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By evening, Wan Chunmei and Tan Xiaomei had finished their embroidery work and went together to the shop of Master Bai to see Tan Erqian.
When Tan Erqian saw his mother and aunt arrive, he was overjoyed. He quickly put down what he was holding and ran over to greet them, saying, “Mother, Aunt, what brings you here?”
Wan Chunmei smiled and replied, “We’re here to do some work for Magistrate Cao and decided to drop by and see you.”
“Mother, we’re not lacking silver that much anymore. Why come all the way out here to work?” Tan Erqian said with a hint of concern. He quickly helped them inside and poured each of them a cup of hot tea.
Wan Chunmei took a sip of the tea and smiled, saying, “Well, I mainly wanted to come to the county to take a look.”
Tan Erqian picked up Little Qiyue and placed her on his lap, rubbing her slightly cold little hands. “If you wanted to come to the county, I could have sent someone to pick you up.”
“Sent someone to pick me up?” Wan Chunmei laughed and said, “You child, you’ve only been out for a few days, and now you’re acting all official.”
Tan Erqian hurriedly explained, “Mother, I’m being serious. If you really want to come to the county again in the future, I can send someone to bring you. Master Bai arranged a carriage for me a few days ago, with two people to accompany me.”
Wan Chunmei paused in surprise, “Master Bai is really generous. He just gave you a carriage and two people?”
Actually, she wasn’t lacking a carriage herself. It was just that when Liu Shiye had kindly offered the suggestion, she naturally had to help arrange things for her younger sister.
Tan Erqian glanced around the shop and said, “Mother, you might not know, but your pickled vegetables are selling better and better. Master Bai specially arranged this carriage so I could bring back the pickled vegetables.”
“Selling well?” Wan Chunmei asked in confusion. These past few days, she’d been busy preparing the pickles for Eunoch Xu’s order and had completely forgotten about the pickled vegetables here with Tan Erqian.
Tan Erqian nodded repeatedly, saying, “Yes, they’re selling really well. The two large jars I brought last time are already all sold out.”
Wan Chunmei sighed in amazement, “Looks like I’ll have to go back and make more.”
Tan Erqian replied, “Yes, Mother. If you’re too busy, you can ask Second Aunt to help.”
By “Second Aunt,” Tan Erqian was referring to Liu Dajie, who had assisted in delivering Little Qiyue.
Wan Chunmei laughed and said, “Your Second Aunt is busy delivering babies all over the place. How could she have the time to help me make pickled vegetables?”
Tan Erqian slowly stood up, “You’re right. We’ll think of another solution.”
Just as he finished speaking, a middle-aged woman suddenly entered the shop.
The woman called out to the shop, “Young man, give me half a jin of pickled vegetables.”
Tan Erqian quickly responded, “Got it, coming right up.”
With a smile, he approached the woman, took the jar of pickles from her, scooped out the pickles into a bowl, and handed it to her, saying, “Here you go, twenty wen.”
“Alright.” The woman placed the copper coins into Tan Erqian’s hand and took the pickles.
Wan Chunmei, standing aside, was stunned. “Erqian, Erqian, how much did you sell that half jin of pickles for just now?”
Tan Erqian brought the coins to Wan Chunmei, “Not too much, just exactly twenty wen.”
“Oh my goodness!” Wan Chunmei couldn’t help but exclaim. “Half a jin of pickles actually sold for so much money!”
Tan Erqian put the copper coins away, entered them into the account, and smiled, “Mother, you thought selling pickles was like giving them away for a few wen at the village entrance? That was just a joke. This is how real business is done.”
Wan Chunmei had never done business, and after being poor for so many years, those few wen seemed like a lot to her. Now, seeing the price doubled in one go felt almost like a dream.