The South Canal intersects with the Yangtze River. Ships traveling from south to north wait here to pass through the lock. Jingkou Wharf is very busy.
The boss of the boat paid the gate fee, and the two boats lined up to wait.
Huo Xi led two maids and got off the boat with Shen Qianzhong and Lei Da.
Vanilla and Xia He gained a lot of knowledge along the way. Fortunately, Vanilla had stayed on the boat with her grandfather when she was a child, but Xia He was only nine years old and had never left Ningbo as long as he could remember. This time his eyes were clear again.
But it was the vanilla that fell down while walking.
Staring at the excitement at the dock, I almost fell down, but Xia He helped me.
Shen Qianzhong laughed: "My boss still has the foresight to accept these two maids, one is smart and the other is steady."
Huo Xi turned to look at the two of them, shook her head and laughed. That Xianghua was six years older than Xia He, and looked less stable than Xia He.
Guangfeng Water had a shop in Jingkou, so the group went to find it.
When I arrived at the door of the shop, I saw that there was quite a lively crowd of people welcoming people there, so I didn't rush in. I didn't move until there were fewer people at the door.
Fan Yongnan was about to enter the shop after seeing off the guests, when he saw a group of people walking towards him. He took a closer look and trotted over: "Big shopkeeper, why are you here?"
"I'm on my way to Ningbo to do some shopping." Shen Qianzhong smiled at him.
Huo Xi asked Lei Da to take the two girls to drink tea at a teahouse outside, and then he followed him into the shop.
The three of them arrived at the backyard. Fan Yongnan glanced at Huo Xi: "Is this the boss's son?"
Shopkeeper Shen just smiled and said, "No."
When Fan Yongnan saw that it was not the case, he stopped looking at Huo Xi. He might be shopkeeper Shen's nephew. Then he talked about things in the shop with Shen Qianzhong. When he saw that the shopkeeper asked the child to listen, he didn't care and just thought It was cultivated by the big shopkeeper.
Huo Xi didn't say anything, just listened attentively.
This Jingkou Wharf is the intersection of the canal and the Yangtze River. Ships going south to Zhejiang, Fujian and other places, and going north to Huai'an and Beiping, all ships traveling from south to north will be repaired at Jingkou, so it is an important location.
Huo Xi opened a shop in Jingkou two years ago. He purchased goods traveling from south to north and transported them to the capital and the north.
This Fan Yongnan is a fellow villager of Shen Qianzhong. Shen Qianzhong knew him well and said he knew the basics, so Huo Xi put him in Jingkou. He has done well in the past two years, and his income has been rising every year.
Shen Qianzhong glanced at the ledger and pushed it in front of Huo Xi.
Fan Yongnan was a little surprised, but he didn't take it to heart.
Huo Xi flipped through the account book and looked at the names of goods in and out, as well as the prices.
Since this account book is for people to see, of course it is done properly and dares to be seen by others. It is very easy for the shopkeeper to manipulate the purchase and sale prices, and not much can be seen in the account book.
A pound of flax material was bought for five cents, and I remember it was six cents. It was sold for seven cents, and I said it was sold for six and a half cents. There are a lot of articles that can be made here.
Moreover, the prices of all these goods vary from year to year and month to month. Even at different times of the day, the prices may be very different.
There are many factors that affect the price of goods that travel from north to south and are bought and sold by water transport.
A few days ago, the price was still the same, but in the next few days, the price may be affected due to weather reasons, or just because the goods were delayed due to waiting for a long time to cross the gate.
These cannot be seen.
Besides, if the water is clear, there will be no fish. As long as the buying and selling prices do not fluctuate much, Huo Xi usually doesn't care.
After closing the account and listening for a while, he told the two of them that he wanted to see the excitement on the pier and came out of the shop.
Huo Xi saw many piers along the way and found that each pier has its own characteristics and is not the same.
For example, Songjiang Wharf, because Songjiang is a major cotton-producing county, ships going south to north are all here for cloth trading. There are many people in Ningbo Port, so all the goods are sold.
As for Yuegang, I heard that because there are many shipyards in Fujian, the ships at the wharf mostly transport shipbuilding materials such as wood, iron, tung oil, paint, oyster ash, and cane palm.
At this Jingkou Wharf, you can see grain transport ships, ships transporting cloth and various materials everywhere. Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces have abundant water and abundant fields, and grain from the two provinces passes through Jingkou Wharf and is shipped to other provinces.
And because the city of Peiping was to be built, all materials were transported to Peiping, including ships and so on.
While watching the excitement, I saw several Jinyi guards wearing flying fish uniforms and embroidered spring knives on their waists escorting a young man past. They quickly boarded a boat and the boat sailed away from the dock.
The people around him only dared to watch quietly, and they didn't dare to say a few words until the Jin Yiwei people left.
"I don't know what crime he committed. If Jin Yiwei's people catch him, he will have to shed several layers of skin even if he doesn't die."
"It's not necessarily that he has committed a crime. Maybe he was just taken for questioning. His hands and feet were not tied. It seems that he is not afraid of running away."
"You are being escorted by four guards in royal robes. How dare you run away and risk your life?"
Jin Yiwei's fierce and sinister image is deeply rooted in people's hearts, making people dare not take a peek at him. His cold face looks like a facial paralysis, but he is quite similar to the noble prince she knows.
Huo Xi shook her head vigorously to get rid of the image of the noble young man with a paralyzed face. She didn't know which girl he would be matched with. Life is so difficult. Isn't it better to find an interesting soul than to find a paralyzed face?
A few people sat in the tea shop for a while, and then left to board the ship after Shen Qianzhong came out.
After waiting for another half an hour to pass through the lock, the ship finally left the dock.
At dusk, while the sky was still bright, the boss prepared the meal, and the group ate on the deck. The boss of the ship asked Vanilla about the weather tonight.
Vanilla looked up at the sky and clouds again, and replied: "Don't worry, there will be no rain or wind tonight."
"That's good." The boat boss was relieved. He was thinking about where to park the boat in this section of the waterway, and prepared to park the boat after a while.
After Vanilla finished talking to the ship boss, she felt a little proud when she saw Xia He looking at her with admiration.
He glanced at Lei Da and others, and said to Huo Xi: "Master, we will be able to get to the capital tomorrow morning. This trip went smoothly. The money for this trip was wasted."
Lei Da's ears were pointed. When he heard this, his eyes widened: "The captain didn't even feel sorry for the escort money, but you feel sorry for him. How did you know that it wasn't the water thieves who saw our escort flag of Shengtian and were scared away?"
Vanilla nodded seriously: "Of course it's possible. But this trip went well, can't you charge less escort money? I think this should be the case in the future. If something happens on the way, add more escort money. If nothing happens, reduce the escort money."
silver."
Huo Xi, Shen Qianzhong and others all laughed: "Then the escort agency has another lucrative job."
"What kind of job can you get money for?"
"According to your opinion, if the escort agency lets one of their own people pretend to be water thieves all the way, won't they be able to collect more escort money?"
Shen Qandao also nodded: "Exactly. And what if the escorts have evil intentions and pretend to be real, and they steal more property than the escorts, and they turn into water thieves? What should they do?
The white and underworld take it all. So who can cure them?"
Seeing everyone looking at him, Lei Da jumped up: "We won't do such inhumane things! Wouldn't it be better to make good money from our escorts?"
After speaking, he glared at Vanilla.
Vanilla was not afraid, and held him tight, asking endless questions, which annoyed Lei Da very much.
Where was the girl who knelt down and begged with tears all over her face that night? This poor girl became even more difficult to deal with.
Everyone was joking around Lei Da, wondering whether it was due to good luck along the way or because they planted a flag to scare the water thieves, when they heard the boss of the boat say that something happened ahead.