Chapter 53: Li Family 2/3

Zhu Xunmiao hadn’t actually planned to treat Li Qingzhi to a meal, but he said this to avoid staying longer. It wasn’t that he disliked the food at Li Xiucai’s house; it was just that there were too many people there, including many female relatives. If they stayed for lunch, it would make others uncomfortable.

As the aroma of rice wafted from Li’s house, the two left and returned to Zhu’s house.

Since Zhu’s father was not at home, Zhu Xunmiao and Li Qingzhi had lunch together, and Zhu Xunmiao even called his younger brother to join them, saying, “My brother will also go to study with Li Xiucai in a few days. Then, the three of us will be classmates.”

Zhu Xunxin had come with Zhao Mancang. Just by looking at Zhao Mancang’s expression, Li Qingzhi knew that he had been doing well recently.

He had become a bit fairer and had put on some weight, looking much more adorable.

Zhu’s family didn’t have many rules, so Zhu Xunmiao let Zhao Mancang join them for lunch, and during the meal, they chatted.

Li Qingzhi learned from Zhao Mancang that his father had come to Zhu’s house to see him several times, but after Zhao Mancang insisted that he didn’t have any money, his father stopped coming.

“I’ve been saving the money I earned and not giving it to him so he won’t spend it all,” Zhao Mancang, acting like a little adult, told Li Qingzhi, “I want to save more money so I can marry a wife in the future. Maybe I can even do business like my father.”

“Yeah, don’t give your dad the money; it’s better to save it for marrying a wife.” Li Qingzhi chuckled.

It was quite amusing that a child under ten was already thinking about getting married.

Even more amusing was Zhu Xunxin chiming in, “Then I’ll save money too. I’ll also need to marry a wife in the future.”

Zhu Xunmiao burst into laughter at this.

Zhu Xunxin, still puzzled, asked Zhu Xunmiao, “Brother, why don’t you have a wife? Is it because you haven’t saved enough money?”

Zhu Xunmiao replied, “…”. He didn’t need to save money; if he wanted to marry a wife, his father would definitely provide the funds!

Wait, he was only fifteen; why was he thinking about marrying a wife? He planned to pass the scholar examination first before marrying!

While Li Qingzhi and the others were having lunch, Jin Xiaoye was also dining at Sister Wang’s house.

The food at Zhu’s house was very abundant, while Sister Wang’s food was just average.

Sister Wang’s daughter, who was sixteen this year, was very skilled. At noon today, she fried a plate of eggs, left some eggs in the pan, added water and some greens to make a vegetable soup, and then steamed tofu with minced meat. The meal wasn’t lavish, but it was sufficient.

They ate and chatted.

The covers and sleeves made from defective cloth that Jin Xiaoye and the others made sold well in Chongcheng County due to their low prices, but they didn’t earn much from these items.

Their main source of income came from higher-end products.

The fabrics provided by the Zhu family were all bright in color. Jin Xiaoye had them made into various small items, which she sent to clothing stores to sell on consignment. Although they didn’t sell a lot, the profit margin was high.

Additionally, she sold some items to traveling merchants, which also brought in a considerable amount of money.

Not long ago, a merchant who planned to go to the north next month approached Jin Xiaoye, paid a deposit, and placed a large order for goods!

The products made by Jin Xiaoye and the others were quite new in style. When they sold these items in the county town, they claimed that the styles came from the capital city, and the customers never doubted them.

When this merchant took their goods to the capital city to sell, he could easily claim that these were popular styles from the south and would surely fetch a good price.

Of course, this was not something they needed to worry about; they just needed to make the goods and sell them to this merchant.

Sister Wang was quite happy, “He wants quite a lot of goods. Xiaoye, we need to buy more fabric.”

Jin Xiaoye nodded, “Right, I’ll buy the fabric tomorrow!”

Mrs. Xu was a bit worried, “Xiaoye, what if that person is deceiving us? What if we make the goods and then he suddenly changes his mind…”

Even though the person had paid a deposit, the deposit alone wasn’t enough to cover the cost of the fabric.

Jin Xiaoye said, “Even if that person is deceitful, we still need to proceed with the deal. We can’t just abandon such a big business opportunity because of worries! If he doesn’t pay the rest, we can simply refuse to deliver the goods to him and find a way to sell them ourselves.”

Jin Xiaoye had considered various scenarios.

If the person canceled the order after they had made the goods, she would end up with a large batch of unsold inventory.

But her products sold well in Chongcheng County, which gave her some confidence. If worst came to worst, she could take her goods and sell them in the capital city.

When Zhu’s father was in business, he encountered situations where goods piled up and couldn’t be sold, but he managed to sell them by finding a different market.

With her confidence bolstered, Mrs. Xu let go of her worries.

After lunch, Sister Wang’s daughter went to wash the dishes and pots, while the others gathered together to cut fabric and chat. Eventually, they brought up the recent absence of the night soil collector.

Sister Wang said: “Some people couldn’t bear it, so they called a scumbag who used to do this business to collect it. As a result, the scumbag was beaten by someone who made bad money.”

This merchant, surnamed Zhang, was named Zhang Yunquan. His name sounded good, combining literary, martial, wealth, and power.

However, he wasn’t reputable in the county, and people disliked him, considering his money to be ill-gotten gains, hence the nickname “Zhang Chouqian.”

The fact that Zhang Chouqian didn’t come to collect night soil made Sister Wang very angry. She was someone who valued cleanliness and didn’t even want to kill chickens. But now… even with a covered toilet, there would still be odors, which was unbearable!

Jin Xiaoye commented, “People in our village have been buying human waste as fertilizer, and the price has gone up… What is Zhang Chouqian thinking? Does he want to make money from both ends?”

If Zhang Chouqian didn’t come to collect human waste and also prevented others from doing so, what was he up to?

Did he want people in the city to pay him to come collect it?

“Thinking about it that way, it’s quite possible!” Sister Wang said.

The three of them exchanged glances, and Jin Xiaoye cursed, “That bastard Zhang Chouqian is being too greedy!”

With so many people in Chongcheng County, if they had to pay for human waste, Zhang Chouqian could easily make a lot of money every day just lying there!

But they could only curse privately; there wasn’t much else they could do.

Jin Xiaoye could only say to Sister Wang, “Sister Wang, I’ll help you remove the toilet tomorrow.”

Sister Wang asked, “Can’t it be done today?”

Jin Xiaoye replied, “My husband and I came to the county together today, so we’ll definitely return together.”

She was used to farm work, so removing a toilet wasn’t a big deal for her, but as for Li Qingzhi… He was a scholar, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to have him accompany a toilet on a boat.