The pretty widow is addicted to money, and the little wolfdog asks for a hug

Gu Qinghuai patted his mother's shoulder and said excitedly: "Mother, you have to believe in your daughter's ability to make money. She has to adapt to the life of a rich woman as soon as possible. Rich women all keep dogs."

Zhao Ying chuckled, "She's a rich woman, but I think she's a shrew." A woman who throws money around!

On the way, they met a man selling fresh milk in a wooden barrel. Gu Qinghuai spent six cents and bought a bamboo tube to feed Gu Buqi.

Gu Buqi stood there trembling as he licked the milk, looking very hungry.

When passers-by on the street saw Gu Qinghuai feeding the wild cat with milk, they all looked at her with contempt as if she were a prodigal daughter.

Zhao Ying was so embarrassed that she wanted to cover her face.

Gu Qinghuai looked indifferent.

Anyone who can't stand this can come and be her grandson, and she will ensure that he eats better than Gu Buqi!

After Gu Buqi had eaten and drunk his fill, Gu Qinghuai spent another fifty cents to buy a lot of candies and cakes.

To conquer men in open-crotch pants like Meng Wuhuan and gain points, you have to rely on them.

Finally, the mother and daughter went to the largest garment shop on Jinhua Street.

Outside the shop, there was a gorgeous carriage parked, and next to the carriage stood two pretty children, surrounded by a group of maids who served them diligently.

Both children wore small gold locks around their necks and were dressed in silk and satin, looking very expensive.

Looking at them, Gu Qinghuai thought of his younger brother's tattered clothes that were short, tight, and torn beyond repair.

Thinking about how my younger sister has been picking up her older brothers and sisters’ hand-me-down clothes since she was a child, her clothes are full of patches and baggy.

Thinking of Zhou Liuya’s old hands covered with calluses, a tattered summer dress was washed in the evening and dried in the morning.

Thinking of the whole family dressed in shabby clothes...

Gu Qinghuai felt a lump in his throat and immediately decided to buy three sets of ready-made clothes, two sets of pajamas, three sets of underwear, and three pairs of new shoes for each member of the family.

Zhao Ying was frightened when she heard the number and quickly grabbed her.

"Huai'er, ready-made clothes are very expensive, and the quality and workmanship are not very good. How about we buy some good cloth and make them ourselves at home?"

She knew that everyone in the family needed a few better sets of clothes. After all, if they were to run the soap business, they would have to go out and meet people. If they dressed too poorly, others wouldn't even want to look at them. How could they do business with them?

My daughter said that clothes are battle robes.

She understands this principle.

Gu Qinghuai recalled that Zhao Ying had very dexterous hands and was indeed good at making clothes.

However, she would design her own underwear and pajamas and then have her mother sew them.

In ancient times, women wore bellybands, which had no other function except to cover the two points on their chest and add interest to the boudoir.

Long-term wearing can easily cause sagging breasts, so modern shaping bras are better.

It can prevent sagging and make the breasts more upright, making them look better when wearing clothes.

As for underwear, she doesn't want to wear big shorts, she prefers something small and close-fitting.

"Okay, mother, there is a cloth shop over there, let's go and take a look!" Gu Qinghuai pulled Zhao Ying to a cloth shop diagonally opposite.

Coincidentally, there was a bookstore not far from the cloth shop.

"Mother, take the money. You can choose the cloth here first. I'll go to the bookstore next door and come to find you later!" After Gu Qinghuai said this, he walked towards the bookstore without waiting for Zhao Ying to react.

Gu Qinghuai quickly bought several sets of study tools in the bookstore. After leaving the bookstore, he quietly took out the "Complete Collection of Herbs" and a large bag of toilet paper from the space.

The tissues were wrapped in cloth so they wouldn't arouse suspicion when you took them home.

Gu Qinghuai returned to the cloth shop and put all the things in his arms into the backpack behind Zhao Ying.

Zhao Ying was choosing fabrics, and Gu Qinghuai helped her select several fabrics of different colors and textures.

A piece of light red fine cotton cloth, a piece of light green fine linen cloth, and a piece of light yellow brocade, totaling one tael and two coins.

Zhao Ying planned to use these pieces of cloth to make three sets of dresses for each of her four daughters.

The second daughter came back when Xiao Huai got married. I don’t know how she is doing in her husband’s family. I will go see her when I have time.

A piece of indigo linen cost two hundred coins, and two sets were made for each of the three men in the family.

Men are rough, so their clothes should be rough too. The cheapest linen is the best.

