After returning to Baolinju, Song Liyun was ready to go to Qili County.
Now Xue Zhuang and the others have to go to the county every other day to sell vegetables and acorn noodles, and they have saved more than ten taels of silver this month.
A few people simply spent their own money to buy a mule cart for others to use.
Song Liyun and Han Ming were going to the county and happened to catch a ride.
What makes Song Liyun feel irritated is that there is a Juqing horse at home.
But now even if the injury is healed, he won't let her get close at all.
Only Song Zhenping can put something on the horse's back.
With mule and cart transportation, the journey to Qili County only takes an hour.
After successfully arriving outside Qili County, Song Liyun realized that this place was different from the last time he came here.
There are many people on the road, especially along the river where you can see waves of people going to the city.
Some of these people were on foot, and some were driving pack cars, which were carrying a lot of things.
The ice on the moat has melted, and pedestrians need to cross the river on a pontoon bridge.
Bridge fee: ten cents per person.
If you want animals to cross the river, the price is fifty cents.
There are three people from Xue Zhuang and others coming every time. Two of them carry vegetables into the city, and one drives into the village to collect acorns. This also saves a small amount of city entry fees.
Having the experience of entering the city last time, Song Liyun handed over the 20 yuan for crossing the river that he and Han Ming had paid.
After walking a few steps on the pontoon, I heard a noise coming from behind.
A hoarse voice said angrily: "No, if you bring goods into the city, you will have to pay fifty cents."
Song Liyun turned around and saw that Xue Zhuang, who was originally following him, was stopped.
The vegetable baskets they were carrying were also opened, exposing the green vegetable leaves to the air.
"Oh, are there vegetables for sale now?" A man crossing the river next to Song Liyun exclaimed.
Seeing that Xue Zhuang and the others were stopped, Han Ming was about to turn around to help, but was stopped by Song Liyun: "Let's take a look first."
Song Liyun's cowhide and horn cups were not left outside. She had already taken back the space.
At this time, the basket she carried in her arm only contained a water bag and a few sesame seed cakes.
Han Ming was carrying the load, which was covered with a lid. No one else could see what was inside.
Xue Zhuang and the others have made more than ten trips to sell vegetables, and these gatekeepers are more or less familiar.
Seeing that he had stopped him, Hu Qing, who was following him, smiled and pushed over a handful of copper coins: "Just a few rotten vegetable leaves to exchange for some money. You guys have worked hard. I'd like to drink some wine to keep warm."
This Hu Qing was one of the five people that Song Liyun rescued. Now he is very diligent in selling vegetables with Xue Zhuang and is very good at getting things done. Later, he came to Baolin Residence to express his gratitude. Now he also looks respectful when he sees Song Liyun.
Unfortunately, his attempt to please was pushed away by a road guard. The coins scattered on the ground, and a few rolled into the river.
"Whoever is your brother, just give me the money and stop talking!" The officer's attitude became even worse.
What's happening here?
Because of the obstruction of Xue Zhuang and others, there were several people standing at the end of the pontoon who wanted to enter the city, and all of them remained silent. Obviously, it was already normal for these people to block roads and increase tolls.
Behind Song Liyun, the man in a cotton robe began to mutter again: "I can't jump for a few days, I can't jump for a few days."
"Brother, how do you say this?" Song Liyun couldn't help but ask, seeing that this man couldn't hold back his words.
"Hey! If I'm not mistaken, you should be from Ruijin Town! It wasn't the Dilu people who came to your place years ago to cause trouble."
The man put down the roll of quilt on his shoulder and began his tirade.
While Song Liyun listened to this man's confused talk about the Dilu people's attack on Shaijinguan at the end of the twelfth lunar month, he also paid attention to the movements of Xue Zhuang and the others.
"...There is nothing going on in Suijin Town right now. Others say there is nothing going on in Qili County, and all the people who have fled are here.
Hey, the price of food in the city has been rising sharply since yesterday..."
Song Liyun felt speechless. Suijin Town was not robbed, but these people from Qili County ran refugees here. As a result, the people of Suijin Town were blamed for the rise in food prices!
In fact, how can those who can enter Qili County be poor?
Fortunately, Xue Zhuang and the others did not quarrel too much with these officers. In addition to the river crossing fee, they had to pay fifty tax dollars in order to escape.
As soon as he entered the city, Xue Zhuang, who was very angry, had a dark face. He made an appointment with Song Liyun to return to town in the afternoon and left in a hurry.
He didn't expect that Song Liyun would see him in such an embarrassing state as he was being threatened, but the delivery time agreed with Tianxianglou could not be postponed.
As expected, there were more people in the city than last time. The streets were bustling with people. From time to time, you would see vendors pushing carts or carrying burdens along the street, selling their wares to passers-by.
Song Liyun and Han Ming went directly to Wanchun Leather Shop. The middle-aged man was sending a customer away, and there was a confiscated rabbit skin on the counter.
Seeing Song Liyun enter the door, the middle-aged shopkeeper's eyes lit up and he hurriedly came over to greet her: "I haven't seen the girl here for a long time. Please sit inside."
He had penetrated Song Liyun last time, and now he came to her again, so there must be something going on.
He got a share of twenty taels of silver for that carpet.
Song Liyun refused to be polite to him and left Han Ming waiting outside. He went straight to the private room inside and "took" a set of horn cups from the basket on his arm.
When the middle-aged shopkeeper saw the horn cup, his face showed joy: "How are you going to sell these cups?"
Song Liyun said calmly: "What price will the shopkeeper give me?"
The middle-aged shopkeeper made a rough estimate and said: "The workmanship of this set of cups is average. I can't give you a high price. I can only estimate it at fifty taels. If the girl is willing to wait for a buyer before cashing out, she can get eighty taels."
Song Liyun shook his head: "Let's trade in cash!"
When the middle-aged shopkeeper saw that Song Liyun did not counter-offer, he felt happy.
The workmanship of this set of horn cups is not exquisite enough, but the patterns of the twelve horn cups are almost identical. You only need to find a craftsman to carve them again and replace them with a carved wooden box, which will at least double the price.
After agreeing to the horn cup, Song Liyun "took out" two pieces of complete cowhide from the basket placed next to it.
The middle-aged shopkeeper was still overjoyed, and his eyelids twitched when he saw the dark cowhide.
This ingredient is their favorite.
Usually, leather goods stores sell horse, donkey, pig, sheep, rabbit, dog, cat and other miscellaneous skins, as well as pig bristles, horse hair, horse tail, etc. There are very few fine furs such as fox and wolf, and cowhide is basically unavailable.
During the Wu Dynasty, the cattle were controlled by the government, but among all kinds of leather goods, cowhide was used the most. Sales were good, so the government set the price of each cowhide very high.
As soon as he saw two pieces of cowhide with completely different tanning techniques from Wu Dynasty, the shopkeeper was 100% convinced that Song Liyun had a fixed channel.
"How is it?" Song Liyun asked.
In fact, she had no idea. The two pieces of cowhide were tanned very well and felt soft and tough. But Wang Zhong wanted to sell them for five taels a piece. Would it be too high?
The shopkeeper said solemnly: "Girl, I can't give you a price.
If you can get these things in the future, you can talk to our chief manager in detail now."
Do you want to be a VIP customer?
Song Liyun frowned slightly, Wei Suo was selling things in such a subtle way, would he be willing to ship them in large quantities?
She looked at the shopkeeper and said, "Don't worry, I have something to tell you."
The shopkeeper said: "Girl, if you have anything to say, please speak directly!"
If you have something to ask, it means that you are considering this aspect.
What he fears most is that like last time, Song Liyun didn't ask or say anything.