu Niang wanted to talk to Chu Ge, but when she looked back and saw his sullen handsome face, she asked, "Chu Ge, what's the matter?"

Chu Ge pursed his lips, glanced at Xiu Niang, and shook his head silently. He knew that Xiu Niang wanted Wang Er and the others to leave alone, but he still didn't like Xiu Niang who played tricks like this. She pretended to be nice to him.

Xiu Niang looked at Chu Ge and looked a little awkward. Could it be that this matter is so difficult, she hurriedly asked, "Chu Ge, didn't you tell Wang Er and the others to pull the wooden boards this morning?" Well, why didn't you pull it?"

After talking about this matter, Chu Ge let out a small sigh of relief, "Well, I called Wang Er and the others to go, but the ones we often go to say they don't want to buy or sell wood for us."

Xiu Niang frowned, "Why?"

Chu Ge looked at her, "They said, if we still want to store timber in their wooden storehouse, we have to give money first."

Xiu Niang said casually, "It's only natural to give money to solicit goods, so just give it."

Chu Ge pursed his lips, "Xiu Niang, you don't understand, every time we go to talk to them in advance, wait for them to store up the wood, and then go over to them with money to bring the wood back of."

But this time, they asked us to pay all the money at once, and they counted pulling the wood five times a month, so we had to pay 60 taels first. "

After hearing this, Xiu Niang sneered, "Ha, are they joking? It costs two taels of silver to pull a cart of wood, and ten taels of silver to pull it five times a month. This is 60 taels...they want us to pay for the first half of the year at once. What!"

Chu Ge nodded, "That's right, the ones we often go to seem to be well-organized, and they all say so."

Xiu Niang frowned, thinking a little anxiously, "Hey, what's going on, they changed all of a sudden, we still have to open the door for business, they pinched the wood, and old Chen Lao Meng and the others will come in two days, we have no wood, how can we make boards for them?"

She continued, "And that old Zhao, told the front cabinet last time that we need to prepare a batch of boards. When he came to pull the boards, he asked for 80 taels of goods, but he directly gave two 50 taels of goods on the cabinet. Two taels of silver, let the cabinet put the remaining 20 taels into the account, and deduct it when you come back to pull the board."

After hearing what Xiuniang had said, Chu Ge felt worried when he looked at her, but what he was worried about had nothing to do with what Xiuniang said. Xiuniang was worried that merchants would come to ask for the goods and they would not be able to sell them, but what he was worried about was... …

"...No one came."

Xiu Niang was in a headache, she didn't pay attention to what Chu Ge said, "Chu Ge, why is there no one here?"

Chu Ge looked at her, and said word by word, "Xiu Niang, you don't have to worry about this. In the past two days after the heavy rain, no one came here to ask for boards."

"No one, I can't. I went back to Xiayang Village yesterday, and I saw shopkeeper Li at the gate of the horse house. As soon as he came, shopkeeper Zhao would come too. Are they both from Honghe Town?"

"Xiu Niang, they did come to town, but, but they all went to Yuanmuhang..."

(End of this chapter)