Half a piece of brown linen cost one hundred coins, so she could make two sets of clothes for herself, and the scraps could be used to make socks.

She wears it herself, so she doesn't need the material to be too fine, as long as the clothes don't have any patches.

Two pieces of white fine cotton cloth cost eight hundred wen, and were used to make two sets of pajamas, underwear, bellybands and other small clothes for each person in the family.

These were the quantities that her daughter strongly requested, and she threatened her, saying that if she didn't buy them, she would buy ready-made clothes.

The money for buying the cloth was all given by my daughter, and the total cost was two taels and three cents of silver.

If I go to buy ready-made clothes, with so many clothes, I won't be able to buy them without seven or eight taels of silver.

Fabric is expensive, and ready-made clothes are even more expensive.

After buying the fabric, I also bought needles and thread.

After coming out of the cloth shop, Gu Qinghuai decided to take another look at the iron pot. In the future, he would need a big iron pot to boil lard and blend and stir the ingredients.

Iron pans used for cooking cannot be mixed, because the lard must be kept clean and pure without other impurities.

The streets are busy with cars and people coming and going.

Gu Qinghuai and Zhao Ying linked arms and walked forward with the crowd.

Suddenly, there was a slight commotion ahead, followed by a domineering scolding.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Slaves, get through! Get the hell out of the way!"

"Are you looking for death? Still standing here? Get out of here!"

"Move anything that's in the way! Move aside! Move aside!"

……

The pedestrians on the street were like mice seeing a cat. They quickly scattered and huddled together on the side of the road, huddling their bodies together.

After a while, the street became a wide road.

Not far away, a long team was slowly approaching.

At the front of the team were several officers wearing swords and riding tall horses.

The officers looked arrogant and looked down nonchalantly at the people huddled on the street.

Behind the horses followed the criminal slaves, both men and women, old and young, in a long line, estimated to be several thousand people.

All the criminal slaves were subjected to tattooing (qing xing), with the word "well" tattooed on their foreheads or cheeks.

For some reason, their hands and feet were not tied. The officers simply tied two long ropes on both sides of the team and circled them in the middle, just like driving cattle and sheep in a pasture.

Perhaps because they had walked a long way and suffered from hunger, the criminals were all so thin that only a dark and yellow skin was left. They all had unkempt hair and dirty faces, and their clothes were dirty and torn.

Many people's shoes had their toes exposed, or the uppers were separated from the soles, and some even went barefoot, with bloody soles.

As they approached, a foul smell hit them in the face.

"It stinks! It stinks!"

People on the street covered their mouths and noses.

Gu Qinghuai and Zhao Ying also stood on the side of the road, waiting for the group of criminal slaves to slowly pass by.

Beside them, there were many people standing crowded together, pointing at the criminal slaves and talking about them.

"There are so many criminal slaves, but they are not tied up. Aren't the officials afraid that they will escape along the way?"

"Run away? Haha, they were slaves before, and now they are criminal slaves. The indentures are in the hands of the guards, and there are tattoos on their faces. Where can they run away? If they are tied up and hurt after such a long journey, they won't be able to be sold at a good price."

"There are thousands of slaves. Even if there are 2,000 of them that can be sold, and each of them is only sold for 10 taels of silver, there will still be a profit of 20,000. Oh my god! It's going to be a fortune!"

"They are going to be sold? Aren't they going to be sent to hard labor?"

"Tsk, you don't understand. With so many criminals coming to our Qinghe River for release, how can the government not make some money? The valuable ones will be sold to pimps, brothels, and brothels. Only those who can't be sold at a good price will be sent to hard labor. If they die, they die. They are worthless anyway!"

"Why are there so many criminal slaves suddenly here? Where are they from?"

"Oh, you really are oblivious to what's happening outside the window, and you only focus on reading the books of sages. You didn't even know about the big thing that happened in the capital last year?"

"You mean—"

The man covered his mouth with his hand and lowered his voice, "Last year during the Lantern Festival, the crown prince forced the emperor to abdicate and rebelled. The crown prince's grandson was exiled to Beilu County, the seventh prince was killed, the queen's mother's family was raided, and all nine clans were killed. The crown prince's followers were killed or deposed, and thousands of slaves were implicated and convicted. They were all imprisoned in the imperial capital's Tianlao and interrogated one by one. They were not released until three months ago and exiled to Qinghe and Beilu counties."

All the obedient people sighed and dared not continue to talk about this taboo topic.