The various fur goods that Zhangjiazhai brought to Chang'an this time totaled thirteen cartloads. Among them, nine cartloads of leather, three cartloads of furs, and one cart of treasures.
The so-called treasures refer to precious furs such as bear skins and tiger skins. In the Tang Dynasty, this kind of beast was not a rare species. Not to mention that it was everywhere, it was much more abundant than in later generations. But it was a ferocious beast after all, and ordinary hunters could not deal with it.
Most of the time, you can't save your life. Only when you gather together to hunt, you can catch one or two through traps and other methods. Compared with ordinary wolf skins and sheep skins, they are much more precious.
With the threat of Ergou, Lao Hu and others did not dare to ask for high prices. On the basis of the price of goods shipped to fur traders in border towns in previous years, they also discounted 15%. In this way, it is higher than the same level in Chang'an West City.
The goods are nearly 30% cheaper, but even so, the total value of these thirteen carts of goods exceeds 3,800 guan. For the horse bandits who live in Longyou and are accustomed to bartering, this is their first time.
Saw so much cash.
"There are three thousand guan of copper coins here, and there are also 800 taels of silver. You should all know that if you exchange silver for copper coins, you can exchange for a lot more. The Marquis has ordered that I won't give you a discount, which will make it easier for you. Let's count them.
, Don’t rush away after ordering. The Marquis has arranged wine and food for you. Have you ever heard of the three cups of Bashang Winery? There are three cups of money per jar. The Marquis thinks of your hard work and rewards you with ten jars for you to try.
.”
Li Zhien held the account book in his hand and made notes in the account book while talking. Although she is a housekeeper without status, the reason why she can continue to work until today is definitely not because of Bai Qiaoqiao's trust. She does have this
Ability. As long as the money passed through her hands, there would not be a penny bad debt. Even if she had no money to buy candied fruits, she would not steal it, but would ask Bai Qiaoqiao for it. This is Li Mu's point.
He admired it very much, so he never missed Li Zhien's pocket money. Li Zhien's monthly income was the highest, and he could also get some rewards from time to time, and his life was very pleasant.
Lao Hu and others are grateful for their kindness. This time, there is no need for Ergou to say anything. They themselves feel ashamed. The Marquis is the Marquis, and the action is different. They want it all, and the action is thousands of dollars.
They also arranged food and drinks. It is really inappropriate for such a generous person to be suspected.
While self-examination, Lao Hu and others counted the money and divided the money on the spot according to the amount of goods they brought. Talking and doing, everyone is very realistic when it comes to money.
Although Zhangjiazhai is called Zhangjiazhai and is headed by the Zhang family, it is not actually the Zhang family. When Zhangjiazhai was first established, several groups were together because the Zhang family was the most powerful at that time.
It was Zhang Xun who took the lead again, so everyone regarded him as the master and obeyed his orders. In recent years, Zhang Xun has become older and has no son but only one daughter. The influence of the Zhang family has gradually weakened, and when discussing matters, there have been more and more opponents.
The more. At first, each leader planned to let his son marry the daughter of the village owner, so that he could inherit Zhangjiazhai naturally. However, Zhang Tianai looked down on everyone, and finally all the families gave up this idea. Zhang
The family's rule is in danger. If the Tang Dynasty had not destroyed the Turks this time and Zhangjiazhai was in danger, there would have been civil strife in Zhangjiazhai.
This time Zhang Tianai brought a caravan to Chang'an to sell furs. Among the thirteen carloads, only one carload was owned by the Zhang family. The other twelve cars belonged to six families, with an average of two cars per family, which shows the current status of the Zhang family.
But fortunately, the Zhang family has been village owners for so many years, and they still have some savings. The goods brought by other families are ordinary furs and leathers, but the goods brought by the Zhang family are all 'treasures', including six complete bear skins.
, and two rare white wolf skins. In terms of value, they are actually more than the other six.
Zhang Tianai was also beside her, and she deserved 700 guan according to the value. The leaders were not ungrateful people at all. They knew that the success of this transaction was due to her and Zhuluhou's old reputation, so they discussed it with each other.
, he collected another hundred taels and came out, which happened to be 800 taels of silver. He put the 800 taels of silver in a box and gave them all to Zhang Tianai.
The silver of the Tang Dynasty was not like the stipulated standards of subsequent dynasties. It came in all shapes, large and small pieces, utensils, cups, etc. When measuring the value, it was mainly based on weight. Eight hundred taels of silver, that is
Eighty pounds of silver doesn't seem like much.
Zhang Tianai looked at the money and felt very complicated. On the one hand, she really needed the money, but at the same time, she was very uneasy because she felt that Li Mu didn't need so many furs and bought them all just to repay her kindness. But
She knew very well that she had no kindness towards Li Mu. She never thought about actually saving Li Mu. She deserved this kindness.
"elder sister."
Bai Qiaoqiao's voice came from behind. Zhang Tianai turned around and saw her, and the guilt in his heart became even heavier.
