Crossing the Unknown Country

Su He and his friends agreed to come early tomorrow morning to pick up the goods and pay the deposit. Tomorrow they will come directly to pay and load the goods for their journey home. The cost of food and lodging in the county town is not small. One night in the hotel costs 100 wen, and meals need to be paid separately. There is also money for the cattle to eat grass. They need money right now and must save it. It would be best if they could go home early. Su He and his friends had three bowls of wontons at a small stall in the city at noon and bought six sesame cakes. If they can't finish them, they will eat them at night. At night, they will have some rice porridge when they go back home. The dry food is just soaked sesame cakes. Save as much as you can!

Su He carefully observed the merchants here in the afternoon. Most of them were related to food, clothing, housing and transportation. In particular, the stores selling clothing, jewelry and food were the most numerous. It is true that food is the most important thing for people from ancient times to the present, and the majority of stores sell food. Then there are those who sell clothes, fabrics and jewelry. After eating, you need to be satisfied spiritually.

Su He also saw a brothel in an alley, which was also a feature of ancient times. The high-hanging red lanterns and the sound of stringed instruments, the young women wearing colorful clothes, and the names on the distinctive large plaques made it clear what they did. This is really a place of luxury, with men wearing silk and satin coming in and out, and the alley was bustling with traffic. They happened to pass by here and saw a scene they had never seen before, something they had never seen in the town. There was also a brothel in the town, but it was only that one, but they had never seen so many in an alley.

When they turned around the busy streets and walked to the place where the poor people lived, they found that the people here also wore patched clothes. However, they usually did not go to the main street to buy things because they were too expensive. They bought things in the nearby grocery store. However, they had to go to the cloth shop for cloth. Su He and his friends did not see it here. They only saw some vegetable vendors and cattle and horse markets, but they were more expensive than their town. They also knew that there were poor people everywhere. As long as you don’t have money, you can’t get by anywhere. The houses here are low and dilapidated, and the streets are bumpy and uneven. Some houses are not as good as the houses in their hometown.

Su He and his friends also asked about the housing prices here. A small courtyard and two rooms would cost fifty taels of silver, which was still very expensive. This was still the civilian area. The price would be much higher in the rich area and middle-class families. As for how much it would be, it would depend on the geographical location. Su He felt that they would still need a lot of silver to settle down in the county town, so they should go home and find a way to make money! It would be best if they could sell it to the county town, so that they could have a chance to settle down here.

The next day, they went directly to the cloth shop to buy the cotton they had ordered. They didn't buy anything else because it was too expensive. Su He decided to develop the sweet potato industry next year. Since no one here was doing it, his family could make a lot of money. The family went home and hurried to make cotton clothes and quilts because winter was coming.

Just like that, a month later, the severe winter arrived as expected, and the winter here came particularly early. It was very cold. There was winter in the place where Su He used to live, but the temperature was only about minus ten degrees Celsius at night, unlike here where the temperature was more than ten degrees Celsius below zero during the day. As soon as I went out, I felt that I would be frozen directly in a thin cotton-padded coat. Fortunately, I had just made a thick cotton-padded coat, and the fur that had been nitrated was just sewn to the collar, which made it safer. His mother also made cotton gloves according to the picture Su He drew, so that his hands would not be cold when he went out. Su He also learned to do needlework and sewed a mask. As soon as this thing was made, it was loved by the whole family and was more popular than gloves. Because every winter, the face was frozen very cold, and the hands could be put in their pockets, but the face had to be exposed.

The whole family can no longer go to the fields or the mountains, but they can still copy books and do the tofu business. These are their ways to make money, and they need to save money. The family began to stay at home during the winter, and Su He's father didn't have to go to the fields. He spent all his time making tofu and growing bean sprouts. Now bean sprouts are selling well. There are fewer types of vegetables in winter, and bean sprouts are very popular. Every day, they can be sold out.

Su He discussed with his father and directly increased the amount of bean sprouts. He also asked his father to tell the village chief that his family could exchange beans for bean sprouts and tofu. He could also ask relatives and friends in nearby villages to sell or exchange beans, which would help the villagers. Everyone would have some extra money, and the New Year would come in a few months, so the villagers could have a good New Year.