After sending Huo Sanhe and his son away, Yang held Huo Xi's hand and whispered.
"It's difficult for you. Mom knows that you did it for the sake of your parents and didn't want them to be in trouble. Your father's family, my mother thought that your third uncle was a good person, but I didn't expect that you would be so difficult for others.
"
Huo Xi smiled and said, "It's okay, mother. The third uncle just wanted Huo Cang to recognize a few words. The father and son seem to be able to carry it clearly, so they shouldn't go around telling others about it."
"Hey, who knows where something will go wrong again. Mother will always warn them." It's really embarrassing.
Then I thought that Huo Sanhe just wanted his youngest son to recognize a few words, so he begged in such a low voice. For the sake of their children, parents are willing to sacrifice their bodies to beg others whenever there is a slight possibility.
If it were her, she would be willing to beg for help for a few children.
The next day, Huo Cang changed into new clothes and was brought over by Huo Xuan with a shy smile on his face.
Huo Xi took their brothers to the workshop, told the steward of the workshop, and asked the workshop to arrange a place for Huo Cang to live with Yuan Qing.
He also told Chu Yi and You Qing to watch him and report to her if anything happened.
Chuyi and Youqing were both very clever and immediately responded with pats on their chests. Huzi also volunteered to help keep an eye on them. Huo Xi encouraged the children with a few words and then ignored them.
Then he took Huo Xuan to see Shen Qianzhong and asked him to sign a labor contract for Huo Xuan. On the same day, he arranged for him to go to Ningbo with the ship to escort the goods.
After finishing this work, he took the grinder back to Zhuangzi. Yang also followed back with An An in his arms.
Xi'er would not talk to Erhuai about Huo Sanhe and his son, but she wanted to go back and talk to Erhuai so that he could remind his brothers and sisters not to embarrass their children with everything.
After Huo Erhuai heard about this, he sighed.
She said to Huo Xi, "Just do what you want. Don't worry about me and your mother. Although they are the same parents as your parents, they are not as close as you and Nian'er."
When Huo Xi heard this, her heart felt tight, "Okay, I understand."
Mrs. Yang was a little angry: "If Sanhe spills the beans, in the future your eldest brother, fourth brother, and fifth mother will all come to beg you to send the child. I'm afraid we will be annoyed to death."
"If they are willing, they can sign a ten-year contract. Except for Mikawa's family, they will never agree. Then why should I break this exception?"
After Huo Erhuai finished speaking, he thought for a while and then said, "Otherwise, you can just move to the inner city."
Yang disagreed, "Why should I move to the inner city? It seems like I have done something shameful."
She liked chatting and joking with the women in Qionghua Lane. Although the houses in the inner city were large, after leaving the gate and standing in the alley for a long time, she only saw servants from each house coming in and out, and not a single person was seen for a long time.
Everyone stayed in their own homes, with no one to talk to, and others looked down upon their identities.
What's the fun? She doesn't like living in the inner city.
"It's okay, Dad. From now on, I'll just blame Shopkeeper Shen and let him refuse."
Yang glared at Huo Erhuai and said, "You still have to make an agreement with them. Don't come up to beg for anything and put the child in trouble." After saying a few words, seeing An An struggling to get off the ground, she took him to the village to play.
Huo Xi followed Huo Erhuai to the sugar mill and went to see the making of the grinding cylinder.
I assembled the drive shaft and grinding ring I brought back from the blacksmith shop. I was very satisfied when I saw that the assembly fit perfectly. I put the pepper in again, turned the grinding cylinder, and the tiny pepper particles fell out of the grinding ring.
.
Huo Erhuai opened his eyes wide in surprise.
"This thing is used to grind pepper." It's amazing. You don't have to grind it in a mortar in advance.
"Xi'er, if that's the case, wouldn't it mean that you can use it as you go?"
Huo Xizheng picked up the peppercorns to see their thickness.
Hearing this, he nodded: "Well, grinding it as you go can better preserve the aroma of pepper and preserve it better." However, it doesn't seem to be ground very finely.
"It's quite thin. You can't even use a beating bowl to beat it so thin."
Huo Erhuai was so happy that he assembled one himself, grinded it a few times, and felt happy when he saw the pepper powder falling on the table.
Xi'er made something again, but there was nothing like it in the capital.
When Mr. Yang came back, he also praised the grinder as a good one and helped assemble it excitedly.
Huo Xi assembled the finished products in the village and asked the servants to speed up the production of the grinding barrel. She told her father that if there was a shortage of manpower in the village, carpenters from nearby villages would be hired to do the work.
She wants to send more goods to the north before the Chinese New Year.
Huo Xi returned to the city with more than a thousand grinders. When Shen Qianzhong saw it, he was also shocked. It was a great experience that pepper could be ground and used like this.
"Boss, this thing is great! This grinder is not big, so it is very convenient to carry around. Moreover, one or two peppers can last for a while, so it is a must-have for travel. Buying one or two this way is cheaper than buying a pound of pepper, so it doesn't hurt. .”
"It's not cheap. This grinding barrel doesn't cost much, but the grinding shaft and the grinding ring blade are made of iron and are finely made. The price is cheap, so we will suffer a loss."
Shen Qianzhong opened it, looked at it, and nodded: "Then how much does the owner plan to sell it for?"
"Transport it to Peiping and ask Zhuji to find merchants in the city who do business with the grassland. One grinder can hold one tael of pepper and five cents of salt, and the other can be sold for five cents of silver."
A pound of pepper only costs five yuan. Is it a bit expensive? "Could someone imitate this and buy pepper to put in it?"
"There aren't that many peppers in the north. Let's sell them first. When imitations come on the market, we'll sell them with pepper. One pound of pepper will cost one to two five cents. Ten pounds of pepper will give you a grinder."
There is no supply in the north, so what's the use of just making grinders?
Shen Qianqian nodded and wrote down: "Do you want to sell the capital?"
There are many rich people in Beijing, so it will be easy to sell. But imitations will soon be made. And the supply of pepper in Beijing is not difficult to find.
"Let's take the pepper back from the market first, and then exchange the silver with Wu Youcai for five hundred stones of pepper. When there is less pepper on the market, we will sell it in the capital. Before selling it in the capital, we will first transport a batch to Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces for sale. go."
"good."
Wu Youcai was a little unhappy about the fact that there was no rock sugar and he had to exchange money for pepper.
"This rock candy is shipped from overseas. It is expensive and not always available. If it is available next time, I will definitely leave it to Mr. Wu."
It is not appropriate to have large amounts of white sugar and rock sugar in the capital now. The rarer they are, the more people will miss them.
"My noble lord is willing to buy it at a price that is 20% higher than the market price. I heard that there is a lot of pepper in the warehouse of the Shipping Department. If Lord Wu can solve this problem for Lord Tiju, Lord Tiju will be praised. Besides, , those civil servants and military generals may not be willing to pay pepper for their monthly salary, and not everyone likes pepper, and wouldn’t it be better to get money to buy things you need?”
These words touched Wu Youcai's heart. He didn't want to exchange pepper for his monthly salary. His family had no shortage of pepper.
In the next year, Zheng He's fleet will return to sea. There are dozens of large ships, and it is estimated that they can bring back a large amount of pepper. The largest piece of tribute cargo is also pepper, and there is no shortage of pepper.
So he agreed to Huo Xi's request to exchange silver for pepper.
After the two of them finished the transaction, Wu Youcai suddenly said: "I asked the tribute ships, and they all said that their country does not have white sugar and rock sugar. Which country is your noble master from?"