"Qiaoqiao..." Zhang Tianai came over and took Qiaoqiao's hand, hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Sister, I have something to tell you."
Qiaoqiao blinked and said, "Sister, why are you so serious? If you have something to say, just say it. I'm here to ask you to eat. Let's talk while eating."
Zhang Tianai stood still and said: "Sister, I want to be honest with you. In fact... from the moment you found me, I had no intention of actually going to Dingxiang for rescue. At that time, there were only fifty people around me, and these fifty were
If the foundation of our Zhang family is gone, it will definitely damage our vitality. At that time, you and I had just met, and I didn’t know who Li Mu was, so I couldn’t make up my mind to rescue him. I knocked you unconscious at that time, but actually...
Actually, I just thought that if the Turk left, I would help him collect his body as an explanation to you. Now that you are so kind to me and he helps me so much, I feel guilty and feel really uneasy."
Seeing that Bai Qiaoqiao didn't speak, Zhang Tianxin became even more panicked. He held Bai Qiaoqiao's hand tightly and said, "Are you angry with me?"
Bai Qiaoqiao suddenly smiled and said: "Sister, look, I scared you. How can I be angry? In such a situation, it is already very rare for you to do that. And later I told my husband
When this incident came up, my husband said, my sister did the right thing, but I did the wrong thing. As a woman, what can I do in front of the two armies? I can only hold back. Fortunately, I met my sister, otherwise I would have returned to Ding.
Xiangcheng, I may have lost my life, but my husband has to focus on taking care of me, which may delay the important matter. My husband remembers your kindness. In fact, I remember that it was not your kindness in rescuing him, but because you saved my life. My husband said,
Our husband and wife are one and the same. If you save me, it is the same as saving him, so it is right for him to repay you. Sister, don't worry too much."
Hearing what Bai Qiaoqiao said, Zhang Tianqiao felt a little better, but he felt an indescribable feeling. He envied Bai Qiaoqiao for getting such a good husband, but also felt that he was being pitied. It was hard to explain.
.biting his lip, Zhang Tianai said again: "How about this, I don't want this money, and I will let people move back later..."
"Oh, sister," Bai Qiaoqiao said helplessly: "Sister, don't worry too much about money. Besides, sister didn't get it for free. Aren't these furs worth so much money? To be honest, sister, I saw my husband spending money like this before.
I was reluctant to part with him and tried to persuade him. But my husband said that I was born with talents that would be useful, and I would come back to you after all the money was spent. As long as you keep enough money for your family, the extra money will be a pile of copper and iron without spending it, which is of no use. You can only spend it.
Only by losing money can we earn more. Sure enough, as he said, the money spent in this house is flowing like water every day, but the money coming in is also flowing like water. I don’t know how much it is. That girl Zhien is keeping the accounts. I
I am also happy to be free. So sister, don’t take it too seriously, just let me eat. My husband is waiting. If I don’t go back, I might be in a hurry.”
The complicated and unspeakable feeling in Zhang Tian's heart was even worse. He didn't know what to say, so he had to follow Bai Qiaoqiao to the backyard. Li Mu saw the two people coming, nodded and signaled, and kept working, still busy.
Zhang Tianai looked at the things Li Mu was playing with and couldn't recognize them at all. He saw a stone slab on the table, and a brazier on the stone slab with charcoal burning inside. There was a copper pot on top of the charcoal, and there was a copper pot standing upright in the pot.
There was a smoking chimney, thick soup was boiling around it, and Li Mu was adding things to it.
"Hot pot" is a way of eating that has been around since ancient times. But it is not called "hot pot" but "gudong soup", which is named after the sound made by food entering water. Historical records show that during the Warring States Period, some people used clay pots to rinse the pot.
Cooking food. However, the charcoal-fired copper pot made by Li Mu, which was common in later generations, was the first one in the Tang Dynasty.
In this era, it is extremely difficult to have a hot pot meal. Because there are very few seasonings, Li Mu only found out that there was no chili pepper in the Tang Dynasty after he went to Chang'an and searched the east and west markets.
Hot pot without spicy flavor has no soul.
Li Mu studied for a long time before using dogwood, pepper, ginger, mustard, onion, and garlic to concoct a relatively acceptable spicy soup base. The other seasonings were not too expensive.
The common pepper is surprisingly expensive, because the pepper in this era is not produced locally, but imported from Tianzhu. It costs one tael of silver and one tael of pepper. It is impossible to use it for cooking and barbecue like in later generations. It is usually used
What is used as medicine to make elixirs is not used as a seasoning.
That is to say, people like Li Mu, who make money easily and spend it wherever they go, would think of using pepper to make hot pot soup base. This copper pot was just made yesterday and it is the first time to use it today. Of course Zhang Tianai is
Never seen it before. But what surprised Zhang Tianai was not the hot pot in front of her, but the fact that Li Mu actually cooked. In her impression, although it was not that she had never seen a man cooking, a man with a little status would not.
She can cook. Li Mu is now a Marquis, and this Marquis cooks... She really didn't expect